JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. –
Most people can still vividly remember where they were 10 years ago on Sept. 11. The twin towers of the World Trade Center came crashing down, the Pentagon was struck and courageous citizens stood up to foil the plans of terrorists on a plane that went down in Pennsylvania. Here at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, operations went into overdrive; from security forces locking down the base to F-16s scrambling to start combat air patrols. The following are a few first-hand recollections from here on that fateful day.
Diane Lancour
I was an active-duty, Dept of Defense, government-service secretary working in HQ ACC/SCO. During this time ACC commander was Major General Peterson. We were located in the NASA wind tunnel building, located right beside the ACC gym.
I do remember our clock falling off the wall during 9/11. We think it was the Langley F-15s taking off. The news was on all the TVs and radio stations that the twin towers in NY had been hit--an act of terrorism. It was devastating to so many people around the world, but so many jumped in to assist. I also remember the Pentagon being hit as well and some military/civilian casualties there as well.
I remember we started working around the clock, and I remember the hot-line ringing off the hook as well as all the other office phones. I remember the tempers flaring up and the pressures being put on so many folks to get things done. I've never answered so many calls in my life, nor have I ever heard or seen so much stress yet camaraderie. We were all team players: military, civilian, contractors and soon Air National Guard unit, all combined.
Within a week, the Alabama ANG was called to assist COMACC who set up an ACC/A6 rear group. This ANG group was ran by Col. George McCurdy--who still works for the ANG in Alabama today.
It was a tough time in my career as a secretary/administrator for the USAF, but more so for all the officers, enlisted Airmen, civilians and DoD contractors during that time in our USAF and ANG history. So many lives were lost and yet so many were saved from distractions, delays or sickness which kept them from showing up that day to perform their jobs in the towers.
I remember so many churches included the chapels on base opening up for folks to gather and pray to find loved ones that had yet to be found. So many firefighters and medics (from all over the US) worked hard, strenuous hours to assist.
I also remember it took many months to settle down, but it finally did. God holds the world, including JBLE in the palms of His hands and continues to do so today--even through the recent earthquake and Hurricane Irene we've just recently endured.
I'm proud to have served my country during that time and I continue to do so today. It's been 27 years in my career and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. I've had numerous bosses over the years and have met so many new friends, co-workers, officers, enlisted Airmen, civilians and contractors and a fine group of Air National Guardsmen from Alabama, whom I still have contact w with today.
I'm also proud to be an AMERICAN!
Gayle Mooney, 633rd Force Support Squadron
Sept. 11 was a sad, sad day. I remember being at work on that day at the 82nd Computer Systems Squadron in the commander's office. The day was beautiful. I even remember the dress I wore; never to wear again because of the sad memory. I gave it to Good Will. The sky was blue just like my dress and the clouds were white and picturesque. The sun shone brightly. It appeared as if autumn was approaching - full of promise. Then suddenly my phone rang - my husband called to report that a small plane had hit the World Trade Center. We spoke of, "how could that happen?" Then he called back and said a plane had hit the Pentagon and I should go look at CNN News, which was on in the lobby.
At that moment it was total chaos. Many co-workers and I listened and watched as the drama unfolded. We watched as people fell from the World Trade Center after jumping from the windows. We screamed and cried in horror. Shortly thereafter, we were dismissed for the day. I drove home in despair, grieving and praying for the victims. All I wanted to do is to reach out to my loved ones to ensure their safety and hold a personal vigil. My heart broke as I watched families looking for their relatives, posting pictures and making inquiries about their missing loved ones. I was elated when stories were told of workers being late, missing trains and adjusting their normal schedules, which put them at different places form the norm. Today and forevermore we are charged to remember 9/11 as we do. It is a date forever etched in our memories.
It makes me think of important and sad times in our American history, but through the experiences we as a nation grow stronger. Our resolve is to pick up the pieces. Those of us who remain must get back up and press on with unwavering courage and stamina to sustain the values particular to Americans.
