The Role of the Army Reserve 

in the 11 September Attacks: 

 New York City 

ce 

 of 

OFFICE OF ARMY RESERVE HISTORY 

HEADQUARTERS 

 UNITED STATES ARMY RESERVE COMMAND 

FORT McPHERSON, GEORGIA 
ii 
The Role of the Army Reserve 

in the 11 September Attacks: 

New York City 

311th Military History Detachment 

Major Robert Bensburg 

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner 

Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner 

Contributions by Sergeant William Miller 

90th Military History Detachment 

Editors 

Dr. Kathryn Roe Coker 

MG David T. Zabecki 

Ms. Deborah Foster-King 

Office of Army Reserve History 

United States Army Reserve Command 

Fort McPherson, Georgia 

2003 
ii 

Upper left: 

 On a dark blue disk, the bust of a Minuteman (Captain John Parker) in cocked hat 

on a pedestal, between two branches of olive or within a dark blue designation band with 

gold inner and outer borders incribed United States Army Reserve in gold. The 

minuteman has traditionally been used to represent the citizen soldier. The wreath 

signifies achievement and accomplishment. Gold is symbolic of honor and excellence and 

dark blue signifies loyalty. The emblem was approved for use as a plaque in 1972 and is 

used as an unofficial identification device of the United States Army Reserve. (U.S. Army 

Institute of Heraldry.) 

Upper right:

 The Statue of Liberty shoulder sleeve insignia was originally approved for the 77th 

Division on 23 October 1918. It was officially announced on 31 May 1922. On 22 April 

1968 it was authorized for the 77th U.S. Army Reserve Command. The insignia was 

reassigned on 16 April 1996 for the 77th Regional Support Command, the command of the 

311th Military History Detachment and of most Army Reservists in the New York City 

metropolitan area. 

First Published December 2003 

OCH PUB 2-8 

Copies obtained from the Office of Army Reserve History 

United States Army Reserve Command (USARC) 

1401 Deshler Street, SW, Fort McPherson, Georgia 30330 

E-mail requests to: HISTORY@usarc-emh2.army.mil. 
iii

FOREWORD 

On 11 September 2001, unimaginable horror came to our country as terrorists turned 

airliners filled with innocent people into lethal weapons. As one terrible blow after another hit 

in New York City, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, ordinary Americans -- citizens and 

citizen-soldiers -- responded heroically to these extraordinary events. 

 We in the Army Reserve are particularly proud of our own who displayed the highest 

qualities of courage and selflessness on 11 September, whether that meant rushing into the 

World Trade Center, regardless of personal safety concerns, helping injured comrades out of the 

burning Pentagon or organizing rescue and recovery activities. 

 We especially remember those we lost on 11 September. There were the five citizensoldiers of the 77th Regional Support Command (RSC) who were members of the Fire 

Department of New York. They, along with hundreds of their comrades, died saving the lives of 

thousands of others at the World Trade Center. There was the 77th RSC Judge Advocate 

General officer, also at work in his civilian job, who died in Tower Two of the World Trade 

Center. There was the retired colonel, a security chief for an investment company in Tower 

Two, who got all but six of his firm's 2,700 employees out safely and then lost his life when he 

went back to find those still missing. And there were the Active Guard Reserve (AGR) colonel 

and the retired AGR colonel who were at their appointed place of duty in the Pentagon at the 

time that place of duty became the point of impact. 

 These are the names of those we should never forget, our first casualties in the war on 

terrorism: 

 Warrant Officer 1 Ronald P. Bucca, fire marshal, Fire Department of New York 

(FDNY), killed during rescue efforts at the World Trade Center. 

 Staff Sergeant Frederick J. Ill, captain, FDNY, killed during rescue efforts at the 

World Trade Center. 

 Retired Colonel Ronald F. Golinski, Department of Army Civilian, killed while on 

duty at the Pentagon. 

 Captain Michael D. Mullan, fireman, FDNY, killed during rescue efforts at the World 

Trade Center. 

 Lieutenant Colonel William H. Pohlmann, lawyer, working on the 91st floor of 

Tower Two, killed at the World Trade Center. 

 Sergeant Shawn Powell, fireman, FDNY, killed during rescue efforts at the World 

Trade Center. 

 Retired Colonel Rick Rescorla, director of security for Morgan Stanley in Tower Two 

killed while helping others escape at the World Trade Center. 
iv 

 Colonel David M. Scales, AGR officer, killed while on duty at the Pentagon. 

 Captain Mark P. Whitford, fireman, FDNY, killed during rescue efforts at the World 

Trade Center. 

 These were not our only heroes on 11 September, nor did the Army Reserve's response 

end after the initial attacks. It was only beginning. Army Reservists on site in the Pentagon and 

New York City took immediate action to help the injured, to try to reach other survivors, and to 

assist other rescue workers. 

 Even as rescue workers fought the flames, the Army Reserve response grew, all across 

America, with crisis action teams standing up and in full operation in every major Army Reserve 

command headquarters within hours. Military Police units quickly took up station at key 

facilities. 

 In New York City, the 77th RSC reacted swiftly to the disaster, quickly appropriating and 

delivering hundreds of support items in short order to assist in the disaster recovery effort. 

 Equally quick to respond and critical to the rescue and recovery operation were the Army 

Reserve Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officers in the New York City area. They arrived on 

the scene immediately to facilitate support requests from civilian agencies as quickly and 

effectively as possible. 

 Thousands of trained and ready Army Reserve men and women came forward, first as 

volunteers and then in response to the partial mobilization ordered by the president on 14 

September, just three days after the attacks. 

 Among the first soldiers to move out and begin operations was the 311th Quartermaster 

Company (Mortuary Affairs) from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Seventy-two hours after the call 

went out for volunteers from the 311th, they had deployed to the Pentagon and were searching 

through debris for the remains of victims. By the time the unit was mobilized a week later, it had 

already been "at war" for a week. 

Two of our Military History Detachments have worked hard to capture the events of 11 

September and the weeks that followed from the perspective of the Army Reserve. The 311th 

Military History Detachment from Fort Totten, N.Y., commanded by Major Robert Bensburg, 

and the 90th Military History Detachment from San Antonio, Texas, commanded by Captain 

Suzanne Summers, were called up soon after 11 September. The 311th was assigned to cover 

the New York City story and the 90th covered the Washington, D.C., area. 

 The soldiers of these two small detachments gathered information and material, 

documented what had taken place and conducted numerous oral history interviews with 

participants. In doing their mission, they had to go into the damaged section of the Pentagon and 

also look out over what is now known as Ground Zero in New York City. They interviewed 

survivors of the Pentagon attack and others who had performed the grim task of recovering those 

who had not survived. They talked with heroes and those who supported the heroes. 

 The monographs they have produced provide a flavor of what it was like on the scene at 

one of the greatest days of tragedy in American history, told mostly from the points of view of 
v

those who were there. A day of tragedy to be sure, but also a day when the best of America 

came through loud and clear. What you will read is the first chapter in the story of the Army 

Reserve's role in the global war on terrorism, the beginning of what was and continues to be a 

decisive and extraordinarily rapid response to a national crisis. This is the start to a story that 

will not end until the United States achieves the inevitable victory over the terrorists. 

 The Army Reserve was on the front lines of this war when it began on 11 September. 

We will be there at the finish, too. 

 Thomas J. Plewes 

 Lieutenant General, U.S. Army 

 Chief, Army Reserve 

 21 May 2002 
vi 
vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

 The 311th Military History Detachment wishes to acknowledge assistance in the 

completion of this work from various individuals. From the 77th Regional Support Command 

(RSC), we extend our appreciation to Major General Richard Colt, commander; Mr. Gary 

DiLallo, command executive officer; Mr. Michael Scotto; Lieutenant Colonel Lee Cunningham; 

Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Fink, Major Bernd Zoller; and Mr. Chester Marcus. Appreciation is 

also extended to Colonel Gerard McEnerney, regional emergency preparedness liaison officer, 

Federal Emergency Management Agency, New York City; Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, 

Individual Ready Reserve; and Mr. Richard Prager, ironworker, Local 40, New York City. 

 We also wish to thank the following for their logistical, administrative, and financial 

support: (1) from the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, Colonel Mitchell Bisaner, Colonel 

Randy Pullen, Mr. Albert Schilf, Lieutenant Colonels Stephen Ackman, John Bianci, Lawrence 

Collins, Ronald Dykstra, and Charles Hash, the OCAR Computer Support Staff, and the OCAR 

Public Affairs Office; (2) from the Office of Army Reserve History at the USARC, Dr. Lee 

Harford, Dr. Kathryn Coker, and Ms. Deborah Foster-King; Mr. Steven Farmer, Mr. David 

Moyer, Ms. Ovetta Robinson, and Major Mark Young; (3) Mr. Jack Sand from the Defense 

Finance and Accounting Office; and (4) Mr. Robert Cole and Mr. Joseph Logan from Fort Dix, 

New Jersey. 

 We also wish to express our gratitude to Major General George Garrett and his staff from 

the 42nd Infantry Division, New York Army National Guard, for their hospitality during the first 

three months of our mobilization and the 126th Military History Detachment, Massachusetts 

National Guard. Finally, we are indebted to the interviewees who so willingly shared their 

experiences and response to the tragedy at the World Trade Center. We realize that by the time 

this edition is published, many people may have had a change in rank, status or affiliation. We 

have made a concerted effort to list these individuals accurately at the time of this publication. 
viii 

Army Athlete Holds World Trade Center Flag at Olympics 

Eight U.S. Olympians, including women's biathlete and Vermont Army National Guard Sergeant Kristina 

Sabasteanski (second from right), hold a U.S. flag during the national anthem at the 2002 Winter Olympics 

opening ceremony in Salt Lake City on 8 February 2002. The tattered flag was found in the rubble of New 

York's World Trade Center following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Sergeant Sabasteanski is a 

member of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program. (Photo by Petty Officer First Preston Keres, U.S. 

Navy) 
ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Foreword........................................................................................................................................ iii 

Acknowledgements....................................................................................................................... vii 

Introduction....................................................................................................................................xv 

PART I: BACKGROUND NARRATIVE..............................................................1 

The Federal Response ...................................................................................................................3

Eye Witness Accounts ....................................................................................................................4 

77th Regional Support Command Casualties .................................................................................8 

The 77th Regional Support Command’s Immediate Response ....................................................12 

The 77th Regional Support Command’s Logistical Support........................................................ 19 

77th Regional Support Command Public Affairs, Finance and Personnel Staff Sections ............24 

Security, Force Protection and Threat Conditions........................................................................ 26 

Alert Notifications Or “Grazing Herd” ........................................................................................36 

The 77th Regional Support Command’s Communications Security............................................ 37 

Loaned Space ................................................................................................................................40 

Legal Support Organizations ........................................................................................................ 41 

The United States Army Reserve Command (USARC)................................................................42 

Reserve Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officers ..................................................................... 50 

Joint Provisional Task Force......................................................................................................... 56 
x 

United States Army Corps of Engineers Contingency Response Team....................................... 64 

Other Army Entities ......................................................................................................................65 

Army National Guard ................................................................................................................... 67 

Summary....................................................................................................................................... 67 

About the Authors...........................................................................................243 

 

PART II: EXCERPTS FROM SELECTED ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS.............81

Chapter 1 

Brigadier General Richard Colt, Commanding General, 77th Regional Support Command........83 

Chapter 2 

Mr. Gary DiLallo, Command Executive Officer, 77th Regional Support Command .................. 95 

Chapter 3 

Mr. Richard Cochrane, Supervisory Management Analyst for the Deputy Chief of Staff, Force 

Development, 77th Regional Support Command ...................................................................... 103 

Chapter 4 

Colonel Matthew Cacciatore, Deputy Chief of Staff of Operations, 77th Regional Support 

Command ....................................................................................................................................109 

Chapter 5 

Mr. Brian Seliga, Staff Operations Officer for the Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, 77th 

Regional Support Command....................................................................................................... 119 

Chapter 6 

Sergeant First Class Gregory Carpenter, Operations Noncommissioned Officer, 77th Regional 

Support Command ...................................................................................................................... 127 

Chapter 7 

Mr. Michael Scotto, Deputy Chief of Staff for Information Management and the Information 

Management Officer, 77th Regional Support Command ........................................................... 133 
xi

Chapter 8 

Mr. Peter Garcia, Civil Military Project Officer, 77th Regional Support Command................. 143 

Chapter 9 

Mr. Thomas Kane, Military Personnel Officer, Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel, 

77th Regional Support Command .............................................................................................. 153 

Chapter 10 

Sergeant First Class Richard Perry, Operations Noncommissioned Officer for Retention and 

Transition Office, Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel, 77th Regional Support Command ...........159 

Chapter 11 

Colonel John Skoll, Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics, 77th Regional Support Command......... 163 

Chapter 12 

Major Robert Henoch, Commander, 142nd Transportation Detachment, 77th Regional Support 

Command.................................................................................................................................... 167 

Chapter 13 

Sergeant Major Joanna Pittman, Supply Supervisor, 353rd Civil Affairs Command .................173 

Chapter 14 

First Lieutenant Matthew Goodman, Executive Officer, 140th Quartermaster Company........ 177 

Chapter 15 

Sergeant First Class Harry Bass, Traffic Management Coordinator, 1179th Deployment Support 

Brigade....................................................................................................................................... 183 

Chapter 16 

Sergeant First Class James Farran, First Sergeant, 1179th Deployment Support Brigade......... 187 

Chapter 17 

First Lieutenant Kurt Godbey, Logistics Officer, 344th Combat Support Hospital...................193 

Chapter 18 

Sergeant Harold Ross, 344th Combat Support Hospital............................................................. 197 
xii 

Chapter 19 

Major Paul Guilot, Mobilization Officer, Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, US Army Reserve 

Command ....................................................................................................................................205 

Chapter 20 

Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski, Non Commissioned Officer in Charge, Emergency Operations 

Center, US Army Reserve Command .........................................................................................213 

Chapter 21 

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Koons, Chief of the Operations and Plans Division, US Army 

Reserve Command ......................................................................................................................221 

Chapter 22 

Major Kent Jennings, Plans and Operations Officer, Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics, US Army 

Reserve Command...................................................................................................................... 229 

Photographs 

Army Athlete Holds World Trade Center Flag at Olympics...........................................viii 

Army Reservists Killed on 11 September 2001 at World Trade Center................................. 69-70 

Fellow Firefighters, Soldiers Hold Funeral Services.............................................................. 71-72 

Command Honors Army Reservists Who Died on 11 September................................................ 73 

Army Reserve Chief Visits Ground Zero ..................................................................................... 74 

New Yorkers Create Memorials for 11 September Victims......................................................... 75 

Several Weeks After the Terrorist Attacks ................................................................................... 76

Recovery Continues.......................................................................................................................77 

Army Reserve, National Guard, Civilians Volunteer To Help At Ground Zero ...........................78 

Army Reservists Help Regionally, Provide Force Protection ...................................................... 79 

VIPs Visit Firefighters, Rescue & Recovery Workers, Soldiers .................................................. 80 
xiii

Brigadier General Richard Colt............................................................................82 

Mr. Gary DiLallo.............................................................................................94 

Mr. Richard Cochrane.....................................................................................102 

Colonel Matthew Cacciatore..............................................................................108 

Mr. Brian Seliga............................................................................................118 

Sergeant First Class Gregory Carpenter................................................................126 

Mr. Michael Scotto........................................................................................132 

Mr. Peter Garcia...........................................................................................142 

Mr. Thomas Kane.........................................................................................152 

Sergeant First Class Richard Perry.....................................................................158 

Colonel John Skoll.......................................................................................162 

Major Robert Henoch....................................................................................166 

Sergeant Major Joanna Pittman.........................................................................172 

First Lieutenant Matthew Goodman....................................................................176 

Sergeant First Class Harry Bass........................................................................182 

Sergeant First Class James Farran......................................................................186 

First Lieutenant Kurt Godbey...........................................................................192 

Sergeant Harold Ross....................................................................................196 

Major Paul Guilot........................................................................................204 

Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski........................................................................212 
xiv

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Koons.....................................................................220 

Major Kent Jennings.....................................................................................228 
xv

INTRODUCTION 

 

 At 8:46 a.m. Eastern Standard Time1 on 11 September 2001 (also known as 9-11), a 

hijacked civilian airliner “traveling as fast as 586 miles an hour”2 crashed into the North Tower 

of the World Trade Center3 (the second tallest building in the United States) in New York City. 

At 9:02 a.m. a second airplane flew into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. These 

planes contained two of four groups of suicidal terrorists –nineteen individuals – who 

commandeered four commercial airliners – three from American and one from United. The 

result of these impacts caused the buildings to catch on fire. With the intense heat, the steel 

girders buckled, eventually causing the two towers to collapse. The South Tower collapsed first 

at 9:59 a.m., approximately fifty-seven minutes after impact. The North Tower collapsed at 

10:28 a.m., approximately one hour and forty-two minutes after being hit. The terrorists flew 

these aircraft into a major American financial institution, thereby causing loss of life and 

destruction of property. In addition to the World Trade Center (also referred to as the Twin 

Towers), the terrorists targeted and attacked the Pentagon, headquarters for the Department of 

Defense. The fourth aircraft crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh, thus 

missing its intended target, thanks to a heroic attempt by the passengers who prevented the 

hijackers from carrying out their intended deadly mission. (Local officials at that site brought the 

bodies and wreckage from the plane to the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory at Somerset, 

where the bodies were identified and eventually sent to the victims’ families.)4

 The federal 

government speculated that other aircraft hijackings were planned for that day. At 9:40 a.m., the 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted all flight operations at U.S. airports with 

instructions for aircraft to land and for all further flights to cease.5

 This action may have 

prevented other terrorist attacks that day. 

As of 31 May 2002, New York City officials tallied the death toll from the Twin Towers 

at 2,823 people from about eighty countries, though only 1,102 victims were identified.6

 The 

 

1

 All times in this manuscript will be noted in Eastern Standard Time, unless otherwise specified. 2

 Article, James Glanz and Eric Lipton, “Towers Withstood Impact, but Fell to Fire,” The New York Times (reprint), 

29 March 2002, p. 3, Operation Noble Eagle Collection (311th Military History Detachment), USAR Historical 

Research Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, The United States Army Reserve Command. Unless 

otherwise stated, all records are part of this collection. 3

 The World Trade Center complex was completed in 1972. It had cost $400 million, contained 400 million pounds 

of steel, 1.5 billion pounds of concrete, and each tower was 110 stories high, used by about 50,000 workers on an 

average workday, and sat on sixteen acres, “Wonders of the World Databank: accessed online at 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/building/wonder/structure/world_trade.htm, 25 April 2002. 4

 Internet article, “September 11: Chronology of Terror,” www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack,, 12 

September 2001, pp. 1-2. 

5

 Ibid., p. 1. 

6

 Internet articles, “World Trade Center and Pentagon Disaster Update,” Federal Emergency Management Agency 

website link, www.fema.gov/nwz01/nwz01_137.htm; “Patterns of Global Terrorism,” U.S. Department of State 
xvi

death toll from those on board the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center stood at 

152. Due to the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and the high heat generated by 

burning jet fuel that disintegrated bodily remains at the former World Trade Center site, 

hundreds of bodies will never be recovered. Therefore, the city issued numerous death 

certificates without bodies. The search for victims’ remains at the World Trade Center site lasted 

until 31 May 2002. On that day, recovery workers walked alongside an empty stretcher, which 

represented the remains not found. Workers extended every effort to recover remains and sifted 

through the World Trade Center debris at least three times.7

 Another 189 people died at the 

Pentagon, including sixty-four passengers from the plane that hit it, while forty-four people died 

at the Pennsylvania crash site. These attacks on 11 September resulted in the second highest 

death toll from an act of war against the United States on its soil since the battle of Antietam 

during the Civil War. The casualties sustained on 11 September 2001 also exceeded those 

suffered on 7 December 1941, when Japanese warplanes attacked U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor in 

Hawaii and killed 2,390 Americans. Thus 7 December and 11 September have the following in 

common: they are dates that initiated American involvement in two wars – World War II and the 

War on Terrorism. 

As a sign of respect for the victims of 11 September, the president ordered all flags on 

federal buildings, at military installations, aboard naval ships, and in the District of Columbia, to 

be flown at half-staff. He extended this order until sunset on 22 September 2001.8

 website link, www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2001/html/10235.htm; and “Silently, WTC Recovery Efforts End,” by 

Rick Hampton, USA Today, www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/05/30/wtc-ceremony.htm,, 31 May 2002, pp. 1-2. 7

 Internet articles, “Families’ Hopes Pinned on DNA,” Peter Gould, British Broadcasting Corporation, 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/americas/2001/nyc_out_of_the_ashes/newsid_1, 11 December 2001, pp. 

1-2 and “WTC Death Affidavit Forms/Information,” NYC Government website link, 

www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/em/dth_cert.html, p. 1. 8

 Email, Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski to Major Dwayne Orosz, et. al., "Half-Staffing of the National flag," Mobex 

Message Log Folder (hereafter cited as MMLF) 8, #410, 17 September 2001. 
- 1 -

PART I: BACKGROUND NARRATIVE 
2 
 3

The Federal Response 

President George W. Bush was in Florida at the time of the attacks. Due to the unstable 

situation and on advice from the U.S. Secret Service, he took a circuitous route back to 

Washington. After the president assessed the situation and upon advice from Secretary of 

Defense Donald Rumsfeld (who was in the Pentagon when the plane hit it), he signed an 

executive order for a partial mobilization of reserve components. This order resulted in a call to 

active duty for up to 50,000 military reservists. President Bush called upon the state governors 

to activate their National Guard (under Title 32) to provide additional security at airports, rail 

terminals, power plants, and other sensitive sites in their respective states.9

 Consequently, 

soldiers carrying M-16 A-2 rifles or Beretta M-9 pistols became a common site at the nation's 

airports. The role of reserve forces was vital for America's national military strategy because 

reservists provide the bulk of combat service and combat service support functions for the active 

component. The 1.3 million men and women serving in the seven reserve forces made up nearly 

one half of the Armed Forces and were an integral part of our nation's military. 

The Defense Department coined Operation NOBLE EAGLE as the official name for U.S. 

military operations in support of homeland defense and civil support to federal, state, and local 

agencies in the United States. Its overseas counterpart, Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, was 

the name associated with the war on terrorism outside the United States. As of December 2001, 

the Defense Department had called to duty for either operation almost 10,000 Army Reservists; 

by March 2002, more than 12,000 Army Reservists were involved. Lieutenant General Thomas 

J. Plewes, Chief of the Army Reserve, said: 

This Army Reserve will render all support asked of us by the National Command 

Authority. The men and women of the Army Reserve will do all that the Nation 

expects of us in this national crisis. As citizens and soldiers, we could do nothing 

less.10

In his holiday message to the troops in December 2001, he summed up the Army Reserve 

response to 11 September: 

They [Army Reservists] came quickly, more quickly than ever before, conducting 

hasty mobilizations or mobilizing on the go. Arriving at their places of duty, they 

immediately started their missions: force protection and security at installations 

and facilities, intelligence and investigation support, training and training 

validation, headquarters augmentation and historical documentation, logistics and 

 

9

Internet articles, “Presidential Order Questions and Answers,”at www.2xcitizen.usar.army.mil/ 

soldierservies/mobilization/partialmoborderfaq.asp, 26 September 2001, pp. 1-3 and “Partial Mobilization 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ),” at www.army.mil/usar/partmobfaq.html, 6 November 2001, pp. 1-4. 10 Lieutenant General Thomas J. Plewes,"Attack on America," Army Reserve (Fall 2001), p. 4. 
4 

transportation operations. Whatever the National Command Authority needed the 

Army Reserve to do, we did it.11

Before President Bush called up the Army Reserve for Operation NOBLE EAGLE or 

ENDURING FREEDOM a week after the attacks, some soldiers were already involved in post 

11 September activities. The 77th Regional Support Command (RSC), Fort Totten, Queens, 

New York, served as the U.S. Army Reserve’s major command within the state of New York, 

and was the higher headquarters for more than 100 units spread out over two other states, as 

well. Immediately after the terrorist attacks, the 77th Regional Support Command headquarters 

staff directed the Operations Section to establish an emergency operations center staffed with 

full-time personnel and Army Reserve troop program unit members – some of whom showed up 

the same day – who communicated with higher and subordinate commands and orchestrated 

assistance to New York City and government agencies. Brigadier General Richard Colt 

(promoted to major general in February 2002), commanding general of the 77th Regional 

Support Command, created the 77th’s command mission statement, along with its intent and 

guidance. Major Bernd Zoller, an Active Guard Reserve (full-time Army Reservist) 

mobilization and operations officer, coined the name, Operation LIBERTY CRISIS hours after 

the terrorist attacks on 11 September, which referred to the 77th Regional Support Command’s 

hasty response in setting up an emergency operations center and offering assistance to the city of 

New York. The name also referred to a past 77th training exercise.12

Colonel Philip Spies, senior liaison officer for the 77th Regional Support Command, 

summed up the 77th Regional Support Command’s Army Reserve response by saying that the 

command was “able to step up and give the city just about anything they wanted. . . .The 

challenge was knowing where to get it to. . . . Anybody who asked us for any support, we 

basically provided it and provided it very quickly.”13

Eye Witness Accounts 

Army Reserve soldiers were among the first on the scene of the World Trade Center 

destruction. Two Active Guard Reserve 77th Regional Support Command soldiers from the 

Caven Point Army Reserve Center in Jersey City, New Jersey – Sergeant First Class Michael 

Bernard and Specialist Alex Brown of the 920th Transportation Company – became heroes on 

that fateful day. The two soldiers, who lived at Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, New York, were 

driving to work on the Brooklyn Bridge, which provided a spectacular but horrific view of the 

World Trade Center on fire from the first airplane strike. After seeing the World Trade Center in 

smoke, the two soldiers crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and parked their car on Chambers Street, 

 

11 Memorandum, Lieutenant General Thomas J. Plewes, “CAR’s Holiday Message,” 3 December 2001, pp. 1-2. 

12 Email correspondence between Major Bernd Zoller and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, January 2002. 13 Colonel Phillip Spies, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 2 February 2002, p. 

22. 
 5

just two blocks from the World Trade Center complex. Then they began to assist local police 

personnel by directing civilians from the impact area. They arrived at the World Trade Center 

plaza area before the second plane hit the South Tower.14

Sergeant First Class Bernard first directed the injured to an area that New York City 

emergency medical services personnel had established as a triage area in the World Trade Center 

Plaza. At this point, the two friends became separated when Sergeant First Class Bernard went 

inside the North Tower to help evacuate people coming down the escalator from the first floor. 

Specialist Brown remained outside at the triage area and assisted the injured there.15

When the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., Sergeant First Class Bernard was standing 

in the lobby of the North Tower. Debris from the South Tower entered forcefully into the lobby 

area where he stood. The ensuing smoke and dust made it extremely difficult to see and breathe. 

He tried to escape the debris that was coming into the North Tower, so he and a group of others 

reached a bank archway made of marble that provided shelter. At this point he thought he was 

going to die. Miraculously, the pocket of steel and stone protected him and the others from the 

crushing force of the debris that was coming in. The only light this small group possessed came 

from a fireman’s helmet. They successfully ventured out of the lobby area by holding on to each 

other, thereby forming a human chain. Upon exiting the doorway of the bank and slowly 

emerging into the plaza area, Sergeant First Class Bernard was shocked to see bodies and 

crushed cars. Bruised and battered, covered in ash from head to toe and choking on dust, he 

struggled to safety and finally made it to a more stable area.16

 Within minutes of leaving the building, he witnessed the sickening sight of the North 

Tower collapsing at 10:28 a.m. The collapsing building formed a giant mushroom cloud similar 

to that caused by the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. He had to literally run for his life in order 

to escape the falling debris. The smoke and dust of the collapsed buildings turned day into night. 

Scared, exhausted, and desiring to see his family, he reached the Manhattan Bridge, which 

connected with Brooklyn. He was at first hesitant to cross it, perhaps in shock, but he decided to 

go ahead. Upon reaching the safety of Brooklyn, Sergeant First Class Bernard, covered in soot, 

walked into an Armed Forces recruiting office. One of the recruiters there took Sergeant First 

Class Bernard to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Brooklyn where he was checked in and 

treated for his injuries. A few hours later, he was greatly relieved to see that Specialist Brown 

 

14 Sergeant First Class Michael Bernard, interview with Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, tape recording with 

transcript, 7 November 2001, pp. 1-3; Specialist Alex Brown, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael 

Werner, tape recording with transcript, 7 November 2001; and Telephone and email correspondence between 

Sergeant First Class Michael Bernard and Major Robert Bensburg, “Bernard and Brown Input,” 7-15 June 2002. 15 Telephone and email correspondence between Sergeant First Class Michael Bernard and Major Robert Bensburg, 

7-15 June 2002. 

