I made about $20 an hour for most of my career, had people die in my arms, had to pry a deceased 3 month old boy from a dad after hours trying to console him in the hospital when he simply couldn’t let go of his son’s lifeless body after he died,

had to pick up body parts along the highway several times and put them in baggies, had to shovel bodies filled with maggots into body bags that were murdered and left in secluded places hoping not to be found,

had to pull aborted babies out of garbage disposals in the housing projects, had to Jaws of Life a 55 gallon drum with a murdered woman in it after being disposed of by Long Island mass murderer Joel Rifkin,

had to comfort a Mom walking her baby in a stroller after she was hit by a car severing her leg-telling her she will be fine even though she felt her leg-it was gone, had to search a dead body for his identification that had numerous bones sticking out in every direction after,

tumbling underneath a subway train, had to hold styrofoam cups over the blown out eyeballs of a despondent man while enroute to the hospital after he put a gun to the side of his head ejecting his brains and eyeballs out,

had to wipe the blood off my face and uniform after being puked on by a dying gas station attendant who was shot in the throat by a 15 yr old, had to put four legged animals tortured by their two legged creatures out of their misery with an overdose of ketoset,

had to stand at attention with tears coming down at numerous funerals for some we knew and some we didn’t including one 25 yr old Academy classmate named Irma Lozada who chased a robbery suspect -caught him-and after a struggle was executed by him,

and many others including 14 friends who ran into the Trade Center never to be seen again, had two partners with more melatonin than mine and would have laid down my life for either - they would have done the same for me as well,

been accused of wrongdoing by drug dealers who knew the game in order to try and ruin my career, had to rehab for months after breaking my hip and pelvis when a 3,000lb cinder block wall fell on me after climbing over it while chasing males wanted for shooting a police officer,

had to perform warrants for criminals and killers knowing that this could be your last minute on earth as you entered the apartment with a shield in front of you, had to help raise a beautiful young lady who never got to meet her Dad who died in the Line of Duty,

There is not a single moment I wouldn’t do it all over again because I/we always felt we were making a difference in the world and helping those who maybe got a raw deal or who were victims of some bad characters in life,

I was far from alone in my deeds, my career was easy compared to others, many men and women performed far more heroic deeds than I especially those on the front lines today and those who died in the Line of Duty sacrificing it all as my wife will attest to,

Pray for those on the front line for what has become a thankless calling