Genevieve Hughes, 633rd Air Base Wing
I was teaching Health and PE at St. Mary Star of the Sea School in Hampton, Va. I was just about to lead the first-grade class outside for PE when I was approached by the cafeteria manager informing me about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. My first thoughts were that a prop jet or personal aircraft had an accident.
Since the school is located directly next to Fort Monroe, I heard the sound of sirens going off from the entrance to the base. There was a lot of traffic passing the school, en route to Fort Monroe. While I was taking all of this in, the cafeteria manager again notified me that we were being asked to be placed in a "lockdown" drill and not to say anything to the children in reference to what was going on. Many of our students have parents who are active duty and stationed at Fort Monroe, Langley and the Pentagon. I soon heard that parents were calling the school requesting to check their children out for early dismissal.
Through all of this, my thoughts went immediately to my husband; a reservist with the Marine Corps and a Virginia State Trooper. Our two daughters were in school at St. Mary's so I was able to be there for them. I watched the many faces filled with the fear of the unknown as the information quickly passed from one adult to the other. As educators, we were dumbfounded by how much the impact of this day would change the world as we knew it. My husband contacted me and told me he would be late getting home from work; not to worry and that he loved me. No further information was needed, as we knew what the unspoken truths held for each of us.
The school remained on lock-down the entire day (no one could leave the building or enter it without approval or knowledge of the office staff). An announcement was made to the children notifying them a horrific accident occurred in New York City and then we began to pray. As we left the school that day, I thought about what I needed to tell my children, check on my family and pray for those who suffered at the hands of evil.
George McCurdy, 187th Fighter Wing
We were mobilized right after Sept. 11 and part of my personnel was at Langley. We arrived the week after 9/11 at Langley. The rest of my staff was mobilized and was at U.S. Central Command Air Forces headquarters at Shaw Air Force Base.
My staff stayed at Langley until Christmas, and redeployed to Shaw after Christmas. I stayed a Langley until June at the request of Major General Peterson. My staff stayed on active duty continuously for two years with the exception of myself. I was taken off orders in December and put back on orders in January of 2002; then sent to Shaw.
We were one of the first units mobilized, and stayed mobilized for two years - with the exception of myself. I had a month's time I was off orders but put right back on for another year. At Langley, we were a part of standing up A-6 Rear under Peterson.
Jay Pearsall
I was an O-6, the 192nd Fighter Wing's Logistics Group commander and an F-16 pilot for the Virginia Air National Guard in Richmond, Va.
I lived in York County, close to Langley, and on Sept. 11 I was to pick up one of our F-16s, which had landed at Langley the previous week to fly it back to Richmond. It was an uneventful launch out of Langley. Since the jet was full of gas, I had to burn down gas prior to landing. I departed Langley to the West, then South toward Edenton, N.C. I was antsy to get back, so I turned north and raced to Richmond. About this time the first airliner hit the World Trade Center. Nothing was said over the radios about what was happening, but maybe I felt I needed to get on the ground. I landed, taxied and shut down. After getting back in Ops, everyone was around the TV over the ops desk. Shortly, the second airliner hit.
The wing commander and VA ANG senior leadership held a conference, and after the Pentagon was hit, we began preparing. I was not privy to conversations with the adjutant general of Virginia or the governor, but rapidly we were generating the F-16s, just like you do for an ORI. We were not an air defense unit and as such were not postured to get airborne immediately that day. We uploaded fuel tanks and weapons pylons to be ready for tasking.
Within hours, traditional Guardsmen and women were reporting for duty. They showed up on their own, without being called as we didn't have permission to recall or pay folks. I put my best chiefs and maintenance officers on developing a plan to go to 24-hour operations and determining how many Man-days would be needed to support around-the-clock ops. In the days that followed (actually it took weeks) we finally received mobilization authorization and we had more than 400 personnel on Title 10 orders.
