lc_story269.xml

lc_story269.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-01-21

My wife and I were at our home in Gaithersburg, MD, getting ready to go to Bethesda Hospital for a post-pregnancy check-up when a friend of mine in Massachusetts called and said "turn on the TV." The images we saw were of the WTC's north tower smoking and obviously on fire. Not clear what had happened, other than the building was on fire. Shortly after, the second plane hit the south tower and we both knew an attack was occurring (both my wife and I are military--US Army). As we were departing for the hospital, the report came (over the radio) that the Pentagon had been struck by a plane and that there could be several other planes ready to hit the Capitol building or other targets. We also got the report that Bethesda had been closed (as had Walter Reed) to prepare for casualties from the Pentagon. We had to divert to a civilian hospital. As we were checking in, I called my unit at Ft. Meade, MD, to let them know I was ok and not at the Pentagon (I was outprocessing and had been assigned to one of the Army offices in the Pentagon). Also called the Army Operations Center, in the Pentagon, as my wife was assigned there to let them know she was ok. As I was calling (outside the hospital), two Air Force F-16 jets streaked down towards DC. Several more jets could be heard as well. Once we came home, her parents were visiting and taking care of our son, we received over 15 phone calls from friends and family attempting to see if we were ok and/or had we been in the Pentagon during the attack as well as numerous emails.

Thinking back, I believe my strongest memory of the day was twofold: that the US was underattack and there was nothing I could do to help. Also, if our son hadn't been born 3 weeks before, ensuring both of us were on leave, and there hadn't been complications requiring my wife go to the hospital on 9/11, my wife and I probably would have been in the Pentagon during the attack.

At the grass roots level, there is alot of patriotism and coming together of Americans. Much pride over our civil servants (police, firefighters) and our military. At our country's leadership level, there is too much emphasis on "going it alone." A British Officer summed this up during a professional development seminar I attended in the Pentagon a few months later. Seminar was on post-Cold War NATO and the British officer noted (paraphrase) "when I heard about the attack on the US, I gathered my kit bag (his equipment) and waited by the phone for a call from the US to come help......it never came." We need to get our allies back together, apologize, and move forward with a united West, not the fragmented one we have now.