The Heroism and Resiliency of 9/11

Producer Chris Meek and Director Michael Gier join us to discuss a new 9/11 documentary set to release on the 25th Anniversary of the attacks.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
We all owe them, but very few of us know them.
They are the men and women of our military and
first responder communities, and these are their stories.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
American Warrior Radio is on the air.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hello, ladies, gentlemen, Welcome to American Warrior Radio. This is
your host, Ben Bieler Garcia. American Warrior Radio broadcast from
the Slender Central Studios. If you're thinking of getting a
silencer for one of more of your weapons, there's never
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Silencer Center will pick up the cost of your tax stamp.
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(00:45):
They will then help you complete the paperwork shipwreck to
your front door, making silence simple. Silencercentral dot com. For
several years now, I've volunteered with the nonprofit that conducts
the what we call a nine to eleven Never Forgotten
Memorial Tower Challenge. The challenge just to climb twenty and
seventy one steps, which is the equivalent of the World
Trade Center towers. Some of our first responders are firefighters,

(01:08):
do it in full gear. The bomb squad does it
in ursuit. It's just really an amazing thing to watch.
It raised about one hundred thousand dollars a year from
military and first responder charities. And I'll never forget that
the founder of the organization, when he was speaking to
the crowd about a second or third event, he reminded
people that, you know, this is not just about honoring
those brave people who ran toward danger on nine to

(01:28):
eleven and the military families who picked up the burden
of the global war on terror. This is also a celebration.
It's a celebration of what our nation was like.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
On September twelfth.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
And I'm so pleased that there's some other folks that
are gathering together to produce something that I think follows
in that vein. Three persons, two of whom have been
previous guests on American War Reader, to have partnered to
produce a documentary that goes beyond the tragedy of that
day to showcase the incredible acts of bravery, humanity, and
resilience that followed. Doctor Chris Meek It's been a financial

(02:00):
services executive for over twenty five years. He was in
the World Trade Center, Towers on that fateful day and
was responsible for helping get twenty nine other persons out.
He's the co founder, chairman, and CEO of Soldier Strong,
a nonprofit that helps veterans take their next steps in
life by donating revolutionary medical devices. To date, they've donated
over five and a half million dollars in medical technology

(02:21):
to benefit veterans. Michael Geyer is an award winning director
and producer and the founder of Guyer Productions. In twenty
twenty one, he released two award winning documentary films, Wounded
Heroes and Healing the Heroes of nine to eleven. Both
films feature successful alternative treatments that help those battling PTSD
to get their lives back. He's worked on hundreds of commercial,
short films and documentaries. Gentlemen, Welcome to American Warrior Radio.

(02:43):
Thanks for having us, For having us now. Your new
project is called The Heroism and Resiliency of nine to
eleven From Tragedy to Triumph. Folks can learn more by
visiting Heroism and Resiliency dot com. Chris, let's start with you.
You've first appeared on our program back in I want
to say it was June of twenty twenty remind our
listeners the story of how Soldiers Strong got started.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
I think it was how to do with socks?

Speaker 4 (03:08):
It did. It's a funny story in hindsight.

Speaker 5 (03:11):
Friend and mentor of mine is a marine and he'd
received a letter from marine deployed in Afghanistan and it
simply said, we're not living on bases, We're in jeeps
and foxholes. Can you please send socks because we hike
all day and baby wipes and that was their form
of personal hygiene. And you just came to me and said, Chris,
I know you're involved in a couple of things, and
so maybe you can put some care packages together and

(03:31):
ship some stuff.

Speaker 4 (03:32):
So I started out just going to local businesses and schools.

Speaker 5 (03:35):
And churches and synagogues here in Connecticut and did a
ship in of about fifteen hundred pounds, got picked up
by a Ragius station in New York City, which has
forty syndicated stations and eight million listeners. And so next
thing I know, we're getting socks from Maine to Miami
to Hollywood.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
Ended up sending seventy five thousand pounds of supplies.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
That evolved into Soldiers Strong. And obviously you're playing in
a at a much higher level than anymore. Now, Michael,
I'm curious, did Chris approach you about this? Did you
already have and on an idea like this in mind?

