Anniversary of Sept. 11th

[Covey_Rider]

Marines, poolees, wannabees...It is now the 6th Anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers. All of those who passed on that day will only die when they are forgotten. So remember. Where were you when you found out about the attacks? What did you feel? All that I ask is that all you of pay respects and take a moment out of your day to think back and remember why we do what we do.

[RuffNight2007]

I was going to go to NY today with a bunch of friends I made in boot camp... but my recruiter screwed me over and now my license is suspended, so my plans are ruined =D I love recruiters.

[Covey_Rider]

I wish I could. But I'm in Okinawa so yeah...today also marks me being in for 1 year...shipped out last year on 9/11.

[marinepooly1361]

When the attacks happened I was in 7th Grade Science class. The teacher got a phone call, turned on the TV and we all sort of just stared at the screen in awe.

My heart goes out to all that were lost in those towers.:iwo:

[downey]

I was in a math class in the eighth grade. The principal made an announcement over the PA system and everyone just went quiet. Then the teacher turned on the TV just in time for us to watch the second plane hit.

I felt confused, angry, and helpless at the same time. That day was also the first time I considered joining the military.

[TJR1070]

A day I wish I could forget. I lost over twenty friends that day and sometimes I think it gets harder instead of easier. I was working with my partner that day (a member of Squad 18 FDNY) and we both heard the news on the way to the job site. He met me there threw the materials for the job we were doing at me ans screamed off in his car to Manhattan, only a Battalion Chief who stopped him from going straight to the WTC saved his life. I reported to my volunteer FD shortly after the second plane hit, and it wasn't long before we were in a staging area waiting to recieve assignments. Ours was the quarters of Engine 326 and Ladder 160 were we stayed for 24 hours since most of the FDNY's units were trying desperately to save thier lost Brothers. We returned to our own firehouse to rest until early Thursday morning when we were assigned to relieve another FD at Ground Zero ( we called it the "pile" at the time). We stayed at Ground Zero until Sunday when all volunteer FD units were released. I will never forget those days in lower Manhattan, my city with a hole ripped in her skyline, eight friends and nieghbors from my own town gone, multiple friends I had made in the fire service over the years..... GONE! What struck me most about working in that scene was that I never found a recognizable piece of anything, not a desk, not a chair, file cabinet, phone, computer, nothing, nothing that would be in two, one hundred and ten floor office buildings. Except paper, lots and lots of paper and pictures. Pictures that should have been in frames on someones desk, but here they all were sitting on top of and tucked in between the wreckage and carnage. Most pristine, without even a corner folded, I really felt as if the victims of this horrible act against mankind wanted us to see them, wanted us to remember the faces, wanted us to know that even though we couldn't tell they were all right there with us. That and all the funerals have stayed with me as though they were yesterday for the last six years. I hope time fades the pain but not the memories.

NEVER FORGET 9/11/01

[HurricaneRJ]

I was sitting in my 8th grade Remidial Math Class, when my Georgia Studies teacher rushed in and said that we were being attacked. We turned on the TV and just watched as the towers were burning. The bell rang and I went right across the hall into my English teachers class. I heard that the Pentagon was hit, I felt helpless then. My uncle was a Lt.Col working for the C.A.B. Dep. for the Army. My english teacher was an Army vet and she told us that we could watch whats happening when we got home. I called her a ***** and sure enough i was suspended for three days, but I didn't care. Luckily, my unlce was above where the plane hit and he was alright, but I still feel anger inside. I still remember seeing the people falling out of the towers.

Not to get all policitcal. But Osama Bin Laden is the man who caused this but we obvisouly have just stopped the worldwide search for him and concentrating on other things. I want the SOB dead like all of us here, but I want him dead ASAP.

I'm heading off the a 9/11 memorial service at Ft. Benning pretty soon, I got a lot of emotions to let out.

:iwo:

[mrbsox]

The C.O. and I were preparing to go do 'legal battle' with a storage company that was screwing us over when the phone rang, and we turned on the TV. Everything was about the FIRST plane hitting the tower, and I was thinking back to WW2 when a bomber flew into the Empire state building.

Then we saw the 2nd plane hit, and I KNEW it was no accident.

I grabbed my 9, and a flag I'd had stashed in the closet. We finished our buisness, hearing about the Pentagon and watching the same clips over and over.

I'm still pi$$ed at what those bastards did to my country.

