Where were you when the world stopped turning?

[SR. Patch]

I remember like it was yesterday. We had been in Indy for a meeting and upon leaving that next morning, we were going to try and find the home of a lady who was starting a new beagle magizine. When we came out of the Cracker Barrel Restaurant after breakfast, we saw airplanes hanging in the sky everywhere. I had never seen so many planes just seemingly hanging in the air. When we got in the car, the radio told the story and I remember a sickening empty gut feeling, even though we had just eaten. Well, sorry to say, we never got the privilege of meeting Mrs. Bev. & Ralph that day, as we hurried home to see that all was ok at the Plant. Concrete barriers were set up at the entrance and police guards were at the gates, checking every truck & car. It was the first time in my life, I didn't feel safe at home in the USofA.
Another song ask, "Have you forgotten"? No Sir, I haven't...Patch

[crewchf]

Right on the money Patch. I know that this war is splitting the country down the middle just like the one of a long time ago but we've got to hang tough for our KIDS SAKE. The more we split, the more body bags they'll try t fill!!! Happened that way in 1970 in the Nam. Charlie tried to kill as many of us as he could to fuel the anti war folks back home, just before big demonstrations. God I can remember seeing those kids dead at Kent State on the front page of the stars and stripes while I was in the Nam. The sick part is we laughed over it and got drunk!!!! We can never let our troops hang out to dry ever again like that. We have got to win this battle, no matter what the cost, in lives or money people!!!!!! No people in the Nam carried more body bags then C130 crews so I know all about what cost means in a war. Yes Patch, I remember that ugly day a few Septembers ago and the lose of all those brave souls will be with us forever!!!!!!

Take Care Everyone,
Crew Chief
Rich Piacentine
C130E 64 0508 (shot down at An Loc RVN 72)
834th Air Division RVN

[CountryGirlGa]

Patch
You are absolutely right about it seeming as though it were yesterday. On Aug. 14, 2001 I lost my dad to a tragic accident. The loss, despair, pain, denial, anxiety and unbelief of that horror, still rings clear in my heart and head. Although it was a time in my life never to be forgotten, what happened on 9-11 outweighs that ten-fold. Loved ones die and grief takes hold, but our lives go on, never to be the same, but go on we will. But what happened to our country remains a fear in us that does not lessen. The families that lost their loved ones will never be the same. It's a different loss though, then the one I faced with my dad, because this was a death for the entire world. I ask all of you to have a bond across the board. At 12:00 noon today, please pass this on to all, that we stop doing whatever we are doing and pray for our country and our troops and the world. If you don't believe in prayer, than at least think of the above. I truly believe that somehow, someway, our troops will feel our thoughts and our love and our support or them. I know all of you are caring and compassionate people or you would never have the love for nature and animals the way you do. With this I want to say just one more thing.......

God Bless America
God Bless our Troops

CountryGirlGa
Donna Piacentine

[BURKE]

WELL SAID DONNA!!! DERRELL BURKE

[Randy H]

I was on the road,I hear on the radio a plane has hit a tower I think to myself what kind of idiot would do such a stupid thing.Then I get home turn on the the tv just in time to see the second plane crash into the second tower. The rest of the day is kinda weird.That evening I went to the woods and the sky was so blue no planes or left over smoke trails in the sky from planes just a big blue sky.That night my little brother calls me military"U.S. ARMY" man he says we will get those bastards, he is still over there today for you and me tough as ever and believing in what needs to be done.So enjoy this great country cause we have some great men defending her.God bless

[Bopeye]

I was at my job standing behind Press #2 where Plateaubeagler's department is, when one of the guys from the Lab came up to us and said a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. I was shocked!!
Several of us went to the lab to listen to the radio when they said that a second plane had hit the other tower. Total disbelief as we all silently listened that we were under attack by terrorists. Then we heard the Pentagon was hit and that they didn't know how many more planes were in the air. We sat there all day long at work, listening to the reports on the radio, calling our families, getting tore up, but mostly it was just stunned silence.
I went home that night to my daughter, who had just turned 4 years old the day before and my new 12 day old son and held them both and cried. I cried for what seemed forever and just held my babies. I knew war had come and that our lives would never be the same. I recalled my mama saying she had cried when I was born in 1969 because I was a boy and she was watching young boys being killed every day on the T.V. over in Vietnam. She said she cried for those boys, their families and especiall their mama's who had given up their sons for our country. Now as I looked into my son's precious little face and understood what my mama had been trying to tell me, I promised him that daddy would go and die if need be, just so he could grow up in a safe and happy place.
That night I called an old friend, a recruiter from my old unit, the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, based in Tennessee and try to get back in, but he told me it would be impossible to get me back with the shape I was now in. My old unit is now in Mississippi training to leave for Iraq soon. Most of them I know and in some strange way I feel like I have let them down, by me not being there with them. They still feel like my brothers and I pray for them daily. One of them is expecting his second son very soon and he won't get to see him for awhile, but he feels the same way I do. He would rather go now and accept whatever his fate may be then wait and let his children have to deal with it. God bless every one of them.
If the time does come where they are desperately needing recruits and they slack up on some of their requirements, I hope they will take me instead of our young men and women. I'm just 35, but it seems like that's an old man to them now. Who cares if I'm fat to military standards, I can still fire a tow missile system and operate a Bradley fighting vehicle as good as I use too. Oh well, I'm getting off the subject. Talk to ya'll later.
I will pray at noon for our troops.

[Emery]

I was at home sleeping after working nights in Boise, ID. I get a phone call from my wife, she asks if I was watching TV. I thought, are you nuts? Why would I be watching TV when I should be sleeping? Well, I turned on the TV in time to watch the second plane hit the tower. I was in total disbelief. It was like watching a movie, but this time it was for real. My wife didn't get off the base that night, they basically made everyone stay on base. The only good thing I remember about that day is that my 3 1/2 month old little girl rolled over from her front to back for the first time that night. That milestone isn't a hard date to remember.

