story1527.xml

story1527.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-28

I was watching the "TODAY"show on NBC, some piece of fluff and Matt and Katie were doing a promo before breaak..Matt put his hand up to his ear and listened..he and Katie got serious looks on their faces then one of them Katie? announced that they were just getting word that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I didn't think too much about it, finished getting ready for work and left the house. I always listen to the radio in my car and was about half way to work when the DJ announced that a 2nd plane had hit the WTC. At that moment I knew it was a terrorist attack but I had no clue as to the magnitude of the impacts.
I work at Naval Air Station Patuxent River Md. I'm a program analyst and have been with the government 20 years. I've been through the Panama Invasion, Nicaragua, Hondurus and Desert storm while working at The Naval Weapons Station in Concord California, but nothing prepared me for seeing sailors with guns at the ready when I entered base. I walked into the office and they already had the conference TV on CNN,We watched the feed and then got a call saying the Pentagon had been hit. We really didn't believe until CNN started broadcasting and the everyone in the office started reacting. One lady broke down in tears. Her husband was supposed to be at the Pentagon that morning, she couldn't reach him. The cell phones were dead and all lines out had been cut by the base to clear them for emergency use. A female Commander left a message for her husband, put on her flight suit and went to her alert station, ready to fly Search and Rescue (SAR).
We couldn't get away from the TV and cried as we watched the towers collapse and saw the people coming out of the Pentagon. It was such a helpless feeling. Here we make decisions on aircraft every day and someone had did this to America with a plane. We heard about Flight 73 missing, then crashing in the Pennsylvania field and wondered if we would be targeted because NAVAL Air Systems Command is at PAX.
I remember walking outside to have a cigarette and hearing nothing. The sound of an aircraft engine is so commonplace here that after a while you don't even notice it. That day there was nothing, just complete chilling silence..like in graveyard. Then I heard the sound of aircraft again and saw that they had 2 planes up and armed sweeping the area like two hawks looking for prey. A helo passed. It too was armed. Then the deafening silence again.
I went back inside and my Captain told us the base was closing and to go home. None of us wanted to leave.Everyone makes fun of civil servants but when it comes right down to it, we don't work for the Navy because of the money, we work for it because most of us are prior military ourselves and we love our country. Most people had to be ordered home. They were sweeping the base and didn't want any more of us civilians around than necessary.
On the way out the gate they had placed make-shift bunkers along the streets and young faced sailors manned them with flak jackets,bands of ammo over their shoulders and guns in their hands pointed at the gates. The flags were at half mast. I couldn't help thinking of my 20 year old son and thanking God my family was safe. Everyone on the highway was polite and courteous. That never happens down here. They're always speeding and cutting you off but that didn't happen. The stores along the route home were emptying and one had caught on fire. It registered but not so much..almost like it was incedental. It was quiet everywhere.
I went back home and turned on the tv and spent the next week watching and praying. I got mad when the Presidents courage was questioned because he didn't go right back to the White House. That would have been a stupid move. The base closed and there was nothing to do until they called us back to work. I remember feeling helpless and getting calls from family and friends from all over the country, even Haiti. )My mom is a missionary there. I hugged my kids a lot more and told them I loved them until they were sick of hearing it, then I told them again.
Some of us went to the base chapel for a memorial service when the President called a National Day of Mourning. I went to Mass even though I'm not Catholic then walked outside to attend the Protestant service. The last song that we sang was the Navy Hymn. It was raining and we shared umbrellas. God was crying and so was I.
Some of us went to the base Chapel for a service