That flag went up in my parts store, and has flown over my work space ever since, following me thru the past couple of jobs since that day. She will continue over my space until.... 'till death do us part'

[yellowwing]

An Unlikely Hero
The Marine who found two WTC survivors.
By Rebecca Liss (http://slate.com/id/2070762/)
Updated Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2002, at 6:13 PM ET

Only 12 survivors were pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center after the towers fell on Sept. 11, despite intense rescue efforts. Two of the last three to be located and saved were Port Authority police officers. They were not discovered by a heroic firefighter, or a rescue worker, or a cop. They were discovered by Dave Karnes.

Karnes hadn't been near the World Trade Center. He wasn't even in New York when the planes hit the towers. He was in Wilton, Conn., working in his job as a senior accountant with Deloitte Touche. When the second plane hit, Karnes told his colleagues, "We're at war." He had spent 23 years in the Marine Corps infantry and felt it was his duty to help. Karnes told his boss he might not see him for a while.

Then he went to get a haircut.

The small barbershop in Stamford, Conn., near his home, was deserted. "Give me a good Marine Corps squared-off haircut," he told the barber. When it was done, he drove home to put on his uniform. Karnes always kept two sets of Marine fatigues hanging in his closet, pressed and starched. "It's kind of weird to do, but it comes in handy," he says. Next Karnes stopped by the storage facility where he kept his equipment—he'd need rappelling gear, ropes, canteens of water, his Marine Corps K-Bar knife, and a flashlight, at least. Then he drove to church. He asked the pastor and parishioners to say a prayer that God would lead him to survivors. A devout Christian, Karnes often turned to God when faced with decisions.

Finally, Karnes lowered the convertible top on his Porsche. This would make it easier for the authorities to look in and see a Marine, he reasoned. If they could see who he was, he'd be able to zip past checkpoints and more easily gain access to the site. For Karnes, it was a "God thing" that he was in the Porsche—a Porsche 911—that day. He'd only purchased it a month earlier—it had been a stretch, financially. But he decided to buy it after his pastor suggested that he "pray on it." He had no choice but to take it that day because his Mercury was in the shop. Driving the Porsche at speeds of up to 120 miles per hour, he reached Manhattan—after stopping at McDonald's for a hamburger—in the late afternoon.

His plan worked. With the top off, the cops could see his pressed fatigues, his neatly cropped hair, and his gear up front. They waved him past the barricades. He arrived at the site—"the pile"—at about 5:30. Building 7 of the World Trade Center, a 47-story office structure adjacent to the fallen twin towers, had just dramatically collapsed. Rescue workers had been ordered off the pile—it was too unsafe to let them continue. Flames were bursting from a number of buildings, and the whole site was considered unstable. Standing on the edge of the burning pile, Karnes spotted … another Marine dressed in camouflage. His name was Sgt. Thomas. Karnes never learned his first name, and he's never come forward in the time since.

Together Karnes and Thomas walked around the pile looking for a point of entry farther from the burning buildings. They also wanted to move away from officials trying to keep rescue workers off the pile. Thick, black smoke blanketed the site. The two Marines couldn't see where to enter. But then "the smoke just opened up." The sun was setting and through the opening Karnes, for the first time, saw clearly the massive destruction. "I just said 'Oh, my God, it's totally gone.' " With the sudden parting of the smoke, Karnes and Thomas entered the pile. "We just disappeared into the smoke—and we ran."

They climbed over the tangled steel and began looking into voids. They saw no one else searching the pile—the rescue workers having obeyed the order to leave the area. "United States Marines," Karnes began shouting. "If you can hear us, yell or tap!"

Over and over, Karnes shouted the words. Then he would pause and listen. Debris was shifting and parts of the building were collapsing further. Fires burned all around. "I just had a sense, an overwhelming sense come over me that we were walking on hallowed ground, that tens of thousands of people could be trapped and dead beneath us," he said.

After about an hour of searching and yelling, Karnes stopped.

"Be quiet," he told Thomas, "I think I can hear something."

He yelled again. "We can hear you. Yell louder." He heard a faint muffled sound in the distance.

"Keep yelling. We can hear you." Karnes and Thomas zeroed in on the sound.

"We're over here," they heard.

