WEBVTT

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Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg
Corumbus. Our guest in this edition is

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Giovanni rent to Reap. He joins
us today to share his story of witnessing

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the nine to eleven terrorist attacks in
September of two thousand and one. And

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Giovanni, thanks so much for being
with us. Good morning. Where were

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you born and raised? I was
born in la and then I was raised

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in Miami, Florida. And so
at some point along the way, you

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were hired by Morgan Stanley. When
did you start working there? So it

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all started in nineteen ninety nine.
I interned at Morgan Stanley and it was

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a great time because during that time
it was the year of technology stocks and

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the market was on a tremendous run. So I fell in love with the

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industry. That was nineteen ninety nine, two thousand, graduated from University of

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Miami. My goal was always to
become an attorney, but I kept getting

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a call from someone at Morgan Stanley. At the time, it was Dean

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Winter, Morgan Stanley, Dean Winter, and they wanted me to come back

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into the business and go into their
training program. And so I decided to

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give law school a year did great, but then I pivoted into the industry

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and it was the best decision ever. Had you actually moved to New York

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by nine to eleven or were you
there for a training exercise? It was

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for training, so the firm would
put us up for three weeks and it

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was the best program out on Wall
Street by far. And so we went

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up to New York for three weeks
and unfortunately, by day two is when

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the accident happened. Talk about that
morning, how early had you gotten to

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the towers and what was happening.
It's interesting because that morning, I believe

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there were some elections in the city, so it was quiet. You didn't

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really see a lot of police officers
out on the street. And we would

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typically get to the World Trade Center
by via bus, I want to say,

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by seven some fifteen, and it
was quiet. We got there and

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it just did dacim off already even
before it did it did. I even

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made a comment to someone that was
sitting next to me, and I asked,

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isn't it weird that you don't see
a lot of police officers or a

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lot of movement in the city.
It was just very, very quiet,

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and I guess it's because it was
the elections happening and it was just really

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early. But typically you would you
would see a lot more folks, you

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know, out and about, but
a beautiful day, as I recall,

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it was a gorgeous day. So
once you got to the office and you're

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doing your training, what happens.
I think it was probably after that first

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session, right, Yeah. So
at the time, Philip Roth, which

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was our chief technician at the firm, so he was the person in charge

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of just teaching us about charts for
the market, and so he did his

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session a bit early and at the
time, my very good friend Bill Vanskoik

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was our MTA, which is the
person in charge of the program, and

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he said, we have twenty minutes. Make sure make sure you get some

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coffee and don't leave the building because
the session is going to start very soon

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and you don't want to be late
because if you're late, pretty much you're

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gone. I mean, they were
pretty strict, but at the time we

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wanted to take a break. Who
was my first time alone in the city,

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so I wanted to take a look
at what the city had to offer.

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So I just went downstairs with a
couple of folks to go grab a

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cup of coffee, and so when
we went downstairs, that's when we walked

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out of the turning doors. We
walked out, and that's when somebody which

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was walking by, who's bizarre,
someone with a book bag, young person

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walking with a book bag, said
get back in the building. Get back

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in the building. At that time, you started to see that there was

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debris coming down. And it was
because the first the first plane went through

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World Trade Center one, and is
that the tower you had been in.

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I was in World Trade Center to
what was it like to see the debris

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coming down? Was it close to
you? It was so it was so

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at the I just remember every mass
confusion. So we start running back into

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the building and half of us are
going one way and the other half were

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going the other way. And then
some of the debris was falling onto the

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building and was hitting some of the
folks that were behind us, and I

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just remember looking back and a piece
of it was either a piece of the

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building or the plane just completely flattened
out of a taxicab across the street.

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And that's when I knew that there
was a major issue. The person I

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was were trying to get back into
the building, but we just one person

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kept We were pushing this way,
and another group were pushing that way.

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Every everyone was panicking, and so
the guy in front of us started punching

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through the glass to try to get
us in, and he finally punched through.

