story20750.xml

story20750.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2006-09-11

I went to work as normal and started my day at my desk like usual. Being in the Midwest we were one hour behind New York. At 8:00 my time I notice that the office was really quite. We had about 65 people in the squadron and its pretty noisy in the morning with people coming and going. This morning it was quiet. I got up and started wondering around and saw that all the desks were empty. I headed to the break room and found a lot of people standing around the TV set. I squeezed in the room and saw the first tower burning. I thought that this was an air accident and kept watching. Nobody moved to go back to their desk and just stood watching. Then the second plan came into view and we watched it live hit the second tower. We were absolutely glued to the TV. I went back to my desk and tried to call friends at the Pentagon to see if they knew anything. The number I was calling rang and rang and nobody answered. Someone finally picked up the phone and told me that the office was being evacuated and that the Pentagon had been hit. I rushed back to the break room with the news and people were telling me that this was serious and to stop joking around. Then it came out on TV that the Pentagon had been hit. We slowly started back to our desks but it was a really subdued office. We kept the TV going and every now and then someone would check to see what the latest news was. We were told that only military aircraft were flying. We saw the President make his speech from Barksdale Air Force Base and being a military unit we knew were had gone into a high posture of security readiness then usual. That afternoon while sitting at my desk I head planes roaring overhead. I got up and went out on to our third floor fire escape landing and saw coming down the runway a plane I recognized as Air Force One, the President's plane. People started coming to the windows and we watched all that was happening on the runway which was right across the street. We saw Air Force troops starting to be strategically placed along side the road near the runway. The President's plane circled and pulled up across the street. The first people out were the Secret Service guys in their black over coats and dark glasses. You could tell they were armed and meant business. Then we saaw the President get out and get into a limo and head for the Strategic Command Headquarters Building about a maile away. Later we watched the President give his second talk from the underground command post. Strategic Command is THE command that is the first defense of the United States. Its here that any kind of action would be initiated. Its the control center of all our military forces. I still can remember clearly, 5 years after, where I was, what happened and the rage, horror and sadness that was felt by both military and civilians assigned to Offutt Air Force Base on September 11, 2001.