Two Port Authority police officers, Will Jimeno and Sgt. John McLoughlin, were buried in the center of the World Trade Center ruins, 20 feet below the surface. They could be heard but not seen. By jumping into a larger opening, Karnes could hear Jimeno better. But he still couldn't see him. Karnes sent Thomas to look for help. Then he used his cell phone to call his wife, Rosemary, in Stamford and his sister Joy in Pittsburgh. (He thought they could work the phones and get through to New York police headquarters.)

"Don't leave us," Officer Jimeno pleaded. He later said he feared Karnes' voice would trail away, as had that of another potential rescuer hours earlier. It was now about 7 p.m. and Jimeno and McLoughlin had been trapped for roughly nine hours. Karnes stayed with them, talking to them until help arrived, in the form of Chuck Sereika, a former paramedic with an expired license who put pulled his old uniform out of his closet and came to the site. Ten minutes later, Scott Strauss and Paddy McGee, officers with the elite Emergency Service Unit of the NYPD, also arrived.

The story of how Strauss and Sereika spent three hours digging Jimeno out of the debris, which constantly threatened to collapse, has been well told in the New York Times and elsewhere. At one point, all they had with which to dig out Jimeno were a pair of handcuffs. Karnes stood by, helping pass tools to Strauss, offering his Marine K-Bar knife when it looked as if they might have to amputate Jimeno's leg to free him. (After Jimeno was finally pulled out, another team of cops worked for six more hours to free McLoughlin, who was buried deeper in the pile.)

Karnes left the site that night when Jimeno was rescued and went with him to the hospital. While doctors treated the injured cop, Karnes grabbed a few hours sleep on an empty bed in the hospital psychiatric ward. While he slept, the hospital cleaned and pressed his uniform.

******

Today, on the anniversary of the attack and the rescue, officers Jimeno and Strauss will be part of the formal "Top Cop" ceremony at the New York City Center Theater. Earlier the two appeared on a nationally televised episode of America's Most Wanted. Jimeno and McLoughlin appeared this week on the Today show. They are heroes.

Today, Dave Karnes will be speaking at the Maranatha Bible Baptist Church in Wilkinsburg, Penn., near where he grew up. He sounds excited, over the phone, talking about the upcoming ceremony. Karnes is a hero, too.

But it's also clear Karnes is a hero in a smaller, less national, less public, less publicized way than the cops and firefighters are heroes. He's hardly been overlooked—the program I work for, 60 Minutes II, interviewed him as part of a piece on Jimeno's rescue—but the great televised glory machine has so far not picked him. Why? One reason seems obvious—the cops and firefighters are part of big, respected, institutional support networks. Americans are grateful for the sacrifices their entire organizations made a year ago. Plus, the police and firefighting institutions are tribal brotherhoods. The firefighters help and support and console each other; the cops do the same. They find it harder to make room for outsiders like Karnes (or Chuck Sereika). And, it must be said, at some macho level it's vaguely embarrassing that the professional rescuers weren't the ones who found the two survivors. While the pros were pulled back out of legitimate caution, the job fell to an outsider, who drove down from Connecticut and just walked onto the burning pile.

Columnist Stewart Alsop once famously identified two rare types of soldiers, the "crazy brave" and the "phony tough." The professionals at Ground Zero—I interviewed dozens in my work as a producer for CBS—were in no way phony toughs. But Karnes does seem a bit "crazy brave." You'd have to be slightly abnormal—abnormally selfless, abnormally patriotic—to do what he did. And some of the same qualities that led Karnes to make himself a hero when it counted may make him less perfect as the image of a hero today.

Officer Strauss tells a story that gets at this. When he was out on the pile a year ago, trying to pull Officer Jimeno free, Strauss shouted orders to his volunteer helpers—"Medic, I need air," or "Marine, get me some water." At one point, in the middle of this exhausting work, Strauss, asked if he could call them by their names to facilitate the process. The medic said he was "Chuck."

Karnes said: "You can call me 'staff sergeant.' "

"That's three syllables!" said Strauss, who needed every bit of energy and every second of time. "Isn't there something shorter?"

Karnes replied: "You can call me 'staff sergeant.' "

[kbs95125]

For some reason I had woken up extra early before school that day...something just woke me up and told me it would be a good idea to turn on the news. I had started watching shortly after the first plane had hit and watched in shock as the second plane hit. I went to school where it became the topic of the day and got into quite a few arguments that day. The area I lived in had a high Muslim practicioner percentage....I almost got expelled twice for expressing my opinion after the whole event was exposed.