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We got in and just mass confusion. And I remember my roommate at

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the time stating that was a plane. I heard a plane going through hitting

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the building. And I said to
him, I said, Alan planes aren't

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allowed to fly around, you know, that close to the buildings. That

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had to be a generator or helicopter
maybe hitting the building, but it was

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the plane. Now where you were
through those revolving doors. Did that put

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you out of the building between the
towers. Yeah, so the the north

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tower, which is which got hit
first. We were in World Trade Center

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too. We went back into World
Trade Center too. And what's interesting there

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is that at the time I left
everything upstairs, I mean my phone,

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wallet, and I told I told
my roommate, I have to go upstairs.

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I have to go grab my stuff, all my personal belongings up there.

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And uh and he said, no, no, don't do that,

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don't do that. I'm like,
I'll be right back. So I walk

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up. I walk up to security, and they're like, oh, there

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was an accident World Trade Center one. You're cleared. You know, we're

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we're safe. You can go up, go upstairs, I mean, take

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the elevator up. And he pulled
me aside again. He said, look,

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do me a favor, please.
If you're going to go upstairs,

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you get you have to see your
prayer with me. And I've known him

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for I think forty eight hours,
and I didn't want to be rude,

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so I said, okay, I'll
do it fine. I was more concerned

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about my personal belongings and uh and
being late to class. Right, So

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he grabbed my hand, I said
a prayer, and I don't know what

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it was, but something just completely
changed my mind and I decided to stay.

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And so as I reflect on it
throughout the years, if I would

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have taken that elevator up right,
because we were you connect down on the

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sixty first, I believe at the
time we're on sixty four, probably would

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have been in the elevator shaft when
when the second plane hit. So he

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saved my life. We connect every
year. One day they're still in touch.

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We do yeah, just over a
text phone. Call, Yeah,

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so what did you do after you
decided not to go back up? We

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were just trying to figure out what
the next move was. We were still

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confused because we knew something happened outside, but inside it was it was calm,

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and security again was very assertive that
everything was fine. But then all

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of a sudden, we started seeing
folks running downstairs and panicking and running out

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of the building. And that's when
we decided that, look, we need

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to get back to the hotel.
Something that doesn't seem right, and so

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we started quickly walking through the lobby
of the World Trades. We were still

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in World Trade Center two, and
we're in the lobby and we're walking out,

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and all of a sudden, you
start seeing a lot of folks running

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and I'm assuming that all these folks
were seeing what was happening in World Trade

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Center one, and so took the
you know, the emergency exit and just

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wanted to get out of the building. So we were quickly trying to decide

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which way we were going to leave, but we were still kind of trying

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to figure it out. Was just
very confusing at the time. Then all

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of a sudden, we start seeing
a tremendous amount of people running, and

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we decided, okay, we we
can't be last out. So we started

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running and all of a sudden,
when when we were about to hit the

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exit, I remember the entire floor
just shaking, and that's when the plane

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went through World Trade Center two.
Right now, describe that moment a little

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bit more. How did it feel? What did you hear? Yeah?

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I remember running through the egg and
right before I went through the exit,

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I looked left and I remember that
they were carrying someone and you can tell

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that he had just either it was
a heart attack or a stroke. And

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so I remember running out and the
first thing I did was I stopped and

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I looked up and that's when I
first saw both towers on fire, engulfed

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and fire at the top. And
was there more the brake coming down because

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of that? There was? Yeah, And so I ran across the street

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and I looked up and it looked
like it was snowing from all the pay

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people work from the two towers.
They were just all coming down slowly.

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It was amazing. And I remember
across the street there was a work van

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and had the AM radio was all
the way up, and so I'm listening

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to it while I'm observing, observing
what was happening, and the person on

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the radio was stating that he thought
it was an attack, a terrorist attack,

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because two airliners went through both towers. But I remember just everyone running

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out of the towers, pure pure
panic. People running over people, just

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trying to get away. So Giovanni, let's take a quick break. Yep.

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We'll be back with much more of
your powerful story from September eleven to

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two thousand and one in just a
moment. We're speaking with Giovanni at Rentaria.

