Spent the night there(about 12 hours, which is a lot less time then most will NYC employees will be there. Just the Corpsman of my reserve unit were activated from 2nd Batt 25th Marines in Garden City NY.

The destruction is stunning. Every thing you thought you'd never see in your lifetime is right there. Destroyed, burned and crushed Police, EMS, and fire vehicles litter the street. The destruction extends for BLOCKS. We were told to stage at Broadway and Vessey, about 4 blocks north of the WTC but we were quickly moved to a foward triage area one block over from where the WTC tower one(?) used to stand. We watched FDNY personnel clamber over the rubble for twelve hours. Didn't see any bodies, we arrived at around 2100 and most of the ones in the street were either covered in rubble or had been removed. There was a PortAuthority cop who was buried in the rubble just to the north of us and they were working to get him out. I believe the got him otu around 8 or 9 o'clock this AM alive. EVERYTHING is covered in ash and rubble. The pile we stood in front of was about 60 feet high and extended across my field of vision. We staged right by Truck 10 Ladder 10's(first due FDNY units) station house. The roof was intact and the firehouse had been turned into a recuperation area and it was filled with resting fire and PD personnel.

There's fire gear on some of the racks, but everyone from that company is dead. There is a an ambulance in the bay, but the front was crushed in. It never had a chance to roll out for the job.

I talked to a fire fighter who was there after the first hit.He saw a woman jump from the 80th floor, fall, hit a lamppost and explode. He passed a women's hand in the street with a wedding rimg on it.

When we arrived it was dark. We began to walk to our staging area. The amount of diverting we had to do was stunning. EVERY corner we turned we had to backtrack and head further east or north to get around the collapsed buildings. The streets are covered in a layer muddy of soot, papers and debris anywhere from 6 inches to two feet deep. Our area was well lit, and we stood by as a casualty assistance team ready to move into the rubble pileinfront of us if there was an injury or they brought out anyone alive. No one in our area i.e. firefighters were hurt and they brought out no live victims.The bodies that were found, were just marked, and extrication efforts were reserved for potentially live victims.

I don't know what more to say.There were so many LEO, FD, EMS from paid and volunteer agencies there.There were also people that just stepped up to help, bringing food, water and supplies from trucks way aways from the epicenter into ground zero, when it was gone, they'd go get more, again and again and again.....

Around 0200 one of the FDNY guys found an American flag in the firehouse, fixed it to a pole about 8 feet long and fixed it to the top of the 10/10 firehouse. There was a loud cheer and applause from the crowd. I fought bacvk tears as I'm sure most did as well. Seeing the flag just floods your sould with so much emotion. Pride to see that we are working so hard and had accomplished so much in so little time, sadness for the victims and the tens of thousands that are affected, rage, hate for those that did this. Seeing the flag fly in such a desperate place/situation is the epitome of American spirit and will.

I'll write some more later. I have three rolls of film that I dropped off at the photo dhop this AM that I'm going to try and pick up tommorrow.

God bless evryone

God bless YOU Sherm, man I am glad you are OK.

You are stronger than I am.  I felt sick watching it on TV.  God bless you and the other rescue workers.

I raised a flag today and prayed for our nation as a whole.

God bless us all.

I came from there...I know the place wery well...now it's gone forever...

Here's the thing that struck me THE hardest. We were operating at the scene where under our feet lie (besides the thousands of dead civilians) 400-500 of my brother and sister EMS workers, fireman and cops. But everyone was all business.It hasn't hit yet. It hasn't sunk in, and you can't let it. And the ability of people to do this in the face of such a reality is amazing.

Besides all the professional and volunteer people at the scene, besides the PD, FD, EMS you have iron workers, heavy equipment operators, rigging specialists, engineers that are doing something, working at a fever pitch, in a situation where NO ONE would expect them to end up. If your a cop, firefighter, EMS worker, you live with the thought that one day the big one will hit and you'll be called on to do you job. But to say to a union welder, "I've got 6 bodies under this beam, start cutting" and have them just do it is amazing!

The other people that were wonderful are those that DIDN'T need to be there. Just everyday people off the street that grabbed a hard hat and started working instead of running uptown and never looking back. Crawling over rubble to bring food and water to us. Scavenging stores for edible food and getting it out to the rescuers.A few people commandeered a Burger King, well I shouldn't say commandeered but got it up and running, made a central supply area where they brought boxes of food, goggles and work gloves to, and distrubuted it from there themselves.

It really makes you think twice when you listen to people with such a dim view of the world and all that BS about people being inherently bad. This was one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen.

But then again, in Brooklyn, on Pitkin Av, a, uh, more unsavory neighborhood, the cops had to close all the stores because the local residents figured with all the cops out helping in Manhattan, it was time to rob and steal with impunity.

Most will do more than I did.

God bless them all.

Sherm

 Maybe, somehow, some of you can now relate to the innocent Japanese women and children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that didn't have anything to do with the war. That is if you prejudice doesn't get in the way. They just happened to be innocent citizens of a particular country. Just like us.

