Saturday

This was a day I will never forget ever.

I saw things that media never showed.

I was where the media could not go. Not like they did not try. We caught someone trying to sneak in with us at one point during the day.

I went to NYC with my boss from work(Mier) to do work. He is in the Army Reserves so he had the ability to get me through the tightening security in NJ and NYC. I worked accross the street from 1 Liberty Plaza in a Burger King. They have converted the building in to a command post/ food distrobution location. Our groups objective was to clean it up and serve food. I was specifically doing clean up and working to restore water to the upper level. On ground level of the burger king when we arrived it was a mess of equipment of the ex-BK, water, mud, dust, rotten food, donations, and people. I spent alot of time organzing food because it was just everywhere. One particular job I had was not a pleasant experience at all. They wanted to restore water to bathrooms upstairs. Someone must of been sick. Alot of people must of been sick because I have never seen so much toilet paper and crap in one toilet bowl before im my life. It was just insane. I had acid gloves on, and a respirator and I dug in. I almost vomited a number of times. It was just gross. It needed to be done so I did it.

I spent a deal of time around the city as well. We were parked about 6 blocks or so away from where we were working(like less 50 ft away from ground zero of building 7 and 100+ft from ground zero of the towers). I got to walk back and forth between these locations because I was in charge of giving all the people who were in our group thier ID tags. I made this trek 5 times and my feet were killing me. When you walk through the city especially when you get closer to the collapse you must have a respirator or at least a debris mask(doesnt help must) on. I did not wear mine enough because i was coughing up a lung at times. When you are inside the dust you really don’t notice it untill a helicopter flys by then dust gets in your eyes if you don’t put on goggles.

I saw what happened there. The tv does not show it all because they cant get in close to see it. The splash damage from building 7 is incredible. 1 Liberty plaza might as well of been hit because it is on the verge of collapse as I type. Windows are gone. Where the windows are gone you can see in from the ground and see the rooms are trashed. Drop ceilings annihilated along with the rest of the room. The dust on the ground makes concrete feel soft, its a creepy feeling knowing that you are walking on one of the tallest buildings in the world. The area is so dirty, there is trash everywhere and it is only getting worse from what I see. No one cares about that right now which is good because the primary target is to save some lives or at least get the bodies that they can out of the bulding. When I came home, my clothes smelled horrible, like dust, asbestos, and everything in that area of the city.

When I left the city that evening there were crouds of cheering people and stuff. It was something I have never experinced. Crouds of people cheering for the little work you volunteered. They gave us cold water, some offered us doughnuts. I was waving my little mini american flag as we were cruizing in my boss’s Acura SUV. I have never slept better in my life. I felt like I got hit by a truck.

I just wish I could describe what I was better. It was all the wreck everyone saw on TV plus the buildings around it. Just absolutely incredible the amount of damage. So many of the buldings there we be gone soon just because of such servere structural damage.

Another thing, people can be so good. These expensive resturants have opened their doors and are feeding workers. I ate in a place that I could prolly never afford. They were serving pasta and a really good salad. It made me proud to be an American and to be waving that flag, working to help the people save lives and help bring closure for others.

I think thats all that happened. I will definately add to this if I remember more. It was a day that I will never forget. It was an experience I was honored to be included in and I would never sell it for anything.