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Posted on 09/10/2019 5:59:52 PM PDT by luvie
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I was full of hate after that, too. And I have not forgiven.
Thank goodness they allowed you all to stay open!
I’m glad the company survived. Must have been quite a shock when they told you that every airport was shutting down.
That’s our navy....always there. Always ready!
Back in the late 1970s I went up to the observation deck of the WTC. I still have the ticket as I keep most of my tickets to events. Of all of them that is the one most impactful now.
Getting ready for work when the first plane hit.
At the time I worked at a Port of Entry at the border with Mexico. Everyone thought the border would be closed, it was not. I still think that was a mistake.
Yes, I do, too. Now, no telling how many terrorist wannabes have crossed that border into our country.
Just awhile ago I came across the entrance stub for the event and the photos. Of course that was before PanAm was put out of business by the Lockerbie bombing.
That whole week and month was like something out of fiction. The more we learned, the more chilling it was. For people who have lived there or have friends or family there, like yourself, it had to have hit really hard.
My husband is retired Army and we go to an Army Post for our medical and to shop. We were there maybe 4 days after 9/11 eating lunch at the food court at the PX. We ate there a lot when on Post and it would be full of young soldiers and their wives eating and visiting. That day there were only about half as many people as usual and they were so quiet.
I wanted to destroy the Muslim countries to the point they would all have to go back to herding goats. I still feel that way actually. They didn’t bother us when they had to concentrate on their own survival.
I have hated Mexico since then too. I worked at a Port of Entry on the border. That day and the days, weeks, and months to come not one Mexican citizen crossing the border offered any sympathy for our country, no support. Most acted as though nothing happened. A few came right out and said it was our fault because of the way our government treats other countries. Most of them whined because increased security at the border slowed them down. I am serious.
I turned on the car radio and started scanning through news broadcasts. Everyone on the air seemed very concerned about something. They kept saying things like, “Wasn’t this horrible? This is a disaster for New York and for the country!” And I thought, “Wasn’t WHAT horrible?” They would not say. They kept talking about how bad they FELT, and how bad other people FELT, about some recent catastrophe. After a couple of minutes of channel surfing I was yelling at the car radio, “TELL ME WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!”
Yeah....because feelings are so much more important than information.
Rudy was a hero throughout that whole tragedy, and as much as people want to run down President Bush now, he stepped up and did what needed doing at the time. I felt comforted knowing both of them were in charge.
I wondered what people from other countries were thinking about what happened that day.
I was on a drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico like so many others in the industry. We were testing a new piece of equipment and I had been out much longer than normal. I had been up fighting with problems all night, did the 0600 morning report and was working in my office on the rig with the TV on. I saw it out of the corner or my eye and heard an airplane had hit one of the WTC towers. I recalled the B-25 that hit the Empire State Building in the summer of ‘45 and hoped not too many were at work yet and went back to my work plans for the day. Time is money.
Our operations manager called me at about 0800 Central Time and asked if I had seen it all. While we were talking the second plane hit at 0803 local time. We knew then it was no accident of course. I started thinking about what this all meant, where the next targets might be and what to do about the rig but had no idea of course what would happen next. You are always doing contingency planning on a drilling rig.
I called my son at university, told him to do as I say and not argue as he usually does and told him to drop what he was doing and go home to be with his Mom. He has always been a smart boy and quickly figured out we were under attack. He didn’t argue and went home. First contingency managed. It was Texas A&M and the Bush Library was only a few blocks from his location. Where could you kill the most with the biggest hurt to the Bushes and Americans? A university seemed a likely target to me.
The next thing is what amazed me. Within less than 30 minutes after I got my bearings the airspace was shut down and all helicopters grounded at the nearest available landing space. One of those was our rig and we became host to a chopper that was not ours. Very unusual. The pilot was grousing about how stupid this all was and the copilot was just shaking his head. We were so far out we didn’t see the F-16s flying the coastlines but some others did.
No helicopters means no medical evacuations so we shut down all non-critical and hazardous operations but posted the supply boats for evacuation if we needed them. Men with time on their hands and families at home get to speculating and we had some wild speculation going on as the day unfolded. Some guys worried there would be an attack on one of the rigs. On the edge of the horizon was a large production platform. One of the largest in the Gulf. I told them that was the headline target the terrorists were looking for, not us.
I don’t recall when the airspace opened back up but it was slow. I felt like the nation had been raped. I was angry and sad. I was also very tired by mid-afternoon having been up more than 36 hours. I called my Dad on the farm far from all the drama. We both had many of the same thoughts as was common when he was alive. I went to sleep with orders to be awakened if anything changed. Got up the next morning at 0400, finished my work plan and we went back to work on limited duty until the airspace opened back up. I did not leave the rig for weeks afterward and so missed a lot of the aftermath and discussion back on the beach.
That is where I was on 9/11. When I got home lots of things had changed in our country and the world.
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