Since this is the 10th anniversary of the official start of the Iraq War (Shock and Awe), where were you, or what were you doing that fateful day?
To start it off:
I was finally working as a surveyor's assistant on a highway construction project in Dallas. I had been laid off from being a systems admin/analyst back near NYC in May 2001. We survived off of unemployment, savings and cash infusions (from the community). When the cash started to run dry as most of the community were brokers and the like, were getting let go as 9/11 affected everything up that way... We moved back to TX (parents and in-laws kept on saying there were jobs down there - Right, there were none as Alkatel and Nokia dumped hundreds of jobs just before we got there).
Well back to it, I was a surveyor's assistant, doing bridge surveying (I'm not afraid of heights). We were on a break, sitting in the parking lot. All of crews were huddled around the various truck radios listening to the news. The build up to the war was catching everyone's attention. It was announced, as the crews broke out the cigars and flasks in celebration (Jr was finishing up Papa Bush's war), I just sat numb in the truck. I had been hoping/praying it wouldn't happen. I had been working at GD Land Systems during the first Gulf War. I had seen tapes and documents on what happened. This wasn't going to be a walk in the park this time. Not the 3 months and it would be over as everyone was saying.
I just sat numb all over.