The Gun Counter

7 years ago today...

I woke up in my girlfriends apartment to see the TV in the living room on CNN and the VCR recording... It was about noon, so the events of the morning were being repeated from 30 different camera angles... After watching for a few minutes, I saw the announcement that the towers had fallen... My first response was a laugh of disbelief followed by the words; "He finally did it, the son of a bitch actually did it." I knew without a doubt who was behind it and ill never forget that feeling. I can remember Larry the Cable guy doing his 5 minute morning commentary on the local rock station in Orlando every morning, long before he got big. He used to pick on "Osama Aint Been Laid" all the time. I can also remember the FBI video analysis of the 1993 trade center attack and their conclusion that not only did they attackers want to bring the towers down, but had they parked their vehicles a mere one parking space to the right, they would have succeeded.

I had friends in NYC at the time that told me weeks later that they could still smell the death. But the worst part for me was having to deal with the FBI. You see, my girlfriend's roommate was an Arabic guy named Rishap in the US on a green card and was talking flight lessons at the Orlando municipal airport. I never did see him after the evening of the 10th, but I was questioned over the course of several days by the FBI wanting to know everything about him.

For a lot of people, it was something that happened on TV... For me, it was something that reached out across over 1400 miles to hit me right in the face. I never have found out if Rishap was involved in any way with any terrorist stuff. Frankly it wouldn't surprise me.

A friend of mine lost one of her daughters (Deora Bodley) on Flight 93. I remember being at work and we couldn't locate one of our employees who we knew was in the area of the towers. We eventually found him and his family okay, but little did I know another friend of mine had just lost her daughter in a Pennsylvania field. My dad lost several friends in the Pentagon.

I hope those hijacking motherfsckers are slow-roasting in hell!!

I had just gotten off of midshift and was hitching a ride back to the dorms with a buddy of mine when the announcement came over the radio. Matt and I kind of looked at each other and I think I made some comment about how it was probably Howard Stern being a dick again. When we stopped at the bank I saw that everyone's eyes were glued to a small tv in the corner and I realized that it hadn't been a joke. When I got home I packed my deployment bag and tried to get some sleep. After about an hour or so an SP pounded on the door and told me to be back at work at ten. The next few days were spent getting aircraft greened up, uploading armor, and going deployment checklists.

I was in Papua New Guinea at the time, and had arrived late to an orientation meeting- as my fellows had left without me. Right before I could complain about that I noticed eveyone watching somthing on the TV- the WTC on fire.

I had class at 0800 that morning. I had decided to skip it and go to the Union for a late breakfast. Myself and about 2000 other students silently watched the events unfold over bacon and eggs that got cold.

With damned few exceptions, I learned everything I need to know about Islam that morning.

I had come in from my workshop and flicked the TV on while I eat my lunch ( time difference from GMT )
The first plane had just hit. I was racking my brains as to how it could have happened, I'm an aviation buff and was trying to figure out the scenario which lead to the 'accident'. Terrorism never entered my head. Then it all unfolded.

Later I got sick of watching the footage being recycled, grabbed a rifle from the safe and went down to the fields to shoot a rabbit or two. It was a lovely day, really sunny and warm.
On the other side of our land, 1km across the valley, is an old church. By old I mean 900 years. The church warden had run the flag of St George up to half mast on the tower. A spontaneous gesture which moved me greatly.

I had never heard of Al-Queada or Bin Laden. I did however understand that someone had once again " woken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve " and there was going to be an almighty ass kicking to follow.

Highspeed wrote: I had never heard of Al-Queada or Bin Laden. I did however understand that someone had once again " woken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve " and there was going to be an almighty ass kicking to follow.

More's the pity, after Pearl Harbor, we fought a world war and wound up dropping the first A bomb to end it. Today, there are many who'd rather whine and cry and lick their nuts and blame it on US, saying we had it coming. Well, to HELL with them!

Darrell wrote:

Highspeed wrote: I had never heard of Al-Queada or Bin Laden. I did however understand that someone had once again " woken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve " and there was going to be an almighty ass kicking to follow.

More's the pity, after Pearl Harbor, we fought a world war and wound up dropping the first A bomb to end it. Today, there are many who'd rather whine and cry and lick their nuts and blame it on US, saying we had it coming. Well, to HELL with them!

The kicker is, we arent even finished with the first inning. For several years now I have been thoroughly convinced that unfolding all around us are the events that will eventually culminate in world war III. Sadly, im afraid that before it is all said and done, there are going to be dead in numbers never before imaginable.

I remember driving to work that morning and hearing about it on the radio and I thought...wow...a plane hit the world trade center - somebody really screwed up. Then they made clear that it was a passenger jet and I wondered how somebody could screw up that bad. Just before I got to work they announced that another jet had hit the other tower and it was right at that point that I knew it wasn't an accident...somebody had done that shit on purpose. Oddly enough, I worked in high rise office buildings at the time. It wasn't long before all the tenants went home...Tuesday was like a Sunday there - everybody gone. I tried to explain to people that high rise office buildings in Phoenix were a very unlikely target and it was perfectly safe there, but folks were freaked. I wasn't so much freaked out as I was pissed off. Fact is, I'm still pissed off...might never really get over that.

I was riding my bike to work at 9am PST and was wondering why it was so quiet. Not a person about, not a bird singing. Very curious. Until I got to work and someone told me what had happened.