Twenty years ago

[WolfBrother]

 Twenty years ago, 9/11/01, I was at work doing my normal Senior Oracle Database Administrator and Boss's Go to Guy work.  As soon as we were done with a conf call, I turned my radio on.  In the building I was in only AM made it to my desk so I was listening to AM talk radio.  They were talking about an airliner crash into the World Trade Center.
 
 I stood up and spoke over the cubicles, “An airliner crashed into the World Trade Center. Didn’t they fix routes to prevent that?”.  About a minute of “Wow” talk and back everyone went to Computer Nerding.
 
 A few minutes later there was a second airliner crash into the WTC announced and I stood up and said, “Another one crashed into the other tower.  I dunno, we may be at war.”
 
 People got sent home.  I went home, armed up, and went close to where my wife worked. Not long after that she called and I took her home.
 
 Later that day wife was worried but OK, my Sgt called and asked if I was available.  I was a Reserve Deputy with Travis County at the time.  He said I would be over night at one of the Highland Lakes by the dam control room.  They had remote control at a central location but had kept the by the dam sites – just in case. The Local LE was dispatching units to various Water, Electric, and Natural Gas points all over the county.
 
 I asked if I could get bring a buddy of mine from the Guard and was told OK but that I would be responsible for his actions.  (There is a law in Texas allow such).  So Mike and I wound up at the control room.  We did a quick recon, I parked my car on the can’t see it side of a bend in the road to stop traffic, and we settled down listening to my LE radio and a AM/FM portable.
 
 Just before dark we saw a non-LE marked vehicle turn off and start coming this way.  I had Mike positioned at the Flank and I used my car as cover.  It was my Lt and Sgt bringing us a nice BBQ dinner.  They just about crapped themselves when Mike rose up on their Flank.
 
 I reported our situation and said one or both of us would always be awake.  We also filled them in on our service together.  We requested and were not given Flash Bangs. They told me what had been passed on thru “official” channels. 
 
 They said if no other attacks happen that we’d probably be sent home the next afternoon.
 They didn’t and we were.  It was good to have a buddy like Mike.  We had each other’s backs.
 
 Neither Mike nor his wife is with us any longer so I can’t drink a beer and tell lies with him 20 years later. 

[Jerry D Young]

Thank you, WolfBrother. I am proud to know you.


My one incident with 9/11 was minor. However, the authorities had asked that anything way out of the ordinary or suspicious beyond what we might normally see. I was making a parts run for the company from Dunphy, NV to Elko, NV and back. On the return portion of the trip a group of five semi rigs went past me, doing rather over the speed limit. Now, we were going down a long grade coming off one of the passes out here, so that was not that unusual. Nor were five trucks traveling together.


What caught my attention was that the five tractors were different companies. And the containers they were hauling were all different companies. There was absolutely no uniformity at all. I had seen convoys before, and do to this day. However, when it is obvious that it is a convoy and not simply a group of trucks going the same direction, I have never, before or since, seen any group of trucks in convoy that showed absolutely no connection between any of them.


When I got back to the plant at Dunphy I called the FBI number in Reno and reported what I had seen. As is always the case, they simply said they would take the information and look into it. And also, as is always the case, I did not hear anything from them. I watched the news from Reno for several days after that but there was never anything about any trucks being involved in any kind of stop or activity.


I do not know to this day if there was something in those containers that might have been a threat. I will never know. However, even if it was totally innocent, there was no way I could not make the call and report it. I probably would do the same thing again now. I had done similar things prior to 9/11, though certainly not about any terror activity. One Amber alert, a couple of drunk drivers, one 120mph sports car on I-70 going west out of St. Louis. Things like that.


I just believe that we all have to do what we can, when we can, despite the way things are at times.


Just my opinion.

[WolfBrother]

Along the border there was a scare 9/12. A couple of Propane dealers kinda/sorta had a I'll only sell here if you'll only sell there agreement.  9/12 the there owner gets a call from the here owner wanting to know why he was selling here.  The there owner said he had closed that day except for emergency fills and none of his vehicles were supposed to be out.
Came the "Oh Crap" moment and the subsequent call to 911 concerning a missing propane fill truck.  Within a few minutes came a "We've got him pulled over and at gunpoint." radio call.
It was one of the owner's drivers who had left a note saying his brother was short and he was doing a fill.  The note blew off the owners desk when he first came in and turned the fan on.