Hour 2: Craig & Big Mac Honor 9/11 Responders and Discuss Jeter’s Legacy

Craig Carton (0:00)

Happy to have joining us now, a gentleman I only met a few months ago, Robert Cashman, Special Assistant to the FDNY Commissioner. And if I have it correct, a diehard Mets fan as well, Rob, it's Craig, and of course, Chris McMonigle on the other side of the room.

Good afternoon, I appreciate you spending a few minutes with us today, thank you.

SPEAKER_2 (0:20)

Good afternoon.

SPEAKER_3 (0:22)

So I'm a first time listener, long time cult. I've been waiting to say that joke since the 80s, but I could never get through on the phone.

Craig Carton (0:30)

Finally, I got through. Now you got the special phone number, we got you covered.

SPEAKER_4 (0:34)

What special phone number?

SPEAKER_3 (0:36)

I came up anonymous.

Craig Carton (0:37)

How many years were you on, have you been with FDNY?

SPEAKER_3 (0:43)

So quickly, I started actually with the NYPD in 1986

Craig Carton (0:46)

Okay.

SPEAKER_3 (0:47)

And if you're trying to figure out my age, I started when I was 10 years old. I went to the FDNY in 1995

Craig Carton (0:55)

95 So you have over 30 years of service now to the FDNY. Thank you for that service.

Look, I know you're a Met fan. I'll get to that part of this conversation in a second. Give us an idea. Obviously, we watched all the news coverage, saw the names being read, saw your fallen brethren be honored as they should be and women be honored as they should be. Walk us through your thoughts on today, 25 years later.

SPEAKER_3 (1:23)

Well, you know, obviously, it's a sad, tough day, but it's also a little bit uplifting in that this is the day we get to remember them, you know, like you guys are doing there, which is terrific, you know, they're talking about it, never forgetting, you know, how many times have we said that?

And unfortunately, I want to mention right away that it's not being taught in schools. Right. You know, when I was younger, I learned about Pearl Harbor, but the kids today are not learning about September 11th. It's a shame, and that has to change.

Craig Carton (1:49)

Yeah. And just to double down on that, you know, I know that we're always going to remember it on the anniversary of it. That's an obvious one, right? You know, my issue having four kids, Big Mac has two younger children as well, is making sure that they're aware of it beyond this just being a token lip service thing, you know, once a year. So I'm sensitive to that as well with you. You know, and then it's interesting because, you know, in times of tragedy and great need, we do come together as one. Black, white, Jewish, Catholic, it doesn't matter.

And yet we seem on this particular issue to only do it, a lot of us do throughout the year, of course. But it seems like, you know, we have a generation of kids that are being raised without being taught exactly what happened with no filter. They need to know what happened and who did it. So that as they grow up, they can send that to their their offspring as well.

SPEAKER_3 (2:41)

Sure. Definitely. Totally agree with that.

Craig Carton (2:44)

Where were you on this day 25 years ago?

SPEAKER_3 (2:47)

Also, like a lot of people, it was a matter of your schedule. Like if it changed slightly, it was a difference in living and dying, you know.

I was supposed to work that day, but I took off because I was out in Queens with the individual who was running for mayor, Peter Balone. I was working his security. And had I been working, I would have been in Brooklyn about 15 minutes from the Trade Center. I would have got down there immediately, and who knows what would have happened. Instead, I didn't get down there until the second tower was coming down.

Craig Carton (3:16)

Got it, got it. So you obviously lost a lot of friends and colleagues.

SPEAKER_3 (3:21)

A lot of friends and colleagues. And I was appointed the fire commission liaison at the Trade Center. So I worked there for two months every day. So I saw everything that went on down there.

Chris McMonigle (3:29)

And that was, oh, are you saying before September 11th or right after September 11th?

SPEAKER_3 (3:34)

No, no, right after, so 9-12th, 9-12th of November, I was down there.

Craig Carton (3:37)

And let me ask you a personal question. How is your health?

SPEAKER_3 (3:41)

Well, thank God, it's great. And the FDNY does an outstanding job in monitoring our health. We have an annual medical, we have a special world trade center medical for those of us that were down there. So they keep a very good eye on us.