Speaker 6 (04:08):
No, I did not have an idea in mind. Chris
did approach me. I believe Chris one or both of
my other documentaries. We were introduced by mutual friend and
Chris contacted me with an idea of doing a movie
about nine to eleven. But he's like, it's out of
my wheelhouse. I have no idea what but we've got
to do something to make sure the twenty fifth commemoration
gets the honor the attention it deserves. And so he said,

(04:31):
let's talk about making a movie, and that's where it
all started.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Chris.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
You also hosts a podcast called Next Steps Forward Folks,
and learn more at that next Steps Forward dot com.
But you also wrote a book called Everyday Triumph Extraordinary
Stories of Hope, Resilience and Impact. Was that sort of
your the seed the aha moment where you said, Okay,
there's been a lot of stuff about nine to eleven,
and frankly, gentlemen, I don't think there can ever be
too much about nine to eleven. We just our nation

(04:56):
must never ever forget the horrors of that day. Was
that what kind of planted the seed in your mind,
Chris of Well, maybe let's talk about after and the
resiliency and the stories of hope that came following that attack.

Speaker 5 (05:12):
You know, it all sort of came through COVID. You know,
we all had a lot more free time. I commuted
to the city, New York City, so I had three
hours a day spare time.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
I wasn't commuting, and so, you.

Speaker 5 (05:22):
Know, the first idea was the film, but as Michael said,
you know, I'm a finance guy, so way out of
my wheelhouse. But then, as he said, you know, we
started to focus on the positive things that came from
that and that heroism and resiliency.

Speaker 4 (05:34):
I realized that to.

Speaker 5 (05:35):
Your point about the podcast, I talked to some amazing
people on there that have overcome a lot of different
challenges in life. And so as Michael's going down the
interviews for the film, I thought, there's some amazing stories
here as well. And a few different things from some
different studies came out during COVID. One was done by
PE research that showed that one in five gen zs
age eighteen to twenty nine have sympathy or empathy towards

(05:56):
with some of bin Laden. And then also during that time,
that same window, I think it's twenty twenty three, Osama
b in Laden's letter to America, there's a TikTok video
put out.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
With over fourteen million views.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
And so there's an entire generation of over one hundred
million Americans either too young or not born to know
what they're never supposed to forget. And so what we're
trying to do is change that narrative from never forget
till we remember.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
So I've often heard it referred that this is our
Pearl Harbor. Whenever I get an opportunity to interview a
World War Two veteran, they go right to the front
of the queue because we're losing them at such a
rap to pace.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
That's just that's life.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
That next generation they don't have that visceral connection like
we all did on that day. And certainly, Chris you
being there at ground zero, but I'm so glad you're
doing this because I'm very fearful that these generations will
not remember it like we honor Pearl Harbor absolutely.

Speaker 6 (06:46):
And you know, one of the things that was really
important to all of us, Chris and I and Gentry
and the others that were involved with this film. From
the beginning was really focusing on the positive things that
came from nine to eleven despite the tragedy. And there
are so many amazing stories that I had never heard
about regarding nine to eleven, And so the film is
filled with stories and about a lot of different things

(07:08):
that are going to be new to them, but it
all focuses on the country coming together as one. Believe
it or not, you know nothing to do with as
some of the people I interviewed, didn't matter your skin color,
didn't matter your political views, it didn't matter about anything.
All that mattered was we are Americans. We came together,
We took care of each other, we uplifted each other,
we were there for each other. And those things are

(07:31):
very important, I think, for today, for every day. And
so the film is just filled with so many positive things,
which is kind of funny to say, we're talking about
nine to eleven, But I had a number of people
that I interviewed who were there on nine to eleven
who said they were shocked at how many positive things
that came out of that horrific day, and that's what
we're focusing on. So the film is done, believe it

(07:53):
or not, and we were a year ahead of time.
We're working on distribution now. The film is being offered
two different film festivals. We'll see which film festivals accept us,
and then we have some distribution options, but we're waiting
to see what all of our options are before we
decide what we're going to do with the film. We
really want the film to be seen, obviously, so we

(08:14):
want to get big distribution. But you know, I interviewed
about thirty five thirty six people. I've got over thirty
five hours of interview footage and it's a two hour film,
so I have a lot of material and it was
very difficult bringing it down to two hours, And which
is one great thing about that is Chris suggested, you know,
we release short videos every week that I wasn't able

(08:36):
to use in the film and other interviews that we're doing,
like with recently Leon Panetta, Secretary of Panetta. He's the CIA,
former CIA director who found with some of bin Laden
and ran the mission to have him killed. And so
that was a great interview. But I've got as far
as segments in the film. I'm looking at it here now,
I think I've got like twelve thirteen different segments. There

(09:00):
are some main segments like Flight ninety three were talking
about the passengers that fought back against the terrorists. They
were the first warriors on the fight of terror. Unfortunately
they lost their lives, but that plane did not get
to its final destination, so that was great news. We
talk about the great boat lift over five hundred thousand
people who were rescued from the southern tip of Manhattan.

