September 11, 2001

[Herb]

When our country was attacked 18 years ago, I was working for a companyt in Alexandria, VA whose office was literally next to the beltway at the foot of the old Woodrow Wilson bridge. About 20 of us were glued to a small TV in one of the conference rooms and when word that the pentagon was hit (which was about 7 mikles from our office), we all found out how to access the roof from a skylight ladder on teh floor above us.

We could see the "mushroom cloud" smoke from the explosions of American Airlines flight 77 when it was flown into the Pentagon roughly 15 minutes earlier.

It was the most surreal day of my life as those of us that lived in the vacinity of the 3 primary target locations were literally eywitnesses to historical savagery. 

Some of you may know that my younger brother is a Photographer for the AP and is currently the Photo Editor of the New Orleans bureau (if you see photo credits for Gerald Herbert on LSU/Saints games, that is him). Prior to moving back to New Orleans,  Gerald was based in Washington, DC and at the time of the 9/11 attacks he was working for the Washington Times.

He was the 1st photographer on the scene of the Pentagon (he lived about 2 miles from the Pentagon and was literally about 10 blocks from the Pentagon when his scanner started buzzing with news of the airstrike). Two days later he was at Ground Zero. 

Here are a few of the images he took that ran in papers across the country:

Never forget.

[COTiger]

The History Channel has been running shows all day long.  In roughly 30 minutes they will air a show that hasn't been seen before.  Bush returning to DC from Florida aboard Air Force One.

[COTiger]

On 09/11 I was working for Harris Corp.  They operated, maintained, and sustained the Air Force's Satellite Control Network.  Eight ground satellite tracking/control stations scattered around the globe.  Our contact activity increased significantly after the attacks.  I remember sleeping on a cot in the office for at least the first two nights.  Then a lot of 12+ hour workdays for weeks there after.  It was satisfying to know that we were playing a role in our military response to the bad guys.

[dachsie]

That's cool CO!

[COTiger]

11 minutes ago, dachsie said:

That's cool CO!

Thanks.  It wasn't at the time.  We watched in horror on a TV in the break room as the events unfolded.  Very soon we were told to expect some long hours.  Very soon we were told to do what it took to keep the satellites flying.  If it meant not dotting an I or crossing a T so be it.  We would deal with it later.  Our operators/maintainers in the field at the tracking stations did a hell of a job in keeping the stations operational.  We tried our best to keep the bureaucrats off their backs and let them focus on the task at hand.