story4551.xml
Title
story4551.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
I am a Federal Service employee, a supervisor at Fleet Technical Support Center, Pacific. We provide technical services to the various ships and shore stations in the Pacific/Indian Ocean areas for all systems and equipments installed aboard U.S. Navy units.
I arrived at my office at 0530, the normal time for us to arrive since we commute from Temecula, CA, about 60 miles north of San Diego. Sometimes traffic is heavier that normal so we plan to arrive earlier than our normal start time of 0600 just in case. My normal morning routine is to lite off my computer, check email, while listening to the news on the radio. This morning was a little different. About 10 minutes after getting into my routine, the news broadcaster mentioned that an airplane apparently had gone astray and had run into one of the twin towers in New York City. He speculated that the plane was from Kennedy or La Guardia and had simply gone off course. I called my wife at home in Lake Elsinore and asked her to turn on the TV and see if there was anything on the network news about the crash. She said that she was watching the whole thing on TV and that has just seen another plane in the air behind the second tower. Just then, the plane collided into the tower and the flames shot out the other side of the building. I heard her scream, then say "Oh, my God"..... She started to cry. Not exactly the way I would have wanted her to start her day, but today, the world was changing forever.
We talked for about 10 more minutes before I had to hang up. Things started happening around the base. Security was advanced to a very high level. Personnel were being turned around at the gates. Access was restricted to those already on the base, and only active duty military personnel were being allowed on the station. The traffic patterns around the Naval Station were quickly clogged with cars and civilian employees trying to get to work. Those that could find parking outside the base did so and walked through tightened security to gain access to the base. Many painful minutes passed as did rumors regarding the status of forces and reactionary responses. Shortly after 0900, all supervisors were assembled in the department office to learn that all civilians were to be released from duty until further notice. No one was to be deemed "essential" for the interim. All functions would be covered by the military members of the command until further notice. Should there be a need, the assigned Command Duty Officer (CDO) would contact the appropriate supervisor for any emergent work that was required by the units of the Pacific Fleet. All civilians were instructed to call in to the CDO each morning to determine our status and when we would be allowed to report back to work. The supervisors were to contact all of their employees as soon as word was received that we were allowed back on board the Naval Station. By 0945 that fateful morning, all civilian employees of Fleet Technical Support Center were dismissed.
On the ride home, we were glued to the radio wondering what was next. The evacuation of the White House sent shivers up my spine. The next plane flew into the Pentagon, another site where I had been on many occasions during my 25 years of civilian employment and my nine and one half years of active naval service.
Who is this that is attacking the very core of our democracy, and for what purpose? What organized fanatic group or country had mastermined this deadly display of terror? Could it have been a country in the middle east, a land of many cultures so different from mainstream America, where life seems cheap with the daily suicides conducted by Islamic and Muslim fundamentalists for the good of Allah?
Too many questions and not enough answers.
Arriving home, I found my wife stayed home from work. Glued to the television, I arrived in time to see the second tower collapse to the ground. Still in a state of shock at what had happened, we prayed for the police and firemen, the innocent civilians trapped in the inferno and hellishness of the entire scene. The thousands of lives that would never be the same, ever again.
I arrived at my office at 0530, the normal time for us to arrive since we commute from Temecula, CA, about 60 miles north of San Diego. Sometimes traffic is heavier that normal so we plan to arrive earlier than our normal start time of 0600 just in case. My normal morning routine is to lite off my computer, check email, while listening to the news on the radio. This morning was a little different. About 10 minutes after getting into my routine, the news broadcaster mentioned that an airplane apparently had gone astray and had run into one of the twin towers in New York City. He speculated that the plane was from Kennedy or La Guardia and had simply gone off course. I called my wife at home in Lake Elsinore and asked her to turn on the TV and see if there was anything on the network news about the crash. She said that she was watching the whole thing on TV and that has just seen another plane in the air behind the second tower. Just then, the plane collided into the tower and the flames shot out the other side of the building. I heard her scream, then say "Oh, my God"..... She started to cry. Not exactly the way I would have wanted her to start her day, but today, the world was changing forever.
We talked for about 10 more minutes before I had to hang up. Things started happening around the base. Security was advanced to a very high level. Personnel were being turned around at the gates. Access was restricted to those already on the base, and only active duty military personnel were being allowed on the station. The traffic patterns around the Naval Station were quickly clogged with cars and civilian employees trying to get to work. Those that could find parking outside the base did so and walked through tightened security to gain access to the base. Many painful minutes passed as did rumors regarding the status of forces and reactionary responses. Shortly after 0900, all supervisors were assembled in the department office to learn that all civilians were to be released from duty until further notice. No one was to be deemed "essential" for the interim. All functions would be covered by the military members of the command until further notice. Should there be a need, the assigned Command Duty Officer (CDO) would contact the appropriate supervisor for any emergent work that was required by the units of the Pacific Fleet. All civilians were instructed to call in to the CDO each morning to determine our status and when we would be allowed to report back to work. The supervisors were to contact all of their employees as soon as word was received that we were allowed back on board the Naval Station. By 0945 that fateful morning, all civilian employees of Fleet Technical Support Center were dismissed.
On the ride home, we were glued to the radio wondering what was next. The evacuation of the White House sent shivers up my spine. The next plane flew into the Pentagon, another site where I had been on many occasions during my 25 years of civilian employment and my nine and one half years of active naval service.
Who is this that is attacking the very core of our democracy, and for what purpose? What organized fanatic group or country had mastermined this deadly display of terror? Could it have been a country in the middle east, a land of many cultures so different from mainstream America, where life seems cheap with the daily suicides conducted by Islamic and Muslim fundamentalists for the good of Allah?
Too many questions and not enough answers.
Arriving home, I found my wife stayed home from work. Glued to the television, I arrived in time to see the second tower collapse to the ground. Still in a state of shock at what had happened, we prayed for the police and firemen, the innocent civilians trapped in the inferno and hellishness of the entire scene. The thousands of lives that would never be the same, ever again.
Collection
Citation
“story4551.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 16, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/6922.