(09:21):
They were literally trapped.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, and Michael Michael hold that thuc.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
So I want to pursue more of that because that
was one of the stories that I was not familiar with.
And you all, you all might appreciate the fact we
start our terror challenge. The last words that I say,
as AMC or our guest says from the from the podium,
is let's roll. And you know that's that's to honor
those those votes on that flight. Ladies and gentlemen, there's
your host Ben Dela Garcia here in American Warrior Radio.
We're talking with Chris Meek and Michael Geyer. Definitely check

(09:47):
out Heroism.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
And Exiliency Dot Com. We'll be right back. Welcome back

(10:13):
to American Warrior Radio. Lation gentlemen.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
This is Ben Bueler Garcia. We're talking with Chris Meek
and Michael Geyer about a new film they've got coming
out now. Michael the Heroism and Resilience of nine to
eleven From Tragedy to Triumph, folks and find out more
at the nine to eleventh Film dot Com. Is the
plan to publicly release this on September eleventh, twenty twenty
sixth or sometime before that.

Speaker 6 (10:34):
Probably we don't completely have distribution figured out yet, so
that'll be decided then. But the great thing is it's
a Friday. September eleventh and twenty twenty six is a Friday.
That's when most films would come out, especially if we
do anything theatrically in movie theaters, and so I'm assuming
at this point it's going to be on the eleventh.
We will be doing some screenings that Chris has planned,

(10:55):
probably the weekend before, but opening the film would be
September eleventh, is my guest.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
I will say, Michael, you get a pass on this
because you've never met me before, but someone lay this
at the feet of Chris I'm a little disappointed that
you didn't approach me about narrating the film, but you did. Okay,
you found a relatively unknown actor. I'd never heard of
his name before, but I guess he's going to be famous.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
Now. Who's who's narrating this film?

Speaker 4 (11:22):
A guy the name of Lieutenant Dan.

Speaker 6 (11:27):
Lieutenant Dan. Ye, we got Gary. How exciting is that
Gary Sinise agreed to narrate this for us?

Speaker 3 (11:35):
I tell you what I have all firmly believed that
in the Dictionary under the word patriot should be Gary's photo.
And Chris, I don't know if you know this story,
but he we've had him on several times and he
was saying that when he first was trying to volunteer
with the to go on the USO tours, he was
not getting any traction at all. Nobody was responding, and
then finally said, well, instead of saying this is Gary,

(11:56):
soon he says, well, this is Lieutenant Dan. And then
all of a sudden they're like, oh yeah, and Dan, okay,
you're welcome to come on board. Michael, you said that
you did not want to produce, so you've done films
about nine to eleven before, but you didn't want to
do something similar, You want to do something different. And
is that And that's kind of the core of this
where we're talking about the good things that came from tragedy.

Speaker 6 (12:18):
Yes, there have been a lot of wonderful films produced
about nine to eleven, but they focused on I think,
really the tragedy in the story, or the terrorists or
you know, any.

Speaker 4 (12:28):
Of those type of topics.

Speaker 6 (12:29):
No one has done a film on the positive things
that came from nine to eleven despite the tragedy. And
so that's the idea I pitched to Chris and Gentry
and they liked the idea, and so they set me
on a truck and we started this in two thousand
and two, the beginning of two thousand and two, believe
it or not, twenty two a long time ago, right, Chris,
twenty two?

Speaker 4 (12:49):
Twenty two? What did I say too? Okay, Yeah, that
would have been way too.

Speaker 6 (12:53):
Long a decade here or there, twenty twenty two, which
is still long enough. And we've traveled all over the
country doing interviews, we filmed re enactments with actors here
in Los Angeles. For like Flight ninety three, we hired
a bunch of actors and they fought back against the terrorists.
The footage looks amazing. We did a segment on Wilhelm
Meno and his sergeant that were buried over thirty feet

(13:15):
down below the towers, and they're heroic rescue that took
place with Scott Strauss going down, Chuck Shirica, Patty McGhee.
They risked their lives to go down and we filmed.

Speaker 4 (13:24):
We produced a big.

Speaker 6 (13:25):
Beautiful set on a studio here in LA and filmed
all of that footage down underground. Of course, it wasn't
underground when we did it, but it looked like it was.
I mean, the footage looked amazing, so we did reenactments.
We spent a lot of time on this film and
we're both we're very excited about the release.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
And going to your website, there's a trailer and one
of the parlors of the trailer talks about this boat lift.
And I didn't realize that that was the largest maritime
rescue in American history. Ferries, fireboats, police units, just people
with their private watercraft. In less than nine hours, they
evacuated what fo five hundred thousand people. That's amazing, Yeah,

(14:06):
I mean, that's bigger than Dunkirk, right exactly.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (14:10):
And Admiral Michael Day.

Speaker 4 (14:12):
He was a lieutenant back then.

