Morgan Stanley’s brokers hated their security chief’s fire drills. 2,687 of them walked out of the South Tower alive.Rick Rescorla was a Vietnam veteran who ran security for the firm. After the 1993 truck bombing, he told his company the building would be hit again, from the air, and they should leave. They had a lease.So he drilled them instead. Every three months, no warning. Everybody out, in pairs, down forty flights. Executives included. Traders in the middle of deals. For eight years they complained bitterly.At 8:46 a.m. on September 11, the building announcement told everyone in the South Tower to stay at their desks.Rescorla ignored it, picked up a bullhorn, and started moving 2,700 people down the stairs. When the second plane hit, most of them were already below the impact.Then he went back up for the stragglers. His body was never found.He made them practice for eight years for something that was never going to happen.It happened, and they already knew the way down. 🇺🇸