Goruck Tough New York Class 057 - With You

June 10, 2001 I spent my first day on the line as a city firefighter. A mere three months later I awoke in shocked disbelief to find out terrorists had attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I along with the rest of the world watched in uncomprehending horror as the towers and then building 7 fell. We listened as the first estimates of firefighter fatalities came in at an estimated 250, a figure which was later revealed to be much greater than that at 343 of my brothers lost that day. Firefighters make up an extremely tight knit community throughout the world. It doesn't matter that we may not know each other personally, we all know that if there is ever truly a need, we will be there for each other without hesitation. Recently in the blog post "June 10, 2010" I wrote of the amazing outpouring of support given to the members of the San Francisco Fire Department for their two fallen brothers.

http://nuffsaid6.blogspot.com/2011/06/june10-2011.html

If this was for two, imagine what it was for 343. There were over 60,000 uniformed personnel from all over the country, all over the world, lined up in the rain for the procession. This was by far one of the most moving, humbling and awe inspiring things of which I have ever been a part.

Last year I gained another connection to September 11 when I joined the family that is the San Francisco Fog Rugby team. One of the Fog's founders was Mark Bingham. Mark was aboard Flight 93 and believed to be one of the passengers that led the attack on the hijackers, causing it to crash in a field before hitting its intended target. His spirit still and always will burn strong among the Fog.



As the 10th anniversary of September 11 was fast approaching, I knew that I needed to do something to commemorate this event. GORUCK provided me with the perfect opportunity when the announced they were holding several GORUCK challenges over the September 11 weekend with a special one time only commemorative patch.

As the news began to surface that first responders were not invited to the memorial, this GRC turned out to be one of the best ways for me to honor the fallen. I packed a small fire engine key chain that I got when attending the FDNY memorial in 2002, and strapped a Fog rugby ball to the outside of my Radio Ruck as a tribute to Mark and the 343.

I later learned that for our team weight we would be carrying pieces of the world trade center recovered from the pile. These were provided by Laura Cross who lost her father FDNY Battalion Chief Dennis Cross, when the towers fell. Pictured below are part of our team weight - two elevator floor plates and a desk ornament.

As we got under way all of us were nervous, but we jelled into a team almost immediately. The last Goruck challenge was to prove something to myself. This one was about something much greater, about honoring the courage and sacrifice of all those involved that day ten years ago. I believe this was a strong undercurrent that ran through us all during the challenge and was a major reason we all bonded so quickly.

During the long hours the significance of this challenge continually deepened. One of the first stops we made was to the field of the Flags of the Fallen. These flags are printed with the names of all those lost that day. One flag was posted for each person lost.

During a bathroom break, Laura showed me the necklace that she wore which was found on her father when he was recovered from the pile. She also mentioned that it was an incredible coincidence that we were class 057, because her father was Battalion 57.

As a class we all came together and supported each other through all of our rough spots until all 28 of us that started this challenge together ended it together at our final challenge destination, firehouse 20. Laura's father was acting deputy chief that day and due to report to this station, but couldn't get over the Brooklyn bridge to the station, so he called in orders as he crossed the Manhattan bridge, the same bridge we carried our log across.

I'm getting a little misty eyed at the writing of all of this, the memories of September 11, the memorial 9 years ago, and countless other firefighter memorials I've attended over the years. I will carry the memories of this challenge and all of the members of GORUCK tough class 057 with me always.


Thanks to Evan and Laura for use of the pics.