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He was in the South Tower,
not eleven, two thousand and one,

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and we'll have much more in just
a moment. I'm Greg Corumbus.

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This is Veterans Chronicles. This is
Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Honored

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to be joined today by Giovanni rent
Aria of Morgan Stanley. He was in

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the South Tower of the World Trade
Center on September eleventh, two thousand and

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one, took a break against advice
during a training session for Morgan Stanley,

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and as he just explained in the
past segment, got there just as the

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first plane hit the North Tower,
and as he was about to leave the

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South Tower. That's when the South
Tower was hit. Obviously many floors above

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him and Giovanni. You weren't a
full time employee there yet you were there

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for a training session. Had there
been any discussion about safety and security protocols

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prior to that? Yes, yeah, So they did a great job of

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briefing us of what the security plan
was. Business continuity plan is what we

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call it at the firm. So
I can't speak for that because I wasn't

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in the building or on the floor
when it happened. But my good friend

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and colleague, Bill Vanskoyek did an
incredible job of evacuating the entire class and

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it was the largest training class at
Morgan Stanley deem winner Morgan Stanley at the

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time. And so not only was
Bill, in my view, deemed the

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hero, but so was the head
of our security, Rick Raskola, And

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they were good friends. And we've
talked to Billy before and based on what

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you've heard, what made them hero
us that day their conviction, their conviction

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to protect employees, not to think
about business at the time, but to

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really think about the safety of the
employees and everyone that was in the building.

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And that's what made a history.
Now, from what you said a

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little bit earlier, it seems like
there was confusion. Based on the way

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you told it might have been a
lot shorter of a period of time than

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I at first perceived it when this
all happened, and that was the everything's

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fine, just go back to work
situation. Was it really just a few

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minutes before they realized, now we
need to get you all out of here,

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or until the moment of the second
plan impact was the South Tower basically

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business as usual. So we were
down in the lobby and we're again we're

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trying to figure out number one,
assess what happened, and then number two

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whether we should go back up or
just to leave. And so there was

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I want to say, a good
ten minutes of discussion, but there was

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really no guidance from security downstairs.
But this is security for the building,

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not from Morgan Stanley. There they
were busy evacuating folks correctly, and it

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was confusing that what was happening outside, but yet in side it was clear.

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So we made the decision to evacuate
once we started to see the amount

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of people that just wanted to leave
the building. So it was obvious at

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that point we left off in your
narrative when you came out of the building

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after the South tower had been struck. You give us the very vivid picture

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of it feeling like snow was coming
down with all the paperwork from the gaping

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hole in the tower. What did
you do that? It was an astounding

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moment, and so I was observing
what was happening. So the towers were

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on fire, and then unfortunately seeing
folks jumping off off the building. You

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witnessed that, Yes, yeah,
and I just I'll I'll never forget someone

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standing next to me saying, look
at them jump out like flies. They're

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jumping out like flies. And so
I was still in the background that working

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then was there, and that AM
radio is all the way up, and

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I remember one of the comments that
they made was, look those are those

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are two jets that went through the
building, and I'm sure there's a significant

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amount of fuel in those towers.
And at that moment I decided that I

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needed to leave. I didn't know
what to expect. I don't know if

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the building was going to explode,
whether it was going to melt down,

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but I wanted to seek shelter,
and so the firm at the time,

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the turning class was divided into two
different hotels, and I decided, I'm

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not taking the subway, I'm not
getting in in the cab. I'm just

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going to run all the way up
to Lexington. I think it was around

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fifty fifth But at the time I
wanted to find a pay phone to call

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home to let everybody know that I
was fine. What is your mind even

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able to process the reality of watching
people from the windows? To this day,

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I still reflect on that, and
it's a tough moment for me because

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especially on the anniversary. For every
year, on that date, I reflect

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and sometimes I asked why why me? Why was I spared? And other

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folks not so very difficult just seeing
folks making the decision whether they were going

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to fortunately burn alive or to to
jump. But after listening to the work

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van, I decided I needed to
to call back home because I'm sure that

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my family was watching it on TV, and I know that they thought that

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I had passed away. Is that
what they told you when you call him?