16Sergeant First Class Michael Bernard, interview with Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, tape recording with 

transcript, 7 November 2001, pp. 4-9 and Telephone and email correspondence between Sergeant First Class 

Michael Bernard and Major Robert Bensburg, “Bernard and Brown Input,” 7-15 June 2002. 
6 

was also brought there, slightly injured, but otherwise in good health.17 (Sergeant First Class 

Bernard believed he was the first patient from the World Trade Center attacks who was treated at 

the Veterans Hospital.) The staff checked his head, legs, arms, breathing and eyes, and they 

gave him painkillers. He went home that same day.18

After Specialist Alex Brown arrived at the World Trade Center Plaza, he directed the 

people exiting the towers. He also made his way to a triage area, where the injured were being 

treated by emergency medical personnel. The injuries he helped treat included head wounds, 

burns from the fire, exhaustion, anxiety attacks, and immense bleeding from fallen glass and 

debris. When the second plane hit the South Tower, Specialist Brown was located approximately 

between the two towers. He did not realize the explosion he heard was from a second aircraft. He 

heard an explosion and thought it was from the fire and fuel from the original aircraft strike.19

After he treated the injured for several minutes, he glanced up to see that the South 

Tower was starting to tilt. He described what happened next: 

All I could do was grab the first couple of people I saw close to me and yell out, 

'Run, run, the building is coming down!' Most people just looked up and froze. I 

don’t know if they were in shock or what. The debris started hitting the ground 

with rock and glass hitting everyone, to include myself. I took one quick glance 

back, but all I saw was rocks hitting people and a thick cloud of black smoke. It 

was like a big mushroom cloud following me up the street. I turned and ran as fast 

as I could, but not fast enough. A couple of seconds after that, the smoke had 

caught up to the running crowd and we were engulfed in it.20 

He told the others to put something over their mouths and to hold each other's hands in 

order not to be separated by the blinding smoke. The smoke was so thick at this point that he 

could not even see his hands in front of his own face. People were going into shock. “About ten 

to twenty minutes later, we were down further from the towers. The smoke was still there, but we 

 

17 Written statement, “Sergeant First Class Michael Bernard’s Statement-Extremely Hot Issue Ref Bernard & Brown 

From 920th,” MMLF 4, #240, 14 September, 2001; Article, Paul Morando, "Run, Run, Run! Fort Hamilton Soldiers 

Rushed to Help," AUSA News, 25, no. 1 (November 2001), pp. 12-13; Sergeant First Class Michael Bernard, 

interview by Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, tape recording with transcript, 7 November 2001; Telephone and 

email correspondence between Sergeant First Class Michael Bernard and Major Robert Bensburg, “Bernard and 

Brown Input,” 7-15 June 2002; and Email, Ms. Suzanne Neal to Lieutenant David Van Cleve, "Request for 

Information," MMLF 1, #47, 11 September 2001. 

18Telephone and email correspondence between Sergeant First Class Michael Bernard and Major Robert Bensburg, 

7-15 June 2002. 

19Telephone and email correspondence between Specialist Alex Brown and Major Robert Bensburg, “Bernard and 

Brown Input,” 7-15 June 2002. 

20 Specialist Alex Brown, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording, 7 November 

2001; Telephone and email correspondence between Specialist Alex Brown and Major Robert Bensburg, 7-15 June 

2002; “Sergeant First Class Michael Bernard’s Statement-Extremely Hot Issue Ref Bernard & Brown From 920th,” 

MMLF 4, #240, 14 September 2001; and Article, Paul Morando, "Run, Run, Run! Fort Hamilton Soldiers Rushed to 

Help," AUSA News, 25, no. 1 (November 2001), pp. 12-13. 
 7

could see a little better. Everyone was covered from head to toe in soot,” Specialist Brown said. 

After escaping imminent death, he aided authorities with triage near Chambers and Broadway 

streets, and also assisted in setting up roadblocks and keeping people out of the area.21

Specialist Brown stayed near Chambers Street helping police and firefighters with 

whatever they needed. He inquired about his supervisor, Sergeant First Class Bernard, whom he 

had lost track of while helping in the triage area. After he stayed in the area for several hours, 

Specialist Brown called his unit about 3:00 or 3:30 that afternoon and was told that Sergeant 

First Class Bernard was all right and at the Veterans Administration Hospital. The unit told 

Specialist Brown to get out of the area and go to the hospital to be checked. He arrived at the 

hospital where he was reunited with Sergeant First Class Bernard. Specialist Brown was treated 

for head, back, and knee injuries from the falling debris. He stayed overnight due to exhaustion 

and smoke inhalation and was released the next day. He attributes his survival to divine 

intervention.22 

Another Army Reservist from the 77th Regional Support Command also witnessed first 

hand the first plane flying into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Captain Tom 

Sullivan worked as Brigadier General Colt’s aide as an Army Reservist and as a civilian worked 

at Fiduciary Trust on the ninety-fifth floor of the South Tower. His wife was expecting twins in 

February 2002. On the morning of 11 September, he glanced out the window and saw a huge 

plane fly into the North Tower. After he felt his own building tremble from the plane hitting the 

other tower, Captain Sullivan decided it was time to evacuate. On his way down the stairs, he 

helped others along the way. By the time he reached the sixty-fifth floor approximately twenty 

minutes later, the building shook violently; the second plane had just hit the upper floors of the 

South Tower. Because he knew that something just hit his building, he expedited his descent, 

which took almost an hour to reach the ground floor. Upon exiting the building, Captain 

Sullivan and the others fled for their lives as the South Tower began to fall. As he walked across 

the Brooklyn Bridge to safety, he turned around and witnessed the crumbling of the North 

Tower. His company lost eighty-seven out of approximately 500 employees, including his boss 

and friend, Anthony Ventura. He did not have a chance to call his wife for nearly two hours to 

tell her he was okay. This disaster left such a deep emotional scar on Captain Sullivan that he 

vowed to always be there for the family of one of his co-workers who died. To say that this was 

a day that Captain Sullivan and his fellow workers will never forget would be an 

understatement.23 Captain Sullivan described his experiences on popular television shows such 

as Good Morning America and Eye on America with Dan Rather. 

 

21 Telephone and email correspondence between Specialist Alex Brown and Major Robert Bensburg, “Bernard and 

Brown Input,” 7-15 June 2002. 

22 Ibid. 

23 Article, Mr. Bruce Hill, "Aide-de-Camp Lucky to be Alive," Liberty Torch, 15, no. 2, (December 2001): p. 7; 

Captain Tom Sullivan, interview with Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, tape recording with transcript, 5 

January 2002; and Email correspondence between Captain Tom Sullivan and Major Robert Bensburg, 6 August 

2002. 
8 

A third Army Reservist from the 77th Regional Support Command also witnessed the 

disaster at the World Trade Center. Lieutenant Colonel Seth Gahr, an Army Reserve provost 

marshal, was one of three soldiers selected by Army Times who earned that publication’s 

honorable mention as a candidate for Soldier of the Year for 2002. As excerpted from the Army 

Times: 

While performing his civilian duties as a patrolman with the New York City 

Police Department, Lieutenant Colonel Gahr saved lives and recovered bodies at 

the site where the World Trade Center Towers once stood. As a member of the 

New York Emergency Medical Squad, he was instrumental in rescuing police 

[officers], fire [fighters], and other victims trapped in the hot debris and smoky 

rubble. As one of the first police officers on the scene, he began to escort people 

away from the area. He then risked his own life by further assisting in the rescue 

and recovery operations. He tunneled through areas that continued to burn and 

rappelled into chasms where jagged metal and broken concrete loomed overhead, 

threatening to collapse. His valiant efforts and demeanor in such a horrific 

environment drew upon both his civilian and military experience and training, 

epitomizing the value and strength of the reserve component.24 

Lieutenant Colonel Gahr, Captain Sullivan, Sergeant First Class Bernard, and Specialist 

Brown were by no means the only Army Reservists from the 77th Regional Support Command 

or other commands who witnessed the attacks on 11 September; nor were they the only ones who 

assisted innocent bystanders, city and federal agencies in the aftermath of the attack. They 

merely represented a small fraction of Army Reserve involvement. Many other Army Reservists 

volunteered their time and efforts on 11 September and in the days following. Some of their 

stories are included in the abridged interviews following this background narrative. 

 77th Regional Support Command Casualties 

 The 77th Regional Support Command lost six soldiers on 11 September who were 

working at their civilian jobs. All but one, Lieutenant Colonel William Pohlmann who was an 

attorney, were firefighters who died while trying to save others. The Department of the Army 

awarded a Legion of Merit for Lieutenant Colonel Pohlmann and Soldiers’ Medals for the 

firefighters.25 The fallen soldiers were: 

 

24 Article, “2002 Army Times Soldier of the Year,” Army Times, 20 May 2002, p. 24. 25 Email correspondence between Mr. Thomas Kane and Major Robert Bensburg, “Casualty Chapter 3rd Revision,” 

17 July 2002. 
 9

Lieutenant Colonel William Pohlmann 4th Legal Support Organization 

Captain Michael Mullan 344th Combat Support Hospital 

Captain Mark Whitford 331st Military Intelligence Company 

Chief Warrant Officer 1 Ronald Bucca 3413th Military Intelligence Detachment 

Staff Sergeant Frederick Ill Company A, 854th Engineer Battalion 

Sergeant Shawn Powell 4220th U.S. Army Hospital 

 Lieutenant Colonel William Pohlmann, who had twenty-seven years of military service, 

worked in his civilian job as an attorney for the New York State Department of Taxation, which 

had an office at the World Trade Center. He was also a volunteer firefighter and engine 

company president with the Ardsley Volunteer Fire Department in New York. He enlisted in the 

Army in 1968 where he first served as a cook while going to law school. Upon graduation, he 

received a direct commission as a major. He volunteered for overseas duty in Panama and 

Germany, in addition to serving in a variety of legal assignments in the continental United States. 

At Lieutenant Colonel Pohlmann’s funeral, Colonel (P) William Terpeluk, deputy commander of 

the 77th Regional Support Command, was the senior officer from the 77th Regional Support 

Command. Brigadier General James Cullen, former commander of the 4th Judge Advocate 

General (JAG) and former judge advocate general officer for the 77th Army Reserve Command, 

presented the American flag to the next of kin at the memorial service on 22 September at Sacred 

Heart Roman Catholic Church in Hartsdale, New York. Colonel Thomas Hollenhorst, 

commander of the 4th Legal Support Organization, presented the Legion of Merit medal to 

Lieutenant Colonel Pohlmann’s wife.26

Captain Michael Mullan was a New York City firefighter for Ladder 12. He had fifteen 

years of military service and was a member of the Army Nurse Corps with the 344th Combat 

Support Hospital. That day Captain Mullan was conducting rescue operations at the Marriott 

Hotel which stood between the two Twin Towers. He had reached the nineteenth floor of the 

hotel and was assisting victims to lower floors when the first of the towers fell, blowing out 

windows and doors of the hotel and knocking firefighters down the stairwells. Word 

immediately went out to evacuate the building. Captain Mullan started to exit, when on his way 

down he received a "Mayday" distress call from two other firefighters on floors above him. 

Instead of evacuating immediately, he courageously volunteered to get them. Soon after, the 

second tower fell and tore off most of the face of the Marriott, exposing the stairwell to the 

outside. Captain Mullan was one of four firefighters from Ladder 12 who did not escape. Shortly 

after that, the rest of the building collapsed.27 His body was later recovered. He entered military 

service in 1986 where he trained to be a medic. Prior to his untimely death, Captain Mullan was 

recently promoted to his current rank. He received airborne training, held a military 

 

26 Telephone correspondence between Master Sergeant Robert Pignatelli and Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, 

28 June 2002. 
10 

occupational specialty of x-ray technologist, and later trained as a nurse. The funeral Mass was 

held on 20 October 2001 at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church, 

Bayside, Queens. The burial was at Calvary Cemetery, Woodside, Queens. Brigadier General 

Bill Bester, chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, Washington, D.C., attended Captain Mullan’s 

funeral. Brigadier General Robert Kasulke, commander of the 8th Medical Brigade, presented 

the Soldiers’ Medal to the family, while Brigadier General Colt represented the 77th Regional 

Support Command and presented the American flag to the next of kin.28

Captain Mark Whitford, who had eight years of military service, worked as a chauffer for 

Manhattan’s Engine Company 23. It was his duty to remain in the truck while the other 

firefighters went into the towers, but this time he went with his team into the burning South 

Tower. His family held a memorial service on 4 October 2001 at Saint Mary’s Church, 

Washingtonville, New York. Recovery workers at ground zero found his remains on 5 April 

2002, and the family held a Mass and burial on 9 April at Saint Mary’s. Major General Colt 

presented the American flag to the next of kin.29

Warrant Officer 1 Ronald Bucca, who had twenty-nine years of military service, was 

assigned as a fire marshal to the Manhattan Command. Incidentally, Chief Bucca’s brother, 

Major Alfred Bucca, worked as a maintenance officer with the 301st Area Support Group, Fort 

Totten, and noted that his brother was the first fire marshal killed in the line of duty with the Fire 

Department of New York.30 Chief Bucca’s family held a funeral service and burial on 10 

November 2001. The funeral was held at Concordia College Sommer Center for Worship and 

the Performing Arts, Bronxville, New York. The burial was at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in 

Hawthorne, New York. Mr. Gary DiLallo, the 77th Regional Support Command's command 

executive officer and then a recent member of the Individual Ready Reserve, attended the funeral 

in his Army Reserve rank of brigadier general, and presented the American flag to the next of 

kin.31

Staff Sergeant Frederick Ill, who had sixteen years of military service, was a fire captain 

with Ladder 2 of Manhattan. He gained fame in 1999 for helping to save the life of a forty-sixyear-old father of three, who was pushed onto the tracks of an oncoming subway train. Staff 

Sergeant Ill had saved many people – a few even from subway tracks – and knew normally that 

rescuers should wait for confirmation that the 600 volts of power running through the train tracks 

 27 Internet article, “8th Medical Brigade Online–Michael Dermot Mullan,” www.usarc.army.mil/8medbde/ 

mullan.html, October 2001, p. 9. 28 Ibid., pp. 5-7, and Telephone correspondence between Master Sergeant Robert Pignatelli and Sergeant First Class 

Christina Steiner, 28 June 2002. 

29Internet article, “Firefighter Mark Whitford Engine 23 Deceased,” www.nycfire.net/wtchome/whitford.htm, 

September 2001, p. 2 and Internet article, “Army Reservist in Kuwait Motivated By Loss of Firefighter Brother at 

WTC,” www.army.mil/usar/news/may02/wtcloss.html, May 2002, p. 1. 30 Major Alfred Bucca, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 30 

January 2002. 

31Telephone and email correspondence between Master Sergeant Robert Pignatelli and Sergeant First Class 

Christina Steiner, 28 June 2002. 
 11

had been shut off. However, the victim’s legs were severed, and he was losing blood fast and 

could die within minutes. So Staff Sergeant Ill risked his own life by jumping down onto the 

tracks, pulling the man from underneath the subway cars, strapping him to a backboard, and 

carrying him to safety and medical care. For his efforts, he received the Al DeFlumere Medal of 

Valor, awarded to citizens demonstrating unusual heroism and courage in risking their lives 

while attempting to save the lives of others. As an Army Reservist, Staff Sergeant Ill traveled to 

Central America to build schools and churches. His body was found following the 11 September 

attacks; he was laid to rest on 9 October 2001. His Mass was held at Saint Margaret’s Roman 

Catholic Church in Pearl River, New York, his hometown. Former President Bill Clinton, who 

had met Staff Sergeant Ill, attended the Mass. Brigadier General Colt presented the American 

flag to the next of kin.32

Sergeant Shawn Powell, who had thirteen years of military service, was a firefighter 

assigned to Engine Company 207 in Brooklyn. Sergeant Powell served four years on active duty 

with the Army before joining the Army Reserve. He completed the combat medic course and 

emergency medical technician course, and was serving as a medical assistant at the 4220th U.S. 

Army Hospital. His memorial service was held on 10 November 2001 at the Corner Store 

Baptist Church, located in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, where he lived. Brigadier 

General Colt presented the American flag to the next of kin.33 The 77th Regional Support 

Command's representation – to include senior officers, noncommissioned officers, and enlisted 

– was immense at all the wakes, funerals, and memorials of the five Army Reserve firefighters 

and one attorney who died at the World Trade Center. In fact, nearly one year before the 11 

September attacks, the 77th Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel had established a funeral honor 

detail team that consisted of rotating Army Reserve soldiers on active duty for special work, who 

performed honors at many funerals of Army soldiers to include 77th members from the New 

York City area. The detail, led by Master Sergeant Robert Pignatelli, performed funeral honors 

for all six Army Reservists who perished on 11 September. The team received much praise for 

its professionalism and sensitivity.34

Another Army Reservist perished on 11 September at the World Trade Center. Retired 

Colonel Cyril Richard “Rick” Rescorla, who worked at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and had 

retired from the Army in 1989, died while trying to evacuate employees from the World Trade 

Center. He was a Vietnam veteran whose actions as a platoon leader in the battle at Landing 

Zone Xray in 1965 were documented in the book, We Were Soldiers Once...and Young. Colonel 

 

32 Internet article, "Captain Frederick Ill, Jr., Ladder 2, 9-11-2001, Rockland County Medal of Valor," 

www.nycfiere.net/wtchome/fredillrc.htm, 4 April 2001, p. 1 and Telephone and email correspondence between 

Master Sergeant Robert Pignatelli and Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, 28 June 2002. 33 Pamphlet, “Memorial Service and a Celebration of the Life of Shawn Edward Powell,” 10 November 2001 and 

Telephone and email correspondence between Master Sergeant Robert Pignatelli and Sergeant First Class Christina 

Steiner, 28 June 2002. 

34 Master Sergeant Robert Pignatelli, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with 

transcript, 9 January 2001. 
12 

Rescorla retired from a non-77th Regional Support Command unit. One of his last Army 

Reserve assignments was as a commander, 2nd Battalion, 337th Mechanized Infantry, 1st 

Brigade, 85th Training Division in Chicago. Colonel Emil Philibosian, commander of the 

1079th Garrison Support Unit, attended the memorial. Colonel Rescorla’s wife received the 

New Jersey Vietnam Service Medal for her husband. 

It is worth noting that the highest ranking uniformed officer in the Fire Department of 

New York, Chief Peter Ganci, also perished that day. Though not an Army Reservist – he once 

was a paratrooper for the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division – he was the brother of a 77th 

Regional Support Command soldier, 1179th Deployment Support Brigade commander Colonel 

Daniel Ganci. As a side note, when Colonel Ganci received command of the 1179th on 3 

November 2001 from Colonel John Levasseur, the Fire Department of New York honored him 

and his brother at the conclusion of the change of command ceremony by spraying red, white, 

and blue-colored water into the New York Harbor by fire boat. Brigadier General Louis Roach, 

deputy commander for mobilization, attended and represented the Military Management Traffic 

Command. Also, Brigadier General Colt spoke about the attacks on the World Trade Center and 

the loss of Chief Ganci. In late October 2001, soldiers from the 1179th mobilized for up to two 

years under Operation NOBLE EAGLE. Part of the unit’s mobilized mission was to transport 

supplies and equipment among military installations. Soldiers of the 1179th also deployed 

overseas in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.35

The 77th Regional Support Command’s Immediate Response 

After 11 September 2001, the 77th Regional Support Command provided comfort and 

support to the populace in the New York City area. At the time of the attacks, Mr. DiLallo and 

some other full-time personnel were attending a training class, when Sergeant First Class Yvette 

Lee, his administrative sergeant, interrupted to tell him an airplane had just crashed into the 

World Trade Center. He left the class and returned to his office to watch on Cable News 

Network (CNN) the events unfold at the World Trade Center. He was in his office when the 

second plane hit the other World Trade Center tower. He walked to the Deputy Chief of Staff, 

Operations area, where about twenty-five other people from various staff sections were watching 

CNN. After the Pentagon crash, which was within an hour from the first attack in New York, Mr. 

DiLallo decided to activate the Emergency Operations Center.36 The Emergency Operations 

Center was a large room with computer terminals, telephone lines, and work stations that were 

 

35Internet article, “Medal Awarded to Retired Army Reservist Who Died at WTC,” 

www.army.mil/usar/news/2002/06June/rescorla.html, 6 June 2002, pp. 1-2; Dave Hargrave, “1179th Deployment 

Support Brigade Change of Command,” Harbor Watch, XIII, no. 48, 14 December 2001, p. 5; Permanent order 286-

1, First U.S. Army to Commander, 1179th DSB, et. al.; Mobilization Orders: 1179th Deployment Support Brigade, 

13 October 2001; and Telephone correspondence between Major Antonio Fernandes and Major Robert Bensburg, 

25 July 2002. As of August 2002, these seven casualties were the only known Army Reservists killed at the World 

Trade Center. 

36 Mr. Gary DiLallo, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 14 February 2002, pp. 3-

4, 6-7, and Email correspondence between Mr. Gary DiLallo and Major Robert Bensburg, 14 August 2002. 
 13

set up in one of the office rooms in the Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations Section. This room was 

used for everyday operations, and was converted to an emergency operation center when the 

need arose. Mr. DiLallo directed Mr. Brian Seliga, staff operations officer and also an Army 

Reserve lieutenant colonel, to activate the Emergency Operations Center. Active Guard Reserve 

and Army civilians from all staff sections also helped set up and operate the center. Some key 

full-time personnel from various staff sections who operated the center in those first hours to 

include Mr. Seliga were: Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cochrane, Lieutenant Colonel Al Kose, 

and Major Bernd Zoller, all from the Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations; Mr. Anthony Filosa and 

Mr. Peter Bianchi from the Deputy Chief of Staff, Comptroller; Mr. Robert Neglia and Major 

Douglas Gradwohl from the Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics; Chief Warrant Officer 4 Paul 

Silverman and Ms. Terry Gibbons from the Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel; Major Paul 

Casazza and Captain Lisandro Murphy of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Engineer; and Colonel 

Philip Spies, senior liaison officer.37 Mr. DiLallo also helped Major Zoller clear out nonessential 

personnel in the Emergency Operations Center, who had been watching the morning’s news 

unfold on the big-screen television.38 Mr. DiLallo directed personnel to secure the building, to 

start getting water and provisions, and to increase the security presence at the front gate to the 

post. He sent nonessential employees home. He also met with a small group of city fire 

department officials, who shared work space at Fort Totten. The Fire Department of New York 

and 77th Regional Support Command staff agreed that the post needed force protection. Both 

organizations kept in touch as the identities of 11 September casualties were discovered and 

revealed to the fire department and next of kin.39

Though the 77th’s Emergency Operations Center fell under the Deputy Chief of Staff, 

Operations Section for management purposes, every other staff section employed representatives 

in the center, who managed the telephones and any requests that dealt with their particular 

section's responsibilities. For example, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Engineer Section needed to 

keep abreast of the operational status of 77th Army Reserve buildings because various local and 

federal government agencies were requesting to use them as rest, storage, or operations centers. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) used the Kilmer Army Reserve Center in 

Edison, New Jersey, as storage and office space for workers until they found a facility closer to 

ground zero. The Fire Department of New York and the New York City Police Department used 

Fort Totten’s storage facilities. The Secret Service, the New Jersey State Police, and other 

agencies used the Caven Point Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. In the first forty-eight hours 

following the 11 September attacks, the engineers received other non-engineer types of requests, 

 

37 Ibid., p. 4; Telephone correspondence between Mr. Gary DiLallo, Major Virginia Rea, and Major Robert 

Bensburg, 8 August 2002; Email correspondence between Mr. Gary DiLallo and Major Robert Bensburg, 14 August 

2002; and Email correspondence between Captain Lisandro Murphy, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Patterson, and 

Major Robert Bensburg, 12 August 2002. 

38 Mr. Gary DiLallo, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 14 February 2002, p. 

12. 

39 Ibid., pp. 3-4. 
14 

such as medical and logistical, since the Emergency Operations Center had not yet established a 

systematic switchboard. Calls came randomly into telephones staffed by all sections.40 

The Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics staff provided additional help in several ways. Mr. 

Anthony Filosa, logistics management specialist, provided financial and supply assistance to 

units and staff. Mr. Thaddeus Staniszewski, supervisory equipment specialist, ensured Army 

materiel support activity and equipment concentration sites were available to assist units, 

and that these assets were on standby. Mr. Larry Gonsalves and Mr. Richard Greenberg 

arranged to feed more than 100 personnel on Fort Totten during the increased staffing that 

occurred after 11 September. Ms. Arlene Walker, logistics management specialist, ensured the 

government services fleet vehicles were accessible for tasks and arranged any transportation 

actions. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Richard Valentine, Active Guard Reserve staff maintenance 

technician, worked maintenance issues presented by units. Staff Sergeant William Olson, Active 

Guard Reserve stock control noncommissioned officer, worked equipment transfers and loan 

actions. Major Gradwohl, Active Guard Reserve plans and operations officer, set up the logistics 

computer system in the Emergency Operations Center, managed all message traffic pertaining to 

logistics, and analyzed data and prepared reports. Mr. William Robertson, logistics management 

specialist, was at the Fort Dix Emergency Operations Center providing logistical support back to 

Fort Totten.41

 While the 77th Regional Support Command was establishing its Emergency Operations 

Center, it directed its major subordinate commands to do the same. At 9:21 a.m., the 77th 

ordered the subordinate commands to stand up emergency operations centers. These emergency 

operations centers operated twenty-four hours a day for at least several days after the attacks. 

These major subordinate commands included: 411th Engineer Brigade, 301st Area Support 

Group, 800th Military Police Brigade, 455th Chemical Brigade, 4th and 7th Legal Support 

Organizations, 8th Medical Brigade, 1079th Garrison Support Unit, and the 1179th Deployment 

Support Brigade.42 

One such command, the 455th Chemical Brigade based at Fort Dix, New Jersey, 

responded to Operation LIBERTY CRISIS by establishing an emergency operations center at the 

SSG Jonah E. Kelley, U.S. Army Reserve Center, Fort Dix, New Jersey. The brigade posted 

guards at key locations, and took other actions for increasing security under the THREATCON 

levels being directed from higher headquarters. Two subordinate units, the 411th and 357th 

Chemical Companies, had previously scheduled training on domestic response casualty 

 

40 Email correspondence among Captain Lisandro Murphy, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Patterson, and Major Robert 

Bensburg, 12 August 2002. 

41 Email correspondence between Mr. Robert Neglia and Major Robert Bensburg, 12 August 2002. 

42 Email, Mr. Joseph Beck to Trent Andrews, et. al., “Stand Up of 77th RSC EOC,” MMLF 1, #012, 11 September 

2001. 
 15

decontamination during this time, and it was determined that these units could be available for 

use, if the situation arose.43 

 Another unit, the 4th Legal Support Organization, Bronx, New York, established its own 

Emergency Operations Center. Personnel staffed the unit phones around the clock. Also the unit 

identified and informed the 77th of soldiers who were available to provide immediate help in any 

capacity. The unit also asked if the 77th would organize a blood drive, since soldiers indicated 

that they would like to donate. The unit extended this offer to the 77th Regional Support 

Command, state, federal, and city agencies.44

 Major Zoller supervised the Emergency Operations Center at the 77th until Colonel 

Matthew Cacciatore, deputy chief of staff for operations and drilling Army Reservist, arrived 

later that morning. While the 77th Regional Support Command staff was setting up the 

Emergency Operations Center, its commander, Brigadier General Colt, formulated the 77th’s 

command mission statement, as well as his intent and guidance in response to the terrorist 

attacks. Brigadier General Colt thought he remembered arriving at Fort Totten from his civilian 

job at around 10:30 a.m. on 11 September. He held a staff meeting with representatives from all 

the sections and conveyed his mission and intent for his staff to distribute throughout the 

command.45

Some full-time staff initially manned the Emergency Operations Center. Within a few 

hours, drilling Army Reservists voluntarily came in to augment the full-time staff. Eventually, 

the 77th put these soldiers on drill or annual training pay status. Prior training and previous 

mobilization exercises helped prepare the command to quickly respond and organize the initial 

effort. Emergency Operations Center personnel logged in all tasks and email communication, 

which amounted to 860 messages.46 

Many full-time and Army Reserve soldiers worked long hours in the 77th Regional 

Support Command's Emergency Operation Center. Sergeant First Class Gregory Carpenter, 

Active Guard Reserve operations noncommissioned officer, estimated that the Emergency 

Operations Center staffed approximately 126 people, or about twenty-six people per shift, 

working there at some time during the first two weeks. Sergeant First Class Everett Butcher, an 

Active Guard Reserve administrative specialist, put in long hours in the Emergency Operations 

Center receiving calls. Sergeant Butcher also visited ground zero frequently for several months 

 

43 Fax, Colonel Joseph Leonelli to EOC 77th RSC, "Emergency Operations Center (EOC) SITREP-Operation 

Liberty Crisis," MMLF 5, #276, 15 September 2001. 

