I was napping on my sofa that day. Something that I had heard on the television caused me to suddenly sit up and become fully engulfed in what was on the screen.

The images of a plane going into a building that was just 2 hours drive south of me. I was living in Scotia, New York at the time with my new wife in our new home.

I went to my office the next day located in Albany.

On my ride into work, I was passed by a fast moving convoy of military vehicles that just drove through the toll booth at a fast speed with lights and sirens going. Everything was eerily excited and not in a pleasant way.

The State Police were all over the building I worked in as I was one of the system administrators at the Division of Criminal Justice Services.

I opened my personal email during my lunch break. There was a request to have manpower and some equipment for communication needs in and around ground zero ASAP for the Salvation Army and the Red Cross.

At the time, I was an active member of the Empire Central R.E.A.C.T. Team #3030 out of Schenectady, New York as well as a holder of an F.C.C. Technician Class License and a Commercial Radio License.

Heading to help

On Sept. 13, I took time off from work and without hesitation, packed my car with anything I could think I would need to survive or for communications purposes. I kissed my wife goodbye and drove south towards Manhattan in late afternoon.

I had never before in my life seen such large convoys of ambulance vehicles. Hundreds of them. The sheer volume of others heading head first into what was a mostly unknown disaster at that time.

I arrived at the Salvation Army Headquarters building and got myself situated and briefed on my first assignment.

I was also issued safety equipment and my I.D. credentials that would permit me to access secure areas. I was to go to each and every Salvation Army canteen truck in and around ground zero and relay back what is needed.

On my fourth day at ground zero, I had some time to walk around just outside of the secure perimeter for a little while.

There was an internet based Dog Sled Racing group that I had belonged to that had taken up a collection of the proper footwear required for the Search and Rescue Dogs. In such a harsh environment, they were surely needed.

The box of donations had become lost. My mission at that moment was to find where they had gone. I was able to cover more ground after FEMA was kind enough to loan me one of their small Gator ATVs.

The sights and smells

I drove around noticing a fire truck that was twisted and melted in a surreal fashion. The noticeably thick dirt that covered so many cars and trucks looked like volcanic ash. I was able to locate the makeshift kiosk that had received the dog footwear I was seeking after an hour or so.

I was able to pick it up and bring it to the S.A.R. dispatch location. I was grateful I was in the right place at the right time to help with that.

Later that evening I found myself standing in front of something I had not seen before.

It was a portable Burger King. They were handing out Whoppers to all of the workers in and around ground zero. I was handed a large box and asked to please hand them out. I can share with you that the guys from the military securing the ground zero area were very happy to have a Whopper.

I handed out my entire box of Whoppers to those inside of the pile of rubble.

When my box was empty, I stopped and stared up at one of the buildings that was still standing. The sounds of the earth moving equipment and the voices were drowned out suddenly by my intense concentration on watching this building sway and rock back and forth in the wind.

I wondered if it would come down while I was standing there. It then came crashing down on me the reality of what I was standing in. I understood that this is a deeply profound moment not only in my life but in the history and future of America.

I was standing there in a moment of disbelief at the level of destruction that only deeply negative emotions could possibly have caused.

I left that area and went back to my assignments. I will never be the same after seeing that. I can confess that television and pictures cannot truly give you the complete scope of what happened there. You would have to have experienced it first hand.

We all took shifts. We all took turns in the Salvation Army Headquarters building in a functional but makeshift dispatch center.

We slept on the floor in the auditorium, in the homeless shelter. We slept when we could.

I can share that for the first time in my life, Manhattan was almost silent to me. The background high pitched noise of the City was just not there. The people around ground zero had shed off that hardened New Yorker personality and showed what humanity could be.

T.J. Walker

Tamaqua