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Today is the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the USA.

I remember watching with disbelief as the events unfolded on the TV. I was living in Tempe AZ at the time so all this was happening as we were waking up to get ready to go to work. It was truly a day that will stay in my memory forever.

So today, my 'Flight 93' flag is flying at half staff. My prayers are focused on the victims and their families and my utmost admiration, respect and thanks go out to those heros of the emergency services and armed force who do such a difficult job with pride and honor. Thank you all for your efforts to keep us safe and free.

3,030 salutes for the victims...We shall NEVER forget!

with XtremeDuty.45

I remember when it happened..i was in my calculus class sophomore or Jr year in high school. I remember all the teachers turning on the TVs and after realizing what what happening, i went outside the room for a "breather" and saw a girl coming down the steps escorted by a teacher. I think i heard one of her parents was in one of the buildings.

That morning I had just returned home from dropping my son off at school when my wife told me "Look, there's something on the news about a plane hitting a building in New York". At that point (much like most of America) is when I saw the second plane hit. It took a while for it to sink in what was going on.

Dianne Sawyer, ABC News, last night remembered 9/11/01 where and when some 3,000 lives were "lost". I know the end result is the same but is "lost" the same as "murdered"?

Yes, I am harboring a grudge. This was a much more dastardly deed than the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

I can't believe it's been 9 years, how time flies. I was a senior in highschool, I remember I was in the computer lab that morning. The image of the first plane colliding into the first building I saw on CNN.com is still stuck in my head.

I had just left my house in Pasadena, California on my way to work in the morning, and I was listening to Hugh Hewitt's morning drive time talk radio show. He was talking about the first tower having collapsed, and the second tower still burning, and recapping the events of the two planes hitting the towers, and for just a minute, I had no idea that he was reporting a real story. It was like a "War of the Worlds" moment for me, and I didn't know if he was play-acting or reporting. Then it began to hit me that he was reporting what he was watching live on TV in his studio, and I immediately new that this was real, and I also knew that it was no accident but that it was a terrorist attack.

At first, speculation of casualties ran as high as 50,000 people, just based on the sheer number of people who worked in the towers. Later, as horrible as 3,000 deaths is, I remember being almost relieved that it was "only" 3,000, and not 50,000. My gut reaction was rage. It may not be right, but if President Bush had given the order then and there to nuke some country and turn it into glass, I would have supported him. Later, I began to take a more rational view of what our response should be; but then and there, I just wanted revenge, damn the body count or collateral damage.

My office was located on the approach, just a half mile or so off the end of one of the runways at Burbank Airport. We had a constant stream of fighter jets using that field over the next few days to stage their CAP missions from, and it was weird going from watching commercial jets land every 2 or 3 minutes, to skies empty of all but military air traffic.

A friend told me that in her area of the country, they are having a 9/11 celebration today. Someone didn't tell them that the anniversary of thousands of innocent lives being taken in hatred and malice with the intention of terrorizing an entire nation is not a reason to celebrate. Today is a day of solemnity and reflection and mourning and remembering and honoring and prayer, not cotton candy and petting zoos.

XtremeDuty.45 wrote:3,030 salutes for the victims...We shall NEVER forget!

When I arrived at the office that morning there was a crowd of people at a corner office window watching the large plume of smoke from the pentagon. I was working in Bethesda at that time for PG&E. I had my ipod in the car that morning and wasn't listening to the radio, so I had no idea that anything was happening. It was quite a shock! We then went over the the trading floor where there are a number of tv's. We watched it unfold for a few hours. I really felt sick that day and it's still pretty fresh in my mind. There was a lot of tension in that area much like when the DC sniper case was going on.