One of 'our' scuba board members was in the World Trade Center

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Steve,
Very well written words. Thank you for taking the time to tell us everything.
As for your 'survivor guilt' please let it go.
We're all so happy that there were so many more survivors then not. It was dropped in my mail recently that almost 85% of the people in the towers did survive. If the towers hold 50,000 then this is true. Please correct me if it is wrong.
I don't mean to diminish the people that did die. It was extremly senseless for innocent people to die. But thank God many more did survive, then die, and their story needs to be told also.
:sunny:
 
Thank you for your story. I believe that it is a comfort to us all to hear a story of survival after all of the tragic outcomes that we are hearing about. I understand that the events of that day will forever be a part of your life but you must work on letting the survivor guilt go, but this will take time.

Our prayers are with you, the other survivors, the rescue workers, the victims and their families.

Chad
 
All I can say is WOW. Having someone tell you something like this really brings it home. It's great to hear about "good" news. May your God continue to look out for you.
 
Having been born and raised in New York, I had a few of my "peeps" down in that area, but thankfully none were lost or injured. As a naval reservist, I just got my callup for the 15th of this month, duration to be a year. (this could change 5 minutes from now) I say, "Just tell me what to do...". I have a few suggestions of my own as well.
 
Steve - I have just read this thread... what an amazing and frightening story; thank the gods you made it out unharmed.

Yours is the most detailed I have heard or seen so far. Thanks to Natasha for sharing it with us.
 
I read your post the first day you posted it, and I am very glad that you are alive and well. It is one of the most awful sites I have ever watched on the news to have seen those planes hit the towers, and then them to come crashing down. I work for a large dialysis company and we have clinics in New York. On Wednesday, September 12, one of our nurses e-mailed to all clinics that her husband was one of the missing Port Authority policemen. Today, we were e-mailed to tell us he was identified as one of the dead. It really hits us all in one way or another and more of us have connections than we ever could have thought. God Bless you and your family. Thank you for your post, Steve.
 
Natasha once bubbled...
Steve,

As for your 'survivor guilt' please let it go.
:sunny:

I have not posted on scubaboard recently due to some of the highly offensive posts that were appearing related to WTC. I suppose after two years the WTC attack seems like old news to people who are not in the New York area.

The current status in NY is as follows:

The site is now a huge hole in the ground. The debris has been removed, but nothing has been built there yet. The Deutsche Bank building (formerly Bankers Trust) which is across the street has not yet been torn down, but is so badly damaged that I expect it will be eventually. Bodies were found inside that building about 9 months after the disaster. I worked in that building for 5 years.

Of the 2700+ people killed, about 1200 were identified. Approximately 12,000 body parts remain to be identified and the plan is to continue with DNA testing for another year. Any body parts remaining at that point will be preserved at the site until DNA testing improves to the point where it makes sense to try again. Of the bodies that were identified, many were identified in parts and families were receiving remains in pieces. Funerals are still going on and will continue as long as bodies continue to be identified.

The transportation system in the city is still disrupted. The PATH trains which provided service from NJ to lower Manhattan have not been restored. It appears that it will be another three years before transportaion is completely back to normal. I get on the train each day at Summit, NJ to get in to work. There is a small memorial at the train station for the nine Summit residents who were killed.

My co-workers, most of whom were at work on 9/11 on various floors in the 60's, and I were in temporary quarters for over six months. Keeping everything working was a challenge, but we succeeded. Due to the continuing problems in the securities markets, about a third of them were laid off during the latter half of 2002. Many of these people had also been through the bombing in 1993.

We now have new offices near the Holland Tunnel, about 1-2 miles north of Ground Zero. It is not clear whether we will be staying here, or moving again. The current space is not considered permanent. We seldom talk about the disaster amongst ourselves, but 13 people from our company were killed. The last one died on 12/31/01 from his injuries. He was a 76 year old man who liked working and had chosen not to retire.

For those of you who have had comments like the one above, I am sure you mean well, but survivor guilt is a normal reaction to the experience my co-workers and I have been through. To not experience survivor guilt would be abnormal and would indicate severe psychological problems.

To those who have written some of the callous recent posts I found offensive, I suggest you visit Ground Zero before displaying further insensitivity by writing anything further on the subject.

To the regulators: If you don't like this post, then remove the whole thread. If my story is interesting enough to be here, then it should be here in full.
 
Hi Stephen,

Personaly, I see absolutely nothing wrong with your posts but I have missed any previous deleted entries.

I was woken up that morning by a telephone call from my syster in Riverdale (I work from 3-11 PM so I usualy get up at noon...) to let me know what was happening. I turned on the radio to listen as I had recently moved to Hoboken and didn't have cable installed yet.

I lost a few friends and coworkers in the towers on that day and had been there myself to work on a clients computer systems only a week or so before.

My other sister was on her way downtown to the towers when the subway stopped and it was announced that it would not be moving again. She came up the stairs to the surface to look south and see the toweres in flames.

She had been on her way to an appointment there that morning, had overslept, and was running very late (thankfully).

My roomate had quite a few friends who worked in the towers. From the office in Jersey City, he listened to the secrataries scream when they saw each tower fall out the window (a few of them actualy saw the 2nd plane hit). He went to see a therapist for a year and a half afterwords to work through everything that happened that day.

I still have the e-mail he sent to the "announcement" group (the whole company, including everyones cellphones) that morning before the 1st tower fell but after the second tower was hit.

He was referring to computer systems/networks we manage for our clients and that everyone should be ready to help out in the crisis but it turned out to be more prophetic then he had intended.

Here is what is still saved on my cellphone from that morning:

(WTC towers down) - hit by planes, & pentagon bombed. -<his initials> 9:50 AM 09/11

The first tower fell not long afterwords...
 
Dear Steve,

I read your post for the first time, today. It chilled me to the bone. Like it had just happened. I watched it on TV that day & cried my heart out when I saw the 1st tower collapse, followed closely by the 2nd.

I think about those events everyday. I didn't know anyone who had been there. You are actually the only first hand account I've encountered. I am still moved to tears when I think about that day. I do not consider WTC old news.

I am sorry that this tragic, horrible event has now become a political debate.

I can not even imagine how it has changed your life. Thank you for posting an update for us. I was not a member on the board then and would never have found this thread if you had not revived it.

I wish you well, now & in the future.

Karen
 
I use to work at 5 WTC.
I was working in NJ that day.
I lost a lot of friends just like everyone else around here.

Now I work on Broadway by Wall.
I'm forced to drive to the Hudson and take a ferry.
When I look out my window there is still dust on the ledges.

Every now and then I eat my lunch in Battery Park under the globe fountain, just like the old days.
 
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