Where were you on Sept 11, 2001?

**joecos** · Posted On: 9/11/2009 4:00pm

I live in Fairfield County, CT, in most respects a suburb of NYC. I was at the physical therapist's, doing rehab on my shoulder from rotator cuff surgery. The therapist was doing a massage on my shoulder when she got a call from her husband, who was working in the World Trade Center, that one of the towers had been hit by a plane but his tower was OK and they were telling them to stay put.

I can distinctly remember this woman telling her husband, "I don't care what they say, get out of there and come home NOW!" This was repeated several times during the conversation. Evidently he was smart enough to listed to his wife, because he was one of the survivors.

**Crushing Step** · Posted On: 9/11/2009 4:36pm

Wow, that was intense.

**tideliar** · Posted On: 9/11/2009 4:38pm

Wow...joecs that's intense.

I was on the back step of the biology building at Penn State, 3rd yr grad school, having a smoke break. One of the other grad students came up and told us someone had bombed NYC & DC.

I saw it on a news feed in the lab a bit later and felt really sick. It reminded me of the fucking IRA when i was growing up. I thought, "bad luck America...it had to happen eventually...but fuckin' hell, what a way to lose your cherry..."

Then my mum called from the UK asking if I was OK. I had to explain again that PA is a VERY big state and that the fourth plane had landed hundreds of miles away.

Still makes me feel sad. The next day we went to Gettysburg (a planned trip, lab day out), and I made my students look up and experience a sky free of contrails & jet wash for perhaps the only time in their life. Some of them got it...

**tideliar** · Posted On: 9/11/2009 4:39pm

Wow! That was an intense cross-post Crushing Step! :)

**joecos** · Posted On: 9/11/2009 6:21pm

My other connections to the WTC and that day:

At the time, my daugher was in the NJ National Guard as a 91B (combat medic). Her unit was activated and she spent the next couple of days at ground zero, providing medical care to the rescue personnel. After that she spent the next four or so weeks at the Fresh Kills landfill, providing medical care to the FBI guys who were pulling evidence and body parts off of conveyer belts as the debris was trucked in.

Her fiancee at the time, (now ex-husband) was just out of the army, previously assigned to the Old Guard. Had he stayed in he would have been at work at the Pentagon, his office was destroyed when the building was hit. He says his unit had just finished updating the plans on how to respond if the WTC was hit by terrorists again. They recalled him to active duty on an emergency basis, according to him there were only two people familiar with the plan and the other one was on vacation and the Army was having a tough time contacting him. They rescinded the recall a few hours later when they located the still active person familiar with the plans.

**Crushing Step** · Posted On: 9/11/2009 7:16pm

Originally Posted by tideliar

Wow! That was an intense cross-post Crushing Step! :)

Thanks bro.

I know the stories of people connected to the tragedy are more dramatic, but I do like to share my side of the story as its something people don't think about. Such and such happens, military responds. I wonder how often people imagine what it's like to be turned back into a war zone, or surge deployed, or stop-gapped, and what effect that has on the individuals.

But it's not about us, ultimately we volunteer for the job and are most happy when we get a chance to do it. I'm just a vet these days, but let's not forget we have some active duty Bullies out there doing their job right now.