Speaker 6 (14:13):
We interview him, the admiral, and he was the one
who's kind of in charge of overseeing the boat lift. Now,
the boatlift was already happening. They made that very clear.
I interviewed others that were part of the boat lift,
and they wanted to make it very clear the boatlift
was happening. The maritime mariners were all there doing their
job rescuing people, and then the coast guards showed up
and realized what was going on and realized just how

(14:34):
many people needed rescuing. And so Michael da lieutenant put
out a call anybody who has a boat who can
come meet here, come and help us evacuate all of
these different people. And then he kind of oversaw it.
He became like a traffic cop but on boat, on
the Coastguard boat and then just directing boats and things.
But they came from every direction, all sizes, small, huge, tugboats,

(14:58):
you name it, party boats, dinner boats. And they rescued
over five hundred thousand people. And then the boats were
then used afterwards to bring supplies into New York and
that's where America started helping. You know, restaurants, big companies,
individuals started delivering food, pizza. If the firefighters or first
responders needed boots, they were delivering boots. And they brought

(15:20):
all this stuff in by boat at that point, So
the boats in the maritime community were used tremendously after
the attack of nine to eleven.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
Chris, I'm curious my experience in doing my program, sometimes
there's veterans who have got just an amazing story to tell,
but because of the trauma, they just can't. They still
even going back to World War Two. I'm curious, giving
your personal circumstance, Chris, the fact that you were there
and experienced it firsthand, has working on this project brought

(15:52):
up any PTSD issues for you. I'm seriously is it. No,
it actually has, And you know, Michael's going through this
journey with me. That's what we talked about his earlier films.
But it absolutely has.

Speaker 5 (16:06):
And so you know, for most of my career, I've
worked within, you know, half a dozen blocks of ground zero,
and it took me until twenty eighteen to actually go
back to ground zero. But I went on nine to eleven.
I didn't think about it. But that was the day
obviously of the ceremony, so I couldn't get to the
physical Ground zero because all the barricades and the police
officers for the ceremony, and so May of this year

(16:27):
was the first time I've actually been to the memorial.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
So it absolutely has. So it's sort of been my therapy.
If you will.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Will Chris be in the film? Michael absolutely?

Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah, what was he supposed to be? Yeah?

Speaker 6 (16:39):
Yeah, Chris is like you Well, first I said, cand
I put you in the film. He's like no. And
then when we we did the recording, which was wonderful
hearing the whole story. He could only put a small
portion of it in the film, but he was like
you can keep that out. Yeah, but no, his story is,
you know, very important. His story is powerful, and everybody's
story that we're part of nine eve and what they

(17:00):
experienced and how it changed our lives. Look what Chris
has done with his entire life because of nine to
eleven giving back. You know, he just recently created the
nine to eleven Legacy Foundation, which is another wonderful organization
that is giving back and making sure the twenty fifth
commemoration is something we all experience, remember and honor those
who are part of nine to eleven, those we lost
at nine to eleven. So nine to eleven created a

(17:22):
positive thing a Chris. He's dealt with post traumatic stress, yes,
but he's helped so many people with his life by
giving back and helping others because of nine to eleven.
That's a positive thing that came from nine eleven to
despite the tragedy. And so yeah, I had to feature
Chris's story.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
We've had a number of you know, firefighters. We had
an FBI agent who, but for a dental appointment, would
have been at Ground zero, and then of course he
heard it on the radio, and of course he rushes
to the scene and spent six weeks working the pile.
I guess, as they called it together evidence. We've had
a Pentagon, a medic at the Pentagon who ran back

(17:57):
in to help save lives. And so there's just a
lot of powerful stories there. But I hope that we're
also not well we come back from the break. I
want to touch on that because, like I said, what
we do with our tyror challenges, we also include those
military families. Because one of the second order effects of
all this was the global warrant terror and there's a
lot of heroism and bravery and stories that came up

(18:20):
as part of that. So, ladies and gentlemen, these are
host Ben bler Garcia. We're talking with Chris Meek and
Michael Geyer. They've got a great film coming out next
year on the twenty fifth anniversary of the nine to
eleven attacks. It's called The Heroism and Resiliency of nine
to eleven From Tragedy to Triumph.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Don't Forget.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
You can hear this podcast number six hundred others at
American Warrior Radio dot com. Please please share these powerful
stories and particularly when it comes to this subject. I
think all three of us here agree that for those
next generations, they need to hear these stories, they need
to never forget.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
We'll be right back.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
Welcome back to American Warrior Radio. Lason, gentlemen, there's your host,
Ben Buler Garcia. We're coming to you from the Sallencer
Central Studios. Soulencer Central is the largest silencer dealer in
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(19:31):
variety of suppressors. They'll complete all the paperwork in ship
right to your front door, making silence simple. Since two
thousand and five that sallencercentral dot com. We're very pleased
and privilegs will be talking with Chris Meek.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
And Michael Geyer.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
They partnered to work on a new documentary about what
happened after nine to eleven and some of the stories
of hope as a result of that tragedy. It is
narrated by Gary Soinise and you can learn more visit
the nine to eleven film dot com. Chris, one of
the things that I'm even just watching the trailer, Like
I said, I didn't even think about or realized about

