story9129.xml

story9129.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-03-05

Our officemates and I were doing our normal job in Pentagon room 5A324 when I heard the news. Someone saw the breaking story of the first World Trade Center crash on the news in our Colonel?s office. The word quickly went out, and soon we were crowded in our conference room watching the story unfold. We were debating if it had been an accident or deliberate.

When the second plane hit the World Trade Center, we knew it was deliberate. While most expressed horror at the scene, two of us realized that we were now a likely target. We were trying to figure out who to call to get the Pentagon evacuated, when it happened.

We felt the impact, and we knew what it was. The building around us shook, but nothing collapsed on us. Thank God for the engineers and engineering of the Pentagon. I have no doubt that the original construction and renovation saved a lot of lives.

We immediately started evacuating the office, seemingly for a long time before the alarms went off. We made sure that our office and our neighboring office were both empty before evacuating the building. I was amazed at the calmness of everyone. It didn?t matter if we were military, civilian, or contractor - we were of one spirit, helping others along the way.

Once outside, we saw the smoke and smelled the burning fuel. I wanted to go to the scene and render what assistance I could. I realized though that all military had the same basic self-aid buddy-care training, and emergency vehicles were already responding as well. I was concerned that I could be part of the problem instead, so I made my way to the outer edge of the south parking lot. Though logically I have no reason for regret, I still regret not doing more to help.

Once out there, I offered assistance to a female Staff Sergeant that had fainted. Someone had water, so I offered tissues to use as a cold compress to a nurse that took things under control.

A police officer announced evacuation to one mile away, but people were not responding. I used my command voice to "herd" people out of the south parking lot and beyond the freeway overpasses.

During this action, I was informed that we were released to go home and await orders. Seeing that the situation seemed under control, I started leaving the area.

Noticing that vehicles were still coming down the ramp from I-395, I worked my way up the ramp to the freeway, directing traffic to stop and turn around along the way. When I got to the freeway, a police officer arrived and thanked me for redirecting the traffic.

During my walk home along Columbia Pike, I noticed that several fire trucks and rescue vehicles were stuck on northbound Glebe Road trying to get through to Columbia Pike. I stopped traffic, directed southbound Glebe Road traffic to the side, and waved the fire vehicles into the opposing lane to get through.

Also during my walk home, I rendered assistance to a young mother and her toddler son. She lived near the Pentagon and ran away after the explosion but was now concerned about her sister. I carried her son and walked them to a restaurant where I entertained her son while we watched for her sister to drive by looking for her. A coworker of another office arrived and waited with us. The woman?s sister arrived, and I resumed my walk home.

When I got home, I called family to let them know I was OK. I then called a friend to find out if she was OK. She was shaken-up, but walked to Crystal City, so I told her I would pick her up. I drove in as close as I could and picked her up. We then got into the mass exodus out of the area to get her home.

We then went back to work the next day, with the building still on fire. We arranged temporary workspace elsewhere in the building and set about the mission of fighting the war on terrorism.