THE FREEPER CANTEEN - Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning - Tuesday, September 12, 2017

The greatest military and vets in the world...and in honor of the nearly 3000 who perished that day | Monday, September 11, 2017 | LUV W and the Wonderful Canteen Support Crew

[Aria]

I was in bed on the west coast and as I usually did turned on the TV before getting out of bed to see what was going on in the world.

I watched in cold amazement as the second plane hit - meaning no accident - and thought “our world has changed forever”.

And it has.

[353FMG]

>America demands Justice for the Fallen of Benghazi!<

.
They won’t get their justice until Hillary and Obama get theirs first, and that seems to be a pipedream.

[4Runner]

It turned out to be a busy historic day.

Wow. Talk about disconnect. I don't think I've ever seen or heard anyone describe the attack, destruction and subsequent carnage on 911 in such cold-hearted terms.

[luvie]

I have never understood the election of obama.

Your first instincts turned out to be the right ones!

[left that other site]

Hi Kathy.

Penny and I went on a SERIOUS hike today, covering about 3-4 miles and going through 3 towns in the process. We had done separate legs of the trail before, but never all of them.

Also got to ride Blue a bit, but now that school is back in session the traffic is a bit more challenging.

September 11th is a tough day for me, as I am sure it is for all patriotic Americans.

[Patriot777]

I was at my parents’ house that morning, having spent the night there because I had been involved in a car accident on the afternoon of September 10th; I woke up, quite sore from the ordeal, and walked into the living room just in time to see the second plane hit the Twin Towers as the news was running live. In disbelief, I turned to my dad, who was sitting forward on his recliner. “We’re being attacked,” he said, getting up from his chair. “We’re at war.” My mom was in the kitchen, praying.

[luvie]

Did you just want to throttle them at that moment? Or had you gotten the connection yet? I think FoxNews said it early on..but of course it WAS just speculation till we knew more.

[W.]

What a miserable day that was

[Clay Moore]

I was starting my shift at the fire station over a thousand miles away. We were outside doing the normal morning chores and getting ready for the days duties and running calls.

Someone ran out and announced that the first tower had been hit. We went inside and realized that the tower was going to fall and then the second plane hit and that tower and would soon fall. Steel loses roughly 1/2 or its strength at 1000*F.

After the ground stop, it was really odd looking out over DFW Airport approach and departure paths and not seeing a single aircraft in the sky instead of 6 or 8.

It was a very sobering day. We lost 343 of the brotherhood that day.

[Ben Hecks]

I was in my cardiologist’s office and only saw glimpses of the burning towers as my medical checkout took place. I hurried home, got on FR and caught up with the running thread. After the towers collapsed, I went outside - beautiful fall day - so quiet. I heard the distinct sound of a C-141 and looked up....it had apparently left our regional airport, banked left and headed in an easterly direction. Never knew who/what was on the aircraft. I had a sick feeling knowing that the world that I had known was gone.

[SkyDancer]

At 20,000 feet in a private plane when I was told to land immediately otherwise I’d be shot down. No explanation until on the ground when I found out what happened. Was just a kid. Sheesh.

[ConorMacNessa]

You may indeed be right, but I would rather tilt at windmills than "move on" at the behest of quislings.

America demands Justice for the Fallen of Benghazi!

O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, obedient to their command.

[vooch]

I was on fifth avenue on my way to work - when I witnessed the 2nd plane hit.

5 hours later ...

[PhiloBedo]

An unsubstanciated antedote: A friend of mine, who had just retired from ATC as a senior controller told me when the second plane hit the WTC, the upper level FAA guys at the command center were debating what to do, and unable to decide. Without waiting for orders from above, a lower level guy got on the horn and told all the centers to ground everything in the air, immediately.

I don’t know if it’s true, but if it is, I wonder what happened to that guy, afterwards.

[PROCON]

An aside; my then wife's former company, that she worked 10 years for in Seattle, Marsh USA, also had Corporate office floors 93-100 in WTC 1.

All 300 employees there perished that fateful day.

[MountainDad]

I was installing an am/fm radio in a new container lift machine our company just bought.

Listened to reporting all day.

Was one of the most quiet days of my life.

Weird that no commercial planes were flying, but Offutt was super busy.
Saw Bush’s plane fly into the AFB.

[luvie]

Amen. I don’t understand it either. So many people have lost their resolve and their love of this country over such petty issues!

[henkster]

Sometimes I get these “flashes of insight” that allows me to see things with clarity. Sometimes even before they happen. This gift has strings, though. I cannot conjure it up at will, I cannot change what happens, nor am I permitted to profit from it.

