I had retired from the USAF two years prior almost to the day. My job afterwards was with a US contractor in Saudi Arabia. With the time difference, we were just getting off work and made the 18-mile drive from the Saudi base to the compound we were living in. Our routine was to turn on the TV to Sky News and see what was happening, and get dinner started. I turned it on, and saw the first tower on fire, with what seemed to be a cartoon imprint of a large plane on the side. Seeing the sky was cloudless, I wondered aloud "who hits a building like that on a perfect day to fly?" Moments later, the second plane hit. All four of us said "what the ****!!!" I remember saying at that moment "******* Saudis!"...which turned out to be eerily accurate.
We started making phone calls and watching the news, as the horrors only began to unfold. We were just zombies staring at the television, for what seemed an eternity. It was, and still is, the most horrifying event I've ever witnessed.
As the next day was Wednesday, a work day, the decision whether to cancel the next days' work schedule was discussed at length. We were to go to work.
No one wanted to drive the car for the morning commute. So I said I'd drive. I figure if we ran into trouble going in, I'd rather be behind the wheel. We had several "moments", but nothing I couldn't deal with. Got to work safely, though a little rattled. Four white guys in a sedan kinda stick out in Riyadh...
I'll refrain from discussing how the next few days went...
I think we all miss the world of 9/10.