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Yes, my stepfather at the time, and the reason why I wanted

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to become an attorney was because he
was an attorney by trade back in his

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own country in Columbia, and uh, he walked into my mom's office and

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said, are you seeing what's happening
on the news, And she said,

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he's he's in that World Trade Center. And she's like, I can't believe

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what I'm saying. And you know
that that's not that's not what I wouldn't

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say. And he said, don't
worry about it. He I know him.

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He found a way to get out. Pure luck. But I'm really

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glad that I called. I was
able to find a pay phone and the

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line was very long, very very
long, because all towers were down,

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telecommunication towers were down. And so
I'm happy I called because once my mother

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saw what was happening on TV,
she picked up the phone and she called

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the branch, the local branch in
Florida that I was working out of,

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and she asked for the manager.
The manager was conducting a sales meeting at

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the time. He exits the sales
meeting, gets on the phone with my

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mother and she, uh, she
said, are you seeing what's all right?

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Are you watching what's happening on the
news. And he was briefed and

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he said, don't worry about your
son. I know exactly where he is.

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This is right after the first the
first plane went through. Don't worry.

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I know exactly where your son is. He's on World Trade Center to

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the other building, and he's right
in the middle of the tower. The

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middle of the tower. That's where
we have our classes. Hangs up.

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She has a sense of relief that
she knows that I'm in the other tower.

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And then a couple of minutes later
than the plane went right through the

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second World Trade Center, and that's
that's why she thought I had passed away.

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So I'm very happy that I was. I was able to make a

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call and in touch with her and
and just put the mid ease. Where

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did the planet impact the second tower? The South Tower? How close was

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it to the floor You had been
on pretty close, pretty close now,

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so you were walking and perhaps running
north, running in Manhattan, And so

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it was about an hour after the
South Tower was struck that it came down.

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Do you remember hearing anything or seeing
the clouds as all that happened.

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I can remember to this day.
I hang up the pay phone because there

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was just a big line behind me. Hang up the payphone, wish the

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person behind me good luck. I
walked, I started running up the block.

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I kept looking back, I want
to say, three minutes into into

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three minutes after that phone call,
the first hour I went down. At

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that point, you had no idea
if the rest of your class had made

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it correct. Did you kind of
phraze there? Did you moving? What

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00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:07.079
did you do? Fight or flight? And it was at that moment flight

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and I wanted to get back to
the hotel as quickly as possible, and

249
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but just thinking of all the folks
at my Peers, other folks at Morgan

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Stanley, and just everyone in general. Just devastating moment, and I just

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I just remember all the police officers
rushing towards the area at that point.

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Did you think there might be another
one? I did? I did,

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And I thought maybe the Empire State
Building was next, or one of the

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other high towers in midtown. You
just start thinking of the worst. And

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at the time, it was my
first time in New York City as an

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adult, so I didn't really have
a plan heading back to the hotel,

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and took me a while to get
back to the hotel. But once I

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got back to the hotel, that's
when I had that overwhelming feeling of sadness

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because for the first time in my
life. I walked into this hotel and

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00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:34.440
some of my peers that I had
spent the last two days with were on

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crying and hysterically and couldn't keep their
emotions in check because they thought that they

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00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:48.000
were going to die. How long
did you stay in the room and just

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kind of stay in shock like that? And so once once I got back

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to the hotel, my roommate was
there, a person that saved my life,

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00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:03.759
and we were trying to figure out
how we were going to leave the

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island. But again he was at
the time, he was from the Midwest.

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I'm from Florida, don't have a
lot of experience in New York.

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And we go back up to the
room and Morgan Stanley had given us a

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binder with with maps and and UH
subway schedule, just a tons of information.

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00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:38.680
And again it's it's one of those
moments where we needed to be assertive.

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So I said to Alan, We're
going to grab that map. I

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don't know if we're going to get
out of the city today, but we

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00:22:47.319 --> 00:22:49.000
are going to get out of the
city. We're gonna go see our families.

