I turned on the tv in my dorm room and saw video of the first tower and I was pretty shocked, when the second plane hit I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
I went my classes for the rest of the day and didn't get back to my room until about 10pm to about 30 messages on my answering machine from friends and family asking if my mom was ok. The last message was from my dad saying my mom called and she was ok.
I didn't know my mom was visiting NYC at the time of the attacks, it was pretty surreal going from confusion, to panic and then relief in about 10 minutes!
I was on my way to work..(NYPD Seargeant in Brooklyn) driving down Atlantic Ave (with Manhattan behind me) listening to, of all things, Howard Stern. He was talking to a stripper (or one of his regular female guests, when Robin jumps in with news that a plane crashed into one of the towers.. at first they werent sure, so they call Howards stylist (Ralph) who lives in Brooklyn and apparently has a view of the city from his window.. As he looks out, he starts screaming on the radio, and at that point I knew there was some validity to the story.
I proceed to call the precinct, and one of the cops tells me its true that all personnal are being mobilized.. I look in my rearview mirror towards the city and i see the tower smoking..(a cold chill hits me) I hit the gas and get to the Precinct in minutes.. after "hijacking" a Time Warner cable guy to quickly run some wires, we have a "command center" with TVs set up in front of the desk. In the next few minutes we are loading cops into vans, cars etc and racing to Manhattan.. For the next 4 months, I am working at Ground Zero, Manhattan, the landfills etc, doing a multitude of tasks, from "bucket brigades" to search and recovery, to security details etc.. Many of the original Polycounters had messaged and Emailed me and it was a while before I had time to respond and let them know I was OK and what was happening at GZ daily.. I posted pictures and vented my fears and fustrations with many fine people here whose kind words helped me through a tough and emotional time...
I suffered a bad back injury back then, one which required surgery and i was laid up for months.. 5 years later, with a pregnant wife expecting shortly, I suffered another back injury at work ( also requiring surgery (soon)) and I can't help to think back every so often at all the things Ive seen and experienced in those few short months and how it forever effected me...
I was at id, in early, working on one of my last maps for Q3 Team Arena. milla saw that I was on and messaged me via ICQ to check the news and find a TV. There were a few others in early that day (I think Ken Scott was one) and we watched the proceedings the rest of the day.
I also remember that there was a lot of of concern for Hunter, because he essentially went missing from the forums for a while and as his job was no secret, we were all worried that he was a victim of the event.
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I went my classes for the rest of the day and didn't get back to my room until about 10pm to about 30 messages on my answering machine from friends and family asking if my mom was ok. The last message was from my dad saying my mom called and she was ok.
I didn't know my mom was visiting NYC at the time of the attacks, it was pretty surreal going from confusion, to panic and then relief in about 10 minutes!
I proceed to call the precinct, and one of the cops tells me its true that all personnal are being mobilized.. I look in my rearview mirror towards the city and i see the tower smoking..(a cold chill hits me) I hit the gas and get to the Precinct in minutes.. after "hijacking" a Time Warner cable guy to quickly run some wires, we have a "command center" with TVs set up in front of the desk. In the next few minutes we are loading cops into vans, cars etc and racing to Manhattan.. For the next 4 months, I am working at Ground Zero, Manhattan, the landfills etc, doing a multitude of tasks, from "bucket brigades" to search and recovery, to security details etc.. Many of the original Polycounters had messaged and Emailed me and it was a while before I had time to respond and let them know I was OK and what was happening at GZ daily.. I posted pictures and vented my fears and fustrations with many fine people here whose kind words helped me through a tough and emotional time...
I suffered a bad back injury back then, one which required surgery and i was laid up for months.. 5 years later, with a pregnant wife expecting shortly, I suffered another back injury at work ( also requiring surgery (soon)) and I can't help to think back every so often at all the things Ive seen and experienced in those few short months and how it forever effected me...
I also remember that there was a lot of of concern for Hunter, because he essentially went missing from the forums for a while and as his job was no secret, we were all worried that he was a victim of the event.