(20:05):
this huge boat lift that was so important during that
day and the ensuing weeks as we're working to make
sense of this. But and I get I suppose it
makes sense given that you're in the financial services profession,
but the trailer also refers to efforts to avert economic
collapse following the attacks and asioner standing Chris, you personally

(20:26):
and your team there were involved and right away jumping
on board and getting the equipment and setting up the
logistics so that those important financial transactions were not interrupted.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
And you know, it didn't.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
It didn't bring our economic engine to a collapse. And
I talk a little bit about that because I that
thought never crossed my mind.

Speaker 5 (20:50):
Sure, so if you think about it, all these transactions
occurred on the exchanges, so the New York Stock Exchange,
the American Stock Exchange, the Report of Trade, which was
in the World Trade Center, which it's where part of
my team was, and so the American Stock Exchange was
the windows were blown out, so that was shut down
and that's where the majority of my team was. So
we had to move over to the New York Stock Exchange.

(21:10):
And first of all, they had defined space for us,
and so that was you know, a few hundred traders,
which is a pretty good sized crowd, but we had
no infrastructure built there. So we had to figure out
how to get our T one lines, which was the
data which we had an office in Jersey City, New Jersey,
so we were able to reroute that from the American
Stock Exchange to the New York Stock Exchange, but that
took some rewiring from Verizon at the time, and obviously

(21:32):
we're two blocks south of the pile, and so we
had to figure out how to deal with that. But
then we had no real machines, no computers, and so
at the time, I was living on the Upper East
Side of New York City and there was an old
New York City based computer store called the Whiz. And
the products that my firm traded at the time, we're
run by a firm called are issued by a firm
called BGI. And the CEO of BGI literally called me

(21:54):
as I'm walking out of the store and I've got
four Sony laptops under my arm. It's like, Chris, or
we can be ready to trade on Monday, And I said, Lee,
I'm like, I've got an infrastructure literally under my arm,
so we'll be ready. But I mean we were working,
you know, twenty hour shifts, and you can only get
about a mile from ground zero north of ground zero downtown,
so you would have to walk the rest of the
way and go through security checkpoints. And then while we're

(22:14):
at the New York Stock Exchange getting these team one
line setup in the laptop set up, there were multiple
evacuations for bomb threats, and so you know we were
down there on September fourteenth.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
Is there?

Speaker 3 (22:25):
Ben gets a dumb question every show, So here it is.
There is one of the other actor effects of the
non leven attacks, as our financial system built in more
redundancies and backups so that God forbid something like this
happens again.

Speaker 5 (22:40):
There are now backup systems and met multiple places across
the country, not just focused in the New York City area.

Speaker 6 (22:47):
And if I can, well, he was going to ask
if I could just add something real quick. I interviewed
Roger Ferguson. He was in charge of the Federal Reserve
when nine eleven took place because Alan Greenspan was out
of the country and so he was THEBER two in
command and here in America, and so he ended up
running the team that oversaw everything that took place to
make sure our country did not fall into devastation financially.

(23:10):
That was part of the terrorist plan. They wanted that
to happen, and Roger Ferguson and his amazing team together
they literally saved the country from what could have been
a huge monster depression. And so he's an unsun hero
and people have never talked about him that I know
of in any film, and so we made the choice
to obviously interview him for this film because this story

(23:32):
is very important, and so he talks about what he did,
how he did it, why he did it, and the
things that are still in place today because of what
was created on nine to eleven for America's protection.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
There's there's and that's I find that fascinating. I'm so
glad you all are doing that. One of the before
we start our clime, our Towered Challenge, we play like
about a five minute video that's sort of a compilation
of the images and just all that because we want
and we also started doing something several years when we
realized that some of the young people that were raising
their hand to take the oath were born on nine

(24:05):
to eleven. They've got no touchstone as to what all
of us went through. So we played that videos because
we do want to shock people a little bit, particularly
those who weren't around on that day. And one of
the most powerful images of that video is the segment
that showed when Andrew Card delivered the news to President Bush.

(24:26):
I think he was visiting a classroom of some children,
and his face, you know, he was. You could tell
he's like trying to keep it together. But you is
Andrew in the film.

