My org was hosting a week-long training session for chimney and fire professionals from all over the country. I will always remember going into the classroom where they were all watching TV silently many of them shaking their heads knowing that the world was changing that morning. One student, a volunteer fireman from Ohio, showed me that his pager had gone off when the NYFD began looking for support. He must have shown me that page that he had saved at least five times in subsequent years. Those training cohorts usually emerged from the week fairly close-knit, but that one had an additional thread holding them together. I’m no longer at that association, but I still think of those guys every year on 9/11 and wonder how they’re doing.