re: September 11

I'd moved to Long Island in the spring of 2001. I'd been in the City that weekend, and was at work. I'm an electrician and a FF/EMT, still a probie on my first FD at the time. We were listening to the local radio version of Bob and Tom, and they were making fun of a pilot not being able to see the Towers and we all thought it was a small plane. The GC cut out because his sister worked in the WTC.

When we left, I went to the FD. My Chief had recalled everyone from the department, and we had every apparatus pulled out and ready to go. He said he would only ask for volunteers, because he wouldn't assign anyone to go into that. I was 18 years old, no kids, hadn't even graduated the Academy yet, but I volunteered to go into Manhattan along with only 2 others. It was the most scared I've ever been in my life. My truck company Captain took several months off after that because of what he found during the rescue effort.

One of my Academy instructors was a Lt. on FDNY Rescue 2, and he'd taken vacation that week. His entire company, including the guy that filled in for him, were killed. He had serious survivor's guilt. I also had close personal ties with Jim Amato and George Dipasquale. I listened to the final calls and funeral announcements on the radio for months until I couldn't take it anymore. Funeral details. Fundraisers for widows and families.

I usually do the 9/11 Memorial Climb in full gear in San Antonio. We carry accountability tags for a specific firefighter that was killed. That little tag is heavier than the bunker gear and SCBA.

ETA: My chief let us that volunteered to go head home for an hour. I made two phone calls to my brother and my mother to tell them I was going into the city. My brother was a FF, too, and said he was proud of me. My mom begged me not to go. Two phone calls I'll never forget.

I was in 2nd grade at a small Catholic school. I remember an announcement was made over the intercom, and I think that was followed by prayer. We had a 10-minute recess every day at 10:00AM. I remember seeing an older kid I knew who looked like he had just cried. I wondered later if he knew someone that was in the attack. But maybe he was just unnerved like many were. I watched the news when I got home. I remember wondering who did it. Obviously, it would be years for me to truly understood what happened, if one can even understand something like that.

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TheGooner

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Respect.

I was 19 and hungover as all hell watching the news with my roommates. A friend called and woke us up

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Under that chunk was a kid’s leg that was wearing light-up Superman shoes.

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Woof. That's tough.

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No apologies necessary. Can't imagine going through what you did. Hope whisky & rambling helps. We're listening.

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Here’s another little story about a time that I came close to killing about 5-6 people there.

Never be afraid to stop something if you’re unsure.

My best buddy on the team (initials KL) was operating a skid steer one day. This particular skid steer had a claw on the front for grabbing debris.

KL called me one day and said that “they” wanted him to dismantle a large “mainframe” computer room. This room had a large bank of batteries behind it. Probably the equivalent of 50-60 car batteries.

KL was nervous about grabbing the batteries with claw because water and jet fuel was everywhere. I told him to wait and let me go talk to somebody.

I went to the FBI’s hazmat guy and told him the situation. This guy told me to go ahead because he was certain that the batteries were dead by now.

I knew this idiot was wrong but was afraid to say something because his shirt said FBI on it.

I went back and told KL to hold up and let me get the Arlington FD guys to “man” their hoses.

Once we got them in place I told KL to proceed.

He has burn scars today because of that.

When he grabbed those batteries, sparks went everywhere and in 2 seconds there was a huge fire.

KL barely got out of the skid steer in time. We burnt the shite out of that piece of equipment. (Sorry about everyone’s tax dollars as I spent a few of them that day).

I think I saw some of those involved in the attack. I lived about 12 blocks uptown from the WTC. It was near a little Pakistani deli that was popular with Pakistani cab drivers. At street level, there was a good view of the WTC.

Two males were on the corner observing the rising smoke. It wasn't a shocked or concerned kind of thing. One was a short, fit guy with a deep sun tan with the bearing of a commander. He wore an Afghan styled hat that looked expensive and well crafted. I looked it up the following day when the Internet was functioning again. It was definitely an Afghan hat.