The next day we flew some jets to Langley to load live missiles from our stock in storage at Langley's munitions storage area. We actually flew a couple missions from Langley for a couple days then moved ops back to Richmond. We organized an armed convoy to pickup AIM-9s and AIM-120s from Langley back to our MSA; so we could support home station Combat Air Patrol ops. We loaded 20mm bullets from our MSA on day one during generation.
As we were only 12 air-minutes from Washington D.C., we became an important part of the air defense system. Things went into high gear! Communications were established with 1st Air Force, a hotline and klaxon system showed up and we transformed the fighter squadron into an alert area. Fully armed jets on the ramp had to be guarded 24/7, a lot was happening!
Initially, we flew scheduled 4-hour CAP missions over D.C. and Camp David, but soon we were on Alert 15. After some time sleeping in Ops, in briefing rooms converted to rooms, the wing bought three, single-wide trailers for ops and maintenance alert crews.
I wish we had written down a diary of how it progressed, but enduring the winter was tough; snow and ice on the exposed jets caused trouble. Eventually two alert hangars were installed to make things easier. In the end, the 192nd FW was on continuous Operation NOBLE EAGLE duty for 211 days, then sporadically for another three months. In the end we flew more than 3,580 hours with zero maintenance cancels! We flew sorties over New York, and as far away as Chicago.
The 192nd FW now calls Joint Base Langley-Eustis home as the "first ever" Total Force Initiative unit, now in the F-22, 480th IW (DGS-1) and 735 SCMS. Many of our pilots were there in 01 flying F-16 CAP missions from Richmond. It was somber but made us proud to be protecting the capitol.
Linda Sheppard, 440th Supply Chain Operations Squadron
It was saddest, most chaotic day of my life. I was here at Langley in a temporary position, running CONOPS, Procedures and Analysis, Local Purchase and Computer Operations for what was the Regional Supply Squadron. My husband called about 9 a.m. asking if I could get to a television. I asked Master Sgt. Rick Gelsinger, who happened to be with me trying to decide my latest computer malady. I asked if we had a TV and he said the video tele-conference room. I asked hubby why I wanted to watch TV and he said a plane hit a New York City skyscraper.
As Sergeant Gelsinger and I ran to the conference room I envisioned a bi-plane, or maybe a four-passenger Cessna, hitting the Empire State Building. Sergeant G fiddled with the computer at the head of the conference table and then, in glorious, shocking Technicolor, was a huge, commercial plane smashed into the World Trade Center. I was so confused that I thought I was watching some horrific accident, when the second plane came in to view.
By then, several more people joined us in the conference room, and we watched in silent disbelief as the second plane smashed into the second WTC building. How on earth could that happen, twice? What? A plane crashed into the PENTAGON?! The conference room was filling up, and murmurs of questions like, "What-the-hell?" echoed around the room. It seemed that no one could process what we were watching.
I rose to go to the commander's office (I thought he might want to turn on his TV) when he burst in the room saying, "We are under attack." I still didn't understand.
"Linda, I need a list of every Air National Guard Base in the U.S., complete with supply commander's name, base address, DSN and commercial, phone numbers, POCs for the Air Staff, two-shift schedule for every office," he said. "Identify who at ACC with we would be working on a 2 shift schedule. Your office becomes the equivalent of battle staff for the RSS in this kind of situation."
Oh my God! This was beyond the realm of understanding or reason. What? Wait a minute; I was hired to manage the bazillion suspenses and administrative issues for a very, large organization; I was not familiar with battle-staff duties... And so it began.
For me, it meant 14-16 hour shifts because I didn't know exactly what to do or how to do it. I figured if I was compiling information, contacting people, making Burger King runs for the Airmen on duty who didn't have time to go to the restroom and updating slides at 2 a.m. for a 6 a.m. briefing, that I could make life easier for the MICAPers and CONOPS personnel, and that I was aware of what was going on - because the colonel would ask!
