OT: 9/11 - 15 Years

[Donnie Shulzhoffer]

Anyone who does not stand during the National Anthem on this day is not very intelligent.

 

[Strange Universe]

I will not go in great details other than I was in the law enforcement field (Federal level) at the time in Montreal and we all became inundated with work and assistance that was much needed by the USA citizens and all levels of American authorities.
We were working tremendously long hours to do our due diligence in aiding the the US authorities with all aspects of info. we could hand over.
This horrific tragedy was so grave and brutal to say the least but what I learned from all of this as we became more and more involved in assisting the USA authorities and the people of NY is how strong and resilient the people turned out to be.
Together they stood and together they were able to move on once again.
God Bless!!

 

[SPV]

Two stories I've read in the last couple of days:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...8cddbc-d8ce-11e0-9dca-a4d231dfde50_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...5-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html?tid=a_inl

I'm a day late, but that second story really gets me.

It was such a tragic event and it certainly changed our world forever. What I like to remember most is how much nicer it was for a while after the attacks. People had their flags out, and they were nicer to each other. Everyone just wanted to be there for others, and help each other.

I tell my kids every time something bad happens, there are way more people in the world that want to help each other, and do the right thing then there are those that want to hurt people. On this day every year, I'm reminded of that feeling of togetherness we all had; and miss it.

 

[hoss75]

A lesser known story of 9/11 is that of Rick Rescorla, but it does the most to restore my faith in humanity.
The abbreviated version was that after his extended military service dealing with guerilla tactics in Vietnam he knew the WTC was vulnerable and likely to be a target. After the first WTC attack in '93, he knew that there would be another and it would be bigger.
He became Director of Security for MSDW later on and recommended they move the offices out of the WTC. Since they didn't he set up shop there to train all the employees how to evacuate in an orderly and timely manner. His bosses pressed him to not have evacuation drills every few months, but he refused.
When he got terminal cancer he continued working, planning on leaving when he managed to leave someone in charge that took security as seriously as he did.
When 9/11 hit he managed to save all but 6 of the 2,700 + people he was charged with. He was last seen on the 10th floor going up.

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/141821

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/rescorla.html

 

[Fenway]

About a month later the Bruins had their home opener and Ray Bourque's number was being raised. There was a loud bang and the Garden lights flickered and for a few seconds 17,000 people froze in fear.

It turned out a generator exploded a mile away and it was quickly dealt with but I knew then that our world had changed forever and it would never be the same again.

TRANSFORMER EXPLODES, CAUSING OUTAGES
[THIRD Edition]
Boston Globe - Boston, Mass.
Subjects: Transformers; Power supply; Electric power plants; Fires
Author: Fran Riley, Globe Correspondent, and Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff
Date: Oct 5, 2001
Start Page: B.6
Section: Metro/Region

Douglas Belkin and Sarah Schweitzer of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

A transformer at a Charlestown power plant exploded last night, shooting huge flames skyward and cutting power briefly to thousands of homes and businesses, including the FleetCenter, and some Internet customers of RCN.

The federal courthouse was evacuated after the 7 p.m. explosion, which caused a two-alarm fire at the Mystic Station near Sullivan Square. Workers were evacuated from the electric plant, which is owned by Sithe Energies.

One firefighter suffered a hand injury as reinforcements from Boston, Somerville, Everett, Chelsea, and the Massachusetts Port Authority converged on the plant, where they used chemical foam to squelch the electrical fire.

The impact of the surge throughout the metropolitan area lingered far longer than the brief loss of power. At the FleetCenter, the Jumbotron went black just as Ray Bourque was about to be honored for his Bruins achievements. New England Sports Network, broadcasting the game and the ceremony, temporarily lost its signal.

In Cambridge, the surge caused a pump to malfunction at the water treatment plant, triggering a flood inside. Emergency equipment on Fresh Pond Parkway created traffic snarls.

But the question that came to so many minds, in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was whether someone started the fire on purpose. Firefighters said, however, that there were no signs of arson.

"I heard a big boom and I thought we were being attacked," said Robert Ventullo of Everett, who was eating a Big Mac in a McDonald's about 500 yards away.

Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said the fire occurred in a secure area where public access is barred by fences. He said the outpouring of firefighters and trucks was standard, but Massport was called because of its foam supplies.

 

[DKH]

Remember Bruins former first rounder

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/escaping-the-horror/article4154245/?service=mobile


As Cimetta raced down the stairs, he wondered whether he was heading into the fire. "It felt like we were animals inside a burning barn," he said. "My heart was racing. My knees were shaking. Women were screaming. I thought I was going to die."

 

[BNHL]

Remember Bruins former first rounder

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/escaping-the-horror/article4154245/?service=mobile


As Cimetta raced down the stairs, he wondered whether he was heading into the fire. "It felt like we were animals inside a burning barn," he said. "My heart was racing. My knees were shaking. Women were screaming. I thought I was going to die."

Wow,half an hour to get down 6 flights,very very lucky he didn't wait any longer. Still,there's a theory that the buildings were wired or prepped beforehand.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

As unbeleivable as it sounds......good can even come from such a tragic event.....

Not sure if I shared this before but in the winter of 2011-2012, I was coaching my daughter's 5th grade, in house basketball team. And we weren't very good.

