I was in Syracuse, NY. We were in a RF shielded staging room at Lockheed-Martin, and when we came out to head to lunch, everyone was huddled around the various TV's watching the coverage of the Twin Towers coming down. We stood there in shock for a few minutes, and then my cell rang. It was my best friend's wife checking on me... she knew I was in NY, but not exactly where. Had been trying me for a while, but there was no reception in that staging room.

I was set to leave the next day, so when I got back to my hotel I called Hertz. They said I could do a one-way return back to Columbia, SC with no extra charge. The drive back was surreal. Light traffic, and saw several of those programmable road signs with the American flag and "God Bless America" on them. The rental car return lot was filled with license plates from all over the eastern US.

God bless the 2,996 that died that say, and the ones that continue to be sick and die from illnesses cause by their presence on that day.