Very late to this discussion but I do feel that our military may have shot that plane from the sky to prevent even more death and destruction as their third target was unknown at that time. That is the only event from that dark, horrifying day that I feel our government may not have been honest about, although as heartbreaking as the deaths of those passengers are, I also can understand the reason for that gut wrenching decision was to prevent an even bigger loss of life. Just my uninformed opinion and gut feeling.
( Hello from a fellow southerner)

You don’t see a problem with that picture? Since when does a plane just “drop” out of the sky like that and “explode”? There are no indications of the plane crashing to the ground (skidding of the wheels or even the direction from which the plane came in) even if the plane hit nose first the entire thing would have been obliterated and the tail wouldn’t have been laid so perfectly where it’s at in the photo. Grow a brain.

Ashely, thank you for your post. I was in Network Management Training in The Netherlands the morning of 9/11. We had gone over the depot, and were joined by other Network Managers and Sys Admins from Brussels, SHAPE and Cheever’s Belguim. The Network was done, then we told to return to our duty stations. As we parked our vehicles we stopped by the PX for minute to see if any new IT stuff or TVs were in stock. It was around 0900 that morning in Europe. The base was locked down and nearly mile long road leading to Schinnen was jammed with Vehicles being nearly strip searched as they were allowed entrance to the base. All I can say is we too experienced actual hostilities in the aftermath but all was kept quiet. We continued that lock down on base for months on end. We had to leave an hour early just to get to work on time.

I was standing there when all at once the TV Network broadcasting broke in to the regular programming. One plane had already it the towers. A second was shown as it crashed into the second tower. I got excited and yelled out, Hell Ya We’re going to War!”.

I knew immediately without a doubt war was imminent when that second plane hit because it was not an accident at that point, and shortly after another plane hit the Pentagon. My colleague from Cheever’s’ Belgium at the 36th Signal Battalion HQ lost her brother who was a Lt. Col in the Army. Later I with my lifelong friend who was working in the Pentagon and he had hand-carried a document to another office on the other side of the building when the plane hit his work area killing all of his co-workers. It is chilling to talk with survivors and their guilt from that day.. My friend was reassigned to work directly on the response team on how to deal with this terrorist attack. I know it happened as reported. I know the President sent a plane load of Saudi Royals out of our Country because they had diplomatic immunity even though some were guilty of involvement with the planning of 9/11. Diplomatic Immunity leaves the justice to the home nation of the foreign nationals thus we may never know whether the Saudi Government handled the situation. Our diplomats and military advisors at the highest levels of government dealt with he repercussions thus we will never know the outcome of justice.

Ashely, continue to seek understand of both sides of every issue. Be completely informed. When you understand you see the balance just as Lady Justice. Our youth need to learn the art of the debate. You went to DC and you had your eyes opened to the truth thus you changed your emotionally held beliefs to logical thinking. It hurts to find out a strongly held belief if not quite what you believed with all your heart and mind. But logic must balance emotion and mend the divide.

I joined the Army and Junior year as a paratrooper and did 20 years. I was working as a Dept of Army Civilian for 5 years when this event happened. When I was in Brussels I got picked up by the US Dept of State. Twenty-two years overseas and my wife and family 18 years. You mentioned you were in your second year of High School back then…. I really understand how you felt…. Your home town is beautiful and the AT has a start just past the Ranger Training Center. It peaceful on the Trail.