New York seemed so far away ten years ago when the reports of terrorist attacks came flooding across television and into the newsroom. That was then.

Soon after Ripley County residents would feel the impact with Col. Canfield Boone losing his life in the Pentagon where he worked. Boone was a 1966 graduate of Milan High School where he was known to his classmates, friends and family as “Buddy”.

Patrick Rose who now resides in Osgood, was in New York at the time of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. He was at the scene shortly after the initial attacks on the Twin Towers serving with the NY National Guard 101 Cavalry out of Staten Island.

Rose noted, “We went to the armory that night (9/11) and were granted clearance to move the next day. We arrived at 2 p.m. into Manhattan.”

His battalion was staged at Battery Park where he described the scene. “You could see the wreckage down the street...smoke was coming from below the rubble.”

When his platoon crossed the Brooklyn Bridge Rose said it was eerily quiet with no people in the streets. “There was no one walking around,” Rose noted. He said usually the area is jam packed with cars.

“Women had discarded their high heels to run away,” Rose said. There were abandoned cars everywhere. He continued, “When people did not come for their cars you started to think maybe they were dead.”

Rose saw the despair on the faces of the rescue workers as they dug through the rubble. “You could see how tired the first responders were and how angry everyone was,” he said.

The day of his arrival he said their unit only pulled one mission, which was moving through the destroyed atrium. He said they spent a little time on the “pile” but there wasn’t a lot of direction. The pile he referred to was rubble from the towers.

Rose said his unit was there to assist law enforcement in setting up a perimeter around the site. Rose says he was fortunate to have been deployed to Ground Zero, where his resume shows he successfully managed 30 personnel at the scene. His unit was activated to guard the MidTown Tunnel for three months and spent a short time at the LaGuardia Airport. He was platoon leader at all three places: the World Trade Center, Midtown Tunnel and LaGuardia.

While Rose’s sister’s job did take her to the Twin Towers weekly, he knew she wasn’t there on the particular day of the attacks. He said that was a relief to him.

Rose believes Americans' way of life is forever changed due to the terrorist attacks not only in the Pentagon and New York, but the field in Pennsylvania where some heroes took the plane down instead of letting it hit its intended target: the White House. He said we must always be more vigilant now. He encourages everyone to be the eyes and ears of police and report any suspicious activity.

The real threats in Ripley County according to Rose are: fires, tornadoes and burglary. He said he believes some money that should be used locally is being diverted into state and federal funds for possible “what ifs”. “That money could be used for local agencies such as fire and police, etc.

He encouraged everyone to be ready to shelter-in-place for 72 hours. This means you should always have enough supplies on hand for a 72-hour period including water, food, medical supplies etc. This can be used for any type of emergency, especially one that includes the electricity being off for an extended amount of time, which could happen with a summer tornado or a winter ice storm.

Rose has begun his duties as the Ripley County Emergency Management Agency’s director. He comes to the position with an impressive resume having graduated Cum Laude from Regents College-Excelsior College in 2000. He has served as an executive officer, deputy force protection officer and battle captain in the military where he was deployed to Bosnia 2003-2005, Iraq 2005-2007 and Afghanistan 2009-2010.

Rose served as Cities Readiness Initiative coordinator for the Indiana State Department of Health in Jeffersonville where he ensured seven local health departments bordering Ohio and Kentucky successfully completed grant compliance requirements for biological emergency response.

He has assisted in county and district training exercises and acted as a liaison between county health departments and the state. Rose also was Section Leader for state military response efforts during the 1998 Winter Storm in New York State. He has supervised 15 convicted youth in a secure facility where he was employed at the NYS Department of Children and Family Services.

He was awarded the Legislative Citation of Valor from the Kentucky House of Representatives and NYS Defense of Liberty Ribbon with World Trade Center device.

Having done all of that and more, Rose comes to Ripley County to help make sure its citizens continue to have the emergency management care they are used to. He succeeds Wayne Peace, Versailles, who was the director for several years.

Hesitant to take any praise for his military career, Rose told The Versailles Republican, “Wayne (Peace) is a real war veteran, and there are plenty who did more than me.” Peace served in Vietnam where he received two Purple Hearts for being wounded and many other honors.

PHOTO COURTESY OF J.PATRICK ROSE This scene was the atrium at the Twin Towers in New York after terrorists attacked on September 11, 2001. This has been repaired and when Patrick Rose and family recently visited there this summer they were able to walk in the very place where the rubble is shown.