44 Email, Ms. Sandra Rolon to Sergeant First Class Charles Pursel, et. al., “4th LSO EOC,” MMLF 1 #71, 12 

September 2001 

45 Email correspondence between Major Bernd Zoller and Major Robert Bensburg, “77th 9-11 Response,” 17 June 

2002. 

46 Telephone conversation between Sergeant First Class Charles Pursel and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael 

Werner, 10 January 2002. 
16 

after the attacks to help recover bodies, and he worked with other agencies, such as FEMA.47

Sergeant First Class Charles Pursel, Active Guard Reserve administrative specialist, organized 

all telephonic and email communications that came into or went out of the center.48

At 11:53 a.m. on 11 September, Mr. Joseph Beck, operations training officer and Army 

Reserve lieutenant colonel, placed personnel on additional duty assignments and then on formal 

orders for the duration of the emergency. At 5:18 p.m., Mr. Beck directed subordinate units to 

document accountability of support, such as material, equipment, and/or manpower, to ensure 

reimbursement from the requesting organization. He also directed units to follow the U.S. Army 

Reserve Command’s (USARC) guidelines for spending funds for emergency operations. Under 

the guidance of Brigadier General Colt and Mr. DiLallo, each unit placed an appropriate number 

of personnel on orders in order to handle any arising situation. Mr. Beck further stated that units 

were to continue to prepare updated rosters, and that staff members needed to keep running the 

Emergency Operations Center.49 

On the morning of 12 September, Colonel Cacciatore ordered the Emergency Operations 

Center to operate as a “battle staff” to provide support and security. Battle staff was defined as a 

staff formed to plan operations and direct forces in response to contingencies and crises, develop 

courses of action, and execute the commander’s directives.50 The 77th command group 

designated Major Virginia Rea, an Active Guard Reserve training officer, as the battle staff 

officer in charge, while Major Zoller assumed the roles of operations officer for intelligence and 

mobilizations, and coordinator of command briefings. Master Sergeant Jack Mutter, Active 

Guard Reserve soldier, was the noncommissioned officer in charge, while another Active Guard 

Reserve soldier, Sergeant First Class Gordon Bullard of the Training Section, Deputy Chief of 

Staff, Operations, assisted the operations and battle-staff personnel. Sergeant First Class 

Carpenter also worked as the noncommissioned officer in charge of intelligence and readiness 

operations.51

One of the battle staff operation’s responsibilities was to oversee communications 

throughout the command with the USARC, the FEMA, the FBI, New York State and New York 

City emergency operations centers, and New York City Police and the Fire Department of New 

 

47 Email, Mr. Joseph Beck to Lieutenant David Van Cleve et. al., "Duty Status for Personnel," MMLF 1, #76, 12 

September 2001 and Sergeant First Class Everett Butcher, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, 

tape recording with transcript, pp. 3-5. 

48 Telephone conversation between Sergeant First Class Charles Pursel and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael 

Werner, 10 January 2002. 

49 Email, Joseph Beck to Trent Andrews et. al., “RE: Duty Status for Personnel” MMLF 1, #0023, 11 September 

2001; Email, Joseph Beck to Joseph Beck, et. al., “Operational Funding Costs and Accounting,” MMLF 1, #0035, 

11 September 2001; and Email, Mr. Joseph Beck to Lieutenant Colonel David Van Cleve, et. al., “Duty Status for 

Personnel,” MMLF 1, #76, 12 September 2001. 

50 Internet fact sheet, Federation of American Scientists, “Battle Staff Operations,” 

www.fas.org/spp/military/docops/afspc/pd10_1.htm., 13 April 1994. 51 Email correspondence between Major Bernd Zoller and Major Robert Bensburg, “77th 9-11 Response,” 17 June 

2002. 
 17

York. Additionally, the battle staff operations staff was responsible for “immediate response” – 

life or death – requests for support within the city, security of emergency operations within the 

command, and for providing updates for the command briefings that took place several times a 

day.52

The Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations' troop program unit staff, augmented Majors Rea 

and Zoller. Lieutenant Colonel David Van Cleve, division chief for mobilizations, happened to 

be at the Ernie Pyle Reserve Center on 11 September on annual training orders. Colonel Thomas 

Butler, assistant deputy chief of staff, operations, reported on 12 September for duty. Lieutenant 

Colonel Kirk Lamb, division chief, deputy chief of staff, operations for readiness, reported 

within days of the attack. The entire troop program unit noncommissioned officer staff also 

reported to assist with emergency operations staffing and provided twenty-four hour shift 

coverage.53

At 12:14 p.m. on 12 September, Major Zoller emailed subordinate units to identify 

communications traffic that pertained to supporting New York City recovery efforts under 

Operation LIBERTY CRISIS. He informed all sections that the 77th's mission and the 

commanding general's intent and guidance, as directed by the USARC headquarters, was to 

provide all types of support to any requesting government agency, monitor all equipment issued, 

conduct missions supporting the relief efforts, monitor personnel status, ensure that safety 

procedures were being followed, and to ensure all subordinate units continued to submit situation 

reports.54

On the same day, under guidance from the commanding general and Colonel Cacciatore, 

Mr. Beck directed all commands to provide equipment, material, or manpower support. Under 

the guidance of Brigadier General Colt and Mr. DiLallo, each unit placed an appropriate number 

of personnel on orders in order to handle any arising situation. Mr. Beck further stated that units 

were to continue to prepare updated rosters, and that staff members needed to keep running the 

Emergency Operations Center.55

Also on 12 September, Mr. Beck assumed his lieutenant colonel position, troop program 

unit role as division chief, deputy chief of staff, operations training, and provided the essential 

advice regarding the continued conduct of individual and unit training, as well as military school 

attendance. He advised all 77th Regional Support Command units that they were to continue 

with their training for the remainder of 2001. However, commanders had flexibility to make 

adjustments to training and missions depending upon how the emergency situation developed. 

He also told subordinate commanders to monitor the number of additional annual training days 

performed, and that soldiers were not to be denied their fourteen days of annual training. The 

 

52 Ibid 

53 Ibid. 

54 Ibid 

55 Ibid., and Email, Mr. Joseph Beck to Lieutenant Colonel David Van Cleve, et. al., “Duty Status for Personnel,” 

MMLF 1, #76, 12 September 2001. 
18 

command emphasized that because of Army regulations, soldiers could not work more than 

twenty-nine annual training days, including travel. Lieutenant Colonel Beck assisted the 

Emergency Operations Center by researching the security issues and questions of supervisory 

staff administrators and commanders and advising them and Colonel Cacciatore accordingly.56

At Fort Totten, Emergency Operations Center personnel logged in all requests for 

equipment and routed them to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics, led by Army 

Reserve Colonel John Skoll. Mr. Robert Neglia was the full time supervisory logistics 

management specialist, and as an Army Reservist was a chief warrant officer 4 in logistics.57 

Chief Warrant Officer 4 William Iannone, Active Guard Reserve, also worked in the logistics 

office and provided support for equipment requests. They established 100 percent accountability 

for all items provided to Army Reserve or National Guard units, the New York City Police 

Department and the Fire Department of New York, FEMA, or any other agency. Logisticians 

documented on hand receipts for all equipment loaned, which followed procedures outlined in 

Army regulations regarding accountability. They arranged to send the supplies to Pier 40 on the 

Hudson River between 42nd and 46th Streets in Manhattan.58 New York City officials set up 

their Emergency Operations Center at Pier 92 on the Hudson River between 54th and 56th 

Streets in Manhattan. 

The 77th Tasked Colonel Skoll to work three days as a liaison officer among the FEMA 

emergency preparedness liaison officers, the active duty Army, and the 78th Division 

headquarters in Edison, New Jersey. Colonel Skoll informed the 77th of the FEMA activity that 

occurred during those first three days after the attacks. He then returned to Fort Totten to assist in 

the 77th’s logistical support for recovery operations. He described the major concern that faced 

the logistics section at the 77th, which was who can receive what and how much. Colonel Skoll 

commented: 

I completed the tasks required for me as DCSLOG [Deputy Chief of Staff, 

Logistics], and we provided manpower to the EOC [Emergency Operations 

Center], which was running seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, and all 

the log[istics] and supply activities for the World Trade Center activities at that 

time . . . . I stayed here ten days.59

 

56 Email correspondence between Major Bernd Zoller and Major Robert Bensburg, “77th 9-11 Response,” 17 June 

2002. 

57 Colonel John Skoll, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 2 

February 2002. 

58 Chief Warrant Officer 4 William Iannone, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording 

with transcript, 2 February 2002, pp. 2-3. 

59 Colonel John Skoll, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 2 

February 2002, pp. 2-3. 
 19

Mr. Neglia elaborated on the logistical issues the 77th faced immediately after the 

terrorist attacks: 

When you go into an emergency situation, [you] basically review all our assets on 

hand as to [the] . . . mission-capable status of assets...we have and the availability 

of our personnel . . . identify where all our personnel are, whether on leave status. 

This includes our personnel out in the field. Within an hour, we are in the 

Emergency Operations Center. We also had all information as to availability to 

all water containers, refrigerator units, mortuary units, [and] any types of cots, 

canvases, anything that may be needed in support of the operation. We started to 

receive requests from various agencies because FEMA was not on board. And 

based on the direction of the commander, if it pertains to the life and well being of 

individuals and to our soldiers, we will support them. At that time, we started to 

identify our operational assets, which we had in our concentration sites and used 

in the EOC . . . .60

Mr. Neglia further explained that the 77th’s Logistics Section assisted in identifying the 

various subordinate units to haul loaned equipment to different locations in New York City. 

Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx, the FBI, Staten Island, and Randall’s Island were among some 

locations. The 77th loaned about $100,000 in tents to the National Guard. It also loaned 

protective masks and x-ray machines.61 Details on equipment loaned and associated costs will be 

covered below. 

The 77th Regional Support Command’s Logistical Support 

The 77th Regional Support Command responded quickly and honored all reasonable 

requests for assistance from civilian and military agencies in accordance with Department of 

Defense Directive 3025.1, Military Support to Civilian Authorities. The New York Medical 

Examiner’s Office, in perhaps what was the first request for assistance, asked for thirty-two 

medium sized general-purpose tents in order to set up a temporary morgue. The 301st Area 

Support Group, commanded by Colonel John Wohrle, was a major subordinate command of the 

77th Regional Support Command. It owned the tents and loaned them out.62 Due to health 

regulations, the 77th did not expect these tents to be returned. 

Some 301st soldiers who were instrumental in assisting the command after 11 September 

included: Lieutenant Colonel James Gross, who led the Emergency Operations Center with 

assistance from Lieutenant Colonels Veronica Baddine and Melody Thomas, and Major Andrew 

 

60 Colonel John Skoll, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 2 

February 2002, pp. 2-3. 

61 Ibid., p. 4. 

62 Email, Lieutenant Colonel David Van Cleve to 77th RSC, "T0019-Tentage for NYPD at Pier 40", MMLF 4, #233, 

14 September 2001, p. 3 and "SITREP 13 Sep 01," MMLF 2,#134, 13 September 2001. 
20 

Burns, an Active Guard Reserve operations and plans officer at the 301st. Major John 

Cummings and Specialist Mark Lans, troop program unit members, were also part of the initial 

team that responded on 11 September. The 301st and several of its subordinate units assisted the 

city in other ways, as described below. 

 A subordinate unit of the 301st, the 140th Quartermaster Company, Fort Totten, provided 

fourteen soldiers and a portable bath unit, light set, four large tents, and a 4,000-pound piece of 

material-handling equipment to the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office at Jacobi 

Hospital. The 77th gave the unit the mission of providing temporary morgue space and aiding the 

medical examiner in identifying victims of the World Trade Center attacks. Unit members 

arrived at Jacobi Hospital on the evening of 11 September. Captain Bill Martin and First 

Lieutenant Matthew Goldman of the 140th were the officers in charge of this mission.63

However, the 140th Quartermaster did not receive any casualties at its temporary morgue at 

Jacobi Hospital. Other area morgues closer to downtown Manhattan handled the anticipated 

casualties. Chaplain (Captain) William Heisterman, of the 77th Regional Support Command 

Chaplain’s Office offered solace and prayer daily to the soldiers at the Jacobi Hospital mission. 

During his visit to New York on 16 September 2001, Lieutenant General Plewes, together with 

Brigadier General Colt, visited 140th Quartermaster soldiers at that hospital. The 140th also 

provided a generator unit to the Fire Department of New York.64

 The 695th Combat Support Battalion, Fort Tilden, New York – subordinate to the 301st – 

donated five tables and delivered a “refer” [refrigerated] van to Jacobi Hospital for food storage 

only for the 140th Quartermaster Company.65 Lieutenant Colonel Chester Wernicki, commander 

of the 695th Combat Support Battalion, and his staff directed much of the activities of the 

subordinate logistical units. The 146th Quartermaster Company, Fort Totten – subordinate to the 

301st – donated two floodlights to the Fire Department of New York, as well as a forklift and 

five-ton tractor to the New York Medical examiner. 

The 695th also helped the FBI when it placed a request to the 77th for the following 

equipment: 

20 chairs 20 field desks portable kitchen 

electric generators extension cords fresh-water containers 

garbage cans flood lights 20 sleeping cots 

20 blankets 20 fresh water canteens mess gear (for portable kitchen) 

20 ponchos portable showers vehicles to transport this equipment66

 

63 Brigadier General Richard Colt, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 7 February 

2002, p. 25. 

64 Sergeants John Sloan and John Kim and First Sergeant Edward Allen, interviews with Major Robert Bensburg, 

tape recording with transcript, 10 February 2002, pp. 3-7. 

65 Fragmented Order #11, Colonel Jack Wohrle to 301st Area Support Group through the 695th Combat Support 

Battalion,” MMLF 11, #510, 20 September 2001. 

66 Fax, Special Agent-in-Charge Andrew Strus to Mr. Gary DiLallo, "Request for Equipment," MMLF 3, #101, 12 

September 2001. 
 21

 The FBI used this equipment to support the personnel working in the reconstruction of 

the two airplanes and the investigative efforts. The 77th Regional Support Command also tasked 

the 695th to provide maintenance support to the California Urban Search and Rescue Team by 

repairing tires on a trailer.67 The National Urban Search and Research Response System, 

established under the authority of the FEMA in 1989, structured emergency services personnel 

into disaster-response task forces.68 In a related tasking, the 695th provided four personnel to 

another urban search and rescue team, the Nebraska Task Force, by transporting banded stacks of 

lumber in two five-ton trucks to the disaster site of the former World Trade Center.69

The 77th Regional Support Command also tasked the 301st Area Support Group to 

provide generators, portable flood lights, garbage cans, portable water containers, and twenty 

each of the following items: cots, blankets, ponchos, and canteens. These were for the FEMA 

response team rescue effort. A 12 September mission sent them to pick up 150 cases of Army 

field rations called “Meals Ready to Eat” from Fort Dix, New Jersey, for transport to Fort Totten. 

On 17 September, the New York Police Department needed weapons’ repair and cleaning 

assistance. The 301st supported the city police department by providing a repair and cleaning 

space in a dust-free environment at Pier 90.70 

The 301st Area Support Group and its subordinates were not the only 77th Regional 

Support Command units to help the city of New York. Medical units also helped. For instance, 

other support to Jacobi Hospital came from the 344th Combat Support Hospital, Fort Totten – 

subordinate to the 8th Medical Brigade. The unit provided the medical examiner with a modular 

field kitchen, a mobile kitchen tent, and a 400-gallon water trailer. The 344th also sent 100 cots 

to the Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn. The 300th Medical Detachment in Rocky Point, 

New York – also subordinate to the 8th – supplied the Medical Examiner's office with three 

dental x-ray kits.71

Engineer and military police units helped the city as well. The 411th Engineer Brigade in 

New Windsor, New York, and another major subordinate command, provided ten medium-size 

tents to the New York Army National Guard at Randall's Island, located opposite the Harlem 

section of New York on the East River.72 (The original plan called for the New York Air 

National Guard from Stewart Air Force Base in Newburgh, New York, to send personnel for the 

equipment, but they did not show.) Therefore, a subordinate unit of the 411th – the 854th 

 

67 Memorandum, Colonel Jack Wohrle to 695th CSG, "Mission: Provide Maintenance Support to the California 

Urban Search & Rescue Team," MMLF 13, #610, 23 September 2001. 

68 Internet article, Federal Emergency Management Agency, “US&R,” www.fema.gov/usr/about1.shtm, 

11 June 2002. 

69 Ibid and MMLF 13, #620, 25 September 2001. 

70 Email, Major Bernd Zoller to 77th RSC, "T0010-Generator Support for FEMA Response Teams," MMLF 4, 

#233, 12 September 2001, p. 2. 

71 Situation report, 77th Regional Support Command, 4-5 November 2001. 

72 Email, Major Douglas Gradwohl to Mr. Trent Andrews, et. al, "77th RSC EOC Tasker T0050," MMLF 3, #194, 

"77th RSC EOC Tasker T0050," 14 September 2001 and Email, Lieutenant Colonel David Van Cleve to 77th RSC, 

"T0030-Tentage for Randall's Island," MMLF 4, #230, 14 September 2001. 
22 

Engineer Battalion, Kingston, New York – delivered the tents to their destination. The 854th 

also provided heavy hauling support to the Air National Guard in New Windsor. The unit 

transported heavy engineer equipment to ground zero and helped in maintenance and recovery, 

among other tasks. The 77th Regional Support Command also tasked the 411th to provide 

transportation for the Red Cross in the city.73 In another mission, the 306th Engineer Company 

in Amityville, New York – subordinate to the 411th – transported food, water, and clothing from 

local charities to New York City rescue and recovery workers.74

 On 13 September, the 77th Regional Support Command assigned the 340th Military 

Police Company in Jamaica, New York, which was subordinate to the 800th Military Police 

Brigade, to escort another vehicle from the 4220th U.S. Army Hospital in Rocky Point that was 

transporting dental x-ray equipment to the New York University Medical Center in Manhattan. 

The medical center had set up a temporary morgue site. Another subordinate unit – the 300th 

Medical Company, also of Rocky Point and subordinate to the 8th Medical Brigade – supplied 

the three dental x-ray kits. Staff Sergeant Lance Bryer and Sergeant Christopher Arroyo, both 

340th soldiers, assisted with this escorting mission. They helped unload and set up the 

equipment. During that time, they witnessed the “many visual horrors of the attack.”75 Staff 

Sergeant Bryer spoke of what he saw that day: 

As myself and Sergeant Arroyo were escorting the dental equipment to NYU 

[New York University], we had no idea of what we would see. As we arrived, the 

first thing we saw was the many refrigerated trailers located in front of the 

hospital. I was told they were there to hold the remains of the victims until they 

could begin the identification process. As we began to unload the gear, the main 

ambulance garage was set up as a mass triage table with people [police or medical 

personnel] sitting across from each other [with] bags of body parts being 

distributed. I remember one body that I saw was mangled so bad that there was 

no head, and the body looked as if it was a lump of flesh. The only way I could 

have recognized it as human was from the arm, which was the only body part that 

was identifiable. Another room . . . contained burnt charred bones in a plexi-glass 

box. Another body on a gurney was also mangled very badly to the point that the 

skull was split in half and the remnants of the jaw line [was] exposed without any 

recognizable flesh on the skull. Another was a young woman. . . . The majority of 

her body was intact but she had pieces of flesh missing from her, and numerous 

bodies in body bags on gurneys that I didn’t want to wait around and see what 

 

73 Email, Lieutenant Colonel David Van Cleve to 411th Engineering Brigade, "T0028-411th EN BDE Support to 

Red Cross Mission," MMLF 4, #229, 14 September 2001. 

74 Email, Paul Casazza to Mr. Trent Andrews, et. al, “77th RSC EOC Tasker T0028,” MMLF 3 #195, 14 September 

2002. 

75 Statement, Staff Sergeant Lance Bryer, “Lance Bryer’s Response to the 9-11 Attacks,” 13 March 2002. 
 23

was inside. One thing is sure – myself and Sergeant Arroyo will be the first ones 

to volunteer to fight terrorism.76

 Other major subordinate commands and their units assisted the city following 11 

September. The 1179th Deployment Support Brigade issued seventy-eight protective masks to 

the New York Police Department.77 The U.S. Coast Guard received sixty-five cots and sleeping 

bags from the 436th Transportation Battalion of Staten Island and subordinate to the 1179th. 

The 436th delivered the cots and bags to Fort Wadsworth, also on Staten Island. The 77th 

Regional Support Command gave 100 cots and one portable floodlight to the U.S. Coast Guard 

facility at Fort Totten. Since this facility borders on a large body of water, Long Island Sound, 

the Coast Guard provided roving patrols for additional security.78 The 320th Chemical Company, 

Jamaica, subordinate to the 455th Chemical Brigade, sent FEMA one each of a sleeping bag, a 

wet-weather parka, and a pair of wet-weather trousers.79

On 25 September, Mr. Neglia and Major Gradwohl decided to visit Randall's Island after 

they did not receive replies from several telephone messages they left with the New York Army 

National Guard regarding the loaned tents. When they arrived on the island, they discovered that 

the National Guard had left. Subsequent investigation revealed that the National Guard’s 53rd 

Troop Command, which borrowed ten tents (using four to store bodies), sent them to the Arthur 

Kill Landfill, Staten Island, to be used as temporary mortuaries. A National Guard officer told 

them that FEMA would reimburse the 77th for the tents. As of August 2002, the National Guard 

still had not returned nor reimbursed the 77th for the tents.80

 Meanwhile, on 30 September 2001, as subordinate units accomplished their missions, 

the 77th Regional Support Command's headquarters staff issued an order to plan for the retrieval 

of loaned equipment to the various government agencies. This included equipment loaned to the 

FBI's command post at Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, trucks that aided in the urban search and 

rescue teams, tents at Pier 40, and equipment and space loaned to the New York City Police and 

Fire Department of New York. The 77th Regional Support Command's Logistics Section 

estimated the total dollar value of equipment loaned to the different government agencies and 

 

76 Email correspondence, Staff Sergeant Lance Bryer to Major Robert Bensburg, “Eyewitness Accounting of Escort 

Mission,” 14 June 2002. 

77 Daily SITREP, 77th RSC to USARC EOC, MMLF 20, # 857, 5 November 2001 and Daily briefing slides, 77th 

RSC EOC, 16 September 2001. 

78 Email, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cochrane to EOC 77th RSC, "MP Support," MMLF 11, # 486, 19 September 

2001. 

79 Daily SITREP, 77th RSC to USARC EOC, MMLF 20, # 857, 5 November 2001 and Daily briefing slides, 77th 

RSC EOC, 16 September 2001. 

80 Email, Mr. Robert Neglia to Mr. Gary DiLallo, "10 GP Medium Tents TASK #T0030," MMLF 13, #629, 26 

September 2001 and Telephone correspondence among Mr. Gary DiLallo, Mr. Robert Neglia and Major Robert 

Bensburg, 8 August 2002. 
24 

hospitals at $363,306. The recovery of unreturned equipment was ongoing. The estimated 

dollar value of the unreturned items was $63,462.81

 

77th Regional Support Command Public Affairs, 

Finance and Personnel Staff Sections 

Soon after 11 September, the USARC headquarters sent further guidance on the 

importance of operations security regarding public affairs. They referred the field to Army 

Regulation 530-1, Operations Security, for proper guidance, which cautioned units, soldiers, 

civilians, and contractors about the type of information to be released to the news media. For 

instance, the 77th Regional Support Command could not divulge information on unit strength, 

operational capabilities, deployment intentions, and all types of speculation. To ensure media 

procedures were consistent, the USARC Public Affairs Office forwarded the Public Affairs 

Guidance (PAG), which originated from Headquarters, Department of the Army, Office of the 

Chief, Public Affairs.82 On the evening of 11 September, the USARC Public Affairs Office was 

still directing its regional support commands’ public affairs officers to maintain a “passive” 

stance – that is, to respond only to specific queries from the media and to volunteer nothing 

more. They were also told not to acknowledge the presence or absence of any THREATCON 

level.83

The 77th Active Guard Reserve public affairs officer position was vacant on 11 

September. The full time public affairs civilian, Mr. Chester Marcus, who was a master sergeant 

for a subordinate Army Reserve unit in Lodi, New Jersey, reported to his unit because bridges 

and tunnels going to and from Manhattan were closed except to fire, police, and some military 

personnel. Therefore, the 77th Regional Support Command’s Public Affairs Office was short 

staffed on 11 September and needed a qualified public affairs senior representative. Lieutenant 

Colonel Dennis Fink, an Army Reservist and commander of the 361st Press Camp Headquarters, 

a direct reporting unit to the 77th Regional Support Command, reported to the command. He 

lived in Queens and was already on orders preparing for his unit’s deployment to the Bright Star 

exercise in Egypt on 7 October. 

Lieutenant Colonel Fink quickly coordinated support to the public affairs effort which 

focused on the Army Reserve’s role in the recovery effort and subsequent mobilization activities. 

He explained the first public affairs activities on 11 September: 

When I arrived, one plane had already struck the one tower. . . . While I was in 

the office here, the second plane struck. . . . We realized that eventually the 77th 

 

81 Battle update briefing, "Operation Noble Eagle, 77th RSC EOC Activation 11 Sep 01,” 16 September, 2001, p. 

12, and Email, no names given, "Equipment Loaned," MMLF 6, #301, no date. 

82 Email, Lieutenant Colonel Boyd Collings to USARLINK@ns1.OCAR.ARMY.PENTAGON.MIL, et. al., “Latest 

USAR PAG—1030 hours, 4 October 2001,” MMLF 16, #697. 

83 Email, Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski to Arthur Lauer, Bernd Zoller, et. al, “PA Guidance,” MMLF 1, # 36, 11 

September 2001. 
 25

would be involved in some way. . . . New York being the media capital of the 

world, I anticipated a lot of activity from the media. . . . I wrote a draft response to 

query which is sort of like a press release or news release. After I organized the 

Public Affairs Office and set up a query book. . . . I started receiving public affairs 

guidance from the USARC, which was coming down from OCAR [Office of the 

Chief, Army Reserve] and the DA [Department of the Army], as well as DOD 

[Department of Defense]. As we got the public affairs guidance, we placed that in 

this book, and we maintained that book and updated it. 

Other members of the 361st Press Camp Headquarters volunteered for public affairs duty. 

Staff Sergeant Timothy Barnes, who was called into the unit and arrived around 2 p.m. on 11 

September, served with Lieutenant Colonel Fink for more than three weeks. Members of the 

361st fielded media queries, arranged interviews, and helped the 77th Regional Support 

Command’s commanding general with his public affairs needs during the crisis. Lieutenant 

Colonel Fink also served as public affairs officer for Lieutenant General Plewes during his visit 

to New York City.84

 Following 11 September, some 77th Regional Support Command personnel had to 

balance their Army Reserve and civilian jobs. Mr. Marcus was one such individual who tried to 

perform his Army Reserve and civilian jobs at the same time. As a civilian and as mentioned 

above, Mr. Marcus was a public affairs officer at the 77th Regional Support Command’s Public 

Affairs Office. As an Army Reservist, he was a master sergeant for the 10th Battalion, 4th 

Brigade, 98th Training Division. His services were also needed there as acting sergeant major. 

Therefore, for a few days following 11 September, Mr. Marcus worked at his reserve center 

while keeping abreast of public affairs events back at the 77th. He explained: 

I was able to still support the public affairs mission in my civilian capacity by use 

of e-mail and land-line phone. I was responsible for responding to queries from 

television and cable news services. From those initial contacts, the 77th responded 

to over fifty-four television news queries and had numerous news and feature 

news stories aired in the first two weeks following the attack.85

 

The financing of soldiers and civilians for additional duty following 11 September was a 

concern for the 77th Regional Support Command’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Comptroller. Mr. 

Peter Bianchi, resource management officer and retired lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, 

explained the budgeting process during the first hours after 11 September: 

 

84 Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Fink, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 14 March 

2002, p. 3 and Email correspondence between Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Fink and Major Robert Bensburg, 6 

August 2002. 

85 Email correspondence between Mr. Chet Marcus and Major Robert Bensburg, “LODI Update 911,” 8 June 2002. 
26 

I had instructed my personnel to provide me with the current financial balances 

for both reserve pay, Army and . . . operations and maintenance . . . funding 

requirements that may have been needed. Primarily, the first few hours I was 

basically in a listening mode trying to react to either logistical requirements or 

operational requirements. It became apparent very early that we would require a 

number of personnel to be called to active duty immediately . . . .We instructed 

the DCSOPS [Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations] that all they would have to do is 

query our subordinate units as to the name and social security number of an 

individual, and that we would take care of all administrative work within the 

[comptroller]. I would say within the first ninety-six hours to the first seven days 

we had a round-the-clock orders processing operations. There was always 

someone here [who] could process an order. As far as civilian personnel, we took 

stock of what our overtime balances were for the balance of the fiscal year and at 

that point, as we were getting into the operations twenty-four, forty-eight hours 

. . . we started receiving frag [mented] messages from the USARC DCSCOMPT 

[Deputy Chief of Staff, Comptroller] as to certain . . . accounting processing 

codes to be used so we could collect the data .86 

Mr. Bianchi explained that the 77th Regional Support Command’s Comptroller’s 

Section had been given “carte blanche” from the USARC's Comptroller and Operations 

directorates to spend as much money as it needed for the 11 September effort. From 11 

to 30 September 2001, the 77th employed 1,324 soldiers at a cost of about $1.3 million. 

