SPARTAN PERFORMANCE CROSSFIT SUFFOLK
The 9-11 Throwdown
2001 meter row
36/24in box jump
125/85 thruster (deaths @ pentagon)
burpee chest to bar pull ups
175/120 power clean (AA FLight #175 (south tower))
hand stand push ups
2 pood/1.5 pood swings
toes to bar
170/120 lb DL (Flight 77 and flight 93)
110/75 push jerk (number of floors in each tower)
2001 meter row
(We may modify the row at the end of the workout to a mile (1600 meter) run.)
Lisa was sent down to Ground Zero to take photos on this day. After her regular tour of duty she would return to the "Pile" to "look for my friends".
THOUGHTS ON SEPTEMBER 11TH
by George Demetriou
On September 11th my thoughts, like the the thoughts of millions of Americans, are on the attack from ten years ago and on the people who lost their lives.
I think of my brother and sister NYPD officers who were not obligated to enter the Twin Towers, but did so selflessly anyway because of a sense of duty and of those who never came out.
I think of Detective Viggiano who was an Academy mate, winner of 3 close range gun fights with drug dealers, but was killed by enemies from afar, murderers who were already in hell by the time Viggiano lost his life.
I think about Sgt. Gillis, a childhood friend of my wife, who was on his way home, off-duty, when the attack occurred. Rodney went to the Towers anyway. All that was recovered was some of his equipment.
I think of the horrible images of seeing people jumping from the Towers and the one documentary where you could hear bodies hitting the building or the ground.
I think of standing before the "Pile", awestruck, looking for something that resembled a piece of office furniture, or anything that would connect the destruction to the fact that people worked here days before and seeing nothing, but smashed steel and concrete, trying to deal with the fact that the "pile" was once the World Trade Center.
I think of my wife, working in NYPD headquarters for her regular shift then walking down to the "Pile" because she had to "find my friends". She never did. She was diagnosed with something called RADS (Reactive Airway Dysfunction) shortly after working at Ground Zero.
I think of the people who paid the ultimate price just for showing up at work on a beautiful September day.
I think of the children who had their mother or father taken from them.
I think of Tommy from my hometown. We went to the Academy together, but Tommy left the Police Department and went to the Fire Department. He entered the Towers and like over 300 of his fellow firefighters, never made it out.
I think of the Port Authority Police Officers and the Court Officers, many who came from other locations or from home and paid the ultimate price.
But I also think of the way the people of New York came together to help others.
I think of the groups of people on the West Side Highway who would just stand there for hours cheering us on and thanking us whenever cops went by them.
I think of the response by volunteers from the suburbs, other states and Canada. They brought food, medical equipment, search equipment, search dogs, but mostly they brought love of their fellow human beings.
I think of volunteers, David Karnes and Jason Thomas, two retired Marine Corps Sgts., who continued to search after night fall and found trapped and injured Port Authority Police Officers.
I think of the response by our military, especially the work done by our Special Operations Command and the work they are still doing.
I think of the fantastic work done by my former co-workers of the NY office of the Joint Terrorist task Force, an awesome collection of NYPD Detectives, State Troopers, FBI Special Agents, Customs Enforcement Agents, Immigration Enforcement Agents, Port Authority Police Detectives, CIA Officers, NSA Officers, US Marshals, Coast Guard Officers and some I'm probably forgetting. I truly got serve in the company of heroes and am honored to have done so.
I think of Rick Rescorla. Rescorla was the VP of Security for Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter, the largest tenant of the World Trade Center. Rescorla served in the Army and fought in the Battle of Ia Drang, Viet Nam in 1965…the battle depicted in the book, We Were Soldiers Once…And Young by General Hal Moore and Joseph Galloway. Rescorla's photo graces the cover of the book. Rescorla was proactive as a security official. He would have the people he was responsible for practice evacuating the building. Ten years ago today he effectively evacuated nearly three thousand employees of Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter out of the World Trade Center. He saved the entire company except for himself and some of his staff who stayed behind to make sure they didn't leave anyone "on the field of battle". The entire time of the evacuation Rescorla kept everyone calm and moving along, while singing and stating, "Today is a day to be proud to be an American" through his bullhorn.
Mostly I think that Rescorla's last words to the employees of Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter are so true today as they were ten years ago.
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10 Years After 9-11: Cops Who Traded Their Lives For Our Freedom "As the team worked their way down they met up with Sgt. Michael Curtin, supervisor from Emergency Service Squad 2. With him were Police Officers John D’Allara, Mark DeMarco, Bill Beaury and Detective Claude “Danny” Richards. Mike’s squad had heard the radio call and were on the third floor and going down, when they told the other team they are getting out. DeMarco and Beaury were now running along the concourse level as debris is falling around them. Mike, John and Danny were still behind them as they ran into the Custom House. As soon as they got into the building, at 1028 hours, the North Tower came rolling down upon them. DeMarco says, “Everything got black and as I was being covered with wreckage I just prayed for my family and asked God to make it quick.”
After what seemed like a lifetime, Mark and Billy, now choking on the hot concrete dust that had surrounded them, got up and began to feel their way out. They are in total darkness — the Custom House had been ripped open by the steel beams from the North Tower creating a massive breach in the center of the building. Mark, in the pitch-blackness, placed a hand on the wall and for no real reason went to his left and as they inched along they made their way to West Street — had Mark turned right from where he was he would have unknowingly walked into the abyss created by the tons of falling steel. He missed death by mere inches.
Once down onto West Street Mark asked, “Where are Mike, John, and Danny? They all should be right behind me.”
No one can give him an answer. Mike would be the first to be found in the Custom House on March 6, 2002, Danny would be next on March 29, 2002 and finally John on April 11, 2002. Once again, two more women would become widows and five more children would lose their dads."—John Lambkin, NYPD (Ret.)
