email78.xml
Title
email78.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
email
Date Entered
2002-03-16
September 11 Email: Body
----- Original Message -----
From: Keith Riggle & Paula Pebsworth
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 10:12 AM
Subject: We're Fine
I'm fine, just tired from working 44 of the last 72 hours and getting only about 10 hours of sleep the whole time. I just about fell asleep at the wheel on the way home. Not used to sleeping during the day (especially with a toddler running around). I'm still in shock over what happened. I was working in my office Tuesday when one of my troops came in and asked me if I had heard that 2 planes had just crashed into the World Trade Center towers. Naturally I didn't believe him and was trying to get CNN on line, when we heard/felt a loud explosion. We sometimes have military jets fly over the Pentagon, so at first I thought maybe it was a sonic boom. But I pulled up my blinds and looking out the window I saw a cloud of smoke and debris wafting over the building. I told my secretary, "Let's get the hell out of here. I don't know where we're going to go, but let's get out." Soon thereafter the alarms went off. People actually evacuated the building pretty calmy, just like it was a fire drill or bomb threat (which we do occasionally have). As we exited the building, we could see a huge cloud of black smoke that smelled like burning fuel billowing over the building. Our offices are on the south side of the building off corridor 2 in the innermost ring, the A ring, on the 5th floor. The plane crashed just arround the corner on the west side of the building into the outermost rings; I understand that it pentrated through the E and D rings into the C ring at about the 4th corridor. Fortunately, that portion of the Pentagon had been recently rennovated, and a lot of the offices hadn't been occupied yet.
We all stood at the outer edge of the parking look and watched in disbelief. Rumors were flying about what had happened. The plane crashed near the helo pad, so some people thought it was a helicopter. But some people actually saw the plane crash. I walked around trying to account for all my people (about 50 of them), but they had taken different exits and scattered to the four winds. Some of them immediately went home; others went to a nearby shopping mall. As I was standing talking to some people from another office, the police started backing their vehicles away and screaming at everyone to get away as there was another plane. Apparently there were reports of another plane that was unaccounted for. So I went over to the mall myself, and caught a Metro train to a couple stops down the line, where Paula picked me up and took me home. My car is still parked in the Pentagon parking lot.
When I got home, I initiated a telephone pyramid recall to account for all my people. It took a few hours, but we finally got a hold of everyone to make sure they made it home or were accounted for. Two people stayed at the Pentagon to help with the wounded.
I had to report to Bolling Air Force Base in DC at 7 PM to work a 12-hour shift. We are responsible for notifying the next of kin of any casualties (everything from minor injuries to deaths) and assisting NOK of deceased with benefits. We also had to try to account for the 9,000 Air Force people who work in and around the Pentagon, an almost impossible task, especially for those assigned to DoD agencies (as opposed to those assigned directly to Air Force organizations). During my shift we received reports of only 3 injured Air Force people. Not many Air Force people are assigned to that part of the building--it's mostly Navy and Army. However, hospitals weren't releasing any information to us over the phone, and we had to send reps physically to the hospitals to get it. In addition, the fire was still burning yesterday morning, but it's been put out now and they've started recovering bodies. I had 2 troops working in 6-hour shifts in the recovery area in the event any Air Force personnel were identified. They said the scene was pretty gruesome and that most of the bodies were burned pretty badly. They've recovered about 50 bodies so far, with 100-200 people still unaccounted for, including the passengers on the plane. The last I heard, about 90 people had been injured.
I think we all know that these attacks will have a profound impact on life in the US and how we see ourselves and the world. It's going to take a long time to find out who was responsible for these attacks, and we will probably never know with any certainty. I don't doubt that the US will respond with military action, just as we did after the Embassy bombings in Africa. But I know I'll never feel comfortable flying again.
Please tell everyone hello for us and let us know how you are doing. Thank you for thinking of me.
Keith
From: Keith Riggle & Paula Pebsworth
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 10:12 AM
Subject: We're Fine
I'm fine, just tired from working 44 of the last 72 hours and getting only about 10 hours of sleep the whole time. I just about fell asleep at the wheel on the way home. Not used to sleeping during the day (especially with a toddler running around). I'm still in shock over what happened. I was working in my office Tuesday when one of my troops came in and asked me if I had heard that 2 planes had just crashed into the World Trade Center towers. Naturally I didn't believe him and was trying to get CNN on line, when we heard/felt a loud explosion. We sometimes have military jets fly over the Pentagon, so at first I thought maybe it was a sonic boom. But I pulled up my blinds and looking out the window I saw a cloud of smoke and debris wafting over the building. I told my secretary, "Let's get the hell out of here. I don't know where we're going to go, but let's get out." Soon thereafter the alarms went off. People actually evacuated the building pretty calmy, just like it was a fire drill or bomb threat (which we do occasionally have). As we exited the building, we could see a huge cloud of black smoke that smelled like burning fuel billowing over the building. Our offices are on the south side of the building off corridor 2 in the innermost ring, the A ring, on the 5th floor. The plane crashed just arround the corner on the west side of the building into the outermost rings; I understand that it pentrated through the E and D rings into the C ring at about the 4th corridor. Fortunately, that portion of the Pentagon had been recently rennovated, and a lot of the offices hadn't been occupied yet.
We all stood at the outer edge of the parking look and watched in disbelief. Rumors were flying about what had happened. The plane crashed near the helo pad, so some people thought it was a helicopter. But some people actually saw the plane crash. I walked around trying to account for all my people (about 50 of them), but they had taken different exits and scattered to the four winds. Some of them immediately went home; others went to a nearby shopping mall. As I was standing talking to some people from another office, the police started backing their vehicles away and screaming at everyone to get away as there was another plane. Apparently there were reports of another plane that was unaccounted for. So I went over to the mall myself, and caught a Metro train to a couple stops down the line, where Paula picked me up and took me home. My car is still parked in the Pentagon parking lot.
When I got home, I initiated a telephone pyramid recall to account for all my people. It took a few hours, but we finally got a hold of everyone to make sure they made it home or were accounted for. Two people stayed at the Pentagon to help with the wounded.
I had to report to Bolling Air Force Base in DC at 7 PM to work a 12-hour shift. We are responsible for notifying the next of kin of any casualties (everything from minor injuries to deaths) and assisting NOK of deceased with benefits. We also had to try to account for the 9,000 Air Force people who work in and around the Pentagon, an almost impossible task, especially for those assigned to DoD agencies (as opposed to those assigned directly to Air Force organizations). During my shift we received reports of only 3 injured Air Force people. Not many Air Force people are assigned to that part of the building--it's mostly Navy and Army. However, hospitals weren't releasing any information to us over the phone, and we had to send reps physically to the hospitals to get it. In addition, the fire was still burning yesterday morning, but it's been put out now and they've started recovering bodies. I had 2 troops working in 6-hour shifts in the recovery area in the event any Air Force personnel were identified. They said the scene was pretty gruesome and that most of the bodies were burned pretty badly. They've recovered about 50 bodies so far, with 100-200 people still unaccounted for, including the passengers on the plane. The last I heard, about 90 people had been injured.
I think we all know that these attacks will have a profound impact on life in the US and how we see ourselves and the world. It's going to take a long time to find out who was responsible for these attacks, and we will probably never know with any certainty. I don't doubt that the US will respond with military action, just as we did after the Embassy bombings in Africa. But I know I'll never feel comfortable flying again.
Please tell everyone hello for us and let us know how you are doing. Thank you for thinking of me.
Keith
September 11 Email: Date
September 14, 2001
September 11 Email: Subject
We're Fine
Collection
Citation
“email78.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed June 17, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/36940.