By the same token, the section faced its normal year-end close out to balance the prior 

fiscal year’s budget, which was more difficult than usual since it also had to fund a 

sudden increase of Army Reservists on orders.87

Security, Force Protection, and Threat Conditions 

The federal government took swift action to impede other possible terrorist attacks by 

implementing certain security measures. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) shut down 

all New York City area airports at 9:17 a.m. on 11 September, fourteen minutes after the second 

plane hit the World Trade Center. As mentioned earlier, at 9:40 a.m. the FAA halted all flights 

at U.S. airports – the first time in U.S. history that air traffic nationwide was halted.88

The National Military Command Center at the Pentagon, acting on orders from the 

secretary of defense, directed its subordinate commands on U.S. military installations to 

implement THREATCON Delta on the morning of 11 September. The Military Command 

Center was an entity responsible for collecting and managing information related to a crisis or 

 

86 Mr. Peter Bianchi, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 27 March 2002, p. 3. 87 Ibid., pp. 3-4. 

88 Internet article, “September 11: Chronology of Terror,” www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack, 12 

September 2001, pp. 1-2. 
 27

threat against the United States. The U.S. Joint Forces Command – one of nine unified 

combatant commands – directed this force protection posture to subordinate commands at 11:30 

a.m. on 11 September through a secure Internet system called the Global Command and Control 

System.89

With the nation reeling from the shock of the terrorist attacks, the Department of the 

Army prepared for terrorist attacks against Army installations, including Army Reserve centers, 

by implementing the directives set forth from higher headquarters for THREATCON Delta.90

The Department of Defense established the progressive THREATCON levels of security for the 

Armed Forces prior to 11 September, so that the services had guidelines to follow in case of a 

perceived or real threat to their personnel or facilities. The levels ranged from THREATCON 

Normal, the lowest, to THREATCON Delta, the highest. Each one specified certain security 

measures that an installation should take. On or about 11 September, the Army was in the 

process of changing the name from “threat condition” to “terrorist force protection condition,” or 

TFPCON, which was a change in name only. It took a few days for subordinate units to realize 

and implement the name change.91 Local area commanders did have, however, the authority to 

implement higher threat condition levels depending on the local area situation.92 The events of 

11 September resulted in a significant increase in security in anticipation of possible terrorist 

actions. The Army Reserve operated from 1,198 facilities and more than 4,000 buildings that 

 

89 Major General Craig Bambrough, interview by Captain Suzanne Summers, tape recording with transcript, 10 

January 2002, p. 2, Operation Noble Eagle Collection, (90th Military History Detachment), United States Army 

Reserve Historical Research Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, United States Army Reserve Command; 

Internet article, “National Military Command Center – From Idea to Implementation,” Nikolay Petrov, 2001 

(unknown month), p. 2; Email, “Force Protection Delta Ordered in CONUS,” Global Command and Control System 

(U.S. Joint Forces Command), THREATCON Research Material (Hereafter referred to as TCRM) #12, 11 

September 2001; and Internet articles, “USJFCOM,”www.jfcom.mil/about/about1.htm,p.1, and 

www.defenselink.mil/pubs/almanac/almanac/organization/ Combatant_Commands,html, unknown date. 

90 Major General Craig Bambrough, interview by Captain Suzanne Summers, tape recording with transcript, 10 

January 2002, p. 2, Operation Noble Eagle Collection, (90th Military History Detachment), United States Army 

Reserve Historical Research Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, United States Army Reserve Command. 

91 Ibid; Email correspondence among Majors David Phillips, Mario Beckles and Major Robert Bensburg, 20 June 

2002; Email, Watch Team (FORSCOM) to Sergeant First Class Michael Jungers et. al., “THREATCON Status 

Board,” MMLF 1 #38, 11 September 2001; and Email correspondence between Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski and 

Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, “Threatcon Name Change,” 17 April 2002. 

92 Email, Major Andrew Burns to First Lieutenant Erik Johnson, et. al., “THREATCON Levels,” MMLF 2 #90, 11 

September 2001. The United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Regulation 525-13, 

Appendix F-1, laid out the following levels of security: 

1. THREATCON Normal-as the name indicates, this level applies when there is no discernible threat of possible 

terrorist activity. Under these conditions, only a routine security posture designed to defeat the criminal threat is 

warranted. 

2. THREATCON Alpha-applies when there is a general threat of possible terrorist activity against personnel or 

installations and the nature of the threat is unpredictable. Some vehicles may be searched. 

3. THREATCON Bravo-applies when an increased or more predictable threat of terrorist activity exists. Most 

vehicles are searched. 

4. THREATCON Charlie-applies when an incident occurs or intelligence indicates that some form of terrorist 

activity against personnel or facilities is imminent. All vehicles are searched. 

5. THREATCON Delta-implementation applies in the immediate area or intelligence indicates that some form of 

terrorist action against personnel or facilities is imminent. 
28 

needed to upgrade their security to a level rarely seen before in the continental United States. 

While each Army Reserve center already had security plans in place, new problems or situations 

arose, and commanders frequently altered their plans, such as what took place at the 77th 

Regional Support Command on 11 September.93

Major General Craig Bambrough, deputy commanding general at the USARC and deputy 

commanding general for Army Reserve affairs at Forces Command (FORSCOM), expressed his 

views on threat conditions: 

I can’t remember the Army ever going to Delta, at least not in my career. For the 

USARC, this involved getting guards, barriers, and other force-protection 

measures. The Army’s focus has always been outward. We’ve always been 

concerned about a threat outside the country.94

Army Reserve commanding generals of regional support commands shared their views 

on the threat and security conditions. Major General William Kiefer, commanding general of the 

94th Regional Support Command, headquartered in Fort Devens, Massachusetts, recalled that 

“with the events of September 11th, we immediately mobilized to put together an emergency 

operations center at our headquarters and went about developing force protection measures for 

all our Army Reserve centers in New England.”95 

The regional support commands reacted to the Army’s call for additional protection of 

military installations as well as they could, but it was not easy or quick. For several decades, the 

Army Reserve tried to increase the public’s awareness of its existence and roles and did so by 

building reserve centers in the middle of civilian communities. Unfortunately, the close 

community locations made it difficult to defend these structures from possible terrorist attacks. 

Major General Robert Ostenberg, commanding general of the 63rd Regional Support Command, 

Los Alamitos, California, said: 

Certainly, we did lockdown and cleared anybody that came into the buildings, but 

if you are working in THREATCON Charlie, it goes way beyond, and you have 

the capability to do that [lockdown and clearing out]. In the Army Reserve, 

 

93 Major Mark Brooks, interview by Sergeant William Miller, tape recording with transcript, 11 January 2002, p. 6 

and 77th RSC Pamphlet 190-1, THREATCON Research Material (Hereafter referred to as TCRM) #5, Operation 

Noble Eagle Collection, (90th Military History Detachment), United States Army Reserve Historical Research 

Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, United States Army Reserve Command. 

94 Major General Craig Bambrough, interview with Captain Suzanne Summer, 10 January 2002, p. 2, Operation 

Noble Eagle Collection, (90th Military History Detachment), United States Army Reserve Historical Research 

Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, United States Army Reserve Command. 

95 Major General William Kiefer, interview by Sergeant William Miller, tape recording, 27 March 2002, Operation 

Noble Eagle Collection, (90th Military History Detachment), United States Army Reserve Historical Research 

Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, United States Army Reserve Command. 
 29

because of the 70s and 80s, when we wanted to be a community based 

organization and source, we moved away from the security that we could have 

implemented had it been prior to that when we were on posts and not off.96

Major General Karol Kennedy, commanding general of the 99th Regional Support 

Command, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, commented on the increased security and the challenges it 

presented: 

We had to implement lockdown procedures. The only thing we could do was 

create physical barriers with the existing locks. In most places, fences were not 

around all the facilities, but any fences that did exist were locked. We have many 

facilities that are on military installations, and that was helpful. We also have 

facilities [that] are shared, sometimes with other military components that were 

using different levels of security measures [which] resulted in some conflict. One 

such case, [we were] sharing it with the Marine Corps, who had put their 

reservists under arms, and we had not done that at that particular location.97

Army Reserve installations needed barriers to isolate centers, limit access, and thereby 

meet force protection measures. Installation commanders rushed to use concrete barriers and 

chain link fencing, but until those materials arrived they made do with resources on hand, and 

went so far as to include using engineer tape to block off areas with an unarmed guard standing 

watch.98 The active duty Army designed its military installations with security as a primary 

concern. In contrast, the Army Reserve worked among the community. These differences 

became apparent as the Army went to higher THREATCON levels. The terrorist attacks forced 

the Army Reserve to look inward as well as outward. 

On 11 September at 9:59 a.m., the 77th Regional Support Command’s Emergency 

Operations Center personnel directed subordinate units to go to THREATCON Bravo, which 

 

96 Major General Robert Ostenberg, interview by Major Robert Bensburg and Sergeant William Miller, tape 

recording, 23 May 2002 and Verbal correspondence with Major Robert Bensburg, 29-30 July 2002. Major General 

Karol Kennedy, interview by Sergeant William Miller, tape recording with transcript, 15 July 2002, pp. 2-4, 

Operation Noble Eagle Collection, (90th Military History Detachment), United States Army Reserve Historical 

Research Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, United States Army Reserve Command. 97 Major General Karol Kennedy, interview by Sergeant William Miller, tape recording with transcript, 15 July 

2002, pp. 2-4, Operation Noble Eagle Collection, (90th Military History Detachment), United States Army Reserve 

Historical Research Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, United States Army Reserve Command and verbal 

correspondence between Major General Karol Kennedy and Major Robert Bensburg, 29-30 July 2002. 

98 Major General Karol Kennedy, interview by Sergeant William Miller, tape recording with transcript, 15 July 

2002, p. 4, Operation Noble Eagle Collection, (90th Military History Detachment), United States Army Reserve 

Historical Research Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, United States Army Reserve Command and Major 

General Robert Ostenberg, interview by Major Robert Bensburg and Sergeant William Miller, tape recording, 23 

May 2002. 
30 

included a search of all vehicles entering the post.99 At 10:22 a.m., the Department of the 

Army’s Operations Center at the Pentagon raised the THREATCON level to Delta, and the 

USARC distributed that information to its units.100 Then at 10:50 a.m., the 77th increased the 

threat level to THREATCON Delta – the most severe – which warned of imminent terrorist 

attacks. Before the actual email traffic was received, the 77th received verbal communications 

that the threat condition levels would be increasing, so it directed its subordinate commands to 

implement THREATCON Delta.101 Consequently, the military police at Fort Totten’s gate 

allowed access only to personnel assigned to that installation after checking their identification 

cards. Military police also searched all vehicles entering Fort Totten for explosives. They 

opened hoods and used mirrors to scrutinize even the undercarriage of vehicles. Major 

Gradwohl procured the mirrors.102 

At 1:24 p.m. on 11 September, Major Andrew Burns, an Active Guard Reserve soldier 

working as the operations officer at the 301st Area Support Group, sent through email the actual 

threat condition level descriptions from the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command 

(TRADOC), Regulation 525-13, Appendix F. He did this because units were seeking guidance 

about what each threat condition level entailed. Quoting from this regulation, the THREATCON 

Delta level requirements also encompassed all the previous provisions of lesser THREATCON 

levels. Described below was one of the provisions within THREATCON Charlie, addressed by 

Major Burns, which created a situation that the Army Reserve was trying to address at the time: 

Issue weapons to all law enforcement personnel, security guards, and guard force 

personnel, if not already accomplished. Ensure that all personnel have been 

briefed to include augmentation personnel, if not already accomplished. Ensure 

that all personnel have been briefed concerning policies governing the use of 

force/rules of engagement, particularly criteria for use of deadly force. Ensure 

that ammunition is available for immediate issue [for those personnel not already 

issued ammunition] and that supervisory personnel are familiar with policies 

governing issuance of ammunition.103

 

99 Email, Mr. Joseph Beck to Mr. Joseph Beck, et. al., “Stand Up of 77th RSC EOC,” MMLF 1, #12, 11 September 

2001. 

100 Email, Global Command and Control System (U.S. Joint Forces Command), “Force Protection Delta Ordered in 

CONUS,” TCRM #12, 11 September 2001 and Email from Major Scott Vendenbroek to Major James Anderson, 

“Threatcon Guidance,” TCRM #13, 11 September 2001. 

101 Email, Mr. Joseph Beck to Mr. Joseph Beck, et. al., “THREATCON Level Status,” MMLF 1 #12, 11 September 

2001 and Telephone correspondence between Mr. Joseph Beck and Major Robert Bensburg, 25 July 2002. 

102 Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cochrane, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 18 

January 2002, pp. 8-11 and Email, Major Douglas Gradwohl to Major Bernd Zoller, et. al., "Mirror," MMLF 1, 

#014, 11 September 2001. 

103 Email, Major Andrew Burns to First Lieutenant Erik Johnson, et. al., “THREATCON Levels,” MMLF 1, #90, 

11 September 2001; Telephone correspondence between Major Andrew Burns and Major Robert Bensburg, 24 July 

2002; and TRADOC Regulation 525-13, Force Protection Program, TCRM #14, F-5, 12 December 1997. 
 31

However, at 3:55 p.m. on 11 September, Brigadier General John Yingling, the USARC 

chief of staff, sent out an order to all subordinate commands not to issue firearms and 

ammunition to personnel on guard details, excluding military police. This contradicted 

THREATCON Delta’s requirement to arm all guards. The USARC issued the order while 

waiting for further guidance from higher headquarters – Forces Command – because it was 

concerned about accidental shootings involving soldiers without proper training. The USARC 

referred to Army Regulation 190-14, The Carrying of Firearms and Use of Force for Law 

Enforcement and Security Duties because this regulation required all guards to be trained in the 

use of force and to be qualified to fire with their assigned weapons. The USARC directed the 

Army Reserve installations to use unarmed soldiers or military police to protect the installations. 

The email directive about “no ammo [ammunition] and no firearms” that was sent earlier was 

again sent at 4:05 p.m. to ensure that subordinate units received it and complied with its 

directive. The USARC did not provide the intent or meaning behind this order to the 77th, 

which led to some confusion.104 

Major Zoller noticed the contradiction between THREATCON Delta requirements and 

the USARC’s orders immediately and asked for clarification at 4:07 p.m. on 11 September. Due 

to its concerns over safety, the USARC insisted that only contracted security officers or military 

police stand guard with issued firearms and ammunition. Some soldiers at the 77th disagreed 

with this decision because they wanted to protect their units in the field by employing roving 

patrols around the reserve center. However, the 77th complied with the USARC’s modification 

of the THREATCON Delta requirement and continued on with its security posture. As Brigadier 

General Colt said, “We can agree to disagree, but cannot agree to not support.” With the 

exception of the non-military police guards not being armed, the Ernie Pyle Reserve Center at 

Fort Totten met the security standards for THREATCON Delta in about four hours. As 

mentioned above, the 77th was not the only regional support command to experience security 

challenges. Commands across the country were trying to achieve force protection levels that 

proved difficult to meet.105

On 12 September at 1:55 p.m., the USARC directed to its subordinate commands that the 

THREATCON level be reduced to THREATCON Charlie by noon that day. The local area 

 

104 Email, Sergeant First Class Ronald Polk to Major Arthur Lauer, et. al., “No Weapons No Ammo,” MMLF 1 #27, 

11 September 2001; Email correspondence between Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski and Sergeant William Miller, 

“Sep 11th email,” TCRM #2, 14 June 2002; Email, Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski to Major Arthur Lauer et. al., 

“Armed Guard Guidance,” MMLF 1 #50, 11 September 2001; Email, Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski to Major 

Arthur Lauer, et. al., “No weapons or ammo,” MMLF 1 #27/1, 11 September 2001; Email correspondence between 

Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski and Sergeant William Miller, “9-11,” TCRM #1, 14 June 2002; and Email 

correspondence between Major Bernd Zoller and Sergeant William Miller, “History Questions,” TCRM #3, 19 June 

2002. 

105 Email, Major Bernd Zoller to Sergeant First Class Ronald Polk, “RE: NO WEAPONS, NO AMMO,” MMLF 1 

#28, 11 September 2001; Email, Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski to Major Arthur Lauer, et. al., “Armed Guard 

Guidance,” MMLF 1 #50, 11 September 2001; and Email correspondence between Major Bernd Zoller and Sergeant 

William Miller, “History Questions,” TCRM #3, 19 June 2002. 
32 

commanders had the discretion to post armed guards.106 The 77th Regional Support Command 

made the discretionary decision to remain at THREATCON Delta. As Lieutenant Colonel David 

Van Cleve, 77th operations officer, explained to the 77th Emergency Operations Center and 

subordinate commands: 

Per the deputy commander [Colonel (P) William Terpeluk], 77th Regional 

Support Command units were to remain at Threat Condition Delta due to their 

proximity to the New York City metropolitan area. The carrying of weapons is 

not authorized without the permission of the commanding general of the 77th 

Regional Support Command. If circumstances warranted, and only after receiving 

permission to carry weapons, the 77th Regional Support Command's rules of 

engagement for force protection, dated 11 September 2001, will be strictly 

followed. Units not under the direct command of the 77th will follow guidance 

issued by their respective headquarters.107 

Even though New York City, which leased Fort Totten for use by its police and fire 

departments, provided armed contracted guards, the 77th called up some of the military police 

under its command to augment the security guards and to protect other reserve centers. Soldiers 

from the 800th Military Police Brigade of Uniondale, New York, commanded by Brigadier 

General Paul Hill, started showing up at their reserve center on the afternoon of 11 September 

and arrived at Fort Totten later that night. These military police personnel worked without 

ammunition that day because their reserve centers lacked security to store ammunition. In order 

to keep both weapons and ammunition, a reserve center needed secure housing that kept the 

weapons and ammunition separated. The military police rectified their situation by going to Fort 

Dix the next day and drawing limited ammunition to supply the gate guards. In the days after 11 

September, the 800th secured a significant amount of ammunition that allowed them to arm the 

roving patrols as well.108

For the first couple of days after the attack, the 77th Regional Support Command did not 

allow commercial trucks on Fort Totten. On 13 September, the following guidelines were issued 

regarding the handling of commercial vehicles: 

 

106 Email, Sergeant First Class Ronald Polk to Arthur Lauer, et. al., “Force Protection Change”, MMLF 3, 

# 144, 12 September 2001; Email, Major Bernd Zoller to Sergeant First Class Ronald Polk, “RE: NO WEAPONS, 

NO AMMO,” MMLF 1 #28, 11 September 2000; Email, Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski to Major Arthur Lauer, et. 

al., “Armed Guard Guidance,” MMLF 1 #50, 11 September 2001; and Email correspondence between Major Bernd 

Zoller and Sergeant William Miller, “History Questions,” TCRM #3, 19 June 2002. 

107 Email, Lieutenant Colonel David Van Cleve to EOC 77th RSC, et. al., "Clarification of THREATCON for 77th 

RSC Units," MMLF 3, #152, 13 September 2001. 

108 Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cochrane, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, pp. 4, 

5, 8-12, 18 January 2002 and Email correspondence between Major Bernd Zoller and Sergeant William Miller, 

“History Questions,” TCRM #3, 19 June 2002. 
 33

1. Check driver's identification and invoice 

2. Contact the addressees by telephone or by runner if they expected a delivery 

3. Inspect trucks in the same manner as cars 

4. Escort vehicle to destination and back to exit 

5. Deny entry of all trucks that cannot be verified 109

In addition to using armed military police personnel, the personnel at Fort Totten 

employed several other methods to enhance the installation’s protection. Lieutenant Colonel 

Richard Cochrane, Army Reserve acting provost marshal and also a management analyst for the 

Force Development Section as a civilian, used his prior experience as a military policeman, 

identifying Fort Totten’s weak points and making an assessment of its security needs. Lieutenant 

Colonel Cochrane and Alan Ecke, a member of the 77th's Engineer Section and a colonel in the 

Army Reserve at the 800th Military Police Brigade as the unit's deputy commander, determined 

how many guards Fort Totten needed. At that time, Lieutenant Colonel Cochrane became the 

77th’s acting provost marshal because the current provost marshal, Army Reserve Lieutenant 

Colonel Seth Gahr, a New York City policeman, was heavily involved with the World Trade 

Center rescue and recovery operations. Furthermore, the 77th Regional Support Command 

instituted a 100 percent identification check, searched vehicles, locked its buildings, and placed 

trucks and trailers across the installation’s single entrance in order to prevent easy access.110 

Security issues continued into October 2001. The 77th’s Provost Marshal’s Office 

ordered additional equipment to reinforce security at Fort Totten’s main gate, though several 

weeks passed before the requested materials arrived. During the week of 22 October 2001, the 

301st Area Support Group delivered and installed ten truckloads of “jersey barrier” (concrete 

barriers) to the gate of Fort Totten to aid in security.111 

 In October, the 800th Military Police Brigade headquarters in Uniondale provided 

security support, not only at its own facility and Fort Totten, but also to the U.S. Military 

Academy at West Point, New York.112 West Point requested security for the four remaining 

 

109 Email, Master Sergeant John Mutter to EOC 77th RSC, et. al., "Gate Guard Guidance at Ft. Totten MPs," MMLF 

3, #156, 13 September 2001. 

110 Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cochrane, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 

January 2002; pp. 5, 7, 18; Email correspondence between Major Bernd Zoller and Sergeant William Miller, 

“History Questions,” TCRM #3, 19 June 2002; and Telephone correspondence between Lieutenant Colonel Richard 

Cochrane and Major Robert Bensburg, 8 August 2002. 

111 Memorandum, John Arnim to Commander, 301st ASG, “Tasking Letter 011019-01,” MMLF 19, #824, 19 

October 2001; Email, Philip Haynie to EOC 77th RSC, “Barrier Delivery,” MMLF 19 #820, 19 October 2001; and 

Email, Major Andrew Burns to Philip Haynie, et. al., “RE: Barrier Delivery,” MMLF 19, #826, 22 October 2001. 

112 Email, Staff Sergeant Faasoasoaagatumua Viena to Sergeant First Class Rafael Almanzar, "800th MP Tasking," 

MMLF 17, #756, 11 October 2001. 
34 

home football games, which resulted in sixty military policemen from the 800th being 

detailed.113 

Some of the 800th Military Police Brigade soldiers worked in different areas of law 

enforcement, such as municipal police officers, correction officers, or probation officers in their 

civilian occupations. This enabled them to practice their craft both in the military and in civilian 

life.114 The 800th Military Police Brigade and its subordinate units continued manning the gates 

at different posts and performing other related missions for several months. 

With security a major concern in the weeks following the 11 September attacks, the New 

York City, New York State, and New Jersey State Police departments set up roadblocks at the 

entrances and exits to bridges and tunnels. These security point personnel looked for any 

suspicious vehicles or persons. Law enforcement always considered the possibility that bridges, 

tunnels, and subways might be key targets for terrorists. Consequently, the city closed the 

Holland Tunnel and suspended service on the Staten Island Ferry in lower Manhattan for more 

than a week after 11 September due to their close proximity to the World Trade Center. The city 

banned trucks from coming into the city, and for a time, enforced a policy banning single 

occupants in cars from entering the city from 6 to 10 a.m. Bomb scares that were phoned in to 

Forts Hamilton and Totten proved to be false.115

 After 11 September, federal and city government organizations – including the Army 

Reserve – became more concerned about the possibility of chemical or biological attacks, as well 

as vehicle thefts. Authorities received reports of attempted and actual thefts of the ingredients to 

make explosives. City law enforcement officials received reports of missing vehicles, including 

emergency vehicles and U-Haul trucks, in several states around the country and kept watch for 

them. An unconfirmed email message sent to the 77th reported that more than thirty trucks from 

rental companies were stolen. This type of information heightened the need for security 

precautions regarding vehicles and people.116 

Within the boundaries of the 77th Regional Support Command, Verizon, a 

telecommunications company, reported three of its trucks stolen from the Jersey City area. 

Additionally, the 77th received incident reports from local law enforcement of unauthorized 

 

113Situation Report, 77th RSC, “SITREP,” MMLF 17, #761, 12 October 2001, and Memorandum, Lieutenant 

Colonel Kenneth Milligan to Commanders, 306th and 310th Military Police Battalions, TCRM #8, 11 October 2001. 114Specialist Albert Ramos, Specialist Wesley Warwick, and Sergeant David Caferella, interview by Chief Warrant 

Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 3 November 2001. 

115 Email, Mr. Philip Haynie to 77th RSC, "Law Enforcement Sensitive," MMLF 12, #552, 20 September 2001; 

SITREP, 1174th Transportation Brigade to Commander, 77th RSC, “Daily SITREP #2,” MMLF 3, #179; and 

Email, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner to Sergeant William Miller, “Some 9-11 and footnote Questions,” 

TCRM #9, 22 July 2002. 

116 Internet article, NYC Department of Health, Bureau of Medical and Professional Education and Training, 

“Biological and Chemical Warfare and Terrorism Medical Issues and Response,” November 2001, pp. 28-30, 

TCRM #10; Fax, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Snow to Major Virginia Rea, “Domestic Response Casualty 

Decontamination,” MMLF 3, #189, 13 September, 2001; Email, Mr. Philip Haynie to 77th RSC, "Law Enforcement 

Sensitive," MMLF 12, #552, 20 September 2001; and Email, Mr. James Anderson to Sakinah Aliwater, et. al., "For 

What it's Worth," MMLF 19, #813, 15 October 2001. 
 35

persons photographing military installations, including the "pacing off" of buildings, which 

meant they were identifying exact locations while walking from one point to another.117

Military units seriously considered stolen military uniforms a breach of security. The 

operations officer of the 695th Combat Support Battalion reported that one of his soldiers had his 

battle dress uniform stolen from a coin-operated laundry in Brooklyn during the last week in 

September. The soldier and the officer reported this incident to the local police because they 

believed that missing uniforms could be used by terrorists to infiltrate military bases or to obtain 

sensitive information.118 

Army Reservists reported a security concern on 11 October 2001 at the Chief Warrant 

Officer 2 Kerry P. Hein U.S. Army Reserve Center in Shoreham, New York. At 1 p.m. a singleengine white Cessna aircraft with blue side markings approached the reserve center from the 

southeast with its engine turned off. The plane dropped approximately 50 to 100 feet above the 

roof, then restarted its engine and sped away, clearing the tree line by less than fifteen feet. This 

same plane, according to witnesses, was involved in a similar maneuver on 2 October. The Army 

notified both the police and the FAA.119

Sergeant Mark Snead of the 142nd Transportation Company's Detachment 1, Fort Totten, 

reported on 15 October 2001 that a soldier observed writing on a wall in a stairway by her 

apartment that was threatening to the president of the United States. The message said: 

"Warning to President Bush not to harm Taliban or Afghan people." The soldier also stated that 

the message had the words, "missile alert," or something to that affect in it, too. She suspected 

that the message was written because residents of her building were from the Middle East, and 

they saw her brother, another Army Reservist, coming home from drill in uniform. Sergeant 

Snead reported this incident to Mr. Philip Haynie, the 77th Regional Support Command's 

physical security specialist. He advised her to notify the local police.120

Another category of possible terrorism activity occurred in the Washington, D.C. area but 

could have been applicable anywhere. Middle Eastern males attempted to purchase vehicles 

identified with Department of Defense decals or stickers from Department of Defense 

employees. Terrorists in vehicles with such decals could have gained access to any military 

base, including the Pentagon. In still another incident report, the 77th learned of the theft of a 

 

117 Fax, Lieutenant Colonel Snow to Major Virginia Rea, “Domestic Response Casualty Decontamination,” 13 

September 2001; Article, Dennis Niemiec and Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press, “Arab Americans Expect 

Scrutiny, Feel Sting of Bias,” 1 October 2001, TCRM #11; Email, Mr. Philip Haynie to 77th RSC, "Law 

Enforcement Sensitive," MMLF 12, #552, 20 September 2001; and Fax, Angie Christian to Sergeant Harold Ross, 

"Need All Eyes Open," MMLF 12, #537, 20 September 2001. 

118 Email, Sergeant First Class Charles Pursel to Mr. Philip Haynie, "Stolen BDU Uniform," MMLF 14, #645, 27 

September 2001 and Fax, Mr. Michael Lau to Lieutenant Colonel David Van Cleve, "Statement of Stolen BDU 

Uniform," MMLF 14, #649, 28 September 2001. 