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And so we took the map and
we decided to have meeting points in

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case something else happened during the night. So we decided that we would locate

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00:23:00.039 --> 00:23:04.240
eight somewhere on the east side and
then on the west side by the water

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00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:07.799
in case there was another attack,
that we would be close to the water

278
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:14.400
and not have to worry or next
to one of the tunnels or bridges,

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00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:18.319
and so we had our plan in
place. We couldn't leave the city at

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00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:22.119
the time because we tried, but
they had shut down all the bridges and

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tunnels and stuff like that. Giovanni, let's take one more break. When

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we come back, we'll tell the
rest of your story here on Veterans Chronicles.

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This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg
Corumbus, honored to be joined today

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by Giovanni rent Aria of Morgan Stanley. He was doing training with Morgan Stanley

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in the morning of September eleventh,
two thousand and one, took a break,

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00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:47.160
went down against advice to street level
to grab a cup of coffee,

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00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:52.519
and that's when he found out the
planet struck the North tower. After he

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00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:56.200
decided not to go back up,
he was in the lobby as the plane

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00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:59.960
struck the South tower, which he
was in, and then as he was

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00:24:00.119 --> 00:24:03.319
making his way back to the hotel, he noticed, of course that the

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00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:07.480
South tower had collapsed. And at
that point you did not know the fate

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00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:11.119
of the other people you had been
with with Morgan Stanley up on the higher

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floors. So at what point did
you find out how they had fair?

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00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:19.880
Did you find out later that day
or it was several days later? It

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00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:26.759
was later on that night there was
there was a briefing and that's when they

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told us that the class was fine. So we had over three hundred trainees

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in that class, again largest in
Morgan Stanley history for wolf management, and

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00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:44.920
so made us very happy, which
which was a sign of hope. You

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00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:48.119
mentioned, of course that you were
heading north when the tower came down.

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00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:52.359
I mean, the cloud was massive, so I'm sure you saw that despite

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00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:56.039
all the skyscrapers between you and the
site at that point. But what you

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00:24:56.039 --> 00:25:00.519
probably couldn't see, depending on how
far away you were, and I'm sure

303
00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:04.960
he saw later on television was the
people covered in ash, and knowing that

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00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:14.279
you had just been there, how
surreal was that it was. It was

305
00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:22.400
tough to stomach on TV watching it
on TV, just to see how emotionally

306
00:25:22.440 --> 00:25:29.200
devastating it was for folks that live
there, folks that have businesses in Lower

307
00:25:29.240 --> 00:25:37.119
Manhattan, and and then also all
the folks and all the police officers,

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00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:47.319
firemen just running into that building.
And that's that's really what stays with you

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00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:56.000
to eternity, because those are the
real heroes. While everyone was running out,

310
00:25:56.839 --> 00:26:00.640
they were the ones running in.
How long did you end up staying

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00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:04.880
in the city? A couple of
days. So we put together, we

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00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:11.400
formulated a plan. There was one
of our peers had connected with his brother

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00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:15.839
and he was waiting for us in
New Jersey, So we just needed to

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00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:21.640
make it out of the city.
We would connect with them in New Work

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00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:26.000
and then we would figure out a
way to get back home. So we

316
00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:33.079
rented a limo and we drove around
the city for hours and hours waiting for

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00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:37.759
bridge or tunnels to open, and
they would open up in increments of certain

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00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:45.599
minutes, and so we got lucky
and we made it out to New Work.

319
00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:49.839
What did you notice about the people
of New York in response to this

320
00:26:51.319 --> 00:27:02.000
resiliency? Although it was one of
the most difficult moments in our in the

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00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:08.000
history of our country, New Yorkers
always think that there there's hope. They

322
00:27:08.119 --> 00:27:18.119
further cause tough, demanding, but
yet at the same time extremely supportive throughout

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00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:26.400
the entire event. Just seeing the
way that the country rallied was incredible.