It has been 3 years now, but it seems like just yesterday that it happened. A lot has changed in this world since then. My hat's off to the people that continue to wear the uniform and to serve our country proud! Had things been different and Clinton hadn't made so many changes to our military, I would probably be 1 year from retirement. But that is another story.

Remember to wear something red on Fridays to show your support to our troups. To remeember their blood that was shed (now and before) and their courage under the worst of conditions.

Emery

[Dexter]

Great post Patch! We should all be praying and thankful for our soldiers who have fought to keep us free to be the nation that we are! I was getting off from my 24 hour shift when the first plane hit and watched as the second one hit. I sat shocked along with other firefighters as we watched the scenes unfold on the t.v. As one said earlier, it seemed like a movie except we knew this was real and happening as we watched. We watched as the firefighters, police, and emergency medical personnel responded to the scene and knowing that many of them were going into those buildings trying to do whatever they could to save a stranger's life!
I know that many of those who entered didn't live to talk about it but they did what they were trained to do! I am proud to be one of the many thousands that are there when others call for help, no matter the weather or the situation, someone is there to answer the call to help their fellow man in their time of need. I am thankful to God for the opportunity to work in a career that allows me to be able to help others that find themselves in need.
I am also very proud of our military, for doing their jobs to protect us and our rights from those who threaten our way of life! I pray for the families of those who have lost loved ones in this fight but we must recognize that we as a Nation must stand for what is right and protect our Nation from others who would destroy us!
God has blessed this Nation in many ways and we need to realize that we should be thankful for each day and use it to do good deeds for others not just worry about temporary things. I have family members in the military and I have other family in the Fire service, I am thankful for all the men and women who face the challenges each day! God Bless our Troops, our President, and all the members of the Emergency Services that serve their communities by risking all they have each day to serve others! God Bless America! Dexter Cook Driver- Engine 4

[Chuck Terry]

I was teaching a remedial math class and another teacher came by and told me the Principal had said that the teachers (at their discretion) could turn on their televisions. I asked what was going on and she said "apparently terrorists have flown planes into the World Trade Center". In my confused state, I asked, "where did they land them?". She replied they crashed them into the towers on purpose. Then my ignorance continued to show with the reply, "how did they get THEIR planes over here?". Her reply made the plot painfully clear and my heart went out to the victims and families. As I watched the news coverage unfold and tried to answer my students' questions, I knew our world (as Americans) had changed forever!

[shannon]

I will never forget that day

God bless America!

Thank you all in uniform, past and present.

[Bev]

I was flat in a daze. Ralph and I were supposed to meet up with Patch after his business in Indy, I had just put the first issue of TAB out (man that was nerve racking alone, lol).

My youngest son, Paul, had been in a car accident Sept. 1 and suffered head trauma, had a rather larger subdural hematoma on his brain and broken facial bones, and I was trying to nurse him back to his feet. I remember when we went to the E/N/T surgeons, opthalmologists, plastic surgeons and neurologists that next day, they kept playing it over and over on the TV in the waiting rooms. There wasn't any getting away from it, really. Ugh. Everyone was so somber, in shock even days later, and as badly for myself as I was feeling about Paul, all I could do was get down on my knees and thank God I at least still had him and he would be okay. I also thanked God we had a neighbor like Canada to allow us a safe haven until the immediate danger was over.

I wondered, too, if this would be an event that years from now would diminish in the minds of our people - like the space shuttle tragedies and things we don't speak much about any more, and I prayed that it wouldn't - that we would always remember, carry our scars - emotional and otherwise, and as a nation, never take anything for granted anymore.

Today we had a UKC World Qual. Event in Brazil, IN. After the entries closed, a kind gentleman from Missouri said prayer and we had a moment of silence for all those lost and touched by September 11, 2001.

God bless us all.

[oakhill]

I was in the middle of the rocky mts in a cabin with no phone and no tv. Drove out to pick up some stuff and called home. Spend the rest of the afternoon sitting in my car with the radio on and trying to figure out how the heck I was gonna get home. Hertz let me drive the car from Colorado to Ky and did not charge 1 cent extra.
Will always remember just like where I was the day JFK was killed. That is for the old folks on here.

[DRamey]

Crewchief, James, and Randy (tell your brother) Thank you all from the bottom of my heart and thanks to all who served and are serving in the military now. You have and are making it possible for me to stand in the pulpit without fear of having the door broken in. I never stand before a congregation without thinking about you and all that you do for us. I thank you on behalf of my children who will live, God willing, long enough to see many more of the benefits of your selfless actions than I will. I have a young friend that was once a Bible class student of mine who called me from Korea the other night. He said that when I would be entering the church building the next morning, he would be en route to Fallujah, Iraq. I prayed over the phone with him and shed more tears than I had in years. We have a dry-erase board that we write the names of people who have requested prayer weekly. I promised him that we would all make every effort to have his name on the board perpetually until we see him safe at home. God bless you all and God bless America.

[beagles gone wild]

I remeber it clear . I was getting ready to goto my first call of the day when a recieved a call to turn on the tv . I turned it on just in time to see the second tower hit . Lets not forget our service men and women who lost there lives to make this world a better place .

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/f ... asualties/

[AlabamaSwamper]

I was welding something, don't remember what, at Wilson Lock on the Tennessee River. All of a sudden someone called down to the shop and told us to get upstairs. The next few hours were filled with anxiety and fear.

Now, three years later, I still remember that day. Putting up timbers and posts to block everything off. I still have my opinions on the bastards and that will probably never change.