I was there

By Vern Schueller: I was on active duty in the United States Air Force. I was attending a conference in the Pentagon on 9/11 when the terrorist-controlled aircraft slammed into it. We evacuated to an area that became a medical triage staging area. Our group became very involved with dealing with the wounded and getting them evacuated to area hospitals. Then we went back through the smoke-filled building to the center courtyard of the Pentagon. They were planning to establish another triage area there, but the heat was too great to bring out anymore casualties.

The following day we were asked to staff a counseling center that the Department of Defense set up to help family and friends of people missing in the Pentagon. It was a long, grueling, adrenalin filled day again.

There is nowhere else on earth I would rather have been on those two days than exactly where I was. I was never so proud to be part of the military as I was then.