Air Force Lt. Col. Rolando Aguilar, Fairchild RC-26 Metroliner program manager for the 147th Reconnaissance Wing, Texas National Guard, participates in an interview during a 9/11 media-day event at Pentagon crash site
on Aug. 23, 2011 in Arlington, Va. Aguilar was one of several Guard members who gave interviews about their involvement with the 9/11 attacks. Photo by
USAF Sgt. Darron Salzer |
|
ARLINGTON, Va. (Sept. 9, 2011) – Where were you that day?
This question has
become synonymous with the attacks of 9/11, and as the 10-year
anniversary approaches, those who remember will reflect back upon
that day, vividly remembering a day the world changed.
Last
month, Pentagon survivors and Guard members who responded to the
events that day recalled the attacks and aftermath.
“I was
an airline pilot at the time, working full-time and I was doing the
Guard part-time,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Rolando Aguilar, Fairchild
RC-26 Metroliner program manager for the 147th Reconnaissance Wing.
“On Sept. 11, I was working a 72-hour alert shift and
[eventually] as one of the first responders as a fighter escort
pilot for Air Force One, escorting the president as he took off from
Florida and landed in Louisiana, making it to Offutt Air Force Base
and |
|
from
there back to D.C. |
“I was one of the first two on scene, escorting President
Bush and ensuring his safety. My role ended in [Louisiana]
because as he and the other F-16 were refueling, I was in
the air providing them cover and then my unit launched
another two F-16s as I was getting low on fuel, so as they
approached Air Force One was taking off again.”
Aguilar said that at the time he had begun his alert shift,
he did not know what was going on as the World Trade Center
and Pentagon were attacked.
“When you're on the alert
shift, you have to stay at the facility,” he said. “You eat
there, you sleep there and you can't leave because you have
to be able to go up into the air at a moment's notice.”
Just coming back from an airline trip, Aguilar said he
was expecting the alert shift to be as uneventful as it
usually is and looking forward to getting some rest, but a
knock on his door changed all of that.
“On the
morning of 9/11 – after the attacks – the crew chiefs
knocked on my door as said ‘Hey, you need to get up and
check this out,' and I told them I'd be there in a little
while as I rolled back to sleep,” he said. “The next thing I
know, I hear the alert horn.”
Aguilar said after he
scrambled to the plane and as he remained there for 90
minutes in “battle-station mode” to await further
instructions, he started to be informed about what was
happening by the crew chiefs over the radio and his wife.
“They told me there were hijackings and planes were
crashing into the World Trade Center, and that's when I
realized what was going on,” he said.
“At first I
wasn't sure about what exactly was going on, so there was a
lot of uncertainty, and then we got the order to launch and
right before we did, the wing commander told me that we were
going to intercept a former member of the unit.
“I
didn't know what he was talking about, but after we took off
and I see this 747 in front of us with Air Force One
markings, I realized he was referring to President Bush, who
was a Texas Guardsman with the 147th Reconnaissance Wing
back in the ‘60s.”
Aguilar said he felt an
overwhelming sense of just how much of a big deal the whole
situation was as he and the other fighter pilot escorted Air
Force One – the first time it had ever happened.
“At
that point I just tried to think about what the logical
threats were and what I needed to do in order to do my job
properly,” he said. “While he is airborne ... he's the safest
he can be and the only thing that could be a possible threat
would be another fighter due to the speeds and altitude that
the 747 flies.”
Though he only served as an escort
for Air Force One from Florida to Louisiana, Aguilar said he
is humbled and proud of the fact that he was able to do what
he was needed to do almost 10 years ago.
“I am proud
of the task that I was entrusted to do,” Aguilar said. “Not
too many people can say they've escorted Air Force One or
flown next to them with live missiles and a hot gun, so I am
humbled by that awesome responsibility given to me.
“That day made me more vigilant, and it's something that's
really changed the world and changed the military. It let
people know that you're not really completely safe
anywhere.”
Aguilar said the attacks on Sept. 11 and
the response by the National Guard really showed that the
Guard is a viable force.
“The Army Guard especially
made a lot of sacrifices,” he said. “We're cheaper and have
got a lot more experience, and we're a capable force and it
just shows what a valuable and what a great resource we
are.”
As the 10-year anniversary approaches, Aguilar
said he feels reflective and finds it hard to imagine that
10 years have gone by and that the world has changed so much
since then.
“I'm reflective on all the sacrifices my
brethren in uniform have taken, and it may sound corny, but
hopefully we can bring world peace or stability one day.”
A new father answers an uncertain challenge
As
his first-born daughter was turning two weeks old on the
morning of Sept. 11, Army 1st Sgt. Robert Moxley, 200th
Military Police Company first sergeant, was preparing to
answer the calls to report to his unit's armory in Maryland.
“On Sept. 11, the members of our unit started receiving
calls that we all needed to report in to the unit,” Moxley
said. “By that time we had all already seen the reports on
television and were aware of what was going on.
