9/11/2001

I posted this on a forum a few years ago but will share it here:

I was in bed when the first plane hit, I had just finished my 3 day rotation of 12 hour shifts at the EMS. My wife was up and getting ready to go to work and turned on the Today show right after the first plane hit. She came in and woke me up to see what was going on. I was still a little dazed when I stumbled in just in time to see the the second plane hit. When I saw the size of the plane I knew right away we were under attack. I had read Tom Clancy's book and wondered if the White House would be next. I had 2 TVs at the time in the living room so I had 1 on FOX and the other on CNN. I called work to see if they needed me to come in (they didn't). Belinda left for work and I just sat at the computer reading different sites including Cinemayhem.com (before the days of bhd93.com), Fire-EMS.net, and SOCNET. I watched as the first tower came down and thats when the first tear rolled down my cheek. It didnt take me long to calculate how far the debri field would go and where I thought the Triage and Incident Command post had been. I had no idea how many were actually in the building at the time all I could think of was those at the triage center trying to help the wounded. I knew they were under it just doing what we do everyday. I felt really useless and wished I was at work doing something constructive. Dad pulled up just after the 2nd tower came down. Dads a Vietnam vet and doesnt do or show emotions very well most of the time. He came in and just wanted to make sure I knew what was going on and said he was glad I wasn't at work. He started crying and told me he loved me and left. I had to go to my Math 151 class that afternoon but I doubt I heard anything that was said. Mostly I just sat and turned my pager over and over in my hand hoping they wanted me to come in and do something, anything really.