119 Email, 77th RSC EOC 411th ENGR to EOC 77th RSC, "Serious Incident," MMLF 17, #757, 11 October 2001; 

and Fax, Major Andrew Burns to 77th RSC, "Plane Threat," MMLF 17, #755, 11 October 2001. 

120 Email, Sergeant Mark Snead to Mr. Philip Haynie, "Sitrep," MMLF 18, #781, 15 October 2001. 
36 

vehicle that had Department of Defense decals by a Pakistani mechanic from an automobile 

repair shop in the Army’s Military District of Washington.121 

Other geographic areas had security concerns, which were conveyed to the 77th Regional 

Support Command's Emergency Operation Center. Individuals in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area 

tried to ascertain the security layout of the Olympic Village, in preparation for the February 2002 

Winter Olympics.122 Reports told of individuals trying to impersonate military personnel. On 26 

October 2001, the Department of Defense sent warnings to all military installations to be on the 

lookout for individuals posing as soldiers with false orders. Such individuals might try to 

penetrate base security.123 

Two months after 11 September security concerns continued. On 14 November 2001, the 

77th formally requested the mobilization of forty military policemen for anti-terrorism and force 

protection measures at Fort Totten. The 77th Command Group sent justification for this to the 

USARC headquarters because Fort Totten was the only military post in the New York City area 

that did not have full-time force protection. While Fort Totten always had some type of security 

at the gate, nevertheless, the post considered itself a "soft target" for possible terrorism. The post 

served as the host to other organizations such as the Coast Guard, New York Police Department, 

the Fire Department of New York, a veterans association, the Fort Totten Museum, the Bayside 

Historical Society, as well as reserve units. Fort Totten officials considered Fort Totten a sub 

post of Fort Hamilton, and therefore required a full compliment of military police personnel. 

Brigadier General Colt signed this request. Both the USARC and the Military District of 

Washington denied the request. Therefore, no military police were mobilized for Fort Totten's 

security.124

Alert Notifications Or “Grazing Herd” 

After 11 September, the 77th Regional Support Command and subordinate unit 

commanders were immediately concerned with attendance and accountability for all soldiers. 

Commanders tried reaching soldiers by phone to give instructions on what to do if mobilized – 

also known as a “grazing herd” alert. At 2:17 p.m. on 12 September, Brigadier General Colt 

directed a grazing herd alert which required units to contact their soldiers for accountability. By 

13 September, however, commanders could not contact all soldiers – partly because of existing 

telephone problems following the attacks or because soldiers had moved and disconnected their 

numbers. Telephone communication problems persisted in some areas, and those who were in a 

 

121 Email, Mr. Philip Haynie to Major Bernd Zoller, et. al., “DOD STICKER REMINDER,” 15 October 2001, 

MMLF 18, #783. 

122 Email, Sergeant First Class Scott T. Jones to FORSCOM, "Surveillance and Incident," MMLF 19, #832, 26 

October 2001. 

123 Email, Joint Forces Intelligence Command to all commands, "Crisis Action Support Cell Intelligence Summary," 

MMLF 19, #834, 26 October 2001. 

124 Memorandum, Brigadier General Richard Colt to Mr. Anthony Guisti, "Request for Mobilization of Military 

Police (MP) Personnel," MMLF 20, #860, 14 November 2001 and Telephone correspondence between Mr. Gary 

DiLallo and Major Robert Bensburg, 8 August 2002. 
 37

travel status with airplane tickets had their travel disrupted and could not return to their offices. 

Soldiers who failed to provide their units with current phone numbers and addresses and those 

who were in the process of being discharged or retiring presented a significant problem regarding 

accountability. As time went on, units made better contact with their soldiers. Subordinate units 

continued to fax and email grazing herd reports for several weeks to their next highest 

command.125

The current crisis raised the issue of unit readiness with commanders who began 

examining their own soldier readiness processing, the steps soldiers undergo at their home unit 

or at a mobilization station to prepare for being mobilized for active duty. Shortly after 11 

September, Brigadier General Colt emphasized soldier readiness processing issues and possible 

unit activations during his Tuesday administrative night conference calls with the major 

subordinate commands and direct reporting unit commanders. He reiterated to be ready and 

emphasized that the 77th headquarters staff was prepared to provide help to any unit requesting 

it. Therefore, in order to prepare for possible unit activations, the 77th Regional Support 

Command directed all units to review and update their alert rosters and soldier readiness process 

guidance lists during the October 2001 drill. Commanders wanted to avoid being unable to reach 

soldiers who had moved, changed, or dropped their telephone numbers, or had experienced a 

change in their health. Commanders within the 77th Regional Support Command reviewed the 

alert rosters and identified which soldier readiness process issues required corrective action. 

These items included: medical records, family care plans, dental and shot records, and current 

profile status. In the event a unit was called to active duty, then maintaining current records and 

knowing what to expect during the soldier readiness process expedited soldiers through the 

mobilization station.126

 

The 77th Regional Support Command’s Communications Security 

Disruption of communications, overloaded phone circuits, anthrax and bomb scares, and 

computer viruses were all a major concern for the Deputy Chief of Staff, Information 

Management Section headed by Mr. Michael Scotto, the information management officer, who 

was also a colonel in the Army Reserve. Mr. Scotto’s personnel, to include Lieutenant Colonel 

Lee Cunningham, automation officer, ensured the protection of all passwords and implemented 

other security enhancements in the computers used within the command.127

 

125 Email, Lieutenant David Van Cleve to 77th RSC, et. al., “Grazing Herd,” MMLF 2, #96, 12 September 2001; 

Email, Mr. Joseph Beck to Ricky Romines, et. al., “Taking Care of Soldiers,” MMLF 3 #148, 13 September 2001; 

and Email, Major David Canoll to EOC 77th RSC, “Grazing Herd Info,” MMLF 3 #164, 13 September 2001. 

126 Email, Lieutenant David Van Cleve to 77th RSC, et. al., “Grazing Herd,” MMLF 2, #96, 12 September 2001; 

Email, Mr. Joseph Beck to Ricky Romines, et. al., “Taking care of Soldiers,” MMLF 3, #148, 13 September 2001; 

and Email, Major David Canoll to EOC 77th RSC, “Grazing Herd Info,” MMLF 3, #164, 13 September 2001. 

127 Mr. Michael Scotto, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 1 February 2002, pp. 

8-10. 
38 

Because of the tremendous increase of email communication during the decade of the 

1990s, the 77th Regional Support Command was concerned with security for this mode of 

communication. Ms. Cordelia Cafferty, the local area network information assurance specialist, 

sent a reminder shortly after midnight on 11 September that computer viruses may have 

increased. Therefore, all the USARC attachments, both incoming and outgoing, were blocked 

for a few days after the attack.128 Ms. Cafferty was an Army master sergeant in the Individual 

Ready Reserve. The USARC Operations Section sent additional guidance for sending secured 

emails to the 77th Regional Support Command. The section suggested that all email users keep 

the information unclassified and to send classified information via secure channels.129 On 13 

September, Ms. Cafferty announced that units could resume sending attachments.130 At the same 

time, FORSCOM directed that all commands place antivirus software in their computers. 

 Employees of Ciber Corporation based in Hoboken, New Jersey, were instrumental in 

assisting the 77th Army Reserve Command with network operations. These individuals included: 

Mr. Gamal Hossack, senior contracting representative; Mr. Errol Deare; Mr. Al Alleyne; Mr. 

Tony Ogtong; and Mr. Kevin French, who provided twenty-four-hour, seven-days-a-week 

coverage of the local area network (LAN) operations room. Other individuals in the information 

management area contributed as well. Mr. Harry Rivera, as administrative services supervisor, 

was kept busy with mail pick-ups, disseminating information on anthrax and postal security, and 

arranging for the purchase and installation of a package X-ray scanner. Major Jose Torres, Army 

Reservist and an administrative services officer, supervised the reserve soldiers who volunteered, 

helped with mail, ordered the scanner, and supplemented the staff. Mr. Richard Spoley, a staff 

sergeant from the 99th Regional Support Command, headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, 

assisted with improving telecommunications at several of the 77th's Army Reserve centers. Ms. 

Luz Ruiz, another administrative services team member and a sergeant first class Army 

Reservist, ensured that commanders had operational laptops, worked on the help desk, and 

assisted the users in the Emergency Operation Center to get profiled onto the computers in the 

operations center. 

FORSCOM also directed all units associated with Operation NOBLE EAGLE to send 

email traffic via the Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET), an encrypted, secure 

method. Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski, full-time operations noncommissioned officer at the 

USARC, clarified this by stating that units not in possession of SIPRNET were to communicate 

via the Global Communication Command System (GCCS).131 The Global Communication 

 

128 Email, Ms. Cordelia Cafferty to Major Bernd Zoller, et. al., “Norton AV Notices,” MMLF 1, #66, 12 September 

2001. 

129 Email, Sergeant First Class Ronald Polk to Mr. Arthur Lauer, et. al., "MSC SITREP Guidance, MMLF 1, #73, 12 

September 2001 

130 Email, MS Cordelia Cafferty to Mr. John LaRocca et. al., "Lift of the Band on Email Attachments," MMLF 3, 

#150, 13 September 2001. 

131 Email, Sergeant First Class Ronald Polk to Arthur Lauer, et. al., "MSC SITREP Guidance," MMLF 1, #73, 12 

September 2001 and Email correspondence between Mr. Michael Scotto and Major Robert Bensburg, 17 September, 

2002. 
 39

Command System was a secure method of communication used by the chairman, Joint Chiefs of 

Staff, and other commands (including the 77th), that gave them the capability to communicate 

with each other during a crisis. During the weeks following the attack on the World Trade 

Center, the system required twenty-four-hour staffing. Mr. Joaquin Rolon, a staff operations 

specialist, who was also a master sergeant in the Army Reserve in the same section, assisted with 

this communication system.132 Another key player in communications was Sergeant First Class 

Carpenter, an operations noncommissioned officer. He managed the SIPRNET system and the 

STU-3 System, which was a Secure Telephone Unit Generation Three, and the secure faxes that 

accompanied it.133

On 18 October, Ms. Cafferty reported to the principle staff at the 77th that the policy of 

sending emails that was in place prior to 11 September was to be resumed. All other security 

measures that existed prior to 11 September, such as personal use of the network, were to 

continue. A couple of post 11 September procedures were implemented, however. One was to 

limit use of the secure Internet network to conserve bandwidth – how much volume and speed an 

Internet connection can handle – and to minimize sending email attachments unless they were for 

official business.134 

As with email traffic, the use of cellular phones increased tremendously during the last 

part of the twentieth-century. This increase was so rapid that the phone companies were forced 

to add dozens of new area codes around the country. The catastrophe at the World Trade Center 

resulted in a serious disruption of cellular phone traffic, which increased significantly.135

The 77th Regional Support Command's personnel, especially those out of town, were 

unable to communicate with their offices for a time. For instance, Mr. Chester Marcus was 

unable to communicate with his office until he reached the Lodi, New Jersey, Alexander 

Hamilton U.S. Army Reserve Center. He sent an email message to Fort Totten, where he was 

able to maintain communications with the 77th Regional Support Command. Mr. Marcus was 

enroute to Fort Totten from his home in New Jersey when the attacks occurred. Because the 

bridges into the city were temporarily closed, he drove instead to his Army Reserve center in 

Lodi. Mr. Marcus was one of many Army Reservists who suddenly found that cellular 

communication was unreliable for a couple of days following the attacks.136 

The 77th Regional Support Command had a policy prior to 11 September regarding the 

use of cellular phones in reserve center buildings that was clear and concise. The policy stated 

that these phones should only be used when there was no other means of voice communication 

 

132 Mr. Joaquim Rolon, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, pp. 3-

4, 28 November 2001, and Email correspondence between Mr. Michael Scotto and Major Robert Bensburg, 18 

September 2002. 

133 Sergeant First Class Gregory Carpenter, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording 

with transcript, 13 December 2001, p. 2. 134 Email, Ms. Cordelia Cafferty to 77th RSC Principle Staff Full Time Support, “011018 Re-send INFOCON 

Change Alpha,” 18 October 2001, MMLF 19 #815. 

135 Mr. Michael Scotto, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 1 February 2002, p. 5. 136 Email, Mr. Chester Marcus to Mr. Charles Jung, "THREATCON B," MMLF 1, #10, 11 September 2001. 
40 

and no longer than two minutes in duration, for official calls only, to support mission essential 

requirements, and for emergencies only. Additionally, users were made aware to ensure that 

proper communication security procedures were used because an enemy could easily intercept 

them.137 

Loaned Space 

The importance of this national emergency resulted in a sudden increase in the need for 

additional office or storage space. Many government offices were destroyed in the Twin 

Towers. This led several government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels to request and 

receive permission to use space at neighboring Army Reserve centers. Caven Point U. S. Army 

Reserve Center, right across the Hudson River from downtown Manhattan, was one such center 

in which agencies sought space. In addition to being a safe and secure area, Caven Point served 

as a collection point for civilians relocated from the impact area in New York. New York City 

officials escorted uninjured civilians from the impact area to await transportation to other 

destinations in New Jersey. It was also used as a staging location for emergency medical service 

personnel while awaiting assignments. Its open space was utilized as a landing site for aircraft, 

which dropped off supplies and equipment for the state police and other agencies.138 The New 

York City Mayor's Office of Emergency Management used it as a staging area for food and 

water. The New Jersey State Police requested use or partial use of three buildings: 115A, 204, 

and 198.139 The U.S. Secret Service requested and received 4,000 square feet of storage space at 

this reserve center. FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leased several thousand square 

feet at a reserve center in Edison, New Jersey.140 The rental space for these agencies was not 

free. The reserve centers charged fees for operational costs, such as utilities.141 Fort Totten 

loaned approximately 1,200 square feet of space to the New York City Police Department. 

Storing equipment was not without problems. On 10 October, the 77th Regional Support 

Command reported a theft of FEMA supplies being stored at building 118 on Fort Totten. An 

inventory of its supplies by representatives of the Fire Department of New York revealed that 

several shrink-wrapped pallets were opened and items removed. An investigation of the building 

reported no means of forced entry. Brigadier General Colt, Mr. Philip Haynie, the FBI, the 

police, and other key personnel were notified. The items reported missing were the following: 

shovels, fifty sets of firefighter uniforms, soap, shaving cream, trash cans, toilet brushes, foxhole 

 

137 Article, Mr. Michael Scotto, "Cellular Telephones," Liberty News, No. 02-02, February 2002, p. 4. 138 Email, Mr. Sean Driskill to Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Patterson, "Caven Point USARC," MMLF 1, #34, 11 

September 2001. 

139 Memorandum, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Van Tassel to FEMA , "Requested Use of the U.S. Army Reserve 

Facility," MMLF, #207, 14 September 2001. 

140 Email, Lieutenant Colonel David Van Cleve to 77th RSC, "Facilities Analysis," MMLF 4, #233, 14 September 

2001, p. 1. 

141 Email, Major Paul Casazza to Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Patterson et. al., "DCSENG SITREP as of 1000 hrs 16 

Sep 01,” MMLF 6, #337, 16 September 2001 and Telephone correspondence between Lieutenant Colonel Arthur 

Patterson and Major Robert Bensburg, 8 August 2002. 
 41

covers, and garbage cans. The 77th Regional Support Command concluded that some pilferage 

took place. To preclude any future problems, the 77th had additional military police personnel 

monitor this building.142

 

Legal Support Organizations 

Army legal support organizations were units that employed lawyers (better known as 

JAGs or judge advocate generals), along with support personnel. The 77th Regional Support 

Command had two legal support organizations (LSOs) within its command – the 4th and the 7th. 

Soon after the attacks, the 4th Legal Support Organization, Bronx, New York, established an 

Emergency Operations Center by staffing unit phones around the clock. In addition, the 4th 

provided or was willing to provide the following services to the 77th Regional Support 

Command, its subordinate commands, direct reporting units, as well as other commands and 

federal, state, and city agencies: 

1. augment the 77th Regional Supports Command’s Staff Judge 

 Advocate Office to provide legal support and operational law guidance 

2. provide legal assistance and support at family support centers for those killed 

 or injured 

3. augment the Staff Judge Advocate offices of mobilized Army Reserve general officer 

 commands 

4. provide legal counseling services to mobilized units and personnel 

They offered to send officers to help staff the 77th Regional Support Command's 

Emergency Operations Center to relieve personnel there as needed or to provide manpower 

otherwise not available. The 4th volunteered to provide whatever assistance was required, which 

included blood donations, as well as rescue and recovery efforts.143

The 7th Legal Services Organization in Albany, New York, aided the First Battalion of 

the 127th Armor, 42nd Infantry Division, New York Army National Guard, Niagara Falls, New 

York. The commander of the 7th, Colonel James Schultz, Jr., along with Major Paul Barden, 

received a call for legal assistance from Colonel Maury Janesczko of the New York Army 

National Guard, to provide training and assistance to an Army National Guard unit that was 

mobilizing. These two officers made the long trip from the Albany area to western New York 

State to provide legal support and training to a New York Army National Guard attorney, who 

was inexperienced in pre-mobilization legal briefings regarding wills and powers of attorney. 

 

142 Mr. Philip Haynie, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 28 

January 2002 pp. 2-4; Telephone correspondence with Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Patterson and Major Robert 

Bensburg, 8 August 2002; and Memorandum, Mr. Philip Haynie to 77th Regional Support Command emergency 

operations center, “Sir FEMA Cache 03,” 10 October 2001. 143 Email, Ms. Sandra Rolon to Sergeant First Class Charles Pursel, et. al., "4th LSO EOC," MMLF 1, #71, 12 

September 2001. 
42 

They accomplished their mission by preparing eighteen wills, twenty powers of attorney, and 

answering legal questions. Thus, with less than eleven hours notice, these two Army Reserve 

officers made themselves available, drove a few hundred miles, and were ready to provide their 

expertise when it was necessary.144

 

The United States Army Reserve Command (USARC) 

 Most Army Reserve regional support command commanding generals receive their first 

lines of guidance and orders from the USARC at Fort McPherson, Atlanta, Georgia. In the case 

of imminent danger to life, limb or property, a commanding general can make a decision 

affecting the regional support command without the USARC’s approval. The USARC 

commands and controls most Army Reserve troop units in the continental United States except 

psychological operations and civil affairs units, those in the 7th Army Reserve Command, the 

9th Regional Support Command, the Individual Ready Reserve, and the Individual Mobilization 

Augmentee programs.145 Three general officers within the USARC were the first line of 

command and control for the majority of Army Reserve units. They were: Lieutenant General 

Thomas J. Plewes, Chief, Army Reserve and the commander of the USARC; Major General 

Craig Bambrough, deputy commanding general of the USARC and also the deputy commanding 

general for Army Reserve affairs at Forces Command; and Brigadier General John Yingling, 

active component chief of staff, USARC.146

The deputy chief of staff, operations at the USARC was actively involved in the 11 

September response and subsequent Army Reserve mobilizations that eventually took place. 

Within minutes of the second plane hitting the South Tower of the World Trade Center, staff 

members in the USARC Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations decided to start up the Emergency 

Operations Center located in the basement of the USARC building. The deputy chief of staff, 

operations, upon advisement from the chief of operations, plans and mobilization, made the 

decision to activate the center.147 Lieutenant Colonel Charles Koons, chief of operations, plans 

and mobilization, explained: 

I was sitting down . . . . I’ve got a little TV here in my office, and I keep it on 

CNN [Cable News Network]. When I heard the first airplane hit the first tower, 

at first I thought I had it on a movie channel, so I turned around and looked and 

realized that it was CNN, and I went down to Mr. [Anthony] Guisti’s [assistant 

 

144Email, Colonel James Schultz to EOC 77th RSC, “7th LSO Mission in Support of Mobilization of 1/127 AR 

USARNG,” MMLF 7, #365, 16 September 2001. 

145 Internet article, “U.S. Army Reserve Command,” www.globalsecurity.org/agency/army/usarc.htm, 30 April 

2002. 

146 Brigadier General John Yingling, interview with Captain Suzanne Summers, tape recording with transcript, 10 

January 2002, p. 3, Operation Noble Eagle Collection, (90th MHD), United States Army Reserve Historical 

Research Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, United States Army Reserve Command. 147Email correspondence among Majors David Phillips, Mario Beckles, and Major Robert Bensburg, "USARC 

Phillips & Beckles," 20 June 2002. 
 43

deputy chief of staff, operations] office and said, ‘Look, we probably need to start 

getting things geared up,’ I called the EOC [Emergency Operations Center] and 

said to start calling people in. I would say within the first two hours we had 

things fully functional downstairs, even though we didn’t know to what extent we 

were going to be involved. As soon as the second plane hit – the first one 

could’ve been an accident, but when we saw the second one, we knew [this] was 

no accident.148

 Lieutenant Colonel Koons explained that three shifts of close to 100 Active Guard 

Reserve soldiers, who make up the majority of the Army staff at the USARC, worked in the 

Emergency Operations Center every day until the end of October. Each shift ran twelve hours in 

the early weeks, and then the staff scaled it back to about eight hours and fewer people, though 

the key “bridge” and watch officers worked two twelve-hour shifts.149 Representatives, including 

crisis action team members, from all major staff sections – Logistics, Personnel, Engineer, 

Comptroller, Chaplain, and Inspector General – worked in the center and represented their 

section's interests following 11 September. These soldiers – though they may be logisticians or 

engineers by trade – had to undergo operations exercise training at least three times a year and 

must have proven that they have a good knowledge of operations functions in order to work in 

the center. They also must commit to work in the center for six months.150

An independent contracting agency known as “Eagle Group” evaluated the Emergency 

Operations Center periodically for quality assurance. Eagle Group was based in the USARC 

Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations. The group was comprised of retired Army colonels and one 

general officer who had prior extensive operations experience. Periodically, the group facilitated 

mobilization exercises for the crisis action team members who worked in the USARC 

Emergency Operations Center. Its civilian staff members also periodically traveled to regional 

support commands to evaluate their emergency operations centers and make 

recommendations.151 Ironically, the group visited the 77th Regional Support Command in 

August 2001 to evaluate its center – less than a month before the 11 September attacks. Mr. 

DiLallo of the 77th remembered: "They tested our emergency operations procedures – the ability 

to call up units, test the computers and the redundancy. And the time paid off because soldiers 

and civilians reacted – didn’t question – reacted. Folks did great."152

 

148 Lieutenant Colonel Charles Koons, interview with Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, tape recording with 

transcript, 19 March 2002, p. 3. 

149 Ibid., pp. 6, 11. 150 Ibid., p. 7 and Major Paul Guilot, interview with Major Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 22 March 2002, 

p. 17. 

151 Email correspondence among Majors David Phillips, Mario Beckles, and Major Bensburg, "USARC Phillips & 

Beckles," 20 June 2002. 

152 Mr. Gary DiLallo, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 14 February 2002, p. 

12. 
44 

The USARC frequently worked with its next higher chain of command, FORSCOM, 

through liaison officers, who were usually Army majors, to bridge any gaps in communication 

and to relay information between the two commands. Both commands also employed crisis 

action teams. These teams were the first soldiers to “stand up” during an emergency. These 

teams worked in the Emergency Operations Centers of FORSCOM and the USARC.153 

After receiving higher guidance and orders from FORSCOM, which in turn received 

orders from the Department of the Army, the USARC decided that all Army Reserve regional 

support commands and other Army Reserve units would enact Force Condition Delta, the most 

serious threat level.154 As quoted earlier, Major General Craig Bambrough talked about the first 

moments following the attacks and the first preparations made at the USARC and the Army as a 

whole: 

The most immediate response came as a result of the Department of the Army 

going to Force Condition Delta, which meant that they expected Army 

installations, including Army Reserve centers, to be terrorist targets. The USARC 

headquarters was not prepared, nor were the hundreds of reserve centers across 

the country . . . . There was very little information about the nature of the threat or 

what form it might take. Now we’re inwardly focused [looking within one’s 

borders for the enemy], worrying about how to protect the [continental United 

States]. The financial cost of these new security measures was and continues to 

be extremely high, approximately two million dollars per month. Yet, we have 

been given no additional funding. We take this money out of hide.155 

 Within days, between 1,500 to 1,600 Army Reservists in job specialties like military 

intelligence, police, and general service support functions were called to active duty and 

mobilized through the USARC for Operations NOBLE EAGLE and ENDURING FREEDOM. 

By January 2002, that number had risen to about 7,000. By March 2002, that number had risen 

again to about 8,800.156 One task the Army Reserve did not get was protecting critical 

infrastructure: bridges, tunnels and airports. That mission went to the Army National Guard. 

 Besides the new “inward focus” that the USARC was learning to acquire, in other ways 

the current mobilization of troops was different from the past. Army regulations planned for 

forty-five days notice to mobilize soldiers deploying overseas. In reality, they must be prepared 

 

153 Email correspondence among Majors David Phillips, Mario Beckles, and major Robert Bensburg, "USARC 

Phillips & Beckles," 20 June 2002. 

154 Ibid. 155 Major General Craig Bambrough, interview with Captain Suzanne Summers, tape recording with transcript, 10 

January 2002, p. 2, Operation Noble Eagle Collection (90th MHD), United States Army Reserve Historical Research 

Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, United States Army Reserve Command. 

156 Ibid., p. 2 and Lieutenant Colonel Charles Koons, interview with Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, tape 

recording with transcript, 19 March 2002, p. 13. 
 45

to go sooner, within days, and sometimes they did.157 Lieutenant General Plewes coined the 

term, “hasty mobilization” when discussing this in his briefings. The USARC staff, working 

with the Department of the Army, identified the first Army Reserve unit that would be mobilized 

for Operation NOBLE EAGLE – the 311th Quartermaster Company (Mortuary Affairs) of 

Puerto Rico. Within three days, most of that unit was in the Pentagon area and working.158

Major Mario Beckles, a budget officer within the USARC Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, 

explained how the 311th Quartermaster Company received its activation orders: 

The person [who] actually mobilized the 311th Mortuary Affairs . . . was General 

Plewes. With the disruptions caused at the Pentagon from 11 September, the 

normal tasking chain was not working as smoothly as normal during the first few 

days after the attack. Normally, Headquarters, DA [Department of the Army] in 

conjunction with its MACOMs [major Army commands] mobilizes units. 

However, once it was determined that the AC [active component] mortuary 

affairs unit on the ground needed immediate help to accomplish the remains 

recovery mission, the call came out to the USARC, bypassing FORSCOM. The 

USARC received an informal tasking request from the CAR [Chief, Army 

Reserve, Lieutenant General Plewes] that we needed to get the 311th to 

Washington D.C., ASAP [as soon as possible] to perform a remains recovery 

mission. Staffed by some patriotic volunteers, the 311th deployed to 

Washington D.C., on unit annual training orders. Later, after the president 

implemented his partial mobilization authority, units began to get federally 

mobilized. Since the Pentagon was still trying to recover from the attacks, 

General Plewes, while over at the Army Operations Center, recommended the 

mobilization of the 311th to finish accomplishing the mortuary affairs recovery 

mission because this mission would require the 311th to remain on site much 

longer than fourteen days. Based on General Plewes’ word alone, Headquarters, 

DA mobilized the 311th. This hasty mobilization bypassed the normal process 

through FORSCOM. However, FORSCOM was kept abreast of this 

mobilization from the USARC.159

 

157 Major General Craig Bambrough, interview with Captain Suzanne Summers, tape recording with transcript, 10 

January 2002, p. 3, Operation Noble Eagle Collection (90th MHD), United Sates Army Reserve Historical Research 

Collection, Office of Army Reserve History United States Army Reserve Command. 158 Lieutenant General Thomas J. Plewes, interview with Captain Suzanne Summers, tape recording with transcript, 

29 April 2002, p. 8, Operation Noble Eagle Collection (90th MHD), United Sates Army Reserve Historical Research 

Collection, Office of Army Reserve History United States Army Reserve Command. 

159 Major Mario Beckles, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 20 

March 2002, p. 16 and Telephone correspondence between Major Mario Beckles and Major Robert Bensburg, 1 

August 2002. 
46 

One thing that would remain the same for future mobilizations was that Army Reservists 

would continue to provide the bulk of combat service and combat service support to troops 

because the current active duty Army force structure relied heavily on the Army Reserve. 

