I worked at the Pentagon for seven and a half years

[MrScorpio]

From 27 May 1987 to 11 Oct 1994.

Been all around that building, from the creepy basement to the fifth floor where I worked everyday.

When I think of 9-11, I think of all the good people who I worked with everyday. The military folks, the civilians, I think of the children that I heard from time to time and all the people who would be walking in the corridors from day to day.

Most of the folks I knew had nothing to do with politics, all they did was try to serve their country the best way that they could.

A lot of folks hated working at the Pentagon, the expense of living in the National Capitol Region, the hard commutes, the oppressive weather, there was real hardship for the rank and file with families. But they coped.

They did the best with what was given to them.

These were men and women of honor. They were appalled when they were used as pawns by the politicians, and when the folks at the top sent the military on very questionable missions.

They still did the best with what was given to them.

I don't know what John McCain is going to say today. But I'll bet you dollars to donuts that it'll be more of the same that's been coming from the Republicans.

And this is a man who wants to become President?

The dead have been witness to their behavior for the last seven years...

I wonder what their response would be to him and his entire fear mongering gaggle of a party.




When I see how the Republican party has used the deaths of those who died on 9-11 as a propaganda tool, a fear campaign effort and the justification for their despicable behavior, I think of how they are pissing on the memories of the victims of that day. The good people whom I had the honor to work with for seven long years and their families who had to stand by their sides.

Every time some fool like Rudolph Guiliani opens his Goddamned mouth, all I can think about how he and his fellow travelers are defiling the honor of those who died.

They are doing the absolute worst with what they were given.

[Philosoraptor]

1. they are pissing on the memories of the victims

[radfringe]

2. today mccain will make all the "right noises" about 9-11

tomorrow he'll release a commercial blaming Obama for it

[DrDan]

3. it works

[Olney Blue]

4. I appreciate your post.

[OneGrassRoot]

7. Me, too. Thank you. n/t

[bertman]

5. You are not alone in your disgust at those fearmongers, Mr. Scorpio.

But, we should all thank the "hijackers" who decided to run their plane/cruise missile into the wing of the Pentagon that was being renovated, so only a fraction of the normal workforce was there. Otherwise, they might have hit the wing where Field Marshal Von Rumsfeld was visiting.

If you really want to get pissed about this, read THE NEW PEARL HARBOR by David Ray Griffin.

[MrScorpio]

6. I used to sit in the center courtyard from time to time for lunch

It's very peaceful. No hats (covers) and some pretty comfy lounge chairs.

I thank God that they didn't drop that airliner into the courtyard.

About 20,000 people work in the World's Largest Office Building.

Had they did, I'm sure that the deaths would had numbered into the thousands.

[elehhhhna]

8. Is it true that the pentagon basement flooded the day we started Op Desert Storm?

[MrScorpio]

9. It was the day before

It wasn't pretty

I talked to some of the guys who were unfortunate enough to work down there.

One officer was practically right next to the pipe when it burst

It was pretty scary

[NeedleCast]

10. I spent about four months working in the basement

Man, that place was awful! Those are the places in the Pentagon they don't take the tourists to see on the tour, hehe. I was working nights there during the events in Kosovo in 1999 down in the NIMA (now NGC) cell. I remember mold and mildew on the walls, rats running across the exposed pipes...just every kind of nasty. The walls down there would have beads of water rolling down them when it was humid outside. Most of the ceiling tiles had rotted through from the constant dampness in the hallways.

Me and my buddy Jason used to roller-blade through the halls at night...you could really work up some speed down some of the ramps.

I was military at the time and lucky that I didn't have to come over from any further away than Fort Myers, although at night there's no traffic really. I can't imagine what it would be like working there during the day.

Your spot on in your assesment of what the Republicans will be doing today. Using a tragedy as a campaign stump. I had two friends badly injured at the Pentagon on 9/11 and it encourages me that neither of them will be voting for McSame.

[InkAddict]

11. Roller blading....ROTFL

Spouse tells tales about riding the floor buffers down the ramps...60s.