I did figure out that the air staff was as novice as ACC, as RSS when it came to "timely info" for the 6 a.m. Air Staff briefing. Lesson Learned: ACC's requirement to have our slides to them at 2 a.m. for them to pass to Air Staff at 4:30 a.m. never worked. ACC's check of our statistics was inaccurate by the time they received them because they wanted them four hours before they were due to the staff. And then they yelled at me for pushing bad info. This went on for months.
Another never-ending challenge was directing traffic and control of classified information in the tiny CONOPS office as a stream of chiefs, supers, OICs and assorted "need-to-know" folks dug into the file cabinets for the situation reports at every shift change. Classified material and classified readers had to stay in the office, take unclassified notes and pass the report(s) to the next in line. Short tempers and a long line were de rigueur.
The list of new responsibilities, the weight of responsibility to the country and the people for whom I worked and who I served was enormous. As I see the situation now, nobody and everybody seemed to have the handbook on how to proceed at 8:48 a.m. on 9/11. I can tell you that everybody; short tempered, short on experience, the thin-skinned, the Alpha-dogs, the most junior Airmen, senior NCOs, junior and senior officers and a myriad of civilians with varying degrees of military exposure or experience, gave 110% of everything they had in them.
There are probably 100 anecdotes for every day we scrambled to quickly, efficiently execute the requests and orders of our superiors. We had good days and we had extraordinarily, crappy days. Those initial months were an exhausting and uncertain time. Though above all, it was a privilege to work with the Air Force's finest; my respect and gratitude to those who contributed to the 9/11 War on Terror is infinite.
Michael Feckner
I was the 94th Fighter Squadron's specialist section chief at the time. We were not scheduled to fly on the 11th, as we had flown our entire, flying-hour program for the fiscal year. Most of the 94th FW was deployed to Saudi Arabia at the time; the balance of the squadron was working deferred maintenance on the aircraft that we had left behind.
Work that morning was pretty routine until we heard a plane had hit a building in New York City. Most suspected something was wrong right away. Several of us were watching TV when the second plane hit, and it was just a few minutes after that we went to Force Protection Condition Bravo. By now we had started to put some of the pieces of the puzzle together and came to the conclusion we were under attack and immediately started to secure our building.
We stood outside and watched the F-16 alert aircraft take off; then started to gather aircraft forms together to see what aircraft we could get in to flying condition the quickest. What would have normally taken six to eight hours was done in three. We launched our first aircraft about four hours after the attack to replace the F-16s that had taken off earlier.
The rest of the day (and the following months as it turned out) was spent launching and recovering armed F-15s for what would become Operation NOBLE EAGLE missions; possibly the first Combat Air Patrols flown over the United States since WWII.
Michael Forde
On the morning of Sept. 11, I was sitting at my desk at the Air Combat Command, Inspector General's office in downtown Hampton reviewing my emails. I emailed my sister Jackie a prayer that someone had sent me the day before. As I sat reviewing my email, one of my troops came to my desk and informed me that TV media was reporting a plane had just hit the World Trade Center.
At that moment I remembered saying, "Oh My Gosh!" My sister worked at the World Trade Center, but I could not recall which building and on what floor she worked. Without knowing for sure, I think I began to go into shock and began to hyperventilate. Tears came to my eyes as I watch flames and smoke billowing out the windows.
I immediately tried calling my sister's cell to no avail, because I did not know her office phone number. I then tried calling my parents, who also live in New York. After a few tries, I managed to get hold of my mother and I asked her whether my sister Jackie called and informed them that she had made it out the building. But, was told that they do not know and they were also trying to reach her. I asked them to call me as soon as they get confirmation that she was ok.
While I was on the phone with my mom, someone at the office shouted that one building had collapsed. That brought more tears to my eyes because I still did not know what building my sister worked. A few minutes later the second building collapsed. I became more anxious to hear good news from my family members that she made it out ok...but no news were forthcoming. As a matter of fact, the phone lines all got jammed from the number of calls trying to get through.
