# Ask the 9/11 survivor **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 8, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113 "2010-09-08T23:35:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/21 "2010-09-09T12:13:38Z")
This is a strange question that I feel sort of bad about asking, but does anyone in this thread know if any Dopers were killed in the 9/11 attacks? I obviously wasn’t around on the boards back then but I’ve read through the old threads and it’s chilling to read the panicked conversations people were having, posting updates as things were happening. I don’t have a specific question for you, OP, and I don’t know you at all but I’m glad that you made it out OK. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/22 "2010-09-09T12:43:55Z")
Is it true that had the planes hit an hour or two later, many more would have died? Would you? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/23 "2010-09-09T13:11:45Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I was 600 miles away from New York on that day, and the events freaked me out; I can’t imagine what you went through being there. Not meaning to be malicious or snarky by saying this. The attacks on the WTC are abstract to me, because I’ve never been there. Real to me is the Pentagon attack, because I’ve been there several times, as well as the potential targets in DC. The whole day left me bothered, because I was working for a defense contractor, making us real targets. The day after, that fear had morphed into a very pissed-off attitude which I carry to this day. I’m not aiming this response to **MMM**. He is the inspiration for my comments. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/24 "2010-09-09T13:38:30Z")
I read these threads every year, and every year I tear up a little. Glad you’re still here to read this. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/25 "2010-09-09T13:40:38Z")
When the Freedom Tower opens, would you go work there if you had the chance? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/26 "2010-09-09T14:39:55Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I lived in NYC for 25 years, 1970-1995. In some ways I will always feel like a New Yorker. That morning and for the next few days, I was glued to the TV, and the entire time, I was feeling guilty and wishing I were back in New York. I felt like I really needed to be there, to witness what was happening. It felt like a loved one was injured, and I couldn’t be there with them. At the time, I hadn’t been to New York since 1980. (Been there twice this year and loved it.) I have never felt like a New Yorker and likely never will. But I kind of have the same sentiment. I felt a little bad about not being there and sharing the burden. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/27 "2010-09-09T14:53:37Z")
Do you consider all of the “Salute to 9/11 \”-type memorials to be in bad taste? Aside from the SDMB, how do people treat you when they find out you are a survivor? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/28 "2010-09-09T15:19:26Z")
Thanks for posting about this, **vix**. I wasn’t a member here in 2001 and it’s very interesting to get your take on this moment in time and your responses to what you went through. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > When the Freedom Tower opens, would you go work there if you had the chance? Just for the record, this lame-ass name was abandoned a few years ago. The building’s formal name will be One World Trade Center. The original twin towers were 1 and 2 World Trade Center. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/29 "2010-09-09T15:19:58Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Do you feel that putting an actual building at the site is “asking for it”? Not saying they “deserved it” but isn’t saying to Al Qaeda,“Hey, here’s another huge tower to hit.” They quickly rebuilt the pentagon. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/30 "2010-09-09T15:24:15Z")
Wow, Vix, glad you were (are) okay. My brother-in-law’s brother worked in 2WTC above where the second plane hit. However, after the first plane hit the first tower, he started to evacuate and was in the lower floors by the time the second plane hit his tower. He made it out but quit his job and started working from home in Connecticut. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/31 "2010-09-09T15:31:35Z")
My brother lived 5 blocks away and said the smell of burning flesh was unmistakable. He had plenty of respiratory problems before 911, more afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/32 "2010-09-09T15:33:22Z")
> [@vix](#): > > Mean Mr. Mustard - thanks. > > > [@mnemosyne](#): > > > > How did things work out for your job? With the building gone, did you job even still exist? Were you unemployed afterwards, or able to work via another location/telecommute/some other arrangement? Naturally, you can answer generally if you think replying will give too much identifying information! > > At the time I was working for Morgan Stanley, and they had offices in midtown Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey as well as in the WTC. Some of my coworkers from the WTC went to work the next day. I took off through the weekend and went back (in midtown) the following Monday. At first, our entire department was crammed into a smallish room, but eventually another building was rented and we were moved across town. By the time I left that job, in September '03, Morgan Stanley was getting ready to move some of its NY staff to a new site outside NYC. > > I just found something I wrote in 2002 about this topic: > > I work for Morgan Stanley, and we have about 14,000 employees in NYC (I think). After Sept. 11, we had 3,500 displaced people. Immediately afterwards, some went to work in Brooklyn, some to our Business Interruption Facility in New Jersey, some to our main “campus” of three buildings in Midtown Manhattan, some to another site in Lower Manhattan, some to various vendors’ offices and so forth. > > Of course, I’m most familiar with what happened to my department (marketing). Some people started working out of a conference room in Midtown on Sept. 12. There was a meeting for marketing staff on the following Monday. At that time, temporary space was still being found, so people weren’t rushed back to work. (The firm was also very supportive with peoples’ need to take time off. To my knowledge, everyone was paid a full salary through the end of November, whether or not they returned to work or took vacation days. Only one or two people in my area hadn’t returned by then. After that time, I think they were offered long-term disability…) > > So I went back to work on Sept. 17, and also worked the 18th, but then I went to a friend’s wedding on Nantucket, and I took a mini-vacation of sorts from Wednesday to Sunday. The following week, we had been put in temporary space in our training facility, which conveniently already had computers. We stayed there until mid-December. Now, we work in yet another building in Midtown, on the east side. > > * * * > > Ok, speaking of work, I’ve gotta go work at my son’s preschool. Back after lunch. 