9/11 remembered !!

I was teaching.  We were sent an e-mail with a link of the news footage of the towers and told very specifically that we could not say anything to our students.  It was such an odd day...knowing what ha happened, knowing that it would have some very difficult effects on our students in the near and distant future, but not being able to tell them
 

Just returned with a load of freight from the east coast. Walked into the living room, turned on the TV and watched in total disbelief. The return trip that night was the most solemn ride that I have ever made.

NEVER FORGET...........

I was assigned to the Westchester County Police Academy and after dismissing the recruit class I was ordered to take the police launch to a point mid Hudson river off of Indian Point Nuclear facility.  Myself and another officer remained there until we were ordered back to shore shortly after dusk.  Couldn't help but wonder what in God's name would we have done if a plane ditched into one of the cooling towers at the plant.
I too was part of the rescue/recovery effort the next day 9/12/2001.  I responded to the World Trade Center with the CO of the Academy with a few other subordinates in the department's armored personnel carrier.  I'll never forget the sights, sounds and smells of that fateful day.  No picture or video could compare to what I observed that day. 
God bless those who perished and those who gave of themselves the days, weeks and months that followed.   

I was working on mosquito larva sampling as part of the response to West Nile Virus, had the radio tuned to one of those prerecorded smooth jazz things.  Finished my run, went back to the lab, the Community College next door was a stream of cars leaving, and the parking lot of my building, which also housed the Medical Examiner, was nearly empty.  I went into the building, and my supervisor came up and said: There has been an attack on the World Trade Center, both towers have fallen, and we have been ordered to evacuate.  I told her that there were still two field techs out, no radios in the trucks, and I was not going anywhere until they returned and we processed their samples.  The microbiologist was also still there, and did not want to abandon the rest of the day's work as it would cost 6 people another day to collect all the samples  again.  She said to suit myself, wished me luck if they hauled me up on insubordination charges, and went out the door.  The bacteriologist and I did the PM reads, the techs got back and we processed all the samples, and then we all left about 2 PM.  The four of us are still working, the supervisor is long gone.  While I could not go to NYC, I knew that as a public servant, it was important for me to do my job where I was, but that was how my folks raised me.  Now we're all trained for response whether it is a flood or a hurricane (Remember Binghamton a couple of years ago) or a disease outbreak.  Even after I retire, if the feces start hitting the rotary air mover, I'll be grabbing the pack and heading for a duty station.  For the Memorial Service, I refused to be compensated to attend and used banked time.  As Fichy points out, WE ARE AMERICANS!
 
L13

I was a computer guy for a school system in north Jersey. I remember going to the h.s. And seeing a bunch of teachers huddled around a tv in a break room. Saw the second plane hit live. Some teachers knew people that worked in the towers and a few parents of students in my schools were killed. I was also a volunteer fireman and covered down for Paterson FD while they were in NY to assist. It was a crazy time and it will always be vividly etched in my memory. Never Forget!

Americans value fair play, respecting your foe, being above board and all the things terrorists ain't. That's why snaggers don't fare well on this board.  Snagging is the cheap shot.  Strange analogy, but it works.