September 11th

I was watching Dylan Ratigan on Bloomberg TV, expecting to see the morning stock report before I left for PT (physical training) I was shocked to see a smoking hole inside one of the twin towers, my first thoughts, “how could a pilot have f upped, that bad?” When I saw the second plane go into the tower I remember my exact words “Oh God, we’re under attack.”

I immediately called the HHD (Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment) Commander, 

“Al, whatever you do, don’t let anyone leave post after PT cause they’ll never get back on. We’re under attack two planes have just hit the twin towers in New York and the MPs (Military Police) are going to be closing the post. I’m headed in now” Shocked silence on the other end.

I jumped in the shower, changed into my BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform) for what I knew was going to be a long day, one I may not be coming home from. I raced to the East Gate of Fort Lewis, Washington, and just as I knew, the MPs speed past me as I came on post.

I can still see the two MPs closing the East Gate in my rear view mirror as I passed the always unoccupied “guard” station. I relieved the CQ (Chief of Quarters) from duty, and sat in the 201st Military Intelligence Brigade headquarters answering the phones alone for over two hours.

I remember the Brigade S4 (Supply) calling “Dave, what’s going on? Traffic is backed up to the Tacoma Dome, all the gates except the main gate are closed and the MPs are making everyone get out of their cars and practically strip searching them?”  Then the resigned silence after I told him what had happened.

The best cartoon I saw that captured that moment in time was a travel agent asking a woman where she wanted to go “September 10th”

The September 11th attacks were about destroying American Symbols, the Twin Towers, Financial, the Pentagon, Military, and the White House, where Flight 93 was headed, Political. 

Of all the vivid details about that day and the succeeding weeks I remember, what I remember most was speeding past the MPs headed to close the East Gate, so all traffic had to be funneled through the Main Gate. All of the gates to Fort Lewis were open, symbolizing an open post of an open society, in less than a few hours, that had been irrevocably changed.

I can still see the two MPs closing the East Gate, appropriately in my rear view mirror, and that Chapter of American History. I was a witness to history, but I didn’t have time to think about it, I had to get to work.  Of all the things about September 11, 2001, that’s the thing I remember most.

For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,

    my eyes from tears,

    my feet from stumbling,

that I may walk before the Lord

    in the land of the living.

Psalm 116.8-9