**This episode is dedicated to Gary Flynn, all of the Task Forces deployed with their search and rescue canines, including Ohio Task Force 1, and those who perished on September 11, 2001. This is also dedicated to the dog handlers and emergency crews who continue to suffer from the trauma experienced during that time, and to their family members supporting the mental and health issues of their loved ones who continue to suffer.

September 11 was the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. People were stunned and frightened as they watched the events unfold on their television screens. After the plot to destroy human lives and weaken American leadership had concluded on that horrific day, the largest call-up of emergency services occurred and FEMA task forces were deployed. One of the 26 FEMA task forces summoned was Gary Flynn and Ohio Task Force 1.

I highly recommend listening to this podcast where Gary describes, in detail at times, how the events impacted him and his 5 year old Belgian Malinois, Tascha. To say that this was an emotional podcast is an understatement. In fact, words cannot describe adequately the plethora of information that Gary was willing to share. Therefore, I am only going to write about details in the best way possible to help break down the magnitude of that day, and the months and years to follow. This is also the platform where I can share photos that Gary took during his time there. Never did I think that I would meet and get to know someone who I could call my mentor and my friend, and someone who tirelessly worked at finding survivors with his personally trained professional dog.

This was a war zone, no doubt about that. The way that Gary describes how he got the call while working his day job at BIOPLASTICS CO. in North Ridgeville, Ohio, is already uniquely different than the majority of us who watched the news that day in our homes. He was called up and ready to go like any soldier summoned to war.

We all remember exactly where we were when we found out about the first plane slamming into the World Trade Center. None of us dreamt this was part of a much bigger plot to wreak devastation on a such a grand scale. We were able to watch the events on tv in the security of our homes. However, the first responders and those called up to search for survivors had to risk their lives and the lives of their beloved and highly trained canines.

Out of the 72 people in Ohio deployed by FEMA, only 4 dog handlers and their canines were chosen to go. Three of the four handlers were from OSDA (Gary’s search and rescue dog agency). The fourth handler, Terry Trepanier was a veteran firefighter and paramedic from Washington Township, shown in the picture below with his dog Woody. There were many more qualified people ready and willing to go serve, but were not chosen by the federal government to assist. FEMA plans for disasters similar to this and whatever they decide is not to be debated or contested. Gary talks about how much the love and support from those not selected to go was an immeasurable support system while being there.

FEMA requested that the canines to be deployed be live human finds only. Gary had a cadaver dog, Felix, fully trained and ready to go, but that was not what was needed from Ohio Task Force 1. There were Task Forces from other states who received the order for trained cadaver dogs. However, Gary’s dog Tascha, exhibited an aversive behavior whenever she would come across cadaver parts. She would shrug her body in such a way that it was almost an actual alert signal. Gary had specifically trained her to go past any cadavers and only focus on the live human scent.

Gary and Tascha worked 12 hour shifts, but it never ended at the 12th hour. If they were commanded to search a specific area of “the pile” (which was approximately 40 stories high) and they kept finding more openings within that pile to investigate, they did not quit just because their shift was up. They continued until there was no more area left to search . If it required to rappel blindly into a dark hole, then that’s what they did. Sending his dog in first with no leash and no collar to find survivors caused fear and anxiety that cannot be verbally described.

“I can tell you what it was like, but I have no way to tell you how it feels”

Gary Flynn

Gary and Tasha weren’t always working the pile. Sometimes they were commanded to search the surrounding buildings. A badly damaged structure assigned to Gary and Tascha was the Merrill Lynch Financial Center, pictured below. They had to climb 51 flights of stairs with no lights to guide them and search every inch for survivors. What they found was mostly plane pieces, cadavers, luggage and clothes. Gary says that the job always starts from the top on down, instead of the other way around. That way, when you are all done with the search, you can just exit the building.

One of my questions to Gary was about using protective gear for himself and his dog. Gary had all the protective gear needed for a toxic environment like the one at Ground Zero. He knew what he could be exposed to because he was a certified environmental hazard specialist. However, the protective gear got in the way when navigating through narrow passages with sharp objects all around. He wished he could have worn the gear all the time, but it wasn’t feasible.

Tasha did not wear any boots for her paws. She managed okay without them. She did endure a large burned area on her chest, not from direct fire, but from abrasions caused by squeezing in between and crawling through so much rubble. The wound healed up, but the fur never grew back. She lived until the ripe old age of 17. She was a cancer survivor on top of all that. It was too difficult to say that the cancer was due to her exposure to chemicals at Ground Zero, but living 13 years after the event is pretty astonishing!

Gary is beyond grateful to the Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams dispatched by FEMA to Ground Zero to provide medical care to the hundreds of search and rescue dogs on site. Tascha became dehydrated to the point where she needed to have intravenous fluids pumped into her. The VMAT teams provided the prompt assistance required to get Tascha back on her paws again.

Another question I asked Gary was if dogs experience PTSD. He believes they do but it is because those dogs were not properly trained or they were not the type of dog that could handle the stress from search and rescue work. Just like not all dogs make good service dogs, not all dogs are cut out to make effective search and rescue dogs. The stamina and prolonged self motivation required for this kind of work is not present in all dogs. The dogs who have been correctly trained succeed and love what they do. Their handlers reward them with play time whenever they can sneak in a few minutes of downtime. Sometimes, due to the tasks at hand, the only reward was their handler’s voice praising them. Other times, down time meant rest time. Catching a few Z’s had to be squeezed in there too!

Another amazing feature of the search and rescue dog is their ability to provide loving and caring support to their handlers and emergency staff members. Gary said there were plenty of them crying into their beloved dog’s fur. Dogs provide comfort that humans cannot. It’s just different.

Gary is eternally grateful to so many people, but most importantly, his wife and young daughter. Returning from any search and rescue mission is difficult to resume a normal routine, but coming back home from Ground Zero was especially challenging. The trauma of seeing so much death and destruction can make it hard to carry on. Gary encourages anyone experiencing trauma to seek help. PTSD manifests itself in so many disguising ways. Seeking professional help is crucial to learning how to resume mundane chores and a “normal” lifestyle. You want things to be the way they were, but it’s impossible when you have changed because of this traumatic event in your life.

I want to extend my humble and sincere gratitude to Gary for giving me the opportunity to talk about such an emotional subject. I feel deeply that our paths crossed at Petco because as fate would have it, one day I would have the platform for him to share his experience with all of you. So many people suffered, and sadly still suffer, from that sunny fall day 24 years ago that suddenly turned dark. Please be kind to all people. You don’t know what their story is.

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