Years before I had met several members of Engine 54, 4 Truck and Rescue 1 at a swap meet. Cool guys. None of them survived 9/11.

Tuesday night I got a call from one of the guys on my old department. They had gathered a contingent and were heading to NYC. My response was "I want to... " I never finished the sentence as the response was "We'll have gear for you" and a pick up place was arranged as they passed through the area on the way. I told my boss the next morning I was leaving Thursday for ground zero and wasn't sure when, or if I'd be back. He had no issue with it. I got a call that evening letting me know that they had been contacted late afternoon and told to hold as thousands of guys from FD all over the east coast were flooding in and they couldn't coordinate anymore responders.

We reluctantly stood down. Thinking about that call makes my eyes well up more than anything around that event.