I want to start off by saying hi to everyone. Its been a long time since i posted anything and i am sure there are quite a few members who do not know me.I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by Don Ross, he wanted to know how i liked my rifle. The rifle i am talking about is the one that the members collected the money to buy for several members of the board. Everyone calls them the HEROS RIFLES, but i dont. Please do not be offended by this. My reason for this is that i do not consider myself a hero. I dont think i did anything that anyone else would have done. Anyway, back to thanking everyone. When i told Don i did not hear anything more about it he was upset. He put me in touch with Tim Green, who was also upset. Well yesterday my friend called me and told me it arrived on Friday. I picked ip up yesterday. I cant begin to tell you how i feel. I will try to get a picture of myself with it as soon as i can. There is not a day that goes by that i dont think of Sept 11, or the 5 months i was working at Ground Zero. I cant believe its been almost 1 year already.There are many night that i stay up thinking about everything, and to be honest, it very hard to get some of  the things out of my head. Sorry for rambling on.  Again, i want to thank EVERYONE for what you did. I will treasure it forever. Please Stay Safe . SEMPER FI................JOHN

Quit typing, and get your butt out to the range!! [:D]

Good to see ya back.When are you going to get another batch of Thermolds?

No, John, I insist that you and the others are in fact heros. Sorry, I just doubt that most people COULD have endured what you guys did. THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Enjoy the rifle, and hope to see you at the next BRC.

Glad to see you got it they are something that words can never express. I hope you make it to the LI Shoot so I could meet you and shake your hand. Thank You for finding my friends and coworkers over those 5 months.

I will try my best to be at the next LI shoot. Yet can bet on me being at the next BRC. I am looking forward to meeting as many members as possible so i can start putting faces to the names. Thanks again everyone.............JOHN

Hey congrats buddy.  Glad to hear you got the rifle finally.  I'll have to let you know about Sunday.  It's the last day of my RDO and I'll have to see is I need the time to get homework done.

What he said.

Thanks for those kind words Striker, Thank You to ALL for the kind words and of course thanks
for the Rifle (I havent received it yet, but it should be soon!!!)


John, you should try to make it out to Calverton this Sunday, I havent seen you in a while.

Goatboy, make sure you keep us updates on that NYC trip/mini gathering!!!


Lastly, hello to Beekeeper!!!  How have you been buddy?  I havent spoken to you in a while.

Steven

John,  Thank you for all you did for your fellow New Yorkers and the rest of this Nation.  

Your Brothers in Georgia.

I feel that there's some things everyone should know about John and his role in the Search and Rescue operation on 9/11 .

To begin with it gives me alot of pleasure in seeing someone get such a worthy reward , John did'nt do traffic duty or perimeter security he is the real deal and risked his life countless times to save others . Not like some wanna be heroes that are telling some tall tales.


John was actually with me at the outdoor range when the Tangos hit us , he immediately mobilized and was at the towers within hour , from that moment John spent the next 8 days straight w/o sleep and rest never leaving the S&R operations . John was an integral part of a 10 man ESU rescue Team charged with confined space rescue. These are the guys that go INTO and UNDER the pile , John repeatedly rappeled( his specialty )deep down into the bowels of that inferno with the hope of finding someone alive.

He did this for FIVE months 12 hours a day 6 days a week , today we were looking at the newspaper and John got kinda quiet and when I looked at the article he was reading it was about a famed ESU Cop who had perished , John was upset not like one of us would be reading such a tragedy . You see John was the guy who found that famed ESU guy pulled him out of that waste and returned him to his family. He is unfortunetly haunted by so many horrible images like that......

One day about a month after John and his team had been pulled out of the hole they had rappeled down into because they had hit a spot where the temperature was 1200 degrees fahrenheit ( one month after) so here was john and his team in the assembly / rest area getting water and looking like a monster out of the deep when a little boy of about 9 years old walked away from his mom ( she was a firemans wife and was so desperate she came down to the site )this little boy came up to John and looked at him and said " Mister can you please find my daddy "

I know as John's friend that he lives with those haunting words every day of his life .

So when you talk about the Heros of 9/11 I can firmly tell you all that John led the way above and beyond......

You, Sir, are indeed a hero by any measurement. I am proud of you and your efforts following 9-11. I was a Paramedic for 12 years and was High-Angle qualified so I have a street tech perspective.

You, Sir, are a Hero.

Like he said.......The REAL deal.  My hats off to you John.   Thanks for everything that you did for us.  You went way above and beyond anything I could imagine doing.  

Steven

ColtM4, thank you for those words that describe someone I'm fortunate enough to call friend.  John is indeed, an American Hero.

Welcome home.

You can't see this but I'm saluting you.

your not welcome to the rifle, YOU DESERVE and EARNED it. [:)]

I want to start out once again by saying, THANK YOU, to everyone. I am still shocked at the fact that there are still so many supportive posts and responses. A few months ago I had recieved quite a few phone call from alot of people who i only know by name. I cannot begin to tell you how much the calls as well as the e mails and all the supportive post have done for me. I can still remember each message word for word. That is something i will have with me forever. I would also like to say how very sorry i am that i did not make the BRC,(it tore me apart not being there). I look forward to the next one so i can finally meet and thank everyone who gave so much support. I hope you dont get tired of hearing it but, Thank you all once again.As always, STAY SAFE. Your Friend......JOHN

God Bless You John! Thank You!

Welcome back Ronin45. Hope to see you at the LI shoot.

thats what makes a hero a hero, they don't think theyre really heroes. but we all know better. if i had known about this hero rifle thing i surely would have added my 2 cents, (not shure i could have afforded more) if i ever get the time off to do so, i would be honored to meet you and all the other "HEROES" of that tradgic day.

godspeed, you will never be forgotten. the_survivalist

Wow.  And just when I thought I was done getting misty-eyed over that tragedy.

John, God bless you.  You are truly a man among men.

MIerinMD

[i]The real democratic American idea is not that every man shall be on a level with every other man, but that every man shall have liberty to be what God made him, without hindrance.
—Henry Ward Beecher[/i]

John..Sitting here in front of my computer with a few tears for your pain brother....good luck and thanks

Thank you, Ronin.

John

Mere words can not express my gratitude to you and the other people that have given more that anyone has the right to expect of a public servant. I can only say from my whole family we THANK YOU and the others like you.
Please pass it on to those who are still suffering thru the aftermath of rescue and clean up efforts

John aka baddog

Thanks again to everyone for all the supportive posts, and TRUE concern. Its means a hell of alot. Like i said before, i truly cant wait for the next BRC so i can meet as many members as possible, and be able to say thanks to all of you in person. As always.....STAY SAFE......JOHN

Godspeed my friend.

I am almost speechless after reading these posts, but it would be wrong for me to not say thank you for what you went through.  My 3 sons (all under age 9 when 9/11 happened) prayed for all of you rescuers nightly.  It brought tears to my eyes every time to hear them.  You are who they have heard about for all these months and who they look up to as their heros.  Thank you.

Thanks you very much Martin. I hope that our children/ Grandchildren etc, NEVER have to experience this again. My kids had a very hard time with. My prayers go out to you and your family as well as everyone else. Stay Safe.........JOHN