Tobin Family Website

Today marks the 5th anniversary of 9/11.  I remember being in my office on the 11th floor of 1500 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn, VA, on the morning of 9/11 (approximately 2.5 miles from the Pentagon).  Just after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, Major General John Corley (now 4-star General Corley, Vice Chief of Staff of the USAF) came down the hall to our work area, informed us what had happened and told us to go check the TV in his office.  The two of us that were there, went down and couldn’t believe the images on the screen.  Just as I was pondering out loud as to how a plane could hit the building on a clear blue sky day, the second plane hit.  We knew right away that this was not an accident, but a deliberate act……but by who, and why?

I immediately went back to my desk and phoned Karen and told her to turn on the TV.  We talked for a few minutes and then I told her I had to go, and that I would be heading over to the Pentagon shortly for a meeting.  Next, I phoned my Dad and Mom in Vermont and told them to turn on the TV.  We talked for a few minutes and then I hung up.  After checking the TV again for a moment, we were suddenly told to get out of the building by a Colonel that I had not seen before.  We asked why, and she said because of the attack in NYC (our building was in the flight path of Washington’s Reagan National Airport).  After a moment of confusion and curiosity as to why they didn’t just pull the fire alarm, we grabbed our stuff and headed for the door.  By now, everyone was streaming out of the 17-story office building…..all Government civilian, contractors and military. 

As we were filing down the stairwell, I overheard someone state that a plane had flown into the Pentagon.  Of course, we thought they were confused and told them that it was the Trade Center in NY, not the Pentagon.  At that point, they stated that they could see the smoke billowing out of the Pentagon from the 17th floor of our building.  A friend had a pocket radio that he turned on and they were reporting that a Cessna sized plane had hit the Pentagon.  As we reached ground level and filed out onto the street, it seemed that mayhem was starting to unfold on the streets.  Cars were driving by, honking at the mass of USAF Officers, and you could feel a sense that something bad was happening around you. 

No sooner than we assembled on the street opposite the building, we were instructed by the ranking General to get back in the building.  His rationale was that we were a bigger target on the street than we were inside the building.  So back we went…hiking the 11 floors back to the office.  Upon getting there, they told us to leave and try and get home.  We would be contacted by phone when it was safe to come back. 

We made our way back outside, and by now the streets were grid-locked.  You could go NOWHERE.  At the time, I was riding the Metro (aka the Subway) to and from work.  A coworker and I tried to make our way to the Rosslyn Metro station, which is just 2 stops from the Pentagon.  When we got there, we couldn’t even get down to the platform…it was a mass of humanity.  Slowly, the metro system started clearing the mass by taking every train outbound out of DC.  It took several trains and hours for us to finally make our way onto an Orange Line train heading into Northern VA.  On the train, there were people who had come from the Pentagon area….I remember one lady crying uncontrollably, and I remember thinking “why is she so upset”?  I didn’t realize at that time that it was actually a commercial jet that had hit the Pentagon and that many people had died. 

We finally got to my car (I had offered to give my coworker a ride to his carpool lot, several miles outside of DC).  We got into the car and immediately turned on the radio.  By this time, they were reporting that the towers had fallen.  That made no sense to us….what did they mean, they had fallen?  I imagined in my mind that the top few floors had collapsed.  Then they also mentioned that a commercial jet had flown into the Pentagon.  We were astonished at all that had happened while we were fighting to get home….while we were essentially in a void of information. 

As we slowly progressed outbound in the insane stop-and-go traffic, I was finally able to contact Karen on my cellphone (after numerous tries with busy circuits).  By this time, she was hysterical.  You see, I didn’t realize how bad things were and I forgot that I had told her that I was going to the Pentagon for a meeting.  She was at home watching the news unfold as the Pentagon was on fire.  She thought I was somewhere mixed up in all that mess. 

After a few hours of driving, I finally made it back home and was finally able to witness on TV all that had happened during the hours spent trying to get home.  Fortunately, nobody I knew was killed at the Pentagon.  Quite fortunately, the area hit was largely vacant because of on-going renovations, or else the death toll would have been staggering (30,000+ people work in the Pentagon on any given day). 

Of course, you know the rest of what happened.  I just thought it would be interesting to recount the events as they unfolded for someone who was close to a portion of the mayhem.  In retrospect, the most interesting thing to me is how little we knew what was happening around us when we were right in the midst of a portion of the disaster.  With no TV on the street or in the Metro, we were basically cut-off from anything but word-of-mouth reports about what was happening just down the street. 

That was the last day I routinely used the Metro to get to/from work.  On 9/12 and every day thereafter, I drove my car to work.  I somehow felt safer not being part of the pool of humanity that flows in and out of DC every day. 

Let’s hope we never have another day like 9/11/01.  That is why we serve.

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