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00:27:26.279 --> 00:27:30.359
We've said this before, but we'd
love to see the country, you know,

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00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:34.279
act like that united all the time. What's it like to have a

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00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:40.640
story of that magnitude, a nation
changing event like that, also be a

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00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:45.480
story that you're a part of.
For many years, it was very difficult

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00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:51.480
for me to talk about it,
and again it went back to the premise

329
00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:59.319
of y me. And so after
a couple of years I started to feel

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00:27:59.559 --> 00:28:03.519
a bit more or comfortable sharing the
story with family members. Took me a

331
00:28:03.559 --> 00:28:14.440
while, and but as as as
every year went on, I felt more

332
00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:19.359
compelled to share my story, which
which is one of hope. One of

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00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:25.519
one of the things that I really
enjoy is when when I meet someone someone

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00:28:25.640 --> 00:28:33.039
new, they'll give me some feedback, sometimes in the business setting or just

335
00:28:33.400 --> 00:28:36.960
new friends. If we moved from
one city to another, like, you're

336
00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:40.680
always in a good mood, right, You're always in a good mood.

337
00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:45.920
And and if I don't know them
that well, I just tell them,

338
00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:51.759
you know, life is short.
Blessed with a wonderful family, I've always

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00:28:51.799 --> 00:28:59.960
worked at one firm, and life
is good because I get as I get

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00:29:00.119 --> 00:29:04.880
to know the person and close family, friends and colleagues. Now they know

341
00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:11.440
that the reason why I'm always optimistic
and the class is always half full is

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00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:15.759
because I'm on borrowed time. I
shouldn't be here, So I try not

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to take anything for granted relationships,
and I try not to waste days.

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So it's a blessing that I'm still
here, a blessing that I still have

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00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:34.839
a wonderful family and friends and community. You mentioned a couple of things in

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00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:38.200
that response that I want to follow
up on quickly. You've mentioned a couple

347
00:29:38.200 --> 00:29:42.359
of times, now why me or
why not me? Depending on the context.

348
00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:47.720
Would that be the same thing as
survivors guilt? Do you think you

349
00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:52.960
felt some of that? I did
for many years. Yeah, talking about

350
00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:59.240
it help tremendously. It did.
The other thing you mentioned was that you've

351
00:29:59.240 --> 00:30:04.400
worked for the same the whole time. And what I've heard repeatedly is how

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00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:11.440
odd people were by how Morgan Stanley
responded to what happened that day. What

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00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:18.000
is it exactly that Morgan Stanley did
that generated this lifetime devotion in you?

354
00:30:18.119 --> 00:30:22.480
And so many others. That day
comes down to the people that work at

355
00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:30.039
Morgan Stanley and the mentors advocates that
I had along the way, Bill being

356
00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:34.960
one of them, Bill Vanskoyak,
and many others. After I came back

357
00:30:36.039 --> 00:30:45.799
from the accident, the firm did
a phenomenal job of hiring a third party

358
00:30:45.799 --> 00:30:52.640
for mental health, and they were
pretty persistent on making sure that the employees

359
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:59.119
that had gone through this event,
we're seeking help. And I never wanted

360
00:30:59.160 --> 00:31:03.519
to discuss it. I didn't want
to share the story. Do I think

361
00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:08.759
that I probably should have talked to
someone about it because I had that guilt

362
00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:15.079
the enters. Yes, By the
time you're much younger, you think it'll

363
00:31:15.079 --> 00:31:22.400
go away, you know, just
happy to be here. But the loyalty

364
00:31:23.720 --> 00:31:29.440
to Morgan Stanley is the people that
I work with day in and day out.

365
00:31:30.359 --> 00:31:33.079
It's a blessing. You mentioned that
you're still in touch with the security

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00:31:33.079 --> 00:31:37.559
officer that asked to pray, and
you credit him with saving your life as

367
00:31:37.559 --> 00:31:41.200
a result of that. Are you
in touch with other people that day,

368
00:31:41.240 --> 00:31:45.559
whether it's your roommate or other people
they do well. My roommates is the

369
00:31:45.640 --> 00:31:53.200
one Alan, and he's wonderful.
He stayed at the firm for quite some

370
00:31:53.240 --> 00:31:59.920
time, and then he shifted into
a different industry, but we'll always message