 The second way Operations NOBLE EAGLE and ENDURING FREEDOM were 

different from past mobilizations was that regional support command commanders were actually 

calling the USARC and requesting Army Reserve mobilizations themselves. “Normally, 

mobilization comes from the top down,” Brigadier General John Yingling said. “The CINC 

[Unified Combatant Command commander in chief]160 requests a unit, and then [the request] 

goes down. In many cases now, the request came either through crisis response, much of that the 

77th [Regional Support Command] had done.”161

 The third way the mobilization taking place was different was that following 11 

September, Army Reservists were called to active duty under a partial mobilization, rather than a 

presidential selected reserve call-up. A partial mobilization, which was not used since the Gulf 

War, allowed the secretary of defense greater flexibility as the situation unfolded. He, working 

under the president, could call up many more ready reservists for a longer period of time with no 

geographic limitations. He could call up to a million reservists for up to two consecutive years, 

and could station them anywhere in the world. The presidential selected reserve call-up, on the 

other hand, only allowed for 200,000 ready reservists working up to 270 days.162 In January 

2002, the Department of the Army was still examining these call ups and considering a full twoyear mobilization of the Army Reserve.163 If Army Reservists were mobilized to go outside the 

United States under Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, the policy was to have the soldiers 

rotated out of the assignment after six months. If they were mobilized under Operation NOBLE 

EAGLE, the duration of the assignment could be one year, with a possible extension of an 

additional year.164

During September and October of 2001, information flow was the greatest challenge for 

the USARC's Emergency Operations Center staff. They were having difficulty sorting through 

requests and fielding them to the proper chain of command. According to Lieutenant Colonel 

Charles Koons:165

 

160 Internet fact sheet, www.defenselink.mil/pubs/almanac/almanac/organization/Combatant_Commands, 31 July 

2002. 

161 Brigadier General John Yingling, interview with Captain Suzanne Summers, tape recording with transcript, 10 

January 2002, p. 9, Operation Noble Eagle Collection, (90th Military History Detachment), United States Army 

Reserve Historical Research Collection, Office of Army Reserve History, United States Army Reserve Command 

and Email correspondence among Majors David Phillips, Mario Beckles and Major Robert Bensburg, 20 June 2002. 

162 Internet article, “Partial Mobilization Frequently Asked Questions,” 6 November 2001, 

www.army.mil/usar/partialmob/faq.hrm. 163Email correspondence among Majors David Phillips, Mario Beckles, and Major Robert Bensburg, "USARC 

Phillips & Beckles," 20 June 2002. 

164 Lieutenant Colonel Charles Koons, interview with Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, tape recording with 

transcript, 19 March 2002, pp. 13-15. 

165 Ibid., p. 8. 
 47

We were getting requests from outside the United States. Nobody knew where to 

input the requests to get [them] into the right chain [of command]. We had the 

RSCs come to us requesting the mobilization of MP [military police] units to 

support their force protection requirements. We had installations that would go to 

FORSCOM requesting mobilization of MPs for force protection. We had [units] 

that went to Department of the Army requesting mobilization of units. Nobody 

knew exactly where in the system they had to input the requests and be validated. 

So, that probably was the biggest stress factor that we had was getting the 

requests into the right channel to make sure [they were] approved all the way up 

and down the line.166 

 Once the USARC mobilized Army Reservists in response to 11 September, the soldiers 

had logistical issues with their equipment. Before a unit leaves home station for its mobilization 

station, its regional support command should fill its personnel and equipment shortages. Some 

units were mobilized so quickly (hasty mobilization) that the regional support command could 

not fill these shortages. If this were the case, the USARC Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics – 

specifically the Plans and Operations Branch – would assist in requisitioning whatever was 

necessary. This branch worked as the conduit between the USARC's Deputy Chief of Staff, 

Operations and its Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics. A key officer who worked these equipment 

and logistical issues for Army Reservists was Major Kent Jennings, plans and operations officer 

and also a crisis action team member for the USARC Emergency Operations Center. He 

explained some initial logistical issues with mobilized soldiers in September 2001: 

 

We had a lot of units nominated to go different places, so we had to look at the 

readiness posture of all those units. It was a lot of going into the unit status 

reports looking at on-hand equipment. We call it ‘scrubbing’ the units. There 

was a lot of work there. NOBLE EAGLE was a different scenario than 

ENDURING FREEDOM. For NOBLE EAGLE, the basic guide we got was that 

the units come as they are. Of course, we’re not going to send a unit that’s 

completely broken. We want to make sure their mission-essential equipment is 

operational and that they have them on hand.167

 Sometimes units did not have all the equipment they needed or were authorized. 

Sometimes they had wrong or outdated equipment. The USARC's Deputy Chief of Staff, 

Logistics assisted the regional support commands to get units their equipment. The first way to 

get needed equipment to a unit involved “cross leveling,” which meant borrowing equipment 

 

166 Ibid., pp. 8-9. 167 Major Kent Jennings, interview with Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, tape recording with transcript, 20 

March 2002, pp. 4-6. 
48 

from one unit and giving it to the mobilizing unit without penalizing the lender to the point 

where the lender cannot operate.168 Logisticians also look at personnel issues to make sure the 

unit that the Army Reserve is thinking of mobilizing is not short staffed. If it is, then the 

USARC's Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel and Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations may work to 

fill those personnel shortages through individual ready reservists or individual mobilization 

augmentees, or they may find another unit to mobilize. Major Jennings asked, “Why fix them 

for equipment if you can’t fix them for personnel?”169

The second way the USARC tried to get missing equipment to the units was through 

“plus ups” at the Army installations where units mobilized. The installations either received 

money beforehand through FORSCOM to buy equipment for the mobilizing units, or the 

installations paid for equipment upfront and got reimbursed later. According to the FORSCOM 

Mobilization and Deployment Planning System (FORMDEPS), the installation must buy the 

equipment for the mobilizing unit if cross leveling does not work.170 Once a unit reached its 

duty station, any equipment issues usually fell to the active component to fix. 

 There were other logistical challenges for mobilizing units. Because of a hasty 

mobilization scenario, a unit only had three days to get to its deployment site, bypassing the 

mobilization-inprocessing installation. This usually meant there was no time to pack up 

equipment at home station, so the unit left without its equipment, and the equipment came later 

by freight.171 Another problem was that some mobilizing units were not changing their 

Department of Defense activity codes, also known as DODACs. These codes were used to order 

and pay for the requisition of equipment. This created financial duress for that unit and the Army 

Reserve. “That means that you send a unit overseas and they’re still using their peacetime 

requisitioning process,” Major Jennings said. “The funds are coming out of our pocket – the 

reserve pocket – when they actually should be billed to the active component. And again, if the 

DODAC is not changed when they order stuff, it’s coming to home station rather than where it 

needs to be going.”172

 As part of the crisis action team, Major Jennings and his staff of about six also split their 

time between the Logistics Section and the Emergency Operations Center. They managed 

twenty-four hour operations in the center until the end of January 2002. Later he worked shorter 

shifts. Major Jennings thought his job would run indefinitely. He said: 

However fragmented this looks, I think we did a good job in our [mobilization 

work]. We provided the forces in a timely manner in a condition that they were 

asked for in the right time and the right place. And that says a lot about our [staff] 

 

168 Ibid., p. 7. 

169 Ibid., p. 8. 170 Ibid., pp. 13-14. 171 Ibid., p. 10. 172 Ibid., pp. 12-13. 
 49

that aren’t fully manned to do this and staffed to do this. Who are the primary 

people who are going to be in charge of mobilizations? Us and the National 

Guard Bureau.173 

 The Army Reserve’s initial response to 11 September and the subsequent mobilizations 

of soldiers for Operations NOBLE EAGLE and ENDURING FREEDOM have put a strain on 

the Army Reserve budget. The approximate cost of the Army Reserve response from 11 to 19 

September 2001 alone was about six million dollars.174 This figure included the cost of putting 

soldiers on unit orders or civilians on overtime. Duties of the soldiers included force protection 

and anti terrorism duty at their reserve centers. This cost also included equipment that regional 

support commands loaned out, not only in New York and Washington, but nationwide. On the 

other hand, the USARC did not want to refuse funds to the regional support commands and 

Army Reserve centers that needed them, especially the 77th Regional Support Command in New 

York City and the 99th Regional Support Command in Pennsylvania, which had Army Reserve 

centers in the National Capital Region. Major Mario Beckles, budget officer, USARC Deputy 

Chief of Staff, Operations, explained:175

 In New York I knew all of this [could] fit under what we traditionally call 

‘military support to civilian authorities.’ I knew the 77th Regional Support 

Command was going to have a flood of requests coming in there for personnel, 

asking for equipment, calling them, or just showing up with a truck to take stuff, 

asking for whatever assistance they could provide to the civilian authorities. I 

only worked the money part, but what I did not want the 77th RSC to say – 

because someone from my headquarters didn’t tell them – was to tell [the people 

who were asking the 77th for assistance] we don’t have the money; we can’t 

support you. So I eliminated that big hurdle within two hours of the attack by 

putting out some initial funding guidance to the field . . . [on how to request 

money from the USARC and record the costs.]176 

The USARC fulfilled most reasonable monetary requests from the regional support 

commands following 11 September. Some things, such as masks and tents, have not been 

 

173 Ibid., pp. 44-45. 174 Major Mario Beckles, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 20 

March 2002, p. 10 and Email correspondence among Majors Mario Beckles, David Phillips and Major Robert 

Bensburg, “USARC Phillips & Beckles,” 20 June 2002. 175 Major Mario Beckles, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 20 

March 2002, pp. 8-10 and Email correspondence among Major Mario Beckles, David Phillips, and Major Bensburg, 

"USARC Phillips & Beckles," 20 June 2002. 

176 Major Mario Beckles, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 20 

March 2002, pp. 5-6. 
50 

returned, and the reciprocating agencies who borrowed them, have been or will be billed.177

Major Beckles said: 

 

Nowadays, the country and the Army expect the Army Reserve to respond 

quickly, sometimes within twenty-four hours. The traditional ways we’re doing 

things don’t work any more, and they’re not coming back. The country expects a 

whole lot more out of us than what they have in the past. We’ve got to be ready, 

and we’ve got to have units ready to provide that support . . . when the country 

needs us. Maybe we helped somebody and we [were] able to provide the support 

that was needed to help those families or comfort the victims of the World Trade 

Center and the Pentagon attacks.178

Reserve Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officers 

The Department of Defense, the Army Reserve, and the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency (FEMA) have had a formal working relationship since the mid-1990s. Senior Army 

Reserve officers and noncommissioned officers frequently worked with FEMA in the wakes of 

disasters, terrorist attacks, or presidentially declared emergencies. Such was the case after the 11 

September attacks on the World Trade Center. In accordance with the nation’s Federal Response 

Plan, the plan that defined protocols for federal assistance to victims of a major disaster, twentyseven federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, worked with FEMA. The twentyseven agencies worked in twelve emergency response functions- transportation, urban search and 

rescue, and communications being only a few.179 Other Department of Defense agencies 

established their own protocols in working with FEMA, but the following will address the Army 

Reserve and FEMA relationship only. 

When a government agency needed to request Army Reserve assets – and it did so only 

as a last resort because of the high cost – it went through a defense coordinating officer, an active 

duty Army colonel, who coordinated defense assets for the declared emergency.180 The only 

exception to this approval rule happened if the community was faced with a life or death 

situation or significant loss of property, also known as “immediate response,” then the 

commanding general of a local Army Reserve command could loan assets without seeking 

higher approval.181 

 

177 Ibid., p. 8. 178 Ibid., pp. 12, 17-18, 22-23. 

179 Internet article, "introduction to the Basic Plan of the Federal Response Plan." 

www.fema.gov/rrr/frp/frpintro.shtm, p. 1, April 1999 and Email correspondence between Colonel Gerard 

McEnerney and Major Robert Bensburg, "Colonel McEnerney Input," 4 June 2002. 

180 Email correspondence between Colonel Gerard McEnerney and Major Robert Bensburg, "Colonel McEnerney 

Input," 5 June 2002 and Colonel Gerard McEnerney, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with 

transcript, 5 December 2002. 

181Colonel Gerard McEnerney, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 5 December 

2002. p. 9. 
 51

In the mid 1990s, Army Reserve commands (as they were then called) began 

streamlining and realigning themselves with geographic FEMA regions and began addressing 

military support to civilian authorities in the event of certain emergencies. The reorganized 

commands became known as regional support commands.182 An effective working relationship 

between the Army Reserve regional support commands and FEMA depended upon emergency 

preparedness liaison officers or EPLOs. The chief EPLOs were Army Reserve colonels. Each 

employed a staff of commissioned and noncommissioned officers who handled operations, 

logistics, and communications as they related to Department of Defense activities.183 

The idea of inventing an agency like FEMA began from the Congressional Act of 1803, 

which law historians generally consider to be the first piece of disaster legislation.184 This act 

allowed the federal government to provide help to a New Hampshire town following a fire. 

Since 1803, dozens, then a handful of individual agencies handled disasters until 1979, when 

President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order merging many of the separate agencies and 

responsibilities into a new Federal Emergency Management Agency that answered directly to the 

president of the United States.185 

Specific Army Reserve officers worked as regional EPLOs (REPLOs) at each FEMA 

region. In addition, there were other officers assigned as state EPLOs who needed to be familiar 

with city and state emergency managers and Department of Defense assets and be able to assist 

the defense coordinating officer. The regional EPLO's primary mission was to help FEMA set up 

one or more regional operation centers prior to and/or during an emergency, to set up a disaster 

field office, and to perform other duties as assigned by the defense coordinating officer. Regional 

operation centers consolidated government agencies that served the public in twelve emergency 

support functions that included transportation, communications, public works, and urban search 

and rescue.186 

The 77th Regional Support Command fell geographically within FEMA’s Region II, 

encompassing New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Region II’s 

headquarters was at 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan, near ground zero. During this crisis, 

Colonel Kevin Connors of Fort Drum, New York, was the defense coordinating officer. The 

Army Reserve colonels working as EPLO chiefs for Region II during the 11 September response 

were: Colonel Gerard McEnerney, principal Army REPLO, FEMA Region II, for the New York 

City metropolitan area; Colonel Michael Santarcangelo, New York State EPLO; and Colonel 

 

182 Mr. Peter Garcia, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 13 May 2002, p. 2. 183 Email correspondence between Colonel Gerard McEnerney and Major Robert Bensburg, "Colonel McEnerney 

Input," 5 June 2002 and Mr. Peter Garcia, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 13 

May 2002, p. 2. 

184 Internet article, "History of the Federal Emergency Management Agency," www.app1.fema.gov/about/history, p. 

1, 28 May 1999. 

185 Ibid., p. 2. 186 Email correspondence between Colonel McEnerney and Major Robert Bensburg, "Colonel McEnerney Input," 5 

June 2002. 
52 

Walter Jankowski, New Jersey EPLO. The 77th Regional Support Command asked Colonel 

David Rockefeller, a former New York state emergency preparedness liaison officer, to fill in on 

11 September because Colonel Santarcangelo was out of state that day. Colonel Santarcangelo 

arrived in Albany soon afterward, where he began work as the state liaison officer. Also, Colonel 

Harvey Barrison, a Connecticut state liaison officer, worked in lower Manhattan after 11 

September. Following 11 September, the FEMA Region II liaison officers assisted in 

establishing three regional operations centers. Each center functioned for one day, with the third 

center being used for the remainder of the crisis.187

The 11 September attacks on the United States resulted in the activation of the Federal 

Emergency Response Plan.188 Though the 77th Regional Support Command did not receive any 

formal FEMA requests for help, it did receive immediate response requests from other 

government organizations, such as the New York City Police and Fire Department of New York. 

The command did its best to meet the needs of those organizations.189

The Army Reserve’s emergency preparedness liaison program required a manager to 

address administrative issues. At the 77th Regional Support Command, Mr. Peter Garcia worked 

full time as the civil military project officer, and he managed the EPLO program. He also 

happened to be a master sergeant in the Army Reserve at the 98th Training Division, Bronx. Mr. 

Garcia’s job was to help the liaison officers have a good working relationship with FEMA. He 

also worked closely with the New York and New Jersey liaison officers and helped coordinate 

the activity that took place between FEMA and the 77th Regional Support Command following 

the 11 September terrorist attacks. Mr. Garcia communicated with the USARC and with First 

Army on governmental requests for equipment that were coming into the 77th.190

First United States Army was one of two continental armies in the United States. It was a 

highly specialized team of active Army soldiers, Active Guard Reserve soldiers, and Department 

of Army civilians. Its purpose was to improve reserve readiness; mobilize, prepare and deploy 

reservists; and conduct homeland security.191 Mr. Garcia explained how his role as EPLO 

manager began following the 11 September attacks: 

We were in a state of confusion. We didn’t know what had taken place, [nor] the 

extent of what had happened. However, the first thing I knew that needed to be 

 

187 Colonel Gerard McEnerney, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 5 December 

2001, pp. 2-3, 28; Email correspondence between Colonel Gerard McEnerney and Major Robert Bensburg, “Colonel 

McEnerney Input,” 5 June 2002; and Mr. Peter Garcia, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with 

transcript, 13 May 2002, pp. 3, 4, 5. 

188 Email correspondence between Colonel Gerard McEnerney and Major Robert Bensburg, “Colonel McEnerney 

Input,” 5 June 2002. 

189 Mr. Peter Garcia, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 13 May 2002, pp. 7-12. 

190 Ibid., pp. 1-3, 5-6. 

191 Internet article, "First U.S. Army," at www.first.army.mil(unknown date). 
 53

done is I had to get my EPLOs to the site of [the] Federal Emergency 

Management Agency to begin the coordination of their role, so they [could] 

assume their role as the [Defense Department] agent.192 

Mr. Garcia and the liaison officers evaluated FEMA and other organizations’ requests for 

help, determined if they were legitimate requests for the 77th, or if they should be fielded to 

other government organizations. Mr. Garcia contracted the valid requests for equipment and 

worked out payment plans in the event that FEMA or other organizations did not return the 

equipment. Mr. Garcia also advised and informed the commanding general and his staff on these 

issues, and coordinated the loaning process. Though FEMA did not make any formal requests for 

help or equipment to the 77th, other organizations did.193 “We received numerous types of 

requests,” said Mr. Garcia. “We gave equipment, we gave space, and our soldiers were working 

the issues. We got most of [the equipment] back, but we’re still short a number of pieces.”194

These resources were loaned out to various organizations: the Fire Department of New York, 

New York City Police Department, New York Army National Guard, New York City Medical 

Examiners Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, to name a few. The 77th Regional Support 

Command loaned more than $363,000 worth of equipment, tents, cots, sleeping bags and masks, 

as a sample, according to information presented by Mr. John Arnim, staff operations and training 

officer, 77th Regional Support Command.195 As an Army Reservist, Mr. Arnim was a command 

sergeant major for the 411th Engineer Brigade. 

On the morning of 11 September, Colonel McEnerney received a phone call from Mr. 

Gary DiLallo asking him if he had information on the World Trade Center attacks. Colonel 

McEnerney worked under First Army as an Army Reservist and was assigned to the 77th 

Regional Support Command for administrative purposes. As a civilian, he worked in Queens at 

St. John’s University. According to Colonel McEnerney: 

[Mr. DiLallo] wanted to know if I had any official information regarding that 

[World Trade Center attacks and the recovery efforts underway]. So I started to 

make calls, and the [regional] emergency preparedness liaison officers, which 

consists of [military members] from all the services, we started to call each other. 

There were already some difficulties with the cell [phone] systems because of the 

[north tower] being hit.196 

 

192 Mr. Peter Garcia, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 13 May 2002, p. 3. 

193 Ibid., pp. 7-11. 

194 Briefing slides, Mr. John Arnim, entitled “LOG(istics) – Noble Eagle Equipment,” 22 May 2002 and “77th 

Regional Support Command DCSLOG – Items Still Not Returned,” 26 March 2002. 

195 Ibid. 

196 Colonel Gerard McEnerney, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 5 December 

2001, p. 4. 
54 

Colonel McEnerney managed to reach some liaison officers, but they also did not have 

any new information. During the first few hours following the attack, information came 

sporadically and was sometimes inaccurate. Colonel McEnerney kept in contact with the 

USARC and First Army for guidance during this time. He called back Mr. DiLallo and Mr. 

Garcia to ask them for a HUMVEE (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) to get to 26 

Federal Plaza. He tried to call the FEMA office at 26 Federal Plaza, but could not get through. 

At the time, all vehicular access roads and bridges were closed going into Manhattan, with the 

exception of emergency response personnel. The Army Reserve center next to St. John’s 

University provided a HUMVEE and driver. Colonel McEnerney called Major Nicholas 

Scopelletti, the assistant New York State emergency preparedness liaison officer, who was 

already in Manhattan. Major Scopelletti told Colonel McEnerney that 26 Federal Plaza was 

evacuated.197

Shortly after 1 p.m. on 11 September, Colonel McEnerney met Major Scopelletti near 

Stuyvesant High School on West Street, a few blocks from ground zero. The New York City 

Office of Emergency Management set up an ad-hoc field emergency operations center for city 

agencies there. At this point, the two officers were the first FEMA representatives there, so they 

attended a 3 p.m. briefing representing the agency. Immediately after the briefing, they provided 

a FEMA contact to the city Emergency Operations Center at this location. Lieutenant Colonel 

John Maul, assistant Army REPLO, who had been at ground zero since the first plane hit, 

reported to the New York City Police headquarters Emergency Operations Center.198 Colonel 

McEnerney explained how he and the other liaison officers began FEMA coordination: 

Major Scopelletti . . . was very familiar with the state and city emergency 

operations, and he was able to make a number of telephonic calls to state 

authorities, city authorities, and did some significant initial coordination down 

there. Our jobs as liaison officers is to build these liaisons, so that if something 

like this happens, you are not explaining who you are, what you do, to the first 

respondents, that everybody sort of knows the role and that you’re not doing [so 

many] introductions.199 

After asking different agencies where the alternate FEMA site was, the two officers 

learned it was in Edison, New Jersey, at a site of an Environmental Protection Agency office. 

They drove there to help establish the FEMA regional operations center and a Department of 

Defense presence. Other military liaison officers arrived or they were enroute. By this time, all 

 

197Email correspondence between Colonel Gerard McEnerney and Major Robert Bensburg, “Colonel McEnerney 

Input," 5 June 2002 and Colonel Gerard McEnerney and Major Robert Bensburg, interview with Major Robert 

Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, pp. 4-7, 5 December 2001. 

198 Colonel Gerard McEnerney and Major Robert Bensburg, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording 

with transcript, 5 December 2001, pp. 4-7. 

199 Ibid., p. 10. 
 55

Army EPLOs for the region were contacted, responded, and were enroute as directed, to include: 

Colonels McEnerney, Santarcangelo and Jankowski and their assistants. By 12 September, upon 

FEMA’s directive, Colonel McEnerney and Major Scopelletti helped move the regional 

operations center to the Joyce Kilmer Army Reserve Center also in Edison. Colonel McEnerney 

and the other liaison officers soon started fielding phone call inquiries from different 

organizations. On 13 September, FEMA again decided to move the regional operation center 

back to 26 Federal Plaza.200

As things calmed somewhat over the next couple of days, FEMA set up a disaster field 

office made up of the primary federal agencies and a Department of Defense cell. FEMA and the 

city decided to use one of the west-side piers on the Hudson River in Manhattan, Pier 90, at West 

Side Drive and 55th Street. Neighboring Pier 92 held the New York City’s Emergency 

Operations Center. Pier 94 held the victims’ center. Pier 90 operated for the next several 

months, though skeletal crews stayed at the remaining regional operations centers at FEMA 

headquarters, 26 Federal Plaza, New York City.201 

Colonel McEnerney and other EPLOs staffed the regional operations center at 26 Federal 

Plaza and the disaster field office and assisted the defense coordinating officer as directed. Part 

of their job required referring requests to the appropriate government organizations, if they were 

not appropriate Department of Defense tasks. Defense Department assets were used only as a last 

resort because they were not always the most appropriate resource and they were most 

expensive, as mentioned earlier. Often Colonel McEnerney and the emergency preparedness 

liaison officer team worked long hours – up to sixteen – hours for several days. All this time, 

Colonel McEnerney stayed in touch with the 77th Regional Support Command and recorded 

requests for help it had received.202 

Sometimes during a disaster or emergency, city governments requested military police to 

help. Colonel McEnerney and Mr. Garcia advised the 77th commander not to use federal Army 

Reserve military police to perform civilian police functions in the community. This was illegal, 

and fell under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 that limits military involvement in civilian law 

enforcement. Civilian law enforcement usually fell under local police or the Army National 

Guard.203

On 16 September, Colonel McEnerney escorted Lieutenant General Plewes and Brigadier 

General Colt, along with their select staff, to tour ground zero, 26 Federal Plaza, and Piers 90 

and 92. The general officers also visited a 77th Regional Support Command unit, the 140th 

Quartermaster Company, which was tasked to provide support to Jacobi Hospital.204 

 

200 Colonel Gerard McEnerney, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 5 December 

2001, pp. 17-19 and Email correspondence, Colonel Gerard McEnerney with Major Robert Bensburg, 5 June 2002. 

201 Ibid., pp. 17-20. 202 Ibid., pp. 20-22. 203Ibid.,pp.25-26 and fact card from Internet, www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/comrel/factfile/Factcards/PosseComitatus.html. 204 Ibid., p. 26. 
56 

Colonel McEnerney finished his EPLO duties on 19 September, though a few EPLOs 

from all branches of the military, continued to assist the defense coordinating officer at the 

disaster field office until mid-October when the city no longer anticipated the need for 

Department of Defense assets.205

Joint Provisional Task Force 

Immediately following 11 September, at least 150 personnel, representing active duty, 

reserve, and guard from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, as well as personnel 

from several states, prior service and retired, volunteered to help at ground zero and elsewhere in 

New York City in whatever capacity they could. Though most of these soldiers, sailors, airmen, 

and marines were not on orders nor specifically authorized by New York state or the federal 

government to work on active duty in this capacity, they volunteered anyway, many in uniform. 

They showed up at military and civilian police locations in New York City, and some even went 

straight to the site of the former World Trade Center. Others went to Chelsea Piers and the Jacob 

Javits Convention Center.206 The following section is based on interviews and documents from 

two United States Army Reserve soldiers who volunteered for duty on 11 September. 

One individual who assisted in creating an organized collection of military and civilian 

volunteers was Army Reservist Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, a Special Forces officer 

assigned to the Special Operations Command, Tampa, Florida, with duty location in Korea. At 

the time of 11 September, he was the executive officer as an Individual Mobilization Augmentee. 

Two months later he entered the Individual Ready Reserve. As a civilian, Lieutenant Colonel 

Mestler was an attorney.207

A little after 8:45 a.m. on 11 September, Lieutenant Colonel Mestler was shaving at 

home when his wife called him to the television set. A plane had just crashed into the north 

tower of the World Trade Center. Lieutenant Colonel Mestler was watching TV when a friend 

of his called. They discussed what was happening when a second plane hit the south tower just 

after 9 a.m. They both decided this was a terrorist attack, terminated their conversation, and 

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler got ready to leave for the nearest military installation. He 

explained:208

 

205 Email correspondence between Colonel Gerard McEnerney and Major Robert Bensburg, "Colonel McEnerney 

Input," 5 June 2002. 

206 Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 5 

December 2001, p. 13 and Email correspondence between Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler and Major Robert 

Bensburg, “Joint Provisional Task Force,” 5 June 2002. 

207 Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 5 

December 2001, p. 1 and Telephone correspondence between Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler and Major Robert 

Bensburg, 5-6 June 2002. 

208 Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 5 

December 2001, pp. 2-3. 
 57

It happens that an Army Reserve unit, the 77th Infantry Division Reinforcement 

Training Unit, whom I had been associated with for about seven years, conduct[s] 

its drills on Tuesday evenings on the fourth floor of the Park Avenue Armory. So 

I went on the Internet, communicated a one-way transmission, an email message, 

to the commander of that unit, Colonel Stuart Brown, that I was at my home in 

New York City [email actually stated: “Sir, Going to Park Avenue – will have cell

phone . . . and computer with me, Gil”]. I departed immediately for the armory, 

and by that, when I contacted him, I knew he would understand that I meant the 

7th Regiment Armory.209

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler lived in Manhattan and only had to travel twelve blocks to 

arrive at about 9:40 a.m. on 11 September at the 7th Regiment Armory (which housed some New 

York Army National Guard units), on Park Avenue at the blocks bounded by 66th Street, 67th 

Street, and Lexington Avenue. He explained: "I left my home and moved as rapidly as I could 

to the Park Avenue armory in BDUs [battle-dress uniform]. I took with me load-bearing 

equipment [LBE], protective mask, rucksack, Kevlar helmet and my [spiral-top] notebook – 

[and] my personal notebook computer which I use for unclassified military work . . . .210

When Lieutenant Colonel Mestler arrived at the armory, he looked for the senior ranking 

New York Army National Guardsman. Only a handful of guardsmen from the 107th Corp 

Support Group were there at that time. The 107th was only one of several units located at the 

armory. He reported to the senior officer in charge that day, Lieutenant Colonel Fergal Foley, 

deputy commander of the 107th. Lieutenant Colonel Mestler introduced himself, gave a brief 

summary of his military background and pertinent capabilities, and said he was willing and able 

to help out in any way possible. Lieutenant Colonel Foley agreed that Lieutenant Colonel 

Mestler should stay and help. Lieutenant Colonel Mestler believed he may have been the first 

military or civilian volunteer to arrive at this armory. Lieutenant Colonel Foley first asked 

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler to stand by and wait so they could assess the nationwide situation 

and respond to what was happening in New York City. Lieutenant Colonel Mestler plugged in 

his laptop computer and tried to gather information from the Internet on news regarding the 

attacks.211

Military and civilian volunteers started reporting into the armory to offer their services to 

the city. Lieutenant Colonel Mestler asked Lieutenant Colonel Foley and also Major Avery 

Leider, 107th adjutant, if he could start organizing the volunteers so they would not interfere 

with the 107th’s work. The 107th was activating its own soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel Foley and 

Major Leider agreed. Lieutenant Colonel Mestler assigned a volunteer, First Lieutenant Lazaro 

 

209 Ibid., pp. 3-4. 210 Ibid., p. 4. 211 Ibid., pp. 4-6. 
58 

Fuentes, Army Reservist, to serve as his adjutant. He created a list of these volunteers with their 

associated skills.212

 Across the city, other military volunteers were converging, some to the local armories. 

