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I was living in Arlington VA at the time, about two miles from the Pentagon. I went for a jog around the Marine Corp Memorial and thought it would be a nice day for golf. The air was so crisp and clear, you could practically see the people in the planes as they came into DCA. For that region, it was an exceptional day. I drove to work past the Pentagon on 110 into Alexandria. After the towers were hit one of my coworkers was spooked and wanted a ride home so we left around 9:45. I heard that there was an explosion at a heliport near the Pentagon and I remembered that there was a small helipad on Ft Myers about 200 yards from my apt. I was driving home on Washington Blvd and saw the Pentagon on fire.
I was able to get back to my apt, grabbed my stuff and headed to my friend’s place and stayed there with her and her daughter until things settled down. That smell will never leave me. It smelled like a wet campfire for weeks.
The whir of f-15’a lasted a few months.

I was scheduled for a Disaster Recovery refresher course at the Red Cross in Dallas. I was downstairs playing with my first cup of coffee when my pager and cell went off. I had been called up to man the worlwide phone bank in hopes of it being a recovery effort. I stayed in the office for 3 weeks and recovered one person from The Pentagon and two from The World Trade Center. Today is a very humbling day for me.