"Irene moved out stealthily from base camp. As stealthily as she could. She was old. The other humvees didn't sound much better when they drove, but they at least had armor. The other humvees complained that their armor slowed them down. How would they know? she thought. Uparmoreds are born that way. They come manufactured with 300-pound doors, three-inch-thick glass windows...They also come with a desert camo painted exterior. Poor Irene had none of this. She often lamented this fact." 

- From a written piece by Army National Guardsman, Jeremy Warneke 

On November 12, six former members of the U.S. military who served in Iraq and Afghanistan shared narratives of some of their most searing memories of coping with the brutality of war.  Soldier Derek McGee opened the program with a piece about his under-the-radar creation of a 4-Square court in Fallujah to give him and his colleagues a sense of relief from the daily anguish of worrying whether a bomb was going to go off in their path "NOW? NOW? NOW?"  Teresa Fazio, who worked in communications in the Marines, also created a recreational activity - skateboard ramps that only posed the threat of a broken ankle, which seemed petty in comparison to the risk of being blown up by a mortar.  Brandon Caro read from his book, Old Silk Road, in which he describes his time on the Eastern edge of Kabul just before the Khord Kabul Pass. He talked of the tension in the period right after a 'green on blue,' referring to the fact that the Afghan trainees shot their advisor, and of his ongoing assessment of what the U.S. military was able to accomplish.  He then reflected back on the moment of 9/11 when his youthful idealism dissolved, and he looked for a concrete response to the terrorist attacks.

Tom Williams brought the audience into a hair-raising moment in which his Navy ship encountered an Iraqi warship nearby and the admiral onboard wrestled with a decision about whether to engage it in battle, when suddenly a friendly Saudi ship fired a missile at the Iraqis. "Everyone gasped," he exclaimed, as they witnessed the blazing trajectory against the night sky. Vic Zlatanovic read a heartbreaking, detailed description of his fellow soldier's dying while driving a humvee.  

The authors gave us insight into what it felt like to be on the front lines overseas. But they also talked about how difficult it is to understand that reality from afar. Ms. Fazio described her family wanting to know what was happening to her, but not being able to understand the environment in which she was living. She said writing emails felt hollow. "This is real; this isn't some movie playing eight thousand miles away that you cluck about Sunday in church before reclining in front of the Yankee game with a plate of nachos."  Mr. McGee talked about the larger stresses of civilian life where you worry about your rent, your next paper being due in school, your girlfriend cheating - so many relatively small anxieties of daily life.

In the Q & A after the readings all six speakers said they missed being deployed and remembered that it's hard to feel that important again.  "You have a gun and you're in control of the road. You're young, and you have so much authority, for good and for bad," Mr. Warneke reflected. Mr. Zlatanovic added, "Over there you have a lot of support, someone else is in that foxhole with you all the time." "There are plenty of times I miss being there," Mr. Williams affirmed.

The program was hosted by 9/11 Tribute Center tour guide Danny Seaman, who was in the U.S. Army's First Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam, and an alumnus of NYU.  He marveled at the soldiers' ability to write such vivid and powerful pieces that gave the audience an inkling of the rawness of the soldiers' experiences overseas.

Why was the audience collectively holding their breath and "leaning in" as 9/11 Tribute Center Guide and NYPD Detective, Carol Orazem, invited us to experience with her, the enigmatic and harrowing journey driving through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel on the morning or 9/11?

Carol along with ten other Tribute Guides worked for five weeks on crafting a short her story into a 5 minute narrative that shared the horrifying moments and emotional journey to recovery.  11 Tribute Guides, (two family members, four first responders, four volunteers and 1 survivor) shared their stories with a "standing room only" crowd. The MOTH Community Education Program worked with the 9/11 Tribute Center on an intensive 6-session course. Four coaches worked with the guides, creating a tutorial on how to craft a story, distilling the most important elements. Participants were guided to share how this experience affected them at the moment, not just a listing of events. Guides within each mini-group helped one another in shaping the stories, finding their theme and moments of turning points to share with the audience.

November 8, 2013 was a beautiful view of the NYC harbor as the USS NEW YORK sailed up the Hudson River. Visiting New York City for Veterans Day, the crew and distinguished visitors attended ceremonies and marched in the largest US Veteran's Day parade up Fifth Avenue on Monday November 11, 2013. Hundreds of 9/11 Family members were able to visit the ship while in port. 