It was freshman year and I was on the football team as a starting linebacker and our coaches had decided that we were going to do a tribute to the victims, whether or not the school liked it. We all placed American flag stickers on our helmets before our game, sang the national anthem, and had a moment of silence. Side story- So one of the times I had almost got expelled was because of an incident that stemmed from the flags on the helmet. A guy on the team put an Iranian flag sticker on his helmet instead, and I started screaming at him about disrespect, about how he isn't a da** Iranian, he was born in America which made him an American.... He reported me to the school about "threatening a hate crime". Luckily my coach had my back and made him remove the sticker and said "Put the RIGHT sticker on your helmet or don't ever show up on my field again.". The halftime speech was one that I can't even explain. Motivational and we carried ourselves with more pride that day then we ever did.

Sorry about rambling...

Anyways, my friend wrote this today (he's the Airborne guy I've brought up before), and he's usually not one for words-

"Never forget why we are really fighting.. fighting so they didnt die in vain. The world needs more soldiers. Not douche bag idiots who think that playing Army is a joke, but real men who have the courage to stand up and fight. It's not for oil, or for a political agenda, but for a real cause. A real fight. A real battle."

[Qwarkeh]

I was in seventh grade at the time, and I didn't even figure out what the hell was going on until the information leaked to some of the students, and they were the ones to spread it. It took almost all day to figure out that there was an attack right here, less than an hour away from where I live. After that all I can remember is the news, and the fact that my father could have died since he worked practically right across the street from those towers. He told us that his superiours wouldn't let him leave his office until the second plane hit. What the hell is that?

I'm crying as I'm typing this, even though I've lost no one that I know. Everyone who believes in those dumbass conspiracy theories deserve far worse than what they are getting now.

[JordanB]

I was going to go to NY today with a bunch of friends I made in boot camp... but my recruiter screwed me over and now my license is suspended, so my plans are ruined =D I love recruiters.

Ouh rah Nadrowski, "300"! **** bro sucks about your licence, you should just walk around in your charlies today though thats what me tip and diley are doing. "If the Marines dont look good whos gonna do it, the nasty Army?"

[davblay]

As I reflect on the last 6 years I sadly realize that every generation has somthing to remember. My Great grandfather remembered the Great War between the states, My Grandfather Remembered the War to end all wars, My Father remembered the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, I remember When John Kennedy was killed as well as Viet Nam and now the younger generation has to remember the World Trade Center! I makes me wonder what will the next generation of kids have to endure! That's why this war is being fought after all, to conserve our liberties and Freedom!

This country has always had the best Military in the world, and has proven it many times over! But the Men and women that are serving today are more motivated, better equiped, better trained then any of us old salts want to admit! They are 100% Volunteers and proud to serve. I am proud to Salute them in thier mission to conserve our freedom and defend the rights of our people! These young people that could be going to college and getting an education, are giving of themselves and dying for our great cause! They are coming home mamed and crippled, blind and half a person---but all will tell you that they would gladly go again and serve this great country of ours!

Do I remember 9-11------who doesn't? Even the kids in kindergarden know about that day, and they are only 5 years old! This will live in the minds and hearts of all Americans for ever!

My prayers are with the brave men and women that are serving in this troubled time. I SALUTE the ones that have given thier all and given of thier well being to preserve our way of life! These poeple have not died in vain! This is all of our war, not just the active military personnel. We Americans support our troops in every way we can---if not-- then I suggest you go to another country and support that way of life! Just don't stay here and bad mouth our Military and thier objectives!

May God Bless our troops, and may he CONTINUE to Bless the United States of America!

Semper Fi

[crazymjb]

6th grade "tech" class. We were in the wood working shop as the teacher was going over safety procedures. The office lady came on the P/A and said will all teachers please tune to channel 19 (The schools CCTV News channel). We tuned in and after a few minutes the principle came on. She announced the that the twin towers in New York had been hit by Jet airliners, and asked that we please give a moment of silence for all those involved. The tech teacher said "thats not good" and after a minute took us back to keep working.

Various rumers were floating around and I first heard "Bin Laden" walking down the hallway between the first 2 classes. I remember seeing all the teachers not currently with a class huddled in the computer labs (glass walled rooms off the hallways) watching the news. I had a guidance seminar lunch block and that is when someone said they had heard the towers had collapsed. We watched the news in my history class where they just kept playing it over and over. We also heard fighters flying by overhead.

