September 11, 2001 started off just like any other day. A bright blue sky with not a cloud in sight. I got to work as usual and was beginning to start another regular Tuesday when the news came that a plane had struck the one of the towers. Part of my work involves the FAA and my co worker who has more contact with the FAA than I do said that the FAA had shut down all air traffic and all planes were to land. As the morning went on we heard about the the second plane hitting the other tower and then the plane hitting the Pentagon. We could see the smoke coming from the Pentagon from our office windows. We were ordered to evacuate the building and head home. I called my mom and told her to turn on the TV so that Dad and her could see what was going on. (The following day, September 12th, was their 48th wedding anniversary).
My brother was down at the Patuxent River Naval Base working when he was ordered to leave the base and head home. He did make it home safely.
When I got home it was kind of eerie. My house is about 3 to 5 miles from Dulles Airport and usually we hear planes flying overhead a couple of times a day but on this particular day it was so eerily quiet. I did manage to see a fighter jet fly over head and later an AWACS jet but the silence in the skies was deafening.
As the day wore on and the reality of what happened slowly sunk in, I thought that this couldn't be happening here. What did we do to make people do something this crazy? I didn't understand it them and barely understand it now except for the fact that evil exists in this world and this is a clear example of it.
In the days following the attacks, the local media put out the message for donations of items to give to the first responders in order to help them out. I went to a local grocery store with the list in hand and bought some items and drove it down to the Salvation Army which is where they were collecting the items. It was like a conveyor belt at the Salvation Army because a car would drive up and drop off their items and then the next one and so forth. It didn't seem like the line of cars would end and that was a good thing.
People who don't live in this area don't know that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has an office near the Pentagon. I had a friend who worked for State of Virginia and she forwarded me an email about how the VDOT employees helped out the Pentagon that day. The military basically took over that building and set up a command post there. I wish I still had that email, It was a very interesting read.