Speaker 6 (24:38):
Too, Yes, yeah, he's throughout the film. He was such
a nice man and added so much to the film.
And you know, they knew about the first plane hitting
a tower before President Bush went out to do the
reading with the little I think their fifth graders or
something at the elementary school, and but they thought it

(25:00):
was just a small planet, was an accident. And then
after President Bush walked out was in front of the
cameras reading with the kids, they find out that a
second plane hit a tower. Now they know America's under attack.
And Andy Carr talks about what he had to do,
figuring out how do I tell the president. He's got
cameras from all over the world watching him, He's in
front of these fifth graders, We're under attack. He needs

(25:20):
to know how do I get that information to him.
So in the film he talks about what he did,
what is my process was, and then you know we
all saw it, but he talks behind the scenes, what
he said to the president, what he whispered in the
President's ear, and he really admired the fact that the president,
how he handled it you know, you could see the
shock in President Bush's face. You can't fake that, you know,

(25:42):
But he kept cool, calm and collect and again he
was trying to set the tone, mister Carr believes, you know,
as far as for the country. He didn't want anyone
freaking out. He didn't want to jump up and rush
out and all of a sudden's panic what just happened?
You know, the president just ran out, and so he
kept everything calm. And then when he got back behind

(26:02):
uh to another room, that's when the President got on
the phone with FBI Agent c I A and everybody
started making everything work. But but yeah, Andy Carr was
an amazing interview for this film.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
We've had a guest on the show who was a
general who accompanied President Bush on that on that first
flight out and they headed to I can't remember it was,
but they had it. Their first stop was because you know,
they wanted to get him in the air because we
didn't know what else was coming, right, we had to
protect our command structure. And their first stop was at
an air Force base I think somewhere down south. I
can't recall, but you know, the general gets on the

(26:33):
horn and calls the base and says, look, I need
five hundred box lunches, and they're like.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
What what what? What?

Speaker 3 (26:39):
Just can't be the damn lunches, right because you I'll
explain when we land. But coming back to you, Chris,
you well, the what what do you hope come We
talked a little bit about the goal for this this program,
but in the ideal world, Chris, what do you hope
to see coming out from this?

Speaker 4 (27:00):
There's two things.

Speaker 5 (27:01):
One is that we're also writing a book very similar
to the film. There's some stories will overlap, but you know,
hopefully it'll be something that can be repurposed in the
fiftieth commemoration, and there's themes in there like duty and service, trauma, resiliency.
But also you talked before about the legacy, and earlier

(27:24):
this week we interviewed the park superintendent of Flight ninety three,
gentleman by the name of Steve Clark, and he said,
what they're planning for the twenty fifth is the focus
on children. And you said, the family members of Flight
ninety three survivors they're starting to pass on now, and
so they're bringing children in to start being the focus

(27:45):
for that memorial and start being the next generation to
be the leadership there.

Speaker 4 (27:50):
There's a young woman who played.

Speaker 5 (27:54):
Leaves a trumpet for about five years ago and they
asked her to come back, and she said absolutely for
the twenty fifth until she's going to be sort of
the new face of Flight ninety three memorials, so passing
that torch for the next generation, having those educational materials
out there. We're working with the different memorials for creating
curriculums and so also making it required in the fifty States,

(28:16):
which it's not right now.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
That's I hadn't thought of that as that's a very good,
good point, Michael. When we come back, I like to
just chat from the you know, you're on the ground
experience actually producing this. If there were any other other challenges.
It's hard enough to produce a documentary, but if there
are any other challenges that came up, and I've got
one thing in particular in mind, so I'll just I'll
tease you with that and we'll chat about that when
we come back. Ladies and gentlemen, there's your host, Ben

(28:39):
Dela Garcia talking with Chris Meek and Michael Guyer. A
great film coming out, The heroism and resiliency of nine
to eleven, From Tragy to Triumph. You can learn more
of us at the nine to eleven Film dot Com.

Speaker 6 (28:49):
We'll be right back.

Speaker 3 (29:11):
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. This is Ben buler Garicia.
You're tuned into American Warrior Radio. We're talking with Chris
Meek and Michael Geyer about a great new film that
they've got. This coming out on the twenty fifth anniversary
of the nine to eleven attacks, that's September eleventh, next year,
twenty twenty six. It's called The Heroism and Resiliency of
nine to eleven From Tragedy to Triumph. You can learn
more at the nine to eleven Film dot Com. Michael,

(29:33):
I'm curious. My experience doing the radio show is sometimes
it's hard to get people to talk about the trauma
that they went through, and I get family members, maybe
daughters of World War Two veterans, that say, he's just
he can't He's not going to be able to come
on and talk about it, which is really tragic because
I think if we don't record these stories, they're lost forever.