[HighSierra5]

I was up early before light in L.A. getting some bolts for a foundation I was building in Encino. It was a typical morning with fog and low clouds. The radio in the truck was on and I was listening to the football scores when the news came on saying a small jet hit one of the towers. I’m thinking that it must be cloudy there and it was an accident. When I went into the store the counter guy said another plane hit the other tower. Obviously terrorism. I asked if they had a TV and everybody was watching. I was surprised to see that the weather was clear and the ugly scene made me mad. My son had just joined the Army a year before. He was a paratrooper and I knew he was going to war.The rest of the day was numbing. We prayed hard. And I will never forget the people who died and the heroes that never went home.

[ConorMacNessa]

Welcome To All Who Enter This Canteen, To Our Serving Military, To Our Veterans, To All Military Families, To Our FRiends and To Our Allies!



Missing Man Setting

"The Empty Chair"

By Captain Carroll "Lex" Lefon, USN (RET), on December 21st, 2004

"In the wardroom onboard the aircraft carrier from which I recently debarked was a small, round table, with single chair. No one ever sat there, and the reasons, both for the table being there, and for the fact that the chair was always empty, will tell the reader a little bit about who we are as a culture. The wardroom, of course, is where the officers will dine; morning, noon and evening. It is not only a place to eat – it is also a kind of oasis from the sometimes dreary, often difficult exigencies of the service. A place of social discourse, of momentary relief from the burdens of the day. The only things explicitly forbidden by inviolable tradition in the wardroom are the wearing of a cover or sword by an officer not actually on watch, or conversation which touches upon politics or religion. But aboard ships which observe the custom, another implicit taboo concerns the empty chair: No matter how crowded the room, no matter who is waiting to be seated, that chair is never moved, never taken.

The table is by the main entrance to the wardroom. You will see it when you enter, and you will see it when you leave. It draws your eyes because it is meant to. And because it draws your eyes it draws your thoughts. And though it will be there every day for as long as you are at sea, you will look at it every time and your eyes will momentarily grow distant as you think for a moment. As you quietly give thanks.

AS YOU REMEMBER.

The small, round table is covered with a gold linen tablecloth. A single place setting rests there, of fine bone china. A wineglass stands upon the table, inverted, empty. On the dinner plate is a pinch of salt. On the bread plate is a slice of lemon. Besides the plate lies a bible. There is a small vase with a single red rose upon the table. Around the vase is wound a yellow ribbon. There is the empty chair.

We will remember because over the course of our careers, we will have had the opportunity to enjoy many a formal evening of dinner and dancing in the fine company of those with whom we have the honor to serve, and their lovely ladies. And as the night wears on, our faces will in time become flushed with pleasure of each other’s company, with the exertions on the dance floor, with the effects of our libations. But while the feast is still at its best, order will be called to the room – we will be asked to raise our glasses to the empty table, and we will be asked to remember:

The table is round to show our everlasting concern for those who are missing. The single setting reminds us that every one of them went to their fates alone, that every life was unique.

The tablecloth is gold symbolizing the purity of their motives when they answered the call to duty.

The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of the life of each of the missing, and their loved ones who kept the faith.

The yellow ribbon around the vase symbolizes our continued determination to remember them.

The slice of lemon reminds us of the bitterness of their fate.
The salt symbolizes the tears shed by those who loved them.
The bible represents the faith that sustained them.
The glass is inverted — they cannot share in the toast.
The chair is empty — they are not here. They are missing.

And we will remember, and we will raise our glasses to those who went before us, and who gave all that they had for us. And a part of the flush in our faces will pale as we remember that nothing worth having ever came without a cost. We will remember that many of our brothers and sisters have paid that cost in blood. We will remember that the reckoning is not over.

We many of us will settle with our families into our holiday season, our Christmas season for those who celebrate it, content in our fortune and prosperity. We will meet old friends with smiles and laughter. We will meet our members of our family with hugs. We will eat well, and exchange gifts and raise our glasses to the year passed in gratitude, and to the year to come with hope. We will sleep the sleep of the protected, secure in our homes, secure in our homeland.

But for many families, there will be an empty chair at the table this year. A place that is not filled.

WE SHOULD REMEMBER."

Many Thanks To Alfa6 For Finding Capt. Lefon's Chronicle Of "The Empty Chair."

"Träumerei"
Robert Schumann
(Click)

Never Forget The Brave Men And Women Who
Gave Their Lives To Secure Our Freedom!!