September 11th: Soldiers Doing the RightThing.

Brigadier General (Promotable) "Fuzzy" Webster is the Army's Director of Training in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans (ODCSOPS). On September 11th, he was in his office at the Pentagon. In an interview with Field Artillery, he described what he experienced that day; the January-February 2002 "Training" edition will carry the rest of his interview.

On September 11th at the Pentagon, I witnessed firsthand the courage, leadership and competency of soldiers, doing the right thing and doing it instinctively under horrific conditions.

On that day, I was in my office about 35 yards away and one floor above where American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon. "Ground Zero" for the Pentagon was the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel Lieutenant General Timothy J. Maude who, along with 187 others, died in that brutal terrorist attack.

Before the attack, I was having a meeting in my office. Someone had walked in and informed me that two airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center twin towers in New York. I immediately turned on the TV to hear the news report and witness the horror of those attacks. At that point, we knew nothing about any other hijackings. I returned to the meeting to concentrate on what we had to accomplish and release my people as quickly as possible to return to their offices.

A few minutes later, a tremendous explosion rocked the building, knocking me forward out of my chair. A huge fireball rolled down the side of the building and shot through our ceiling vent overhead.

The concussion of the explosion hit with incredible power. Our blast-proof windows bent inward--went concave--and then regained their shape. Had those windows exploded, I and many others might not be here today. Those blast-proof windows and the fact the Pentagon was constructed so well 60 years ago surely saved many lives that day. Ironically, the Pentagon construction began 11 September 1941.

The Horror and Heroism. Immediately, the fire alarm went off and the lights went out. Smoke billowed through the hallways. As the people across the hall opened their door, a big ball of fire rolled outside their windows--the explosion had broken some of their windows, and they were diving for cover from the burning fuel.

People didn't panic. Soldiers of all ranks did what they were trained to do and acted as you would expect them to act. They took care of their teammates; they gathered up the people in their offices and led them out of the building.

Soldiers helped each other get the job done. Buddy teams of soldiers ran out to recon the stairwells to determine if they were clear and which ones already had fire and heavy smoke. They then directed people away from the dangerous stairwells and led them to those that were clearer.

The explosion bent the door frame of the office of Major General John R. Wood (FA), Director of Strategy, Plans and Policy, ODCSOPS, so badly that the door would not open. Brigadier General Karl W. Eikenberry, General Wood's Deputy Director, kicked in the door so General Wood could escape before the building collapsed.

It wasn't until I got outside the building that I realized what had caused the explosion. At that point, fire was raging around the huge hole in the building and small pieces of airplane were all over the ground.

Soldiers went back into the building into burning rooms and across smoke-filled, blackened areas littered with debris to bring their teammates and people they didn't even know Out to safety--sometimes dragging them or putting them on their backs to rescue them. I saw soldiers breaking windows to pull badly injured and burned people out. I saw one soldier grab a fire extinguisher to spray burning people and help them out.

There were a lot of heroes that day. Captain Darrell Oliver, Ordnance Corps, was knocked down by the force of the explosion and the collapsing walls. In the darkness, he heard his office mate, a civilian, who was knocked under her desk and unable to escape. With smoke billowing about knee high, he crawled to her, put the lady on his back and crawled out.

He then returned for a hearing-impaired janitor who was blinded by the smoke and disoriented. Terribly frightened and startled, the janitor decked the captain when he approached. Captain Oliver reassured him and put the janitor on his back and crawled out. For his heroic actions during the terrorist attack on the Pentagon September 11th, Captain Oliver received the Soldier's Medal, along with dozens of others in a ceremony in October attended by Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White.

Outside, I saw an Army nurse and a medic organizing soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines of all ranks, setting up a triage area. Soldiers worked to clear the airways of victims so they could breathe, treat them for shock, stop the bleeding--in short, rendered first aid like soldiers are trained to do.

It took the rescue and fire personnel just a few minutes to get there--really quite fast. The skills and leadership of our soldiers, of all the servicemen who immediately came to the rescue, saved many lives before the additional help arrived.

The rescue personnel and firemen started taking care of victims and the devastation, but soldiers wouldn't leave the area because we still had people inside who might be wounded or need help. So for hours we teamed up to carry stretchers--all services and ranks--and bring victims out of the building.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld came over to the terrorist attack site to look at the damage to the Pentagon. His security personnel "went nuts," but he was determined to be there and help if he could.

The Army Operations Center never lost command and control. Soldiers immediately formed the Crisis Action Team, as they had practiced, and stayed on the job to receive reports from units.

A couple of times, we received warnings that other terrorist airplanes might be inbound to attack the Pentagon. The police and fireman made the servicemen pull away from the building for their own safety. But that didn't stop them from circling around and going back to rescue others. After a while, the top section of the wing attacked by the terrorists caved in, and rescuers could not get into the most devastated areas.

Days later, an Army civilian said to me that if he ever had to face another crisis, he hoped he again would face it with soldiers because they know what to do and they do it. He is right.

My Resolution. I was horrified by this cold-blooded act perpetrated on US servicemen and Department of Defense civilians who have devoted their lives to protecting America and helping to ensure the rights and liberties of those in South Korea, Kuwait, Kosovo, Bosnia and in many other nations. It was a sad, tragic day, but it was a day of strength and courage.

I was so very proud of our soldiers on September 11th. As I watched leadership, training and Army values in action in that crisis, I felt confident our Army training and leader development systems are "about right." Just like FM 22-100 ArmyLeadership teaches us, soldiers did what they needed to do when they were tired, frightened and many of them also injured. Soldiers did what they needed to do because they were trained to.

Of the 74 Army personnel who died that day, two still have not been identified positively. Our offices were destroyed. That same day, some of our great defense contractors offered us office space, computers, phones--at no expense and with no fanfare or expectation of future favors. We took them up on it. Like so many Americans, they want to do their part for the War on Terrorism.

One of the blast-proof windows in my office in the Pentagon used to face out toward Arlington National Cemetery across the highway. Before September 11th, when I was having a bad day, I would lookout that window at the cemetery and contemplate the alternative--that always gave me perspective. I then would return to my work newly inspired to ensure soldiers were trained and ready so we wouldn't fill up that cemetery any faster than we had to.

Figure 3: Targeting Objectives and Desired Effects for Information Operations.

And now, when I drive to the Pentagon, I see that huge hole in the side of the building and know that nearly 200 people died there. It gives me the same resolve to ensure soldiers get all the resources they need to be trained and ready to do the right thing--to include winning the War on Terrorism.