Others found themselves going directly to ground zero. The name “Provisional Joint Task 

Force” and other derivatives of that name were used among military volunteers across the city, 

though it remains sketchy as to who thought up the name. By the next day, Lieutenant Colonel 

Mestler coined the name “New York City Provisional Joint Task Force” for the volunteers he 

helped organize.213

Staff Sergeant Frank Gorglione, a New York Army National Guardsman and a civilian 

ironworker instructor at a local technical school, asked Lieutenant Colonel Mestler, whom he 

had known for many years, if ironworkers would be needed at the World Trade Center site. They 

decided that the steel-cutting equipment that ironworkers use would be needed to help cut the 

rubble so it could be lifted away. Staff Sergeant Gorglione made a call to the Office of Local 40, 

Structural Iron Workers. By 2 p.m., over 150 civilian ironworkers arrived at the armory to offer 

their services. They eventually made it down to ground zero in teams to assist in the search for 

survivors.214

 Lieutenant Colonel Mestler also assisted in setting up an operations center in a 107th 

conference room. He had his laptop computer and his own dial-up modem for Internet access 

through America Online, and he used a phone line provided by the unit. He ran more phone 

lines, while someone donated a printer and paper.215

As noon approached on 11 September, civilian and military volunteers were anxious to 

get to the World Trade Center site to help in the recovery efforts, but Lieutenant Colonel Mestler 

knew he had no real authority to dispatch them downtown. He advised them to stay at the 

armory until they received more information and official word that they could leave. Some 

chose to leave anyway, so Lieutenant Colonel Mestler told them they should not go further south 

than North Moore and Greenwich Streets. Some went to the actual “pile” itself and began to dig, 

while others helped move equipment and rubble. The ironworkers who wanted to go to ground 

zero needed and requested parking passes and permission papers to gain access to the site. 

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler drafted parking pass papers on his computer and handed them to the 

workers.216 

Unbeknownst to Lieutenant Colonel Mestler, government agencies were already setting 

up command posts with limited communication capabilities at Chelsea Piers, the Jacob Javits 

Convention Center, the Borough of Manhattan Community College, Stuyvesant High School, 

 

212 Ibid., pp. 4-6, 8-10. 213 Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 22 

April 2002, pp. 4-5, 13, 15. 

214 Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 5 

December 2001, pp. 7-8. 

215 Ibid., p. 4. 216 Ibid., pp. 5-6. 
 59

and Intermediate School 89 – all in Manhattan. In the first hours after the 11 September attacks, 

agencies used messengers to communicate with each other. Between the afternoon of 11 

September and early on 12 September, Lieutenant Colonel Mestler received reports that 

volunteers at ground zero had little or no drinking water. So, he arranged to get drinking water 

delivered to volunteers at ground zero. By about 10 p.m. on 11 September, the 353rd Civil 

Affairs Command, United States Army Reserve in Bronx, New York, offered fourteen filled, 

five-gallon water jugs and transportation to get the water downtown.217

In the evening of 11 September, New York State Governor George Pataki visited the 7th 

Regiment Armory. Brigadier General Edward Klein, 53rd Troop Command commander, in 

Valhalla, New York, New York Army National Guard, and his primary staff, briefed the 

governor. Lieutenant Colonel Mestler and several others attended this briefing.218

Around 9 p.m., Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel Peter Pietrowski with the New York 

Army National Guard, who Lieutenant Colonel Mestler also knew, asked him if he could help 

obtain some satellite communications equipment so the urban search and rescuers who had 

assembled downtown could communicate with city fire fighters, police, and emergency agencies. 

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler tried to find some communications equipment per Lieutenant 

Colonel Pietrowski’s request and made several phone calls and sent emails to agencies that he 

was familiar with or that people around him knew, but to no avail.219 

At around 6:30 a.m. on 12 September, Lieutenant Colonel Mestler attended another 

briefing at the armory. This was when he learned of an assembly point for military volunteers at 

340 West Street in an office used by Mr. Michael Bloomberg, who two months later would win 

election to become mayor of New York City. After the briefing, Lieutenant Colonel Mestler 

decided to visit 340 West Street to assess the situation.220 

As he was getting ready to leave the armory just before 9 a.m., Mr. Harry Brady, 

identifying himself as the chief, Intelligence Section, U.S. Attorney’s Office and supervisor of a 

Joint Counter Terrorism Command Post in lower Manhattan, called the armory operations center 

asking for communications equipment to communicate with combat air patrols over the skies of 

New York City. Someone else at the armory answered this call and handed the phone to 

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler, who spoke a few minutes with Mr. Brady, trying to authenticate his 

identity and clarify what he wanted. Soon after this phone call, Air National Guard pilot Major 

Michael Wells, who had traveled from Syracuse, New York, along with a Tactical Air Control 

Party from the 42nd Infantry Division, New York Army National Guard, with four HUMVEES, 

walked into the armory and offered communication capability services to whoever needed them. 

 

217 Ibid., pp. 16-17; Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with 

transcript, 22 April 2002, pp. 3-4; and Telephone and email correspondence between Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert 

Mestler and Major Robert Bensburg, “Joint Provisional Task Force,” 5-6 June 2002. 

218Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 5 

December 2001, p. 25. 

219 Ibid., pp. 15-17. 220 Ibid., pp. 15-17, 26. 
60 

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler sent him and his team to Mr. Brady’s “secret” location in lower 

Manhattan and told him that if he could not help out there to provide point-to-point 

communications between command centers of the New York City Police Department, the Fire 

Department of New York, and the New York Army National Guard within the city. Soon after, 

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler and a small staff picked up donated medical supplies from an 

eastside Manhattan hospital, then drove to the secret command post to assess the situation. They 

identified themselves with their military identification cards and were admitted into the site. 

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler found Major Wells, who said he was not gainfully employed. 

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler suggested he standby to see if he could find another assignment 

helping with point-to-point communications.221

After visiting Major Wells, Lieutenant Colonel Mestler and some military volunteers 

arrived at 340 West Street and dropped off the medical supplies. He met with some of Mr. 

Bloomberg’s staff, who offered the Internet, phone access, food, and sleeping space to military 

volunteers. Lieutenant Colonel Mestler thanked the staff for its generosity. The military 

volunteers used the office space twenty-four hours a day for several days.222

 The list of assembly points for military volunteers during this time included: the 

Borough of Manhattan Community College, Stuyvesant High School, Intermediate School 89,

Jacob Javits Convention Center, Park Avenue Armory, Lexington Avenue Armory, and Chelsea 

Piers Sports Complex.223

Two or three senior military officers were already working out of the 340 West Street 

location. One was Army Reserve Colonel Michael Finn of the 354th Civil Affairs Brigade in 

Riverdale, Maryland, who was in New York City on business when the attacks occurred. He and 

other military volunteers found themselves assisting with the recovery efforts at the World Trade 

Center site after the attack. The volunteers eventually found themselves working from the 

Bloomberg office. When Lieutenant Colonel Mestler arrived, he found Colonel Finn and 

received a briefing on what had transpired over the last several hours. The two colonels and 

Commander Mark Hardy, United States Naval Reserve, together began managing three platoons 

of about sixty volunteers. They had already assigned platoon leaders or would assign more as 

they volunteered.224 

During the three days that Lieutenant Colonel Mestler volunteered for duty in Manhattan, 

at best estimate, 155 volunteers representing the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force 

volunteered to assist in whatever capacity they could. Included in that mix were thirty-eight 

 

221 Ibid., pp. 27-32. 222 Ibid., pp. 32-33. 223 Ibid., pp. 34-35. 224 Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 22 

April 2002, pp. 5-9. 
 61

people of unknown military status. By 13 September, the number dwindled to about sixty. Many 

volunteers got too exhausted and went home.225 

During the afternoon on the twelfth, Lieutenant Colonel Mestler asked one of his captains 

to draft an operational order, which he revised a couple of times before handing out to military 

volunteers working under his control. This was forwarded to the 107th Corp Support Group. By 

late afternoon on the twelfth, Lieutenant Colonel Mestler asked his platoon leaders to assess the 

situation at ground zero with the military volunteers and to make sure that people were 

accounted for and working in an organized fashion. Through his platoon leaders, he ordered 

these volunteers to stay close together and account for each other. Air quality reports started 

coming in during the afternoon, stating that the air at the World Trade Center site was hazardous. 

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler, through his platoon leaders, ordered the volunteers not to go further 

south than Chambers Street, unless they had specific instructions from him to do so. Around 6 

p.m., he met with his platoon leaders to talk about the hazards downtown. He employed one of 

his platoon leaders to again assess the situation at ground zero and to give him a report of what 

agencies were there.226

At 6:30 a.m. on 13 September, Lieutenant Colonel Mestler proceeded with two of his 

staff officers to the Park Avenue armory to coordinate activities and to attend a staff meeting. 

After the meeting, the commander of the 107th Corp Support Group, Colonel Stephen Seiter, 

called Lieutenant Colonel Mestler into his office, saying that he had received a copy of his 

operational order. Colonel Seiter was upset because there was no such entity as the “New York 

City Provisional Joint Task Force,” that Lieutenant Colonel Mestler was not in command of 

anything, and that, according to higher National Guard authority, Lieutenant Colonel Mestler and 

his military volunteers were to vacate the armories, 340 West Street, and ground zero as soon as 

possible or they would be arrested by police.227

 Lieutenant Colonel Mestler said that he thought he was operating under the blessings of 

the New York Army National Guard and that it would take some time to gather all the troops 

together before everyone could vacate in an orderly fashion. Also, he said people downtown 

were relying on the services and help that the volunteers were providing, and yanking them off 

the scene abruptly might upset people. Colonel Seiter agreed to a timeline to have the volunteers 

withdrawn from the area around the World Trade Center site by that evening.228

 National Guardsmen were receiving state orders to report to their units to work in the 

wake of the attacks, so more guardsmen were coming into Manhattan and telling military 

volunteers to go home. By mid-morning on 13 September, Lieutenant Colonel Mestler took a 

cab to 340 West Street and briefed the other officers, telling them to brief these volunteers, to 

 

225 Ibid. and Situation report endorsed by Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, “NYC Provisional Joint Task Force,” 

13 September 2001. 

226 Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 22 

April 2002, pp. 13-17. 

227 Ibid., pp. 27-34. 228 Ibid., p. 28. 
62 

answer their questions, and to disengage them gradually. If they wanted to continue to volunteer 

to work at ground zero, they must wear civilian clothes so they would not be confused with the 

National Guardsmen who were pouring into the area.229

 The process of disengaging military volunteers took about six hours. Lieutenant Colonel 

Mestler held a final formation at about 4 p.m. on 13 September at 340 West Street, whereby he 

thanked the volunteers for their work and recorded their names, phone numbers, and other 

particulars to have for the record. Also, Mr. Bloomberg and Colonel Pietrowski publicly 

thanked the volunteers. Lieutenant Colonel Mestler told the military volunteers to disengage 

themselves in groups of twos and threes. About two dozen volunteers did stay and work until 

about 8 p.m. that evening. By then the New York City Provisional Joint Task Force had 

disbanded.230

On 14 September, Lieutenant Colonel Mestler and some other military personnel, 

reported to the 7th Regiment Armory in civilian clothes to process ground zero volunteers and to 

solicit donations. At about 3 p.m., Lieutenant Colonel Mestler left the armory after being 

informed that the Volunteer Coordination Center – the name given to facilitate the volunteers 

arriving at the armory – would be overseen by a National Guard chaplain, and that his services 

would no longer be required.231

 One military volunteer who fell indirectly under the Joint Provisional Task Force was 

Army Reservist Specialist Lawrence Provost. Specialist Provost, a substitute teacher in upstate 

New York and a reservist with the 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion, got word of the World Trade 

Center attacks as he was preparing to go to class on the morning of 11 September. He arrived at 

the school and went into the library to watch television since he still had a few hours before his 

assignment began in the early afternoon. As the news unfolded, Specialist Provost felt 

compelled to make the drive to Manhattan to help out as a volunteer. He sought and received 

permission to do so from his civil affairs reserve unit and the school where he taught.232

 By mid-morning on the 11th, Specialist Provost called various New York City Police 

Department precincts, trying to connect to people to tell them that he was a reservist and wanted 

to help out, and to determine where he should go. Many lines were inoperable or busy. He 

finally reached a police officer who said it was fine to come down. His help was needed. By 

12:30 p.m., Specialist Provost was back at home collecting personal gear and his Army uniform. 

He had no luck catching a train or bus to New York City. Therefore, he drove his car and arrived 

in Manhattan around 7 p.m. on 11 September. He was unfamiliar with the city, so he followed 

some HUMVEES along the west side of Manhattan. He stopped along the way and asked a 

police officer where military people were working. The officer directed him to 340 West Street, 

 

229 Ibid., p. 34. 230 Ibid., p. 34. 231 Ibid. 232 Specialist Lawrence Provost, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 15 February 

2002, pp. 1-4. 
 63

but when he arrived there were no military inside the building. A few meters away, however, 

Specialist Provost found some New York Army National Guard military policemen and asked to 

hitch a ride with them to ground zero or wherever he could help out. This is where he met 

Colonel Finn, who would meet with Lieutenant Colonel Mestler the following day. The convoy 

of soldiers drove to Stuyvesant High School.233

 Specialist Provost encountered mass confusion there. Several military volunteers, 

claiming to be squad leaders, shouted contradictory orders. He felt disgruntled and restless. So 

by the morning of the 12th, he decided to go ahead without orders or guidance to ground zero. 

He went along with Colonel Finn and a retired soldier. They reached the northern-most part of 

ground zero and began digging with their bare hands. After a couple of hours, they moved to 

another site to dig.234

 For five days, Specialist Provost worked at ground zero digging, lifting, carrying bodies, 

and helping out wherever and however he could. He became part of a “bucket brigade” – a 

group of volunteers who used buckets to carry debris out of an area. Gradually, he obtained a 

breathing mask, some gloves, and a shovel. He slept nights at the Borough of Manhattan 

Community College, Chelsea Piers, and once at a private home. Somewhere around Chelsea 

Piers, he found a shower and donned clean under garments that were donated by private sources. 

Once he made it to the plaza of the former World Trade Center, he noticed that no American flag 

was present on any of the flag poles. He asked around about finding one, when a police officer 

said he had one. Together, with some ironworkers, they managed to hoist the flag up onto a flag 

pole. This became reason for a ceremony and some prayer, with about a hundred people in 

attendance.235

 Specialist Provost encountered some tension from various individual soldiers of the New 

York Army National Guard, who after two or three days, began stating they were the only 

military entity authorized to work in the area. However, other National Guard soldiers, like 

Sergeant Major Keeler, wished Specialist Provost the best of luck as he continued his actions 

around ground zero.236

 By 16 September, Specialist Provost felt physically worn out from digging and working 

the bucket brigades every day for four days. He was overcome with grief and had also 

developed a rash, so he found a Red Cross center near ground zero and went in for rest and 

treatment. After a couple of hours of contemplation, he left ground zero. He got in his car and 

drove home to upstate New York.237

 Though Lieutenant Colonel Mestler and Specialist Provost never met each other while 

volunteering during those five days in September, they spoke on the phone in the weeks 

 

233 Ibid., pp. 14-17. 234 Ibid., pp. 13-19. 235 Ibid., pp. 20-21, 25-27, 29, 31-32, 40-41. 236 Ibid., pp. 35, 37-38. 237 Ibid., pp. 38, 46-48. 
64 

following 11 September. Specialist Provost had worked with Colonel Finn, who told him 

sometime on 12 or 13 September that he was working as part of the Provisional Joint Task Force. 

So Specialist Provost was familiar with the organization during his volunteer time. The New 

York Army National Guard became the official military presiding agency in Manhattan for the 

next several months, while most of the provisional task forces – whether they fell under 

Lieutenant Colonel Mestler or another senior officer – disbanded by around 16 September.238

United States Army Corps of Engineers Contingency Response Team 

In response to the 11 September attacks, the United States Army Corps of Engineers 

Contingency Response Unit activated on 17 September 2001. This Army Reserve engineer unit, 

which was based out of the Lieber USAR Center in Alexandria, Virginia, consisted of forty field 

grade officers and senior noncommissioned officers. These engineers, while being compensated 

on annual training orders, were ordered to report to the Army Corps of Engineers' headquarters 

at Fort Hamilton, New York, where they took over emergency operations center operations and 

converted it into a functioning tactical operations center. This had the dual effect of returning 

the civilians to their normal assignments, thereby enhancing their assigned functions. 

Furthermore, their mission was to coordinate the efforts of their North American Defense 

Command's Continental United States-based districts and its European district in support of 

operations at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and to maintain accurate communication 

and information flow with the Corps of Engineers' command and staff channels. These reserve 

engineers were successful in these endeavors. They mastered situational awareness of 

subordinate units, the locations and functions of various Corps of Engineers' activities at both 

attack sites, the Corps' approach to disaster relief with the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency, and the Corps' information systems in use at both sites. On 8 October, these engineers 

were mobilized under the authority of Operation NOBLE EAGLE and sent to additional 

locations including Wiesbaden, Germany. An officer, Major Ernie Edgar, was one activated 

reservist from the North Atlantic Division to go to ground zero.239 At the request of the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency, the Corps of Engineers also sent a small contingent of several 

civilian engineers (from different states) to lower Manhattan. They stayed at the site for two 

months providing technical support to New York City and other agencies.240

 

238 Ibid., pp. 33-35 and Telephone correspondence between Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Mestler and Major Robert 

Bensburg, 5-6 June 2002. 

239 Memorandum, Major Charles E. Edgar, "Brief Overview of USACE CRU NAD Team Activities Following 

Attack on World Trade Center and Pentagon," December 27, 2001 and Email, Major Charles E. Edgar to 311th 

MHD, "Red Zone," 28 September 2001. 

240 Mr. Dwayne Poiroux, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 11 

November 2001, pp. 2-3. 
 65

Other Army Entities 

 Fort Dix, New Jersey, was one of several Army posts that served as a mobilization station 

for units activated for Operation NOBLE EAGLE and ENDURING FREEDOM. Since the mid1990s, it served as an Army Reserve post. Fort Dix was located in Burlington County, about 

midway between New York City and Philadelphia, and included nearby McGuire Air Force 

Base. It provided crisis support after 11 September by supplying billeting and dining facilities to 

military and emergency response personnel. It also provided an emergency operations center 

and refueling to the president's helicopter, Marine Corps One, in support of his visit to New 

York City. Fort Dix also contributed medical and firefighter support and supplied rations to the 

77th Regional Support Command. Later, the post obtained fourteen security dogs.241

Another Army entity that contributed to the post 11 September recovery efforts was the 

Army Reserve's 78th Division – a major command indirectly subordinate to the 77th Regional 

Support Command. Its headquarters was at Camp Kilmer in Edison, New Jersey. The 78th 

Division’s mission was to provide command and coordination of military support to the efforts 

of civil authorities in New York City and the Pentagon. Therefore, it worked with FEMA and 

Army Reserve preparedness liaison officers. At that time, Major General James Helmly 

commanded this division. (In May 2002, he succeeded retiring Lieutenant General Plewes to 

become the new Chief, Army Reserve.) Major General Helmly issued his 11 September 

response, command mission statement, and guidance by telephone because he was engaged with 

his full time job as assistant deputy chief of staff, operations at the Personnel Command, 

headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. 

On 11 September, Mr. Albert Porto, the division’s staff operations and training officer 

and the division’s operations officer as an Army Reserve colonel, directed his deputy, Lieutenant 

Colonel William Penny, to activate the Emergency Operations Center. The center had twentyfour-hour, seven days a week staffing coverage. The division also secured its perimeters, 

activated soldiers, took attendance, and tracked expenditures. As of 18 September, the 78th 

Division was operating at THREATCON Charlie minus weapons. It improved its security by 

installing a barbed-wire fence, repairing deficient portions of the existing fence, improving 

lighting at the front gate, and purchasing ten water-filled plastic barriers. The division loaned 

FEMA the following computer equipment: a Dell laptop, five Gateway laptops, five HewlettPackard 61 printers, and four Hewlett-Packward 1100 printers. The 78th Division also loaned 

office and storage space to government agencies whose space was destroyed in the 11 September 

attacks. Mr. Porto designated Captain Philip “Duke” Labasi as the battle staff officer in charge, 

while Major Gene Olsen assumed the role of operations officer and coordinator of command 

briefings. Master Sergeant Kevin Blanton was the noncommissioned officer in charge. A total 

of twenty soldiers manned the Emergency Operations Center. 

 

241 Email, Mr. William Robertson to EOC 77th RSC, "SITREP #4," MMLF 5, #289, 15 September 2001 and Email, 

Mr. Thomas Collins to USARC, “Operation NOBLE EAGLE/Emergency Support of Recovery Efforts,” MMLF 

10, #448, 18 September 2001, p. 2. 
66 

Battle update briefs were conducted twice daily. Mr. Porto briefed Major General 

Helmly daily at 6 p.m. The battle staff’s main responsibility was coordination with First U.S. 

Army and the division’s defense coordinating elements. The 78th Division mobilized these 

elements, as well as defense coordinating officers to support efforts in New York City and 

Washington, D.C. In response to 11 September, the 3rd Brigade handled defense coordinating 

element support to FEMA Region I, while FEMA Region II redeployed from an exercise in the 

Caribbean. The 3rd Brigade defense coordinating element initially supported efforts in New 

York City until a handover of the operation with the 2nd Brigade concluded on 15 September 

2001. The 2nd Brigade provided defense coordinating element and officer support to FEMA at 

the World Trade Center. The 5th Brigade provided the same support to FEMA at the Pentagon. 

 In addition to providing this support, the 78th Division executed other missions 

throughout its region of responsibility. These included defense liaison officer and defense 

liaison element support to the 56th United Nations General Assembly and World Economic 

Forum in New York City, and the State of the Union Address in Washington, D.C. In the 

months after 11 September, the 78th Division mobilized hundreds of Army Reservists for 

Operations NOBLE EAGLE and ENDURING FREEDOM.242

 Individual U.S. military personnel provided help to New York City, as mentioned 

earlier, and active duty Army soldiers were some of many who felt compelled to assist the city. 

One such soldier assigned to an Army Reserve unit was an active duty Army soldier, Sergeant 

First Class Rafael Gomez of the Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He 

was attached to the 353rd Civil Affairs Command in the Bronx. He went down to ground zero 

with another soldier from the 353rd, Sergeant Major Joanna Pittman. When they arrived at 

ground zero, they were assigned to a welding crew. After several hours at ground zero, they 

realized that they could be more useful by helping to organize the materials being sent to rescue 

workers downtown. They organized different types of supplies, such as medical and clothing 

supplies. They worked out of a Burger King restaurant that was conveniently located near 

ground zero.243 Sergeant Major Pittman was one of several Army Reserve soldiers who were 

told to leave by the National Guard after informing her that it was now their operation.244

Another 353rd soldier who spent time at ground zero by helping to remove debris was Captain 

Brian Goldstein.245

A second active duty soldier who helped authorities at ground zero was Master Sergeant 

Jose Gordon, senior enlisted advisor at the U. S. Military Academy, West Point, New York. 

 

242 Memorandum, Colonel Albert Porto to USARC, "78th TSD EOC," MMLF 10, #447, 18 September 2001, p. 2 

and Email correspondence between Mr. Albert Porto and Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, “78th 11 Sept 

History,” 27 August 2002. 

243 Mr. Rafael Gomez, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 10 

December 2001. 

244 Sergeant Major Joanna Pittman, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with 

transcript, 7 December 2001. 

245 Captain Brian Goldstein, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 6 

December 2001. 
 67

After the seriousness of what had occurred in lower Manhattan was assessed, FEMA needed 

people who were able to handle specialized equipment. The owner of a private company 

mentioned Master Sergeant Gordon’s name because he was a master breacher who could use a 

specialized torch to get inside structures. After the owner contacted Master Sergeant Gordon, he 

received permission from his chain of command and received a state police escort to ground 

zero. His mission there was to train rescue personnel on the use of this torch. His expertise with 

the master breacher skill made a contribution to rescue operations at ground zero.246

Army National Guard 

 The New York Army National Guard was the primary military organization responding 

to the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Center. Due to the uniqueness of their military 

mission with the state, Governor George Pataki called them to state active duty within three 

hours of the attacks. The National Guard coined the term “Joint Task Force 42” – the name it 

gave to its rescue and recovery operation in New York City. The 42nd Infantry Division was the 

name of the New York National Guard. Guardsmen provided perimeter security at ground zero, 

the city's airports, rail terminals, bridges, tunnels, and at other sites deemed sensitive by officials. 

Their troops came to the city from all over the state on two week rotations. Housing was 

scattered across the city. The task force headquarters was at the 7th Regiment Armory (Park 

Avenue Armory), located at 66th and 67th Streets, between Park and Lexington Avenues in 

Manhattan. 

 The New Jersey National Guard, which was also part of the 42nd (Rainbow) Division, 

mobilized more than 1,000 soldiers, airmen, and naval militia personnel in response to the 

attacks on the World Trade Center. In addition to providing security to the Garden State's three 

major airports, the 42nd Infantry Division's military police helped the Department of Defense's 

security force at Fort Dix. Their 50th Brigade, headquartered at Fort Dix, and the 57th Troop 

Command of Atlantic City, augmented security at the state's two nuclear power stations and the 

Staten Island landfill. The Atlantic City airport at Pleasantville served as the base for the Air 

Force’s Air National Guard, 177th Fighter Wing, also of Atlantic City, which flew combat air 

patrols over New York City in support of the North American Aerospace Command.247

Summary 

The 77th Regional Support Command and other Army Reserve units responded promptly 

and efficiently to the attack on America. Emergency operations centers were established, base 

security was increased, timely responses to requests for equipment were handled, and individual 

soldiers gave their time to help rescue operations at ground zero and at their reserve centers. The 

 

246 Master Sergeant Jose Gordon, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with 

transcript, 17 December 2001. 

247 Events Log, 77th Regional Command, 11 September 2001, p. 16, and Colonel John Dwyer. "NJ Guard Has 

Close to 1000 on Duty," The Post, 76, no. 40, 12 October 2001, p. 3. 
68 

77th Regional Support Command also had soldiers federally mobilized to support Operations 

NOBLE EAGLE and ENDURING FREEDOM.248 

Lieutenant General Plewes complemented the men and women of the 77th Regional 

Support Command on their timely response in establishing the Emergency Operations Center. In 

a visit to New York five days after the attack, Lieutenant General Plewes and Brigadier General 

Colt visited the destruction at ground zero. As part of his tour, Lieutenant General Plewes also 

visited the 77th’s headquarters and Emergency Operations Center at Fort Totten, New York, and 

Jacobi Hospital, where soldiers of the 8th Medical Brigade and the 140th Quartermaster 

Company were assigned. Lieutenant General Plewes praised the Army Reserve's response by 

stating that "immediately after the attacks, the 77th Regional Support Command and a group of 

well-trained emergency preparedness liaison officers went into action to support the disaster 

recovery in New York."249 Speaking before the U.S. Senate's Subcommittee on Personnel, 

Committee on Armed Services, Lieutenant General Plewes claimed, "Among the great heroes of 

that day were Army Reservists."250 Some of their experiences are captured and preserved in the 

abridged interviews found in Part II. 

 

248 Memorandum, “77th Regional Support Command, Units Alerted,” 7 February 2002. By August 2002, the total 

Army Reserve troops mobilized for NOBLE EAGLE and ENDURING FREEDOM was 580 units consisting of 

some 12,290 soldiers. Internet article, Briefing Card Update as of 28 August 2002, www.army.mil/usar. 249 Article, Lieutenant General Thomas J. Plewes, "Reserve Soldiers Show Stuff Americans are Made of,” The Post, 

76, no. 41, 19 October 2001, p. 2. 

250 Testimony, Lieutenant General Thomas Plewes, "Army Reserve Overview," Statement Before the Subcommittee 

On Personnel, Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate, 13 Feb 02, 

https://usarcintra/cioweb/CdrsCorner/AROverview,13 Feb02.htm, p. 2. 
 69

 

 

 

(Top left) Lieutenant Colonel William Pohlmann, civilian 

attorney who worked at the World Trade Center and Army 

Reservist with the 4th Legal Support Organization, Bronx, 

New York. 

