Leventhal has been to war zones nearly two dozen times , including five trips to Iraq , four to Afghanistan , eight to Israel ( including multiple journeys to the West Bank and Gaza ) , tours of Albania , and Macedonia during the war in Kosovo and two trips to Libya in 2011 . In 2003 , Leventhal spent nine weeks in Kuwait and Iraq , embedded with the United States Marine Corps ' 3rd L.A.R. , crossing the border and advancing to the outskirts of Baghdad , where he joined the Sinners and Saints of the 2nd Battalion , 23rd Marines . He was one of the first reporters on the scene at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the first to go live , before the towers fell to the ground . He traveled to Bahrain and Afghanistan later that year , embedding with Marines at Camp Rhino and Kandahar Airport for the launch of the War on Terror
9/11
September 11 attacks
Rick Leventhal