9-11 Remembered

This is the first anniversary of 9-11 to fall on the same day of the week as the actual event. Prior to my retirement from the Department of Navy, one year and one week prior to 9-11, I spent most Tuesday mornings at the Pentagon. Especially as my home at the time was only a few miles from the Pentagon, its been surreal to try to imagine what it would have been like to be inside the Pentagon when all hell broke lose.

Steve Vogel, in his recently published book Pentagon, reported that ground was broken for the Pentagon on September 11, 1941 (although there was no formal ceremony). The area of Arlington, VA were the Pentagon stands was known as Hell's Bottom. The Pentagon was originally slated to be built overlooking the Memorial Bridge.

When the decision was made to move to a different site, the original five-sided design was kept ... after all there was a war going on and a rush to build. In many ways the original design held up well. And, FDR decided the building should have extra thick floors as he felt after the war there would be less need for a large workforce to operate defense programs so the building could be used for file storage.

I can vouch that when I retired there were a great many file cabinets in the Pentagon ... but quite a few people, too.

The center of the Pentagon is (or at any rate was) a gazebo-like structure that served food in the summer months. Ironically, it was affectionately known as "Ground Zero" by some who worked at the Pentagon during the years just prior to the demise of the USSR when the US and USSR were in an arms race.

Not well known is the fact that the Pentagon on 9-11 was well into a planned remodeling (PENREN for Pentagon Renovation). The installation of blast-resistant windows saved lives, as the plane that stuck the Pentagon hit an area that had been refurbished (and luckily was not fully re-staffed). FDR's thick flooring probably helped, too. Fortunately there was no basement for the section of the Pentagon that was damaged.

There is an interesting story in how suppliers, contractors, civilian and military personnel and others cooperated towards meeting a common aim of having the destroyed part of the Pentagon re-populated and renovated to mark the one year anniversary of 9-11.

Working pretty much around the clock, the goal was met 3 weeks early. As the top picture depicts.

I've included the story of the Pentagon's Phoenix Project (the name given to the 12-month post-9-11 renovation projected) in some of my seminars, noting how people working together for a clear, common and compelling purpose can do great things.

Today I conducted a seminar for our local Chamber of Commerce and included my observations of one aspect of 9-11. A small way of paying homage to those who worked hard and effectively to show national resolve and pay tribute to others who, through no fault of their own, lost their lives doing their jobs in support of national security.

Sad to note the Congressional hearings on the war in Iraq continued today. Iraq ... a lesson that bad things can happen when military action is taken (and continued) without a clear, compelling and common purpose.