I've been gone a while...some of the older guys might remember me.


I'm directly across the river in JC...we took people in on ferrys in my office building...I spent Tues running water cooler bottles and clean linens. Emergency workers came up stairs yelling first for people with EMT experience (of which we had several)and then any able bodied man who was willing to help out. Along with being warned "some of the things you will see will be very difficult" we were initially told to get ready to be there all night, but thank god, traffic was light and, as they say, the surrounding towns came a-runnin' and we were no longer needed.

Incidentally, I saw the 4 horrible things, which I don't really want to talk about, but have become known around here as "Boom Boom Fall Fall".

I'll probably post about it later, maybe not, I'm sure everyone's heard enough...

I have always wondered when others have faced tragedy if the thoughts and prayers made any difference... Well, now I do...They make all the difference in the world.

I work in financial services, obviously. We shuttle between our building and WFC/WTC daily. We lucked out...Out of 500 employees, none were over there. We do know we have lost many, many friends and collegues.

We were warned, when JC police finally had us evacuate, that there may be predators taking advantage. I am proud to say, all quiet in my neighborhood last night, and apparently that was the rule.

Last night, and today, I watched people working tirelessly outside of my office. People were told they would get a call to come back to donate blood, and to go home and rest. Hundreds refused to go, opting to wait. Read that again..THEY REFUSED TO LEAVE.

In the past I have been so pessimistic about our country. I won't expand on that right now, but the things I have heard and seen over the past 2 days, from people being loaded off yachts on stretchers onto the pier near my building to those bloodlines have brought me near tears.

Let me just wrap this up, like I said, I will probably go into detail later, like hearing a jet yesterday while out on the waterfront running towels and looking up in panic with dozens of others to see a US fighter of some sort flying over and feeling utter relief (what an odd thing for a non-military american...To feel he has aircover and to be grateful) to hearing a jet go over today, shaking the building, and seeing the color drain out of the faces of the skeleton crew we had on. But for now...

We DO feel your good thoughts. It is an intangible, but we know, even though we are millions, that we are insignificant next to the wave of over 200 million who are thinking of us and doing whatever they can to help. It is humbling, to say the least.

I saw this tonight, it's dumb, but god, it made me feel good. Take a look at what the most requested lyrics are on www.letssingit.com, the web's biggest lyric archive.


Last update was on 00:34:05 13/9/2001 CET.

Ranking

Popularity

Artist/Band - Song name


1  (1)  2.60 %  Lee Greenwood - Proud To Be An American
2  (5)  1.84 %  Lopez Jennifer - I'm Real (Remix)
3  (2)  1.55 %  Weird Al Yankovic - Bichney Spears
4  (3)  1.28 %  Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
5  (4)  0.96 %  Eve feat. Gwen Stefani - Let Me Blow Ya Mind
God Damn.

Live Free or Die.

Vass

Vass: I enjoyed reading your post.  It is break from listening to the those phony boloney news reporters with their fake smiles and tits.  This is from the heart.  I am never tired of reading these stories.  If you are up to it, tell more.

Don't get me wrong....I'm not miserably tortured or hanging on a cross like a martyr here....I carried water bottles. I carried towels. I saw some people who didn't look so good. Frankly, I haven't been through shit compared to the rest of em.

Impressions of the disaster? I was standing in the little coffee room by our offices that face the river. I saw a few guys gathering around, looking out the window. I saw smoke, thought it was a little fire on top of the WTC. Now, in the winter, and even in the summer, you see steam coming off that thing all the time, as you do on many buildings. I thought it was that, or a little fire. I started breaking this one guy's balls, "Whud you do?", Chris Farley-in-TommyBoy-style. He goes, "Dude, this isn't a joking matter". I kind of blew him off, went back to work.

Walking down there again, because there was still a crowd,and at this point, I heard it was a plane. I told the guy who works in the office next to me, "Dude, this is a terrorist attack." I thought that took no brilliance...there is NO WAY to accidentally smash a fixed wing craft into ANYTHING in Manhattan...Anyone who's spent time down there will notice it's Helos only, and they ALWAYS take a route over the river. Couple with that that it just "happened" to hit the tallest building in the city, and I think it was no leap of brilliance on my part. I got almost to the end of the office, could see the bottom half of the trade center (because I wasn't close enough to the window to see panoramic) and, I swear, this and the later screams will stay with me, I heard, "OH MY GOD" from a dozen throats...."What? What?"

"A second plane just hit the other tower."

This may be hard to believe, but I went right back to work. I knew what was going on, and there was exactly zero I could do. And, I think, a part of me was in denial.

People went flying by where I was at my desk a little while later.....I heard, and this is the sound that REALLY sticks with me, "NO! NO! NO!", my co-workers screaming. Alot of the girls turn away immediately and just staggered off, crying. Our whole building shook.

I went down the elevator, and looked across the river. South was gone. I could see, crystal clear, the flames on the north tower. Thinking about it now, I guess it's because they were so immense, that even from over 2500 feet away you could see individual tongues of flame.

I got on the elevator, and walked down the hall, and went to the window. The North tower was gone. In the time it took for me to ride up the elevator, it went from being on fire to just falling.

The boats in the river all slipped moorings. I was told later it was to pick up people who had been blown into the river from the air from the collapse.

After that, it was kind of a blur, until the EMS workers came in looking for help. Seriously, it sounded like an episode of MASH..."Get ready, wounded coming in". Utterly, utterly surreal. I am a frigging financial salesman. This is not part of the tour.

As for the rest, the post up top describes most of it. All of it would fill this whole board, as I am sure it would for others who were on my side. Those who are still in there, saving lives while risking their own, have stories that would last for 100 ar15.com's. Again, it isn't quite real yet. Like I said, I know I lost people I know. I do know that those very close to me are safe. My best friend was coming out of the PATH and looked up to see flames gush out of the South as the first plane hit and ran for her life. She is fine, but will not talk to anyone about it. I also know that a girl I know was in there, and she married one year and expecting her first child. I cannot get through to her friends because the phones here are a nightmare. I have left messages with her best friend and gotten no call back. I don't know if that means she has left the area to be with her family or what. There is alot that people don't know, and when I know that first name, I am sure it will become much more real than it is now.

God bless you lunatics over there fighting against the odds to find people. You're nuts, we're rooting and praying for you.

And again, thanks to everyone who is watching this nightmare and helping any way they can. It does help, and even a piker like me can feel the good will.

How do I get an MP3 of Proud To Be An American?

Heck, maybe I should just buy the CD.  What's the title?

The MP3 would be good for burning CD's though.

TIA

Vass,

Good to see you back and well.

Keep us updated

Our prayers are with You

Ed

I've been listening to the Lee Greenwood CD (which I've had for 3 years when I bought it on my own when I was 17) since noon tuesday.

Keep up the good work Vass, God bless you and all the others who are doing what they can.

Good for you.  I have been listening to the soundtrack of John Milius' movie Red Dawn by Basil Poledouris,  I think Geo. Dubya is gonna kick some a$$ soon.

Lee Greenwood should have thought about what being an American was about when he was dodging the draft. He is a spinless POS who makes money every time the song makes a comeback (usually during times like this).  This is for Lee Greenwood... [-!-] . He makes me sick....


[smoke]

btt

Vass, it is good to hear from you again.

I'm relieved to know you are safe.

You don't know me as I signed on last Dec. But I lurked for some time before that. I have always enjoyed your thoughts and comments.

God bless you and yours.

Take care friend.