371
00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:05.240
each other. On nine to eleven, I also had the opportunity to build

372
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:12.480
another decent relationship with someone that was
at the firm at the time. Seth

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00:32:13.160 --> 00:32:16.799
pass off wonderful person as well,
and we kept in touch for many,

374
00:32:16.839 --> 00:32:21.680
many years. This reminds me that
I need to reach out to him because

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00:32:21.720 --> 00:32:25.880
he's he's a special person. You
mentioned that you've talked to a few different

376
00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:30.880
people every year on the anniversary.
What goes through your mind every year on

377
00:32:30.920 --> 00:32:36.799
the anniversary and is it still as
palpable as it was in the first couple

378
00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:42.640
of anniversaries. It's different now.
So I had that sense of guilt first

379
00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:47.799
couple of years. Then I wanted
to share the story with certain folks,

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00:32:50.759 --> 00:32:55.039
and now that my kids, but
my daughter's fifteen, my son is thirteen.

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00:32:58.039 --> 00:33:01.799
Now it's really important to share that
story with them so that they carry

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00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:14.279
on that core value of being optimistic
and and to remind them that life is

383
00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:17.079
good. My kids are a little
bit younger than yours. In the summer,

384
00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:21.359
driving back out to the Washington area, we stopped at the flight ninety

385
00:33:21.400 --> 00:33:25.839
three memorial in Pennsylvania, And well, they found it interesting obviously there they

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00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:30.200
don't have any personal memories of it, and it doesn't have the same emotional

387
00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:35.160
impact it had for me and my
wifely rethinking and reliving some of that what

388
00:33:35.240 --> 00:33:37.480
we remember from that time. What
about your kids? You obviously had a

389
00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:42.839
much more direct connection to it than
we did. But as you tell them

390
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:46.079
about it, do you feel like
they get it now? There throughout the

391
00:33:46.119 --> 00:33:52.799
age, now that they're starting to
understand how that was a life altering experience.

392
00:33:54.119 --> 00:34:00.160
And now the end, I think
they're starting to understand more of why

393
00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:05.000
we have certain conversations at certain moments, whether it's because of school or their

394
00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:15.039
friendships or how they view life.
But have I given them all the details?

395
00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:20.480
The enters know, But but I
try to give them the life lessons

396
00:34:20.559 --> 00:34:23.840
of what I learned from that experience. I try to share that with them.

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00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:27.400
Last question, and we've already talked
about it a little bit, but

398
00:34:27.719 --> 00:34:32.039
what do you hope every American takes
away from what happened that day? I'll

399
00:34:32.079 --> 00:34:37.440
go back to the same bent that
I made before. When our country is

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00:34:37.559 --> 00:34:46.760
united, it is, without a
doubt the best country on the globe.

401
00:34:49.039 --> 00:34:52.760
We need to get back there soon. Unified. We're better, do you

402
00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:55.599
have, Annie. It's an incredible
story, and I know it's still not

403
00:34:55.679 --> 00:34:59.840
easy to tell, probably after all
these years, but I thank you very

404
00:34:59.880 --> 00:35:02.599
mu much for doing so, and
we really appreciate your time today. Thank

405
00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:07.920
you very much. Giovanni Rentaria of
Morgan Stanley. He was at training at

406
00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:12.320
Morgan Stanley in the South Tower of
the World Trade Center on the morning of

407
00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:17.519
September eleventh, two thousand one.
I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles.

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00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:31.719
Hi, this is Greg Corumbus,
and thanks for listening to Veterans Chronicles,

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00:35:31.719 --> 00:35:37.639
a presentation of the American Veterans Center. For more information, please visit

410
00:35:37.719 --> 00:35:43.159
American Veterans Center dot org. You
can also follow the American Veterans Center on

411
00:35:43.199 --> 00:35:47.800
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a VC update. Subscribe to the American

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Veterans Center YouTube channel for full oral
histories and special features, and of course,

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please subscribe to the Veterans Chronicles podcast
wherever you get your podcasts. Thank

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us again for listening, and please
join us next time for Veterans' Chronicles