(29:53):
Did you have any experiences like that and filming this
documentary where some folks said, Michael, I just can't do it.

Speaker 6 (30:01):
So thankfully. No. The great thing that happened with this
film after the interviews I had many times they said
the interview actually helped them because they had so much
bottled up. They experienced so much at nine to eleven.
They hadn't talked about it over the years, Like Chris,
many of them wouldn't go down to the Memorial in
New York or the Pentagon or wherever it was that

(30:24):
they experienced nine to eleven. But having a chance to
actually sit down and talk about it now, they weren't
nervous at the beginning. But that's my job as the director,
and I set off camera and talked to them. It's
just to get them to relax and to talk, ask questions,
and by doing so they were able to release and
express things that really helped them, which was great. One
of the people we interviewed was also Lee Greenwood, the singer,

(30:47):
the country singer sings that song God Bless the USA,
Proud to.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Be an American.

Speaker 6 (30:52):
Loved the song we all do.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
I think that became kind of the anthem, didn't it.

Speaker 6 (30:56):
Yeah, And he ended up becoming very emotional, you know,
talking about what he saw, you know, on nine eleven.
He went down there just to encourage the first responders.
He had a little chair he pulled out, opened it up, step,
stood up on top of it, and sang a cappella
his hit song, which you know the first responder I
was interviewing in regards to that, he had tears just
talking about how much it meant that Lee Greenwood and

(31:18):
other celebrities that showed up to inspire them encourage them
did so. But Lee, you know, was very emotional, and
I think giving him, excuse me, the opportunity to talk
about it also helped him, like so many of the
others were interviewed, so it ended up being positive for them,
and I think that's been exciting for Chris and I
that this film can actually help them as well.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
I can't wait to see it because you're sharing all
these things that I was, you know, and I consider myself,
you know, a little better informed than the average bear,
but I didn't know about any of this stuff, so
I can't I can't wait to see it, Chris. One
of the other positive things that has come out of
this thanks to you again is the nine to eleven
Legacy Foundation one eleven legacy dot org. Do you tell

(32:01):
us more about that, if you would.

Speaker 5 (32:03):
Yeah, sure, So again looking towards the twenty fifth, you know,
I've been saying for a couple of years now that
the twentieth anniversary was kind of a dud, if you will.
And for the most part, if you don't live in
the Northeast corridor, you weren't really affected by nine to eleven,
or you don't really think about it.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
It's kind of from Boston to DC, if you will.

Speaker 5 (32:22):
And again, this is my generation's legacy, our generations legacy.
And so each of the different attacks sites, they all
do their own events, they're all their own ceremonies. They're
run by different entities. Was the Port Authority Department, Defense
or the Parks Department. And so I thought, well, what
sort of a business model can help coordinate and elevate
their events. And so I looked at the Olympic Organizing Committee,

(32:43):
and their job is to elevate the Olympics. And so
they have commercials out there, but figure skitting runs their events,
hockey runs their own events. So what they do is
they do these little vignette teasers about Susie Smith from
West Moyne, Iowa, is a farm girl, but now she's
the top contender for the Golden Gymnastics, and so they
run those vignettes months in advance of the Olympics. And

(33:03):
so we're going to have these little vignette commercials of
these heroes, of these survivors, of these veterans who've done
bravery service above self and leading up to the commemoration
of that. And so I'm blessed to have people like
Andy card Lean and Panetta the Tangental, Mark Statsville, Michael
Geyer on an organizing committee and also according with the
White House's Office of Public Liaison to ensure that the

(33:25):
twenty fifth commemoration is something that somebody excuse me, that
everyone remembers going forward.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Wow, that's that's powerful stuff. I kind of agree more.
I know, like I said, with my personal experience, the
further we get away from the actual attack, the more
I tell our border directors and say that, you know what, folks,
that makes it even more important. It makes our job
a little bit harder, perhaps, but it more important because
we have to keep pushing this and pushing it even

(33:51):
harder so that people don't forget. I got to tell you, Chris,
I'm absolutely shocked by that data. That you shared earlier
in the show about what young people are thinking nowadays.

Speaker 6 (34:00):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
I think our nation could use a few more n
nine twelve spiritual awakenings across the country or so, Michael,
it's I found it interesting you also do do keynote
speaking and go out and talk to folks about, uh,
you know, how realizing their dreams and and and how
overcoming is that? Do you two, gentlemen, did you find

(34:22):
out that you share that kind of common bond of
helping other folks, inspiring other folks or is that is
that coincidence or not?