We had a playoff game the Saturday before the Pats-Giants Super Bowl (In Indy). Thursday before the game we had practice and as the girls were gathering their stuff after practice, I made small talk with one of the players fathers. (One of the few kids/families that I didn't know well).

I asked him what he thought about the Super Bowl and he told me he was going with his brother and friends. I then asked whether he was leaving Friday or Saturday.....he said....actually I'm leaving Sunday a.m. and if it all works out, I'll make it to the stadium just in time for kickoff.....said he didn't want to miss his daughter's game on Saturday.

Needless to say, I thought he was crazy....our team was terrible and would lose by at least 10 points, but I told him I'd see him Saturday and I hope he had a great time in Indy.

Now....a couple of times during the season, my mother asked me who the guy was, because he looked familiar to her. I told her his name but it didn't ring a bell. She googled him and the morning of the playoff game, emailed me a link to a news interview that he was the subject of.

Apparantly, he barely made it out of one of the towers...for more than a day he couldn't reach his wife, who was close to giving birth to the little girl on my team, and he had a toddler at home.

During the interview he talked about how his whole attitude changed that day....how he didn't think he was a good husband or father and vowed to be one. He promised that he'd never miss a game, concert, recital, play, etc.

After the SB I asked him if he made it on time and he said he missed the first quarter, but he didn't mind because he got to see our playoff game....(we lost by 15 or 16).

One of the most inspiring guys that I am fortunate enough to be friends with. I see him at every event in town, in fact even after his daughter stopped playing basketball, he would pop in to one of my daughter's games, just to say hi and see how the girls were doing.

Wow. What a great story. I have seen life rattling events in which death seems almost like a foregone conclusion really change people for the better. A couple of people I am thinking of really grabbed hold of their priorities and live extremely fulfilling lives after surviving cancer. Realizing the the fragility of life and all that you take for granted is downright scary, but as you shared here in this story, can be a long term positive.

I still remember so many of the tiny details about that day. I was in eighth grade and had a really tough time comprehending the magnitude of what happened. We weren't one of those schools that had an administration which sheltered us from the day's events (schools that did do that were making a huge mistake, IMO), but it took me a long time to really wrap my head around all of it. I grew up in Harvard, a rural town about thirty miles from Boston and had never lived anywhere else. I hadn't even been outside the US and Canada at that point. I had heard the word "terrorism" maybe once or twice ever in my life. As much as the entire nation was sheltered in a big way from a lot of the world's evil prior to 9/11, kids who had the upbringing I did were sheltered even more. To this day, I wonder in what ways my personality was affected simply from experiencing the event from afar. How would I/all of us have been different had that day not occurred? Don't mean to sound so focused on myself for a day that hurt others so, so much more, but I do wonder.

 

[sarge88]

Wow. What a great story. I have seen life rattling events in which death seems almost like a foregone conclusion really change people for the better. A couple of people I am thinking of really grabbed hold of their priorities and live extremely fulfilling lives after surviving cancer. Realizing the the fragility of life and all that you take for granted is downright scary, but as you shared here in this story, can be a long term positive.

I still remember so many of the tiny details about that day. I was in eighth grade and had a really tough time comprehending the magnitude of what happened. We weren't one of those schools that had an administration which sheltered us from the day's events (schools that did do that were making a huge mistake, IMO), but it took me a long time to really wrap my head around all of it. I grew up in Harvard, a rural town about thirty miles from Boston and had never lived anywhere else. I hadn't even been outside the US and Canada at that point. I had heard the word "terrorism" maybe once or twice ever in my life. As much as the entire nation was sheltered in a big way from a lot of the world's evil prior to 9/11, kids who had the upbringing I did were sheltered even more. To this day, I wonder in what ways my personality was affected simply from experiencing the event from afar. How would I/all of us have been different had that day not occurred? Don't mean to sound so focused on myself for a day that hurt others so, so much more, but I do wonder.

I was working in the same program for emotionally disturbed kids that I do now and we had a long meeting to try to figure out how/what to tell them.

Difficult times for everyone, but probably a lot more scary for kids who already suffer from emotional trauma.

 

[Fenway]

I was working in the same program for emotionally disturbed kids that I do now and we had a long meeting to try to figure out how/what to tell them.

Difficult times for everyone, but probably a lot more scary for kids who already suffer from emotional trauma.

My son was 9 when it happened and he has Aspergers.

A year earlier we visited Manhattan and the city did not phase him one bit. His Mom was at meetings during the day so myself and a friend showed him NY and we went to the WTC observation deck and I shot a lot of video up there.

For years afterwards he would just look at that tape over and over and not say a word.

 

[sarge88]

My son was 9 when it happened and he has Aspergers.

A year earlier we visited Manhattan and the city did not phase him one bit. His Mom was at meetings during the day so myself and a friend showed him NY and we went to the WTC observation deck and I shot a lot of video up there.

For years afterwards he would just look at that tape over and over and not say a word.

We had around 100 kids in our program at the time (150 now).


Huge range of responses.

A small numer of kids were autistic, but most suffered from PTSD, ADD, Bi-Polar, etc.

It was difficult for most to understand and feel safe again (if they ever did, given their pasts).

At the same time it feels both like yesterday and a hundred years ago.