The hours ticked by and still no luck with me knowing my sister's status. My supervisor came to me and asked if I would like to go home and I did; because under those conditions, I just could not function. My mind was racing and praying at the same time that my sister was safe.
My wife and daughter came home around the same time I arrived home. They were in tears wondering whether my sister was safe too. At around 5 p.m. that day, my family and I got a call from New York they had located my sister. She made it out the building and was taken to a hospital in Brooklyn covered with ash.
I thanked the Lord for keeping her safe and returning her to our family. A few days later, after I found out more details of her dilemma, I wrote the following poem.
Thanks for the opportunity to share!
...GROUND ZERO...
As the Twin Towers stood in all their majesty
And not far away--the Pentagon--home of the military
The world watched in silence--from a distance
As Terrorists inflicted horror--on America's existence
Attacks at the Pentagon and World Trade Center
In people's mind--Pearl Harbor visions--did enter
Passengers that jumped the Hijackers on Flight 93 to Philly
May have saved lives in Washington DC
From windows, flames and smoke were seen billowing out
People everywhere were in shock-- without a doubt
Whilst brave firefighters battled the raging inferno
Both Towers came crashing down to...Ground Zero
On the 70th floor--my sister--she was there!
When the reign of terror came in from the air
Haunting glimpses were seen of love ones missing
Leaving family and friends sadly reminiscing
What once stood as an icon of economic prosperity
Now lie in layers of unadorned calamity
Family and friends who towered as a sparrow
Were buried beneath the rubble at...Ground Zero
From the smoldering ruins did emerged
The Nation's patriotism that had been submerged
As with any disaster or world atrocity
Americans united with fevorous generosity
Frustrated rescuers toiled day and night
And citizens couldn't comprehend this devastating blight
Covered with ash from head to toe
Volunteers vigorously worked at...Ground Zero
Answers were sought with each body extracted
Not allowing adversity to determine how we reacted
All fingers pointed to an evil man
As the destructive perpetrator on our Blessed land
Though our Nation went through anger and fear
Our American spirit didn't surrender to despair
Gratitude goes out to every faceless hero
As we start to rebuild our Nation up, from...Ground Zero
Master Sgt. Chris Plath
I was with the Virginia Air National Guard and on Sept.11, I was on alert with the North Dakota ANG here at Langley Air Force Base. We were the first ones over the skies of D.C. for the attack. I assisted in the launch of the F-16's that responded. From that point, I sat on alert status for the next few days before we had back-fill come in from home station. We were on 24-hour Combat Air Patrol missions, with a total of 18 personnel manning the alert detachment.
That morning I came on my day off to pick up some paperwork when it hit the fan. We were called by our controlling agency to find out how many aircraft we could send up. At the time our operations officer's wife called and told us to turn on the TV. Shortly after that we got call to go to battle stations. Before we even had a chance to get up on battle stations, we got the green light for an Active Air Scramble.
It was one of the most trying times in my career, but it was a amazing to see the support we got from the spouses. With no time to go home for more food or to get over to the dining hall, the wives and girlfriends supported the mission by sending in food and sandwiches for those of us who could not go home.
Tammy Johnson
I was still active duty on Sept. 11 and working at the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, which was still located at Langley Air Force Base at the time. There were three certified controllers and two trainees working the day shift. We had the Today show up on the television when they came on with a special report concerning a fire at the Twin Towers.
As we listened to the report, I received a call from one of the air traffic control centers reporting they had lost contact with a commercial airliner at 35,000 feet. As we were trying to determine what would cause the center to lose contact, the second aircraft hit the towers. At that point we became more than just curious about our missing aircraft.
It was not possible for the aircraft which had just flown in to the towers to be our missing aircraft; the timing was off. It was later determined to be the aircraft that ultimately went down in Pennsylvania. The transponder had been turned off so that it could not be tracked.