“That
night, we started combat loading our vehicles and assigning
gear to everyone in preparation for reporting to the
Pentagon the next day.”
Moxley said as his unit sat
there at the armory you could feel the anxiety in the air,
as the soldiers were unable to sleep and ready to go.
“Everyone was on pins-and-needles,” he said. “We really
didn't know what we were coming in to. It was just
mind-boggling what had happened.”
When they pulled up
to the Pentagon the next day, “everyone knew what they had
to do then.
“After arriving at the Pentagon, we began
setting up as interior and exterior security, working with
the Pentagon Police Department. We were set up through the
hallways where the crash site was and outside of the crash
site and were there to make sure no one came in or tried to
retrieve anything from the area.”
Moxley said not
even 20 minutes after getting settled in, a group of people
ran through the halls exclaiming that a second plane was
coming in, “which turned out to be a FEMA helicopter, but
everyone evacuated the building anyway.
“It was just
a slow-motion herd of people trying to run down the hallway
and wanting to know how to get out. We'd been there
20-minutes and we didn't know.
“After that, we came
back in and got settled back into our positions.
“When we first got here, the building was still on fire and
firefighters were working as hard as they could to put those
fires out. The building was full of heavy smoke that choked
you, and in some of positions we had to rotate people out
because of the smoke.
“You could see the devastation.
Some of our positions were where the building had ended and
the crash site began, so you could see where the fireball
had just melted glass and wires – just everything was gone.”
Everyone was on edge, said Moxley, as he described the
feelings of those around him who were part of what happened
at the Pentagon and the response.
“We didn't know
what was going to come next,” he said. “Was this a
precursor? Was this a first attack? Was there more to come?
We really didn't know how big this was – I mean, they had
hit the towers in New York and had punched into the command
and control for the military services.
“It was a
pretty good black eye. It wasn't a proud day or a happy day,
but the soldiers there did what they were supposed to do.”
Moxley said he is proud of what the Guard did that day
and every day since the attacks of Sept. 11.
“It's
changed the whole face of how we operate,” he said.
“Everything is ever-changing, counter-terrorism is a huge
field now, and we're a lot more proactive. We are more ready
to [deploy] at a moment's notice than we were before.
“The Guard is more dress-right-dress with the active
duty and when we go somewhere we can step right in and
back-fill them with a lot more respect than before.”
For the 10-year anniversary, Moxley said he and another
soldier are planning a reunion at the Pentagon for the
soldiers from his unit and sister units who were a part of
the Pentagon response.
“It's a milestone,” he said.
“Ten years ago, who knew?”
Ready to answer the call
As he and his coworkers were watching the second plane
hit the Twin Towers, Army Master Sgt. Aarion Franklin, an
intelligence sergeant with the 115th Military Police
Battalion, said a friend of his working inside the Pentagon
had sent a text message telling him that the Pentagon had
been hit as well.
“I was working at
[Baltimore-Washington International Airport],” Franklin
said, “and we were getting information through the flight
[operations] that things were kind of going on, so we all
gathered into a small conference room.
“I kind of
figured that the unit was going to get called up, and they
released all of us from work early.
“By the time I
got home, the unit had already been called up so I went in
and they handed out all of our gear and then we just sat and
waited. In the middle of the night, we got word that we'd be
coming over to the Pentagon that morning.”
Franklin
said the scene at his unit was intense as soldiers sat
there, anxiously waiting for what was to happen next. “Once
they had their gear, there was this impatience of wanting to
help already – to do something already.
“Some of the
guys were worried about friends they knew who worked in the
Pentagon too.”
As his unit drove towards the Pentagon
the next day, Franklin said the scene that lay before them
as they approached was overwhelming as he and his unit fully
grasped what was in front of them.
“Coming down the
highway, you could see a lot of smoke,” he said, “but when
we came around to the side of the building where the plane
had hit you could see the damage and that the building was
partially collapsed.
“We had no idea it was still
going to be that bad.
“There were hundreds, probably
thousands of first responders all over the place, and to see
that kind of chaos was overwhelming.”
He said his
unit immediately set to work after arriving on the scene and
most of the soldiers, including himself, struggled to absorb
and deal with what had just happened.
Since
responding to the calls for assistance after the attacks of
9/11, Franklin said creating closer friendships with his
fellow soldiers and being more aware of personal
preparedness are what he has taken away from that day nearly
10 years ago.
“I try to always be ready,” he said.
“The Guard has become the same way, and since then, we've
shown that we are a reliable force – and as a part-time
force, that's not an easy task, but we've been able to do
it.”
Franklin said his plans for 9/11 this year are
to attend the reunion at the Pentagon.
“It'll be a
good chance to see everybody again and remember the good
times we had, and the sad moments that we shared too,” he
said.
By USAF Sgt. Darron Salzer
National Guard Bureau
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2011
Comment on this article |