 And now others want to set off the nukes in retaliation that will kill tens of thousands of innocent women and children that have absolutely nothing to do with causing this tragedy.  Of course, it will be called collateral damage to disguise it and somehow pretend that this is perfectly OK, "only" when it happens to some other country.

And then we alls packs up the kids and goes to church to preach and prey(sic).  

If in fact the people were innocent you would be making a very good point. in my opinion the citizens of those countries that allow their government to let terrorists operate within the borders of said country are just as culpable as the terrorists themselves.


Aviator  [img]www.dredgeearthfirst.com/aviator.gif[/img]

My buddy Alan is with the National Guard out of Kingston, 147th I think.  He was a driver, wounded and injured to the hospitals...said he drove almost 900 miles, just in the city.  He's home for now, but said his sgt. told him they'd be back in 3-5 days for cleanup and security of the rubble.  He's my best friend...19 years old, and sall all that shit today.  That's the tragedy of this...and this is just the beginning.   -Marty

You have a misguided idea of what war is, an idea born of a false idealism.  Study some history.  War kills innocent civilians and it always has.  What makes Nagasaki and Hiroshima different from the WTC attack is that we were at a declared war with Japan at the time...we are not at war with Afghanistan or whoever.  Well, we weren't anyway.  We obviously are now.
When you go to WAR, you don't fuck around with half measures, you do what you must to achieve your goals, and sometimes in an effort to devastate a country's military and industry noncombatants are hurt or killed.
If you think you can wage a war without that, you're a fool.
If you think you can avoid war altogether you're a fool.

what RikWriter said
echo6

Exactly what RikWriter said.  We were not at war with them and they killed alot of innocent people.  The USS Cole was a rightous target. Its military and casualties are expected. We have declared war and everyone is far game.  I am extremely angry at you Levi and I hope you are happy with yourself when our boys die protecting your ass at home.

Keep safe Sherm.

The a bomb is the reason my grandpa got to go home instead of moving from Europe to Japan.  I am here today because of it.

sherm8404: Thanks for taking the time posting your impressions of the WTC catastrophe.  I know you are probably dead tired, and need of sleep. The talking heads on the TV news are running out of things to say and they are just repeating themselves and talking to some stupid people that have no new info.  When you get a chance please keep us posted.  BE CAREFUL!

sherm8404,
Thanks for your impressions out of hell, they are more informative than looking at the TV for hours.
I've printed them out and gave them to my son, so they can be used for his English lesson and much more this morning on his Highschool here in the Netherlands.
Thank You and God Bless

Sherm, I hope you don't mind.  I also copied your story for posting elsewhere.  With appropriate credit of course....

It's far more insightful than the feeds from the talking heads on TV.

Sherm,

I can relate what you're seeing there, even though nothing on a scale like this has occurred over here.

Stay safe, your posting your experiences now knowing full well your not telling all the details. It just works that way.

If you feel the need to do so, feel free to email me. That goes for anybody active in the NYC and Washington sites.

Keep talking about what you're seeing and experiencing.

Kuiper

And it is the reason why my father returned home from the Pacific in 1945 instead of taking part in the invasion, which would have resulted in at least 100k US dead and perhaps millions of Japanese dead.

To this day my father says if he hears anyone insult the US about the a-bomb, he'll smack him over the head with his walker. He was there and because of it, he is alive today.

War is hell -- it's best to get it over as fast as possible.

And the Japanese were hardly innocent.

BTT

God Bless and keep safe everyone involved.

Sherm, thanks for the heads-up. We appreciate all you and your shipmates are doing for America. Take care of yourself.

Freedom isn't free
Semper Fidelis
Jarhead out.
[img]http://www.inetnow.net/~kudzukid/enlemblem.gif[/img]

Thanks, Sherm.

A fellow American.

Sherm,
 Thanks to you and all the others who are doing all that's humanly possible to help in this time of tragedy.  You'll have a place in heaven because you've already been to hell.

Thanks Sherm, keep us informed, we really do appreciate it.

BTT for nite crew

Ah, yes, I'm sure that fifty-year-old toothless women selling vegetables on the side of the road are allowed to set policy for the Afghani government.  Just like their granddaughters are allowed to go to school.

And the Kurds in Iraq have the ear of Saddam Hussein whenever they want to make a statement.

And all those Iranian students who elected Khatami as their president can get Mullah Khamenei to open up to America at the drop of a hat.

This must be why Bush reversed the Assault Weapon Ban on his first day in office -- the gun nuts here all told him it was morally wrong, didn't we?  Eh, what's that?  We did, and he didn't?

Oh.  Oops.  Maybe ordinary people don't get to set government policy everywhere after all.

Sherm (actually any AR15.com member), give me a call next time you're at ground zero. I'm now working a 0400 X 1600 tour and if there is anything you need (sector car transport, food, place to sleep,etc.) just call my cell phone or contact me at my Pct.

Ray Q