13:02
The morning of September 11th, we were just starting what we call the Level 1 Rescue Course, and we were doing all of our internal training: from rope rescue to confined space work, to securing collapsed structures, we were learning all of that. We had just started class when we saw a plane crash into a building in New York. When we learned that the plane had hit the Pentagon directly, we raised the alarm, gathered everything we needed, and were ready to leave within an hour. Our mission was, no matter what, to get inside, conduct search and rescue, hopefully rescue whoever was there, wherever they were. It was the evening of the 11th when we reached the Pentagon. And I remember the Pentagon was still burning. Many local fire
departments have already arrived on scene: Arlington County, Alexandria, Fairfax, Fort Belvoir. The priority was to put out the fire. Ahem. The plane crashed fully fueled, so it took some time to get it under control. We found the rescue operation leader, told him about our capabilities, informed him that we were already on our way, and began to wait for the arrival of our unit. While we waited for the rest of the unit, the main force, I led the first squad into the building to conduct initial search and rescue. This was after everyone who could leave the building had been able to do so.
Sergeant Brown's mother-in-law worked at the Pentagon in the exact part where the plane hit. And his children-I remember him talking to his children, and they were trying to find their grandmother. And at the same time, the sergeant major of Fort Belvoir, sergeant major Strickland, her husband was also working in that area, and I remember her going around looking for her husband, asking us to help her find him. These are the things that stuck out most in my memory from that first night. . I didn't think about anything except making sure my boys were dressed properly. We were in self-contained breathing apparatus, went inside and conducted a search. I knew my mother-in-law was somewhere in the building, but I didn't know exactly where she
was in relation to where the plane had hit. Ahem. They were just doing their job automatically. There was a lot of shock because we weren't used to seeing, you know, half a meter of water with fuel burning on the surface. And what we saw inside. that I can't even remember right now, but mostly it was just training kicking in, and even though you're not a robot, you just let it work and, you know, do its thing. When we arrived at the location, everyone wanted to get to work. Nobody wanted to go to bed. Me included. I think most of us didn't sleep for the first two or three days. To put it bluntly, because that's when, if you find someone, there's a chance that person is still alive. And we gave it our all Nobody wanted to
go anywhere. Most of us slept there: either in our Humvees, or in trucks, or just on the ground. Well, we felt very disappointed. As you can imagine, we trained hard, and in most of the training scenarios we were rescuing people alive, and. Realizing that we probably would n't find anyone alive was a little stressful for us, because that was what we were trying to do. And as we found more and more bodies, it became harder and harder, excuse me, it became harder and harder to keep everyone motivated. But in the end, you know, it was search and seizure. So we went into body search mode exclusively and, you know, we just dealt with it.
It's hard to realize what your job is and what you want to achieve when it doesn't happen. You know, but ultimately we have other work to do. So we just embraced it and kept everyone as The unit worked great. We stayed there for 10 days, working around the clock, 12 hours on 12. But the way the men and women of that unit worked, everyone who was there, is my main impression. We had a mission to complete. We had a task, we went ahead and completed it. I was on leave before being fired. I couldn't imagine not being there. I had the necessary training. I had the necessary knowledge. Twenty years ago I would have done
exactly the same thing I did that day. I didn't want to go back. No one needed to tell me to come back. This is an engineering company, which was the only one of its kind in the entire army. And after that, um, people are literally storming the door trying to get into this unit. And in the 20 years since 9/11, the unit has taken a huge step forward. They, they got the equipment we only dreamed of. Um, they use completely different training. This, this is amazing to see how far they've come. And, um, it's a direct, direct reflection of what we did and how we acted. The thing I'm most proud of is that all our training, uh, paid off. That the soldiers who went there did their duty, did it well, without, uh, any serious injuries, and they all
returned safely to their families. This is what I am most proud of.