🙂 This is pretty interesting. I was also wondering how did people at your firm find out what their work arrangements would be. Obviously they couldn’t pass a memo around the office. Did you just receive an e-mail or phone call from your boss? Was word just passed around among co-workers? Or did you yourself just call someone at the corporate office to figure what to do? ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/33 "2010-09-09T18:01:12Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > This is a strange question that I feel sort of bad about asking, but does anyone in this thread know if any Dopers were killed in the 9/11 attacks? I obviously wasn’t around on the boards back then but I’ve read through the old threads and it’s chilling to read the panicked conversations people were having, posting updates as things were happening. > > I don’t have a specific question for you, OP, and I don’t know you at all but I’m glad that you made it out OK. Thanks. I don’t believe any Dopers were killed. None that I know of, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/34 "2010-09-09T18:14:19Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Is it true that had the planes hit an hour or two later, many more would have died? Would you? It’s likely true. The work day at the WTC really started around 9:30, so had the planes hit around 10, more people would probably have been caught above where the planes hit the buildings. Plus, it probably would have been impossible for as many to evacuate. As for me, hard to say. We were in the second building hit. When the first plane hit, WTC staff were telling people not to panic, to stay put. Morgan Stanley’s security chief, [Rick Rescorla](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rescorla), ignored that advice and got everyone out. He refused to leave the building until he knew everyone was out, and he died that day. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/35 "2010-09-09T18:21:49Z")
**VunderBob** , I know what you mean. It didn’t come across at malicious or snarky. **BMalion** : thanks, me too! **Annie-Xmas** : Hard for me to easily assess whether I’d work there, since I now live in South Florida. But it wouldn’t be my first choice. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/36 "2010-09-09T18:22:41Z")
Did you or any of your co-workers have any long-term health problems, for example respiratory ailments, related to 9/11? I ask because one of my co-workers was a volunteer at Ground Zero and soon afterward was diagnosed with respiratory problems related to breathing in dust from the site. She came back to work here but was never exactly healthy again, and sadly she passed away about a month ago due to a related lung infection. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/37 "2010-09-09T18:25:32Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > Do you ever feel guilty that you managed to get away in time when so many didn’t? > > Do you participate in any sort of memorials, or do you prefer to avoid them? No, I don’t feel guilty. As I mentioned above, I didn’t even feel guilty, on 9/11, about running right by someone who had fallen while trying to flee the attacks. I do feel good about having helped one of my coworkers to get away from the site. She was staring up at the buildings, paralyzed with fear. I saw her as I was walking away, and went up to her. Made sure she’d called her family, got her to walk away with me. She later told me that she thinks if she’d stayed in the the spot where I’d found her, she’d have been killed. I don’t know if that’s true, but I am glad I helped her. Guilt, though? No. I haven’t really had to avoid memorials, but I haven’t sought any out, either. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/38 "2010-09-09T18:26:42Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Have you ever had discussions on this with a 'truther"? What is their take on your eyewitness account of actually seeing the plane hit the building? Heh, no. That would be hilarious, though. And I didn’t actually see either plane hit. But believe me, it was still PLENTY FUCKING SCARY. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/39 "2010-09-09T18:33:25Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > How long did it take for your family to learn that you had made it to safety? > Has your experience changed you either politically or spiritually? Ooh, it took quite a while. Several hours. Let’s see… my parents were both in RI and both were working. One of my sisters lived in NYC and was teaching in… the Bronx, maybe it was? I think my other sister was still living in Vegas at the time. But I had an aunt who lived (still lives) in Tribeca, just a few blocks from the WTC. I didn’t have a cell phone, so I walked with the crowd headed away from the site and found a line at a payphone. Waited a while. Tried to call my mother’s school but couldn’t get through. The phone lines were all tied up. Finally got through at my father’s office. I was surprised that someone picked up the phone there, as they usually had an automated answer. Even more surprised that my father was standing right by the person who picked up, but obviously, they were waiting for my call. I asked my father to start calling around to the family. I started walking uptown and stopped in a random store to use the phone. When I eventually got in touch with my sister who was in New York, she was in hysterics. I’m not sure she even remembers that conversation. As to your second question, no. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113/40 "2010-09-09T19:21:37Z")
How far away were you when the second plane hit? Was the sound deafening? When you were running was there debris falling? How far away did you get before the collapse? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-9-11-survivor/553113.md?page=3)