Where Were You on 911?
I was sleeping in that morning when my son called me on the phone, woke me up and said, “Momma, you need to turn on the tv. I think we are at war or something.” The second airplane had just hit the World Trade Center.
My oldest son was in the Air Force and I knew he had some very big and important war games that day. On that morning everyone was worried about a strike against all the military. (By the way, he has some very interesting stories about the airmen being confused about the real world terror threat level and the war games threat level. The vast majority of them thought they were still playing war games when the change in threat level occurred.)
Like all Americans, I was scared, confused, and just kept thinking, “The idiot son is President.” Turns out, I was right.
If you feel the spirit move you, share your memories of that day.
I was teaching in an elementary school–had a few minutes to run down to the office (I don’t remember why), while my aide was in my classroom. My principal was watching TV (the only one in the school), a very unusual happening. “Look at this,” he said, “some plane just flew into a big building in New York.” Just then, the second plane started flying into the other WTC building. We both gasped & said, “oh, my God!” As I walked back to my classroom, I thought, “you fools, you have no idea what you’ve started.” I was quite sure it was a terrorist attack. I didn’t know what sort of terrorists, where they lived, what they opposed, what they favored, or what evil would ooze out of the pores and cracks in the US, but I knew everything, everywhere was going to become very nasty for a very long time.
1My school district doesn’t believe in scaring the heck out of little kids (my schools were grades K-3), so teachers watched TV in the lounge, when we could, but said nothing to our students. The children went home with notes explaining that they had been told nothing about the day’s events. The principal & secretary fielded many phone calls from parents, & lots of parents picked their children up early.
And then I went home and cried with my neighbors, with whom I disagree on every possible political issue, but who are the kindest of friends.
[If I look like a different person–apologies. My sign-in seems to have deleted itself during one of my iPad crashes. I hope I remembered to sign back in as myself.]
Switched on the TV to CNN when I got up and was folding laundry when the news changed tone. When the second plane hit, I knew it was on purpose. We spent the rest of the day looking at TV and crying.
2It was my 52nd birthday and I got to work early so I could leave early and celebrate my birthday with family and friends. A co-worker called and told me to get to the conference room and turn on the television. No celebration that year. We were all devastated.
3Hey Umpty, again OT, did you happen to meet a lovely veterinary Dr of German extraction while visiting OSU with your greyhound? A Dr Hettlich? Amazingly smart and fun lady – family friend!
4Susan, I thought you and your family would like to read this recount of 9-11 and how wild land firefighters from the Southwest became critical partners with FDNY. My husband, Larry and his friend Van were Type I incident Commanders, they each headed one of 16 national teams that respond to disasters, mainly wildfire. Their teams were based in Arizona but had members from other states. Van’s included members from Texas, as a matter of fact.
Van’s team was on call. All airspace was closed immediately. Van’s team was escorted by military jet to NY, Larry’s team, on a fire in Montana, rented cars and drove all night to AZ where they remained on stand-by. *(One of Larry’s team member’s regular job was at the Statue of Liberty for the Park Service and this fellow’s sister worked in the basement of the Pentagon.)
When Van’s team got to NY, they immediately set up a Command Center. Port Authority, NY Police and FDNY were scrambling to get control of the situation but there was no coordination, no main command center because they were not familiar with that system. FDNY was used to short duration crises and not of this magnitude.
The most immediate problem was to reestablish communication
since the towers had housed the apparatus. The challenge fell on FDNY’s shoulders. Day two and no one had managed to solve the problem. Van and his command staff attended their first morning briefing and witnessed the frustration of men and women who had lost friends and family, who had been sleepless and were desperate.
Next meeting, after the report of another failed attempt at getting communication up, Mike, the Communications Officer on Van’s team leaned over to Van and whispered something to him. Van drew back and looked at him, ‘Are you sure?’ He asked. ‘Yes, I’m sure’.
At that point Van stood and stated that his team could reestablish communication. ‘How soon?’ FDNY, who had been working from the onset and who knew nothing of these cowboys were a bit skeptical. Van leaned down to Mike, ‘Tomorrow,’ he said.
And boy howdy, they did it. It required a jet to escort the components from Boise, ID . Then they were set up on the Intrepid and the Empire State Building. Now, coordination could happen. But, no. The separate entities, Port Authority, NYPD, FDNY had never had reason to coordinate and there was no mechanism. They protected and worked within their own spheres.
The communication achievement gave Vans team a place at the table. Vans team was now able to demonstrate how the command system worked. FDNY were so impressed that they requested training. Larry participated in that training. An exchange program was instituted and many FDNY members shadowed Incident Command Teams in the West. I was able to participate in one of the trainings in a simulation of disaster scenarios in NYC.
FDNY embraced the system and a strong bond of friendship and mutual respect remains among the participants. A Central Command Center is now a matter of protocol and FDNY is always the first on the scene to establish it.
Bunny Humphrey
5J.J. at one time I was a member of the same overhead team that Van and Larry were before each had a national team of their own. This was back in the early 90’s. Matter of fact, we all went down to Louisiana to assist with Hurricane Andrew.
Most people have little idea what it takes for someone to become a Type I Incident Commander. It does not happen overnight and the responsibilities that fall on those that take on the position are many. And, they do it for the same pay as they get when involved in their regular government jobs back home. No, not the 6 figure incomes that the right wingers accuse government workers to rake in. Public servants only get rich when they get elected to Congress!
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