Speaker 4 (34:32):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (34:32):
It was coincidence, Yeah, because Mike, Michael my passion is
to produce things that change lives, and Chris he spent
a life because of nine to eleven helping others, giving back,
and so yeah, when we met, I think it just
ended up being that we both have that same passion
to make a difference in people's lives.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
And folks can learn more visit Michael Geier dot com.
Geyer is spelled g I E R. Running running out
of time here, gentlemen, what other stories or thoughts do
you want to share that one spire and I guess
we don't know yet when when a knucklehead like me
can actually see the full film, right, we'd stay tuned.

Speaker 6 (35:11):
Yeah, to be seeing the film going to be yeah,
twenty twenty sixth in September, Okay, Yeah, And I want
to read one last thing that Chris was mentioning. You know,
the Foundation is there to work with and help the
three museums and memorials. And we feature each of those
museums and memorials in the film because we want the
public to know they exist, to go visit them, to

(35:33):
go support them, and so each each of them are
featured in the film with their own little segments so
that people can see just how wonderful they are.

Speaker 5 (35:42):
I guess me just one the last thing as well,
Ben You've mentioned a few times, but just remember September twelfth.

Speaker 3 (35:47):
Yeah, absolutely, and what came after. Like I said, I
feel very strongly that, you know, particularly with what's going
on in our world today, we could use a lot
more of us September twelfth, itis, if you will, Will
any proceeds from this film go to ben fit any
charities or is that not in the in the cards?

Speaker 5 (36:04):
Yes, a portion of the proceeds will go to support
the Pentagon Visitors Education Center. They're the one attack site
that does not have a visitor center right now, and
so I'm working with their executive director.

Speaker 4 (36:16):
Director raised funds for that.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
Okay, and Michael, is there any other We've got like
two minutes, any other teasers you want to give us.
We talked about the boat lift and Lee Greenwood. What
else have you got in your back pocket that folks
have not heard about?

Speaker 6 (36:34):
You know, I'll tell you a quick story the New
York Mission. I interviewed Alex Zablocki and David.

Speaker 4 (36:39):
And Judyshup who actually ran to the New York Mission.

Speaker 6 (36:42):
Alex was a young man at the time working with
Wall Street and talked about all the very wealthy Wall
Street people who are covered in dust and you know, horrified,
and they happened to go to the New York Mission
because they were directed there. The New York Mission was
a place for drug add and people trying to get
their lives back together, the people they see on the streets,

(37:03):
the people that these very wealthy Wall Street types won't
even look at. And yet there is a switch on
nine to eleven where those same people at the New
York City Mission took care of these Wall Street people,
gave them their own clothing, brought them in for showers,
made them peanut butter and a jelly sandwiches, got the
water and so it's a total role reversal which we

(37:23):
feature in the film with re enactments as well, showing
how what they considered the low life I guess you'd
call them where they're helping those who are wealthy, the
Wall Street people and made a huge difference in Alex
Ablockie's life to where he then changed what he was
going to do with his career and he wanted to
spend a life giving back as well because of what
these people did for him.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
Well, you know one thing I'd be REMISSI if we
didn't touch on this as well. Just remind people that
the people are still dying from nine to eleven, you know,
the first responders with the cancers and the other illnesses. Chris,
do you know, is there I mean, we finally seem
to have gotten our act together as far as taking
care of those folks, But what about the civilians? Is
this a problem among the civilian population as well? And

(38:06):
is there any kind of support out there for them?

Speaker 5 (38:09):
It's a huge problem and we're losing more first responders
and civilians than we lost in the tarist attacks. There
is something called the Victims Compensation Fund too. It is
massively underfunded. I know we don't talk politics on the show,
and we won't, but it's been an annuity for folks
that are not the victims, and so I encourage people

(38:29):
to look into it.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
The Victims Compensation Fund.

Speaker 5 (38:31):
There's there two of them, and call your congressman, congresswoman,
or send it around.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
This great ladies and gentlemen. A couple of things. I'll
put this in the when the podcast goes up, but
visit Soldierstrong dot org, Michael Geyer dot com, the Next
Steps Forward dot com, and the nine to eleven Legacy
dot org, and then of course you can find out
more about this. Just very sounds like a very powerful,
powerful and an inspirational film that's coming out in September

(38:58):
of twenty twenty six. You can learn more at the
nine to eleven Film dot com. Gentlemen, has been a
real pleasure. Thanks for sharing your time with our listeners
here today.

Speaker 6 (39:06):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Don't forget.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
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Speaker 2 (39:27):
Very powerful messages.

Speaker 3 (39:28):
Until next time, all policies and procedures are the remaining place.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
Take care.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
You've been listening to American Warrior Radio. Archived episodes may
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