I’m sure bloggers and pundits across the Internet will be posting their recollections of where they were and what they were doing as Muslim terrorists rammed passenger jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon…and likely attempted to slam a fourth into the White House.
So, here’s my story from what now seems almost like another life, another world.
Back in 2001, I working on a variety of proposals for F-16 Aircrew Training at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas, for our overseas customers. On that ill-fated Tuesday, we had just convened a meeting on the Peace Marble V program that would result in a huge contract for new, state-of-the-art F-16I fighters for the Israeli Air Force. The meeting was being held in the Worthington Hotel in downtown Fort Worth, since it was difficult to find meeting space for the hundreds of LM, USAF, and IAF personnel involved in a couple dozen different meetings. It was also easier to meet outside the Air Force Plant 4 facilities (where the LM plant is located) than to deal with the security issues for so many foreigners at one time.
Admittedly, Fort Worth is a long way from either New York or Washington, DC.
The training system meeting, in which I participated, met in a small conference room on one of the upper floors. As I recall, we had four LM personnel (including myself), three or four USAF administrators, and maybe a half-dozen IAF folks.
Both LM and USAF security officers participated in every one of the many ongoing meetings, which convened at 8:00 am.
I was assisting with maintaining the agenda’s timeline in the training system meeting when, at about 8:50, my cell phone rang. My wife informed me that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. Although that was major news, I did not think it worthy of interrupting the meeting to report to the attendees…naturally assuming this was just an unfortunate accident.
Fifteen minutes later, my cell phone rang again. My wife informed me she just watched a live news feed of a second airliner crashing into another World Trade Center building. Almost disbelievingly, I interrupt the meeting to let everyone know what she said. Many are astounded, but some find it impossible to believe. I assure them that my wife is not prone to hysteria.
An LM security officer breaks into the meeting to say that all indications are that this is some kind of terrorist attack. But he has no specifics and says he will be in contact with military security offices. We should continue business as usual.
A little more than a half hour later, another cell phone call from my wife: “A plane just crashed into the Pentagon!”
My immediate response was, “You’ve got to be sh***ing me!”
Everyone in the room heard that comment. So, since I’d already effectively interrupted the proceedings, I stood up and relayed the message.
Disbelief. Stunned silence.
We decided to adjourn to see what we could find out. We all walked down the corridor and around the corner to the atrium balcony where refreshments were available and TVs were running (on CNN) without sound.
But the WTC video was playing…over…and over…and over…
The TV was mounted up high, and we couldn’t reach the volume control. However, somebody in the bar at the atrium’s lower level had gotten sound on the TV there and cranked the volume up so you could hear it everywhere in the atrium.We leaned over the railing, watching and listening in shock.
After 10 or 15 minutes, we slowly regathered in our meeting room, but nobody seemed willing to go back to discussing how LM would train the IAF initial cadre aircrew what they needed to know about their next-generation F-16 aircraft.
Then the LM security officer came in and announced that we would have an all-hands meeting in the main conference room on a lower floor in 10 minutes. All meetings were suspended until then.
Back to the atrium bar and the TVs.
In the main conference room, the LM Chief of Security told everyone what we had all already figured out.
- This was certainly a terrorist attack.
- All air traffic in the continental US was landing and no new takeoffs were being authorized.
- USAF fighters had begun patrolling the skies.
- The meeting would be suspended for the day and everyone should get out of the high-profile hotel venue (it seemed reasonable that a hundred or so Israeli nationals might be conspicuous under the circumstances).
All LM personnel returned to our offices, but not much real work was being accomplished. Internet access had slowed to a crawl, as everyone was trying to find out everything they could about what the hell was going on.
The next day, our meetings reconvened in the LM facilities on AF Plant 4, with its suddenly enhanced security. It took over an hour to get through the main gate to the parking lot, as every car was being scrutinized by our guards (now armed with M-16s and assisted by K-9 crews). Every person in every car had to present DoD or LM identification. The guards ran those long-handled mirrors under every car before letting it pass. Concrete barricades had been erected to force traffic through an S-shaped course.
As I recall, at the end of the week, DoD flew an AF passenger plane into NAS Fort Worth (across the runway from our Plant 4) to pick up the Israeli personnel and take them out of the country, since no commercial air traffic was moving anywhere in the US.
And that’s my memories of the day when primarily Saudi Arabian and Egyptian Muslim terrorists attacked our country.
Where were you and what were you doing?