Everytime I think of that day I get chills. And everytime I see the clips and hear the first hand accounts I start to cry. The worst ever was an audio recording from a retired A/F pilot on flight 93 who left a message to his wife. Something along the lines of "Honey, they hijacked our plane. I don't know if we are going to be ok but it doesn't look good. I want you to know I love you. [pause] I'll see you when you get there, bye"

As for the conspiracy theorists. They can go jump of a cliff. They need to lie in the names of all those who died on 9/11 to entertain themselves, screw em! It sickens me how anytime I search for 9/11 or even Jet airliners I get a bunch of websites about how it was faked. I am an engineering major at my highschool, and I and anyone else who has the most vague understanding of how reality works can see how ****ed up the conspiracy theories are. I credit them only as excellent propaganda pieces.

Rest In Peace

Mike

[1stRad2671]

I was deployed to Kuwait for a joint annual exercise. We had just recently learned of yet another Predator UAV being shot down and I figured that would probably be a pretty big news story for the day. Then one of the Army staff NCOs yelled out some expletives, but the tone of his voice was far different than if he was dealing with subordinates. I went around the corner to see him watching the events on the news. The base threat condition went to max, and DefCon was raised to the highest it had been since the Cuban missile crisis.

At the time I felt so helpless being so far from home (DC area). But I was in the right place at the right time. For once, volunteering for an unknown mission worked in my favor and two months later I found myself in Afghanistan taking care of business with some guys from SOCOM and later the 15th MEU.

[GriT]

We'll never get back what was lost that day. We won't forget you.

[Master Sephiroth]

I remember that day vividly. I was fifteen at the time. Things were already really bad for me that year. On that particular day, it was not even a week after I was released from the hospital (had a cancerous tumor removed). I was in the den watching the news that day, hoping to hear news out of Israel or substantial developments in the Chandra Levy case. Then, at 0903, the first plane hits. I didn't think much of it, what with all the accidents. When the second plane hit, I was like "Wait, what the **** is going on here?!" That's when I realized it was no accident. Then I see the reports of the Pentagon attack and Pittsburg, that's when my mom realized who was behind this. She is very perceptive about these things. Seeing the towers crumble...I've never felt such horror and anger before. Before that day, I had a very "whatever" attitude about my citizenship here, but on that day, I acquired an immense patiotism. I won't forget how united the country was that day, and I hope it doesn't take another 9/11 to unite us again.

[jungholee90]

I was still living in Korea. I was in 6th grade (2 years before I moved to US), waking up to go to school. My mom was watching the News in the morning, and I saw the second plane hitting the tower and just froze in shock. I have to be honest, but at the time I was just a 6th grader not knowing anything about US, so all I thought about was the people that would've been in that tower at the time, and didn't think a lot about it. These days I understand more of what U.S. really went through during those times and how many loved ones passed away. May they Rest In Peace.

[sparkie]

I remember I was workin , as usual, and I remember praying the Marines would avenge this,,,,,,,,And they are,,Semper-Fi.

[FISTFU68]

:evilgrin: I WAS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,VISITING MY MOTHER;SHE CRIED!!!PAYBAC IS A BEAR!!! :evilgrin: :iwo:

[dabigeddie1]

i was in 8th grade at the time, in my homeroon class here in L.A. ...seemed like something so unreal, how could this happen to us? the school district sent a memo asap telling teachers to turn off the tv sets and to stay away from the subject...my teacher went against that so that we could see the reality of life, it was graphic and grusome, people jumping off the towers, planes crashing into them...images that will always stay in my mind for as long as i live...i pray and i prayed for these victims of 9/11...they will never be forgotten!!!

[ElDiablo]

I was in 7th grade when it happened. I remember the teachers talking about something and crying. They didn't let us see. I had to wait until I got home to see it. I just kept watching it over and over again, trying to get it to set it. I pretty much made up my mind that day to kill the mother f**kers that did it.

[Master Sephiroth]

I already knew what those bastards were capable of. They'd slaughter (killing is too humane to discribe what they do) their own mothers in the "Name of Allah". What really got shocked me that day was seeing the generl population of the Palestinian areas of Israel, and in Arab countries celebrating the fact that thousands of innocent civilians (including other muslims) had died.