The September 11th attack — Military Update
Pentagon employees resolute in face of tragedy

Military Update focuses on issues affecting pay, benefits and lifestyle of active and retired servicepeople. Its author, Tom Philpott, is a Virginia-based syndicated columnist and freelance writer. He has covered military issues for almost 25 years, including six years as editor of Navy Times. For 17 years he worked as a writer and senior editor for Army Times Publishing Co. Philpott, 49, enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1973 and served as an information officer from 1974-77.

By Tom Philpott

At dawn on Sept. 12, a day after terrorists paralyzed the nation, a shaken but defiant Pentagon work force brought a wounded building back to life.

Defense Department officials estimate that almost 200 people were missing after the strike on the Pentagon. Department of Defense

At 9:40 a.m., the plane struck the Pentagon between its fourth and fifth corridors, penetrating three of five "rings" of hallway with primarily Army and Navy staff offices. Within half an hour, the burning debris collapsed a five-story section, roughly 200 feet wide.

In addition to 64 people aboard the plane, Defense Department officials said 126 Pentagon personnel were missing — 54 military personnel and 72 civilians. Six of the civilians lost were defense contractors. Several dozen more personnel were injured, some quite severely.

The following morning, however, with nagging fires still a concern, smoke polluting most offices and many victims still lost, much of the Pentagon was back at work. Offices between corridors two and six, nearly half of the building's space, were closed for safety reasons, and some employees who reported for work went home. But many, it seemed, asked what else they could do, or found an unused phone, computer or desk and got back to work.

Outside, more than 200 firefighters and rescue personnel cleared debris or searched for survivors. Inside, many workers had a story of the previous day's nightmare, however reluctant they were to share it.

Carl "Chuck" Witschonke, deputy director of compensation for the Office of Secretary of Defense, said he got a call from his wife during a morning staff meeting, alerting him to the disaster in New York City.

The staff turned on a conference room television in time to see a second strike on the World Trade Center.

Witschonke, almost in passing, warned colleagues to avoid the Pentagon's courtyard, another tempting target for terrorists. Moments later, they felt a shudder, heard an explosion and evacuated offices.

The warning became real.

Brig. Gen. William G. Webster, chief of Army training, was in his E-ring office with two staff members when it was rocked by a huge explosion. "It knocked me out of my chair, moved the building, collapsed the ceiling and broke the windows, as this huge fireball shot by the window outside.

Flames started to come through the ceiling and down the hall," Webster said. Having commanded the Army's National Training Center, he compared the intensity and noise to simultaneous ground strikes by an entire 155 mm artillery battalion.

Webster's office, he would learn once outside, was 30 yards north of where the aircraft tore into the building. He and his staff moved into the corridor.

"Ceiling tiles were down and there was smoke and flames in the ceiling," Webster said. "As people were coming out of their rooms, you could see huge fires, both outside the E-ring as well as between E and D-ring."

To his right, Webster saw the corridor flooring separating. "One side was a foot and a half further down, and pushed toward the inside of the Pentagon, than the floor I was standing on," he said.

He and others tried several stairways to escape but each was filled with smoke. Finally, they exited through the door to the helicopter pad. There, injured already were being pulled to safety and firefighters assigned to the helipad began using their equipment on the fire.

Webster saw up to a dozen injured persons, some with serious burns. Like so many others, he did what he could to make them comfortable.

As the first ambulances arrived, Webster turned to see part of the building collapse with a slow, loud groan. Inside, his office was engulfed in smoke and flames. Outside, members of every service, civilian and military, were caring for one another.

In the Pentagon that morning to attend staff meeting, Lt. Gen. Paul K. Carlton, Air Force surgeon general, rushed toward the impact area on the fourth floor and, with another service member, followed a Navy commander into a smoky room.

The commander, spying someone caught under a large table, laid down and used his legs to lift the table, enabling Carlton and his colleague to pull an injured civilian to safety.

Firefighters soon ordered the area evacuated as too dangerous.

Carlton wrote down the commander's name and will recommend him for a medal. But for the moment, as he reviewed the medical response situation beside the Pentagon's charred facade, the name escaped him.

The Air Force, Carlton said, had ready an extra 400-bed emergency care capability at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., if needed by victims in New York.

The day after the attack, Webster was in the Pentagon's cafeteria, holding a meeting to set priorities, including moving to temporary offices.

Americans now understand, he said, that war has changed and stopping these brutal acts won't be easy.

"It's like trying to protect a big balloon from someone trying to prick it with a pin. You can cover it with your chest and arms but there's always going to be something exposed," Webster said.

Asked if he lost friends yesterday, Webster eyes glistened for moment.

"Friends, colleagues and some great Americans," he said. Whoever did this, he added, "needs a similar or greater response."

Meanwhile, he said, returning to work, showing purpose in the face of tragedy, "is what America's all about."

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