That was the beginning of a very long, hectic, emotional and frustrating day for all of us. We not only had to deal with the events that were happening at that time, but we also had to deal with false reports coming in through many of the search and Rescue channels that we dealt with everyday, and the frustration of the Civil Air Patrol volunteers who so desperately wanted to help, but were unable to due to the grounding of all aircraft and the fact that no one really knew what to do.
As controllers in the AFRCC, we dealt with many situations that many times did not turn out the way we would have liked them to, but we had procedures to deal with them. 9/11 was an entirely different situation, one that no one had experienced before and one no one wanted to experience again.
Technical Sgt. Shametra Lewis
I remember where I was during Sept. 11: stationed right here at Langley AFB. I was 21 years old, a member of the 1st Services Squadron and a member of the base Honor Guard. I worked a detail that previous weekend and thought I would have that Monday off. I woke up to the news of a plane hitting a tower in New York. Initially it was thought to be just an accident, but we quickly realized that we were under attack. The base was recalled and put into Force Protection Condition Delta. The next week many of us were headed for locations unknown. That day changed my life!! 10 years later I still proudly serve.
Technical Sgt. Cheri Sellner
I was working here at Langley AFB in the Admissions and Dispositions office of the hospital. I was getting a patient's signature for admission when we heard on her TV about the plane crashing into the tower.
Throughout the day we got updates regarding the other planes. A group of us were identified to "deploy" to McGuire AFB with the Air Transportable Hospital for mass casualty overflow from New York City. We left Langley late that same day.
We were a large military convoy and had to travel off the interstates because of more terrorist-target concerns. When we arrived in New Jersey, there were no accommodations available for us there and we got bounced from location to location on McGuire and Ft Dix until finally we were placed in condemned barracks.
I remember there being a lot of people from all over the country that had converged on that location with plans to help. I remember a multitude of search and rescue organizations being there. We all received a mass briefing regarding our conduct on the base. I specifically remember being told, "If someone is yelling at you and you aren't certain what they are saying, to just get down on the ground with your hands behind your head." That really stuck with me because of how uncertain everything regarding security was and the fear it really drove home.
Unfortunately, there was no mass casualty event because not many made it out of the towers. Since we had everyone and all of our equipment there, we had a Phase II like exercise for about a week. It was surreal because we didn't really know what else was going on because there was little communication with the outside world. We didn't really have a bunch of cell phones back then. I think there were a couple of pay phones and I don't remember a TV. Pretty much all we knew had to be relayed to us but we just focused on the exercise and waited to return to our home and families for additional information.
When we were leaving McGuire AFB to return home, cars were honking and waving at us. I believe they thought we were getting ready to deploy to find the people who did it but it felt really good to have that kind of support and enthusiasm.
William Noble
I'm Mr. Bill Noble now, but on Sept. 11, I was Major Bill Noble, the Operations Officer on duty with the ACC Contingency Action Team. At the time the CAT was relegated to a small, 10-seat computer training room in the ACC Communication Squadron training room. We had very little connection to media, but the ACC command center was just next door in the adjoining computer Lab and they had a TV.
I was in the process of training a new operations officer when we received a phone call from one of the CAT directors, who told me that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings. I immediately jumped up and rushed to the TV in the command post, and as I opened the door the second plain was just crashing into the second tower. I knew this was an attack, and without any direction from senior leaders on the other side of base, I started activating the CAT for full-time operations.
Many people have told me of the impressions they had that day. I have to admit I have very few impressions because I was locked in my OPSO seat. But one very, vivid image remains with me today: the very, small CAT room in the Comm building crammed with people and their collective gasp when the third plane crashed into the Pentagon and it was first announced on TV.
Because of 9/11 the ACC CAT never stood down from 24/7 operations for the next three plus years and was instrumental in deploying thousands of Airman to Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and New Dawn. This was a collective effort and many good Americans helped make the CAT run efficiently in those dark days. That was my world on that day... I'll never forget it.