I am a retired U.S. Navy Submariner. On 11 September 2001 I was stationed aboard the fast attack submarine USS Toledo (SSN-769) out of Groton, CT. We were getting underway that morning for a training exercise in The Tongue of the Ocean/AUTEC range. A few hours into the trip, the Navigator asked me to prep charts for transit to the Mediterranean. I asked why and was told that we might need to change out our exercise weapons with live weapons. About that time the commanding officer came over the loud speaker and told the crew that the U.S. had been attacked. We later found out that ships and submarines all along the east coast had to sortie out from port because of the attack.

We continued on our training mission to AUTEC and when we arrived, a few days later, we had people come onto the boat with newspapers, magazines and VHS tapes of the news coverage. We were taken aback with jaws dropped as we watched what we missed.