9/11: 25 Years Later (Replay) - Ground Zero Firsthand. “From Blue Sky Into Armageddon.” FDNY (Ret) Rich Naviasky On 9/11, Deutsche Bank, And The Illness The Job Wouldn’t Cover.

Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff · Aug 17, 2026 · 53m

Twenty-five years on, the stories from 9/11 are the ones we cannot let calcify into a slogan. In this replay conversation, Paul sits down with retired FDNY firefighter Rich Naviasky — a Squad 18 brother, English major turned accidental fireman, and one of the countless first responders who walked from a gorgeous blue sky straight into what he calls Armageddon. Rich takes us minute by minute from his Long Island City apartment to the West Side Highway, onto a commandeered MTA bus loaded with tools, into the pile, into the pit, and into the quiet, gutting moments of recovering brothers he could…