[NeedleCast]

14. It was a trip at night

You think, largest military complex in the country, maybe in the world and here we are, a couple of PFCs (private first class) out of uniform, roller blading around the halls because at night there's no brass around to tell us to stop. We worked directly under a guy named General King at the time and he was cool as shit. Let us wear civilian clothes most of the time, would bring us food if we were busy (most of the stuff I was doing there involved 1-2 hours of frantic chaos followed by a few hours of nothing to do, repeated a few times per night)...he knew how to keep people's moral up when they were working shit hours in a crap-hole.

There were also tales of doors that opened into empty dirt rooms and all kinds of other stuff, but as a PFC I wasn't about to go wandering around in places I maybe wasn't supposed to be in.

The cool thing about working at the 'gon was that if you were lower enlisted, no on messed with you because there was little question that you were there for a reason, working on something important. On the other hand, if you were on office with rank lower than Light Colonel you were probably a pizza-getter or a phone-answerer and they got messed with mercilessly by the higher ranking brass. I watched an E-5 just ripped into a Major for leaving a stack of pizza boxes in a NOC room and the Major apologizing and removing said boxes. It was an experience.

[MrScorpio]

20. The Pentagon had the most well behaved officers I've seen in my life

During the day, you could roll a bowling ball down any corridor and hit five or six colonels.

On any given military installation, a colonel is GOD, at the Pentagon, colonels are a dime a dozen.

I saw Chiefs (USAF E-9s) on coffee pot duty.

For lower enlisted, it was like duty at just about any other location.

But for company grade and field grade staff officers, the Pentagon is pure, unmitigated Hell. Long hours and weekends running around like headless chickens. Practically, everybody outranking you.

The funniest thing I've ever seen there was a Second Lieutenant who was walking out of the Pentagon as the morning shift arrived. He had to salute about fifty times before getting to this car.

Unfortunately, as all other branches were cool, I had serious issues with Navy officers. They did everything that they could do to avoid saluting and one commander had a fit in my office once. Most of them seemed like complete pricks.

Thank God that I was in the USAF.

[MrScorpio]

12. I felt sorry for the people who had to work down there

It was Hell.

The fifth floor was paradise compared to that place.

We had windows

[NeedleCast]

16. On the up side

I did get to meet Prez Clinton there. Part of our role was to "desensitize" satellite and air breather imagery so it could be put on TV or briefed in an unclassified environment. One night the secret service comes in and asks the watch officer if the "guys who do the imagery stuff are here." Watch officer says yes and points over to me and my buddy Jason. I'm figuring this is the part where PFC NeedleCast goes to jail for roller-blading in the Pentagon but it turns out that Bill wanted to meet the guys who were responsible for the imagery. He spent about 20 minutes hanging out with us. We showed him some of the systems we worked with and even though I don't think he understood half of it, he was a very amiable guy. Gave us passes to tour Air Force 1 and gave us a pat on the back and said "Thanks guys, you're doing a great job. I'm glad I only have to be president, it seems a lot easier than this."

I got a real kick out of that. Bill is a good guy.

[Dogtown]

13. Great post, MrScorpio

K&R. And, thanks.

[IndianaJones]

15. my friend and fellow alum died there. nt.

[Straight Shooter]

21. I'm very sorry to hear that.

I've never lost a friend so suddenly. :hug:

[Postman]

17. The Republicans act as though it were only "conservatives" who died that day.

[Jennicut]

18. On 9/11 one of my good friends nearly lost her sister at the Pentagon

Her sister was knocked unconscious after the plane hit the building and remained in a coma for a few months. She just miraculously woke up one day. It was very emotional the next few days at work after that happened. I still feel disgusted and my skin crawls when I hear politicians use these peoples' lives as political gain and to take away freedoms from the citizens of the United States. It sickens me. I am also fed up with all these fundie nuts in the south who talk about 9/11 this and 9/11 that and yet they were never directly involved or impacted by 9/11. I live in Ct and our state sent tons of workers to New York to help with the clean up. Many people commute from CT to New York City every day so there is a real connection to New York. Many of my relatives live still live there and we were worried about my Mom's cousin who luckily made it out of the city okay. It just really bothers me when these Right Wingers try to dictate what it good for the country when they had no one to worry about that day or lost anyone that day. Disgusting.

[bleever]

19. K&R.

Thank you.