Penn State student answers the call, twice

For M.J. Benenati, one of the prevailing images from 9/11 was from an issue of Life Magazine owned by his grandmother.

The picture depicted a firefighter who was running up the staircase of a building. It was simple, but effective.

“It goes back to wanting to help people,” Benenati said.

That same idea has remained tucked somewhere in the back of his head ever since — but it had company.

Soldiers also captivated his imagination.

“I told myself growing up, if there was another 9/11, I was going to enlist in the army,” Benenati said.

Both of his dueling ambitions have found their ways into his junior year at Penn State, where Benenati is a member of the ROTC by day and firefighter by … just slightly later in the day.

When he first started talking to Alpha Fire Company about joining the squad, he was made one very simple promise regarding that ingrained classic image featured in so many movies of a firefighter pulling a woman and her baby from a burning building.

“You’re not going to have that moment happen, but you’re going to be prepared to handle it,” Benenati said.

He enjoys even the quiet realities of firefighting like refilling the oxygen tanks or reeling in the hose.

“I think I’m attracted to the romanticism of it but I don’t do it because of the romanticism,” Benenati said.

This story was originally published September 10, 2016 at 11:32 PM with the headline "Penn State student answers the call, twice."