• Local woman remembers being part of Pentagon support team,

I grew up on a ranch at California Hot Springs and made my career working for the Sequoia National Forest. I spent 35 years being a part of Incident Management Teams. I will always remember this day 20 years ago.

The day starts out like any other day. I am getting ready to have breakfast with my dad at 6 a.m. and turn on the TV and continue to get ready to go to work at the USFS Office in Porterville. When I walk back out into the living room here is Dad standing in front of the TV and as I watched I realized that we had just been attacked by not only one plane but two planes flying into the World Trade

Center towers in New York City. We watched the events unfold and saw where another plane had crashed into the Pentagon at Washington D.C. I tore myself away from the TV, told Dad l would see him in the morning and drove to work where I turned on the radio to continue to listen to the news. I receive a call from Dispatch at 10 a.m. saying that our team had been activated to support the attack on New York and the Pentagon. I had mixed feelings about taking this assignment but I signed on as part of the team to respond to any emergency so I hurried home to pack my bags, arranged childcare and met up with Dan Kleinman who was my traveling partner on the team.

All planes had been grounded around the U.S. and they had to get special clearance from NORAD for each of us to fly on a chartered plane that night out of Mather AFB. It was midnight before we were cleared for boarding and flew to Albuquerque in the middle of the night to pick up another team. There was no activity and it was dark at that airport other than runway lights and the team waiting there which was an odd feeling. We found out later that we were being tracked through NORAD and our plane was being escorted to Baltimore, Md., by two fighter planes where my team unloaded and were transported by bus to Anacostia Naval Base. These escorts were assigned to ensure our plane didn’t deviate from the flight plan with the current threats taking place or the outcome might not have been good. The second team was assigned to New York. These Federal Management Teams typically manage and support wildland fires so it took ”some thinking outside the box” to determine how everyone on the team could play an important role with their individual expertise. Some team members in Planning, Logistics and Information Units were assigned at the Pentagon sight. Our Finance Unit, which I was a part of, operated out of the Anacostia Naval Airbase taking on the role of a Buying Team doing all the record tracking, purchasing and payments for supplies in support of the incoming USAR resources from all around. One was the shopper, one excelled in finding sources and arranging deliveries to avoid having to drive in the crazy traffic in an unknown area, one was better at organizing and keeping the records (that would be me) and our Procurement Unit Leader purchasing authority had been elevated to $l.5 million enabling us to support this huge assignment. As the USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) teams and their dogs would come back into the base after shift we would hear various stories about the recovery efforts which often affected your emotions. I had no idea how these teams performed and what all the tasks were they performed until that day. What a respect I have for those heroes! I also found myself to be a bit jumpy and on edge when there were loud noises which were common in that huge warehouse. On the third day it was decided to move the team over to the Pentagon crash site which required us all having to go through security clearance and obtaining special l.d. tags that became a part of our daily dress. We were bused over to the pentagon and stood in a line while one by one we got our pictures taken for the l.d.’s. We were directly across from the crash site and it was an unsettling feeling seeing the plane lodged in the building up close and personal. I would find myself looking up at what was left of offices and wonder if someone had been in there and íf they even knew what was coming. There was every support agency you can imagine set up in their tents on that site. As we left to head back to the hotel, where we stayed at night, there was a candlelight vigil going on with candles lit all over the hillsides and sad faces of family & friends . ... We often got donations from the vendors we were dealing with because they wanted to help. lt was a humble feeling to see how people come together in time of need. We worked closely with the Navy, Army and USAR teams at the Naval Airbase facility. Because we were using the Navy fax and printers we had to be careful about what documents we might see laying around . ... We were located adjacent to where Marine One was located and often a dignitary was going somewhere and it would be quite a show with 3 copters and maybe a limo or two taking off to heighten their security. At night we often had a flock of Canadian geese fly by while eating at the mess hall which was the most awesome sight. To top off the awesome experience two Fl5’s came flying right by the balcony. The sunsets were awesome and every evening we would stand in honor of the flag being lowered ceremony which would bring a tear.

I’m proud to be an American and given the opportunity to support the Urban Search and Rescue Teams as they performed their duties in cleaning up the aftermath of this national disaster. I was proud to be a member of this National California lnteragency lncident Management Team 3 where being part of a team means all of us working closely together and supporting each other all the way. We are a family and each incident brought us closer together. GOD BLESS AMERICA and hopefully we all learned something from this tragedy and just how fragile life and freedom can be if we don’t do our part to support America, take care of ourselves and protect our freedom. I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS DAY!!