Prior to arrival the 9/11 Tribute Center was able to organize special times for the crew to visit the Center and have personal guided tours to the 9/11 Memorial with Tribute Center volunteers.  Captain Jon Kreitz, Commander of the USS NEW YORK allotted time for the crew to visit the 9/11 Tribute Center, 9/11 Memorial and World Trade Center.  He said, "Although our crew understand the significance of the ship and our mission it was an incredible experience for them to meet those affected by 9/11 directly and hear their stories.  75% of our crew joined the ship over the past two years.  For them to have the opportunity to visit New York and have such a warm reception was so inspiring for us and the work that we do everyday."

On the tours each volunteer was able to share their personal experience and convey the importance of representing the events of 9/11.  Almost 200 crew members were hosted on tours.  Joan Mastropaolo, a long time resident of Battery Park City and 9/11 Tribute Center Board Director lead one of the tours, "Our Military will always hold a special place in my heart for very personal reasons.  After 9/11, in considering the option of coming back to live in BPC, initially I was overwhelmed with fear and insecurity.  The one thing that gave me the courage to return to BPC and to move on with my life in this community was the National Guard Military presence in the area and the regular patrols by our Air Force and our Navy Ships out in the Harbor. Just knowing that they were out there protecting and watching over us gave me great comfort and the strength to carry on and rebuild my life and home in a community that I love.  It was an honor for me to do this tour and to personally thank the crew of USS NY for making the commitments and sacrifices that they make with their own lives so that we can enjoy all the freedoms and liberties that we often take for granted.  I will always be grateful to our military for the strength and spirit they  provided during a very painful time in my life."

Shawn Isbell, Command Master Chief of the USS NEW YORK, took a tour with Bill Spade, a retired FDNY firefighter from Rescue 5 through the Tribute Galleries and to the 9/11 Memorial.  CMC Isbell said, "I will never forget hearing Bill's story and his strength to share with us his experience being here on 9/11."  In 2011 the 9/11 Tribute Center officially adopted the USS NEW YORK to help the crew personally connect with the significance of the ship's motto "Strength Forged Through Sacrifice...Never Forget."

The 9/11 Tribute Center is launching a new online exhibit that gives insight into the meaning of its pioneering 9/11 tour guide program. Begun in 2005, the program gives people who directly experienced the attacks of September 11th the opportunity to tell their personal stories to visitors who are eager to hear them. The tour guides lead walking tours from the 9/11 Tribute Center to the 9/11 Memorial, and in the process, tell the historical facts of the day and the meaning of the Memorial, followed by an intimate recounting of their own 9/11 experiences. In this new exhibit, four of our tour guides tell their stories, and then reflect upon why they decided to participate in this program. Each person talks about what they have learned by being part of a 9/11 community that includes family members, survivors, first responders and Lower Manhattan residents. They also talk about how they connect with the people from all over the world who come to the World Trade Center seeking to meet a person who was actually there. 

This exhibit was inspired by the academic research of one of the 9/11 Tribute Center's first volunteer guides. Kate McPadden Richardson's first husband, Robert McPadden, was a firefighter in the FDNY. After he was killed, she found meaning in telling her story to visitors who came to learn about these world-changing events. In listening to the stories of the other tour guides, Kate realized that the collective picture of all of their stories helped her to understand the larger historical significance of 9/11. She returned to school to complete a PhD, and began conducting research into the meaning of being a 9/11 Tribute Center guide.

Kate explains her work in one of the videos in the exhibit. "One of the things I'm interested in studying is how do people heal from traumatic events and experiences. And so I recently did another survey of the docents that explored the idea of post traumatic growth. Why do people volunteer at Tribute? Why do people tend to stay? It's very unique, unlike other volunteer programs, we have docents who have been with the organization 5, 6, 7 plus years which is really quite phenomenal, purely on a volunteer basis. People must be getting something out of it and that's what I really wanted to explore.

What makes it very unique to the 9/11 Tribute Center program is the idea of sharing the stories and learning more of the big picture from others, not just from other docents but from the visitors. I think being involved in the 9/11 Tribute Center has helped a lot of the docents make some positive changes in their lives. Being engaged in this program makes them feel they are doing something with this terrible experience that is helpful and positive and meaningful."

To see all of the video in the new exhibit, 9/11 Tribute Center Tour Guides Reflect and Connect, go to our website, www.tributewtc.org.