(Top right) Captain Mark Whitford, New York City 

firefighter and Army Reservist with the 331st Military 

Intelligence Company, Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, 

New York. 

(Left) Captain Michael Mullen, New York City firefighter 

and Army Reservist with the 344th Combat Support 

Hospital, Fort Totten, Queens, New York. 

(Photographs courtesy of the Pohlmann, Whitford, and 

Mullen families)

Army Reservists Killed on 

11 September 2001 at the 

World Trade Center 
70 

(Top left) Chief Warrant Officer 1 

Ronald Bucca, New York City fire 

marshall and Army Reservist with 

the 3413th Military Intelligence 

Detachment, Bronx. 

(Right) Staff Sergeant Frederick Ill, 

New York City firefighter and Army 

Reservist with Company A, 854th 

Engineer Battalion, Bullview, New 

York. 

(Left) Sergeant Shawn Powell, New 

York City firefighter and Army 

Reservist with the 4220th U.S. Army 

Hospital, Shoreham, New York. 

(Photographs courtesy of the Bucca, 

Ill, and Powell families) 
 71

(Top) Bronxville, New York, 

10 November 2001 – New York 

City firefighters and family 

members carry the body of 

Chief Warrant Officer 1 Ronald 

Bucca into the Concordia 

College Sommer Center for 

Worship, where the family held 

funeral services. 

(Left) Bronxville, New York, 

10 November 2001 – Army 

Reserve Staff Sergeant Pascual 

Flores (right) of the 1079th 

Garrison Support Unit, Fort 

Dix, New Jersey, confers with 

New York City Fire 

Department officials before the 

funeral service for firefighter 

and Army Reservist Chief 

Warrant Officer 1 Ronald 

Bucca. Staff Sergeant Flores 

worked as part of the military 

funeral details team sponsored 

by the 77th RSC. (Photos by 

Major Robert Bensburg, 311th 

Military History Detachment) 

Fellow Firefighters, Soldiers Hold Funeral Services 
72 

Brooklyn, New York, 10 November 

2001 – New York City firefighters 

make their way to funeral services 

held for Sergeant Shawn Powell at 

the Corner Stone Baptist Church. 

(Photo by Chief Warrant Officer 2 

Michael Werner, 311th Military 

History Detachment) 

Former Army Soldier 

Helps Evacuate Workers 

From World Trade Center

(Above) New York, 11 September 

2001 – This is the last known 

photograph taken of Army Colonel 

(retired) Cyril “Rick” Rescorla, who 

uses a bullhorn to direct the evacuation 

of employees from Morgan Stanley 

Dean Witter, his employer. Colonel 

Rescorla was posthumously awarded 

the first New Jersey Vietnam Service 

Medal. (Photo– Unknown)

(Above) Bronxville, New York, 10 November 2001 – Brigadier 

General Gary DiLallo, also the chief executive officer of the 77th 

Regional Support Command (left), talks with Colonel Ronald Linn, 

(center) chief of staff, 77th Regional Support Command, and an 

attendant at the funeral of Chief Warrant Officer 1 Ronald Bucca at the 

Concordia College Sommer Center for Worship and the Performing 

Arts. (Photo by Major Robert Bensburg, 311th Military History 

Detachment)
 73

Command Honors 

Army Reservists Who Died 

on 11 September 

(Top) Fort Totten, New York, 5 November 2002 -- 

This photograph depicts the front of the memorial 

dedicated to the six 77th Regional Support Command 

Army Reservists who died at the World Trade Center 

on 9-11. The 77th RSC held a memorial dedication on 

3 November 2002. Key speakers included Lieutenant 

General Thomas J. Plewes, chief, Army Reserve; 

Brigadier General Richard Colt, commander, 77th 

RSC; and select 77th RSC soldiers. Family members of 

the victims received a posthumously awarded Soldiers 

Medal. Lieutenant Colonel William Pohlmann 

posthumously was awarded a Legion of Merit. (Photo 

by Sergeant First Class Bruce Hill, 77th Regional 

Support Command Public Affairs Office)

(Above left) Fort Totten, 3 November 2002 -- 

Lieutenant General Thomas J. Plewes commemorates 

the lives of the six Army Reservists who died on 11 

September 2001. (Photo by Major Robert Bensburg, 

311th Military History Detachment)

(Above right) Fort Totten, 3 November 2002 – Family 

members and Army Reservists listen to eulogies of the 

lives of the six fallen soldiers. (Photo by Major Robert 

Bensburg, 311th Military History Detachment)

Fort Totten, 3 November 2002 -- A posthumously awarded 

Legion of Merit is presented to the wife and son of Lieutenant 

Colonel William Pohlmann (center) from Lieutenant General 

Thomas J. Plewes (left) and Brigadier General Richard Colt 

(right). (Photo by Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, 311th 

Military History Detachment)
74 

New York, 16 September 2001 – Brigadier 

General Richard Colt (center) commends New 

York City firefighters and volunteers on their work 

following the 9-11 terrorist attacks. (Photo by 

Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, 311th 

Military History Detachment) 

New York, 16 September 2001 – Colonel Gerard McEnerney (right) escorts 

Lieutenant General Thomas J. Plewes (left) and Brigadier General Richard 

Colt (center) through lower Manhattan, stopping sometimes along the way to 

explain the extent of the devastation and progress being made by local 

governments. (Photo by Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, 311th 

Military History Detachment) 

New York, 16 September 2001 – Army Reserve Colonel Gerard 

McEnerney (left) of the Regional Emergency Liaison Team 2 based 

in Manhattan, explains to Lieutenant General Thomas J. Plewes the 

responsibilities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 

(FEMA). As a reservist, Colonel McEnerney worked as a regional 

emergency preparedness liaison officer – a liaison between FEMA 

and the Army Reserve. He worked at several FEMA operations 

centers for a few days following 9-11. (Photo by Sergeant First Class 

Christina Steiner, 311th Military History Detachment).

Army Reserve Chief Visits 

Ground Zero 

New York, 16 September 2001 - Specialist 

Paul Morando, broadcaster with the 361st 

Press Camp Headquarters, Fort Totten, 

videotapes the visit by Chief, Army Reserve 

Lieutenant General Plewes. (Photo by 

Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, 311th 

Military History Detachment)
 75

New Yorkers Create 

Memorials for 

 11 September Victims 

(Top) New York, 25 October 2001 – Recovery 

workers place makeshift memorials on the rubble 

at ground zero to honor victims of the World 

Trade Center attacks. (Photo by Major Robert 

Bensburg, 311th Military History Detachment)

(Middle right) New York, 16 October 2001 – A 

photographic memorial of dead and missing 

World Trade Center victims hangs on a billboard 

at one of the city’s emergency operations centers 

near the Hudson River. 

(Middle left) New York, 2 November 2001 – 

New Yorkers create memorials on fences 

surrounding sensitive or dangerous areas of the 

World Trade Center site. This particular fence 

surrounded an area of ground zero banned from 

the general public. (Photos by Sergeant First 

Class Christina Steiner, 311th Military History 

Detachment)

(Bottom) New York, 19 October 2001 – This was 

one of several makeshift work areas near or at 

ground zero in which patriots wrote words of 

encouragement to rescue and recovery workers. 

(Photos by Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, 

311th Military History Detachment) 
76 

Several Weeks After the 

Terrorist Attacks . . . 

(Top) New York, 19 October 2001 – 

A small part of the structure of one of 

the World Trade Center towers stood 

for more than a month after the 

terrorist attacks. (Photo by Sergeant 

First Class Christina Steiner, 311th 

Military History Detachment)

(Left) New York, 19 October 2001 - 

New York City firefighters continued 

to douse out fires that smoldered 

from the World Trade Center rubble 

for three-and-a-half months after the 

attacks. (Photo by Major Robert 

Bensburg, 311th Military History 

Detachment) 
 77

 

(Bottom left) Staten Island, New York, 29 December 2001 

– Refuse from the World Trade Center site sits discarded at the 

landfill. (Photos by Major Robert Bensburg, 311th Military 

History Detachment) 

(Top) New York, 19 October 2001 

– Recovery workers worked around 

the clock to clear out the debris 

from the World Trade Center site. 

It was not until May 2002 that the 

site was clean. 

(Middle right) New York, 

25 October 2001 – Mr. Richard 

Prager, ironworker from Local 40, 

New York City, donated these 

recovery workers’ items to the 

311th Military History Detachment 

to add to its artifact collection. 

(Bottom right) Staten Island, 

New York, 29 December 2001 – 

An informational sign showing the 

Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten 

Island, hangs in an Army Corp of 

Engineer’s office. The landfill, 

which had closed, reopened after 

9-11 because city workers needed 

an accessible place to take the 

World Trade Center debris. 

. . . Recovery Continues . . . 

(Middle left) New York, 

19 December 2001 – Tools used by 

the Fire Department of New York 

lay discarded in a rescue worker's 

tent near ground zero. 

 
78 

(Left) New York, 

 25 October 2001 – 

Richard Prager, an iron 

worker with the 

International Association 

of Bridge, Structural, 

Ornamental and 

Reinforcing Iron Workers, 

Local 40, New York, 

worked in lower 

Manhattan for several 

months following 9-11. 

(Photo by Major Robert 

Bensburg, 311th Military 

History Detachment) 

(Right) Brooklyn, New 

York, 11 September 2001 

– Sergeant First Class 

Michael Bernard, 920th 

Transportation Company, 

Jersey City, New Jersey, 

was on his way to work as 

an Active Guard Reserve 

soldier, when he witnessed 

fire coming from a tower 

of the World Trade 

Center. He stopped in 

Manhattan and helped 

local police evacuate the 

area. (Photo courtesy of 

SFC Bernard) 

Army Reserve, National Guard, Civilians Volunteer 

To Help At Ground Zero 

 New York, 

 14 September 2001 – 

Soldiers of the 1179th 

Deployment Support 

Brigade (DSB), Fort 

Hamilton, Brooklyn, 

volunteered to assist in 

rescue and recovery 

operations in lower 

Manhattan from 14 to 16 

September 2001. From left 

to right: Sergeant First 

Class Harry Bass, 

Specialists William Schau 

and Rosa Arrunategui, 

Sergeants First Class 

James Farran, Tino 

Collura, and Captain

Joseph Micelotta. In late 

October 2001, the 1179th 

mobilized for up to two 

years for Operation 

NOBLE EAGLE. (Photo 

courtesy of the 1179th 

DSB) 
 79

Army Reservists Help Regionally, Provide Force Protection 

(Top left) Bronx, New York, 16 

September 2001 -- Captain 

Martin Williams, 695th Corp 

Support Battalion, Fort Tilden, 

N.Y., and First Lieutenant 

Matthew Goodman, 140th 

Quartermaster Co., Fort Totten, 

talk to Lieutenant General 

Thomas J. Plewes at the Jacobi 

hospital in the Bronx. ( Photo by 

Sergeant First Class Christina 

Steiner, 311th Military History 

Detachment) 

(Top right) Fort Dix, New 

Jersey - A military policeman 

searches someone’s vehicle 

before entering post. (Photo 

courtesy of Master Sergeant Vicki 

Washington, U.S. Army Reserve 

Command Public Affairs Office) 

(Middle left) Fort Totten, New 

York, 3 November 2001 – Two 

military policemen guard the 

front gates at the post. (Photo by 

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael 

Werner, 311th Military History 

Detachment) 

(Bottom) Fort Dix, New Jersey – Two civilian contractors lay concrete barriers at the 

post several days after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. (Photo courtesy of Master Sergeant 

Vicki Washington, U.S. Army Reserve Command Public Affairs Office)
80 

(Top left) New York, 11 November 2001 – President 

George W. Bush greets firefighters and recovery workers 

at ground zero in lower Manhattan on Veterans Day. 

This day marked the two-month anniversary of the 

World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks. 

(Top right) New York, 11 November 2001 – Senator 

Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) autographs the hard hat 

of a rescue and recovery worker near ground zero. 

(Photos by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, 

311th Military History Detachment) 

(Left) New York, 2 November 2001 -- Governor George 

Pataki (Rep.) greets Chaplain (Colonel) Jacob Goldstein, 

42nd Infantry Division, New York Army National 

Guard. As a Jewish Rabbi, Chaplain Goldstein may 

wear a yarmulke while in Army uniform. (Photo by 

Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, 311th Military 

History Detachment) 

(Bottom) New York, 11 November 2001 – New York 

City Mayor elect Michael Bloomberg greets recovery 

workers at ground zero. (Photo by Major Robert 

Bensburg, 311th Military History Detachment)

VIPs Visit Firefighters, Rescue and Recovery 

Workers, and Soldiers 
 81

PART II 

EXCERPTS FROM SELECTED ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS 
82 

Brigadier General Richard Colt 
 83

Chapter 1 

Army Reserve Brigadier General Richard Colt, Commanding General, 

77th Regional Support Command, Fort Totten, Queens, New York 

[Brigadier General Colt, who received command of the 77th on 20 June 2001, had thirty-five 

years of military service. As a civilian he was the director of business operations at Maryknoll 

Fathers and Brothers, Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America in Ossining, New York.] 

INTERVIEWER: Sir, can you give us a brief biography of your background? 

COLT: I was commissioned in 1967 by ROTC [Reserve Officer Training Corp]. I went on 

active duty in November of 1967, served in the Republic of Vietnam, May of ’68 to May of ’69. 

When I came off active duty in November 1969, I went into the IRR [Individual Ready Reserve] 

for approximately nine years. I came back into service in 1978 with the New York Army 

National Guard, branch transferred to the field artillery, and served in a variety of positions in the 

field artillery. 

 [His highest field artillery position was as a battalion commander for the field artillery in 

the United States Army Reserve.] 

 I served about three-and-a-half years as the commander. At the conclusion of my tenure 

as commander, I became the chief of unit training at Headquarters, 77th ARCOM [Army 

Reserve Command] and then the deputy chief of staff for training at the 77th. I was the DCST 

[deputy chief of staff, training] during the DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM operation. 

After that assignment, I was selected to command the 301st Area Support Group, also 

headquartered at Fort Totten until 1993. Then Major General Francis Terrell, the commander of 

the 77th ARCOM, asked me to be his chief of staff. I was his chief of staff during the time from 

the transition from an ARCOM to a regional support command. And then in 1997 . . . I was 

picked to be the deputy commander of the 94th Regional Support Command [Fort Devens, 

Massachusetts]. I was promoted in August of ’98 and served with the 94th until March of 2001. 

I was selected in 2001 to command the 77th, and took command officially on the 20th of June. 

INTERVIEWER: On September 11th, 2001, where were you at the beginning of that day? 

COLT: I was . . . working my civilian job, when my secretary came in and said, “Dick, a plane 

just hit one of the towers in the World Trade building.” And I remember I looked out the 

window, and I said, “No way, not an accident. Somebody just hit that.” So I told her to start 

canceling my appointments, because I knew I was going to be required down at the command. I 

was cleaning my desk, making some last-minute phone calls [when] the second [airplane] went 

in . . . . At that point . . . people were coming down to my office saying, “What’s going on? 
84 

What’s going on? What do you know?” And this was before either of the towers had gone 

down. I called my village police chief. . . . We didn’t have a TV on this floor. . . . I said, “Chief, 

if I need it, can I get a driver and a car to get me down to my headquarters because I got a funny 

feeling that things are going to be happening?” He told me that they had just closed the bridges 

. . . [but] said, “No problem.” I left [work] . . . went home, grabbed some clothes, and toiletries, 

and went down to the Ossining Village’s police chief’s office . . . . I live right here in Ossining, 

about six minutes from where we’re sitting, and started this job here about a year ago after 

retiring from a long career at AT&T. . . . I went to the Ossining police chief, . . . and he had a 

young police officer drive me from here to Fort Totten in about twenty-six minutes. . . . We got 

to the Whitestone [Bridge] and got right across that with absolutely no problem. 

 [The trip from Ossining to Fort Totten was about thirty-three miles. Brigadier General 

Colt thought he remembered reaching Fort Totten at around 10:30 a.m.] 

 By that time I walked in . . . . Brigadier General [Gary] DiLallo, who was the former 

deputy of the 77th and is now a command executive officer, . . . came right down to my office. 

Colonel [Philip] Spies [senior liaison officer] . . . gave me a fast up brief. . . . As I was coming 

across the Whitestone [Bridge], we had had the radio on and both towers had fallen. . . . I’d been 

on the cell phone with [the 77th] trying to get . . . several things I wanted done immediately or 

that I wanted information on. We had our EOC [Emergency Operations Center] up. The full 

time staff had done that immediately, and they did it extraordinarily professionally. We were 

fully functioning with communications with everybody we could reach going up the ladder to 

USARC [U.S. Army Reserve Command], with our major subordinate commands, giving them 

directions to establish an EOC. . . . We did not, nor did anybody at the time, know whether this 

was just one attack with two occurrences or whether there’d be more. . . . You’ll remember the 

chaos in the city, . . . the uncertainty, . . . the absolute confusion. . . . Headquarters [was] squared 

away. 

 [Brigadier General Colt spoke about the emergency preparedness liaison officers 

(EPLOs) arriving quickly to downtown Manhattan. He believed that EPLO Colonel Harvey 

Barrison was the first Army Reservist to arrive at ground zero, and EPLO Colonel Gerard 

McEnerney quickly followed. He also mentioned other Army Reservists who were stranded away 

from the headquarters and could not report to their respective 77th units, such as Colonel Daniel 

Ganci, commander of the 1179th Deployment Support Brigade, and brother of 11 September fire 

chief victim Peter Ganci] 

When I came in to the headquarters, the EOC was functioning. Communications were 

established, and the major subordinate commanders were in . . . . Primary staff and special staff 

had been notified. Everybody was moving in toward [Fort] Totten and toward the headquarters. 

 [Brigadier General Colt believed then that the 77th had lost soldiers in the World Trade 

Center, but he had no idea how many. He called the Adjutant General’s Office of New York to 

offer any assistance possible to the city. He also said that at first he received no guidance from 
 85

the Army or Army Reserve because the Pentagon had also been hit and communication flow was 

disrupted. He did not speak with the top Army Reserve commanders – Lieutenant General 

Thomas Plewes, chief, Army Reserve or Major General Craig Bambrough, deputy commanding 

general at USARC, and deputy commanding general for Army Reserve affairs at Forces 

Command (FORSCOM) – until 12 September. Brigadier General Colt offered his help to 

Colonel (retired) Larry Conners, a battalion chief for the Fire Department of New York, and 

former 77th operations officer. The 77th staff along with the USARC was obtaining their news 

primarily from CNN and other newscasts for the first several hours. The Federal Emergency 

Management Agency (FEMA) was just assessing what occurred in downtown Manhattan.] 

INTERVIEWER: Do you have any idea when you made the call to the state TAG [The 

Adjutant General]? 

COLT: It was probably . . . close to [10:30 a.m.] . . . . I knew that they [TAG] would be 

needing help and also knew the capabilities that the Army Reserve . . . and . . . the 77th in 

particular had within about fifty miles [of] . . . ground zero was significant both in terms of 

soldiers and in terms of equipment – a medical brigade, an engineer brigade, a military police 

brigade, a chemical brigade, . . . and a logistics group. . . .We could provide pretty much any 

kind of immediate life and death support that was needed. . . .We also needed to take into 

account force protection. . . .We immediately got some military police for the front [gate] of Fort 

Totten to protect . . . both civilians and AGRs [Active Guard Reserve], . . . fire department 

personnel, and any other tenants who were on that post at that time. One of the things we did . . . 

because of the aura of uncertainty that was out there . . . was to release all nonessential people 

from the headquarters. 

 [He explained that Mr. DiLallo decided to release nonessential personnel, while missioncritical personnel stayed very late. Some stayed overnight in the reserve center. In the early 

afternoon of 11 September, Brigadier General Colt held his first formal briefing with all senior 

staff members present. From then on he conducted briefings twice daily. That continued for at 

least two months.] 

 So my role as I saw it was . . . to make the decisions that needed to be made in terms of 

[what] we are going to support. . . . I was accountable. . . . I wouldn’t put that burden on anybody 

else. . . . [Another goal was] to work with the staff and be a role model for the staff. If I was 

there, I expected them [critical staff] to be there . . . . There was not a single moment’s hesitation 

by anybody on the staff – full time, reserve troop program unit [TPU] folks, civilians – those 

[who] knew they were needed were there and were there with a vengeance [and] stayed . . . 

through the crisis phase [of] 11 September and the . . . next couple of weeks. 

INTERVIEWER: Was there any planning and anticipated tasks that might be coming from any 

agencies that might be asking for them? 
86 

COLT: Initially, no. And part of the issue was expecting FEMA to come up on line at some 

point. We knew First Army was going to be moving forward, so we expected to be working 

closely with them. But neither happened in the time frame [because it] was such a chaotic day 

[and it took] time for people to get organized. Other than the first responders . . . a lot of our . . . 

77th folks who were released as nonessential up here in Fort Totten immediately headed for 

ground zero and joined bucket brigades and did whatever they needed to do to help their brothers 

and sisters who were trapped or trying to rescue others. . . . 

 On the 12th, I got a call about 6:30 in the morning from General Plewes asking how 

things were going up there. . . . My feedback to him was with all that evolved, we’re doing okay. 

We were doing whatever was needed to help, whatever we were being asked of. He was very 

supportive, and I told him that we would keep track and account of our people and of our . . . 

equipment we were going to be lending out or utilizing . . . . 

 We had started to get more requests from various agencies for help. And as [with] all 

things, agencies would tend to work with those whom they know. So besides the fire 

department, we started getting requests from CID, Criminal Investigative Division, . . . the FBI, 

and the city Medical Examiner’s Office because . . . we were expecting lots of wounded. That 

would have filled up a lot of the hospitals. . . . [These agencies were] asking for direct support, 

everything from helping them get furniture to. . . helping create an evidence collection site, to 

helping set up a temporary morgue, because we were expecting lots of bodies that we did not get 

initially because so many were buried and lost in the rubble. . . . People, volunteers, and 

organizations started to move toward the city. . . . Probably . . . every agency that was ever 

created . . . within the United States . . . was on the ground or moving toward the ground. We 

were taking every offer and every request and doing our best to fulfill it because we did not 

know at that time what the Guard was doing. 

 By the 12th, we started to get more information about the dead [from the 77th]. . . . We 

had done a personnel search and went through our records and pulled out everybody who had an 

occupation as fireman or policeman. . . . We started to get feedback from the fire department 

who was missing. . . . Within a week . . . [we found] . . . out that five of our soldiers who were 

firemen had been killed and one of our JAG [judge advocate general] officers had been killed in 

the collapse of the buildings. . . . 

 On the 12th . . . we were engaged in some operations, [and] had the great capability to do 

much more, but we were . . . sensitive to the fact that we were federal troops, and what we could 

do under the law was limited. As long as it engaged a federal agency or where it was assistance 

in rescue and recovery, and life and death, we felt real comfortable in doing that mission. 

 On the 13th, my public affairs folks had arranged an interview for the evening of the 13th 

with [Alan] Combs and [Sean] Hannity on Fox Cable News. . . . We also had decided that we 

needed to go downtown . . . to do some liaison work with FEMA and with my EPLOs and to see 

what . . . we needed . . . or could provide that would assist. On the morning of the 13th, myself, 
 87

Brigadier General Paul Hill, who is commander of the 800th MPs [military police] who had been 

bringing up military police [for] . . . force protection at [Fort] Totten, and some of our other 

locations, and his Command Sergeant Major Roy Clement, my provost marshal, several military 

police, my chief of staff, . . . Colonel Ron Linn, and Command Sergeant Major [Harry] Lovell 

went down to 26 Federal Plaza [in Manhattan] to meet with an active duty soldier named 

[Colonel Kevin] Conners . . . who was a defense contracting officer assigned there. . . . 

 [Brigadier General Colt and his staff arrived at 26 Federal Plaza, met with EPLO 

Colonel (Kevin) Conners, who fell under First Army in a crisis. They gave him a list of 77th 

personnel and equipment assets and capabilities and told him the 77th would help in any way 

possible. Communications, including cellular, were still down. Ground zero had been 

evacuated and there were no lights.]

 After that meeting, we walked down toward One Police Plaza. We were going to check 

in on the New York City Emergency Operations Center, [which] . . . had been in one of the 

towers that had come down. . . . [We wanted] to just check in with them and to make sure . . . 

[whether or not] they needed something from us. . . . We now had a contact through Colonel 

Conners . . . and [they could] request a tasking from him. . . . At that point, too, First Army was 

establishing [itself] in Edison, [New Jersey], and apparently found out that Edison was kind of 

remote from downtown Manhattan. . . . [They] thought of moving to the [city] . . . and ultimately 

found out that they were not going to be needed. . . . So First Army did not play a significant role 

in the rescue and recovery for New York. . . . 

 So we did go down to ground zero that day. We had an FBI . . . and an NYPD [New 

York City Police Department] escort that day. And for the first several days, if you moved 

around the city, you moved with a police or fire department escort, or you didn’t get to move any 

place because roads were closed, bridges were closed, traffic was monitored significantly. . .all 

over the place. You needed to move with somebody who had the authority to move other people 

out or you didn’t get anywhere. Our liaison and the history of our relationship with both fire 

departments and police departments had always been exceptionally good. . . . We went and 

visited the site, came back to Totten later [in the] afternoon, got briefed up on activities that had 

gone on, were going on, changed, and went down, again escorted . . . to midtown Manhattan for 

an interview that evening . . . as it turned out, the first interview with any general officer in the 

Army since 11 September. . . . I was definitely nervous since I did realize that whatever I said 

was going to be fodder for the media . . . frenzy that was going on and the biggest story of our 

lives. . . . 

 General Plewes called me the next morning at about 06:30, which is the 14th, and said 

that I had done good. . . . So I said, “Do I still have my job?” and he said, “Yes,” and so the 

conversation went on from there. [I] filled him in on what we were doing. I had started initiating 

emails to General Bambrough and General Plewes just to give them an update. . . .We were 

keeping the USARC staff informed. I started to speak with [Brigadier] General [John] Yingling, 

who is the chief of staff of the United States Army Reserve Command down in Atlanta, who was 
88 

extraordinarily helpful and supportive and started making arrangements for General Plewes to 

come up to the command on that Sunday [16 September]. . . . Friday afternoon my staff kicked 

me out of my office, [and] said, “Go home for awhile, do some wash, come on back the next 

morning.” We started to work our long-term, seven-day, twenty-four-hour a day process. . . . 

[People] were working a minimum of twelve . . . to fourteen hours [per day]. 

INTERVIEWER: So from September the 11th through the following Sunday, the 16th, you 

had stayed at the reserve center throughout? 

COLT: With the exception of one late afternoon through evening when I got home, changed 

clothes, and picked up some other uniforms . . . not just me, but the bulk of the staff who came 

in. We were there twenty-four hours. We were sleeping on couches, on hard floors, on sleeping 

mats, in chairs. The bulk of the folks stayed because we did not know what was coming. . . . I 

did not have to ask a single soldier or civilian to stay. . . . By the way, we were getting many . . . 

calls from people volunteering to come in . . . just saying, “What can we do? Can we come in to 

make coffee and let somebody else get out on the street?” 

 Totten became a staging ground for the fire department coming in and then moving out 

again. . . . Security was needed . . . [due to] significant rumors of this threat and that threat 

[which] kept bringing emotions up and down. . . .We [also] maintained a pretty high 

THREATCON [Threat condition level]. . . . So the only people who were on Totten were 

military and civilian folks associated with the 77th and its operations and essential fire and police 

folks. . . . We were pretty much into a pattern of two briefings a day, minimum, intelligence 

briefings, and situation reports, and by that time, I did another interview with Channel 12 . . . on 

Long Island. . . . In each interview [I said] that I did not know what our country was going to do. 

That wasn’t important for me right now. . . . My concern was how do we do what we need to do 

in New York City and to support our city and our state and the governmental agencies here in 

New York – and the people of New York, as community based soldiers. 

 On Sunday [16 September] we arranged for General Plewes to come in. He flew into 

Newark [New Jersey] . . . [and] we picked him up with help from the National Guard. . . . They 

sent a couple of helicopters . . . to pick him up and [to fly] . . . over . . . ground. zero . . . which 

was . . . totaled on the ground. . . . [He saw] the magnitude and the extent of the damage, which 

you can’t see from the ground. . . . You can see it . . . still smoking, still flames just like . . . four 

days, five days after the incident. We went and picked up General Plewes and flew back to 

Totten . . . because we could not land helicopters anywhere in the vicinity of ground zero. There 

were still fears about more structural damage. . . . 

 I think he had a hard time when he saw the reality of what had happened in New York. 

[Before] General Plewes [left] . . . [we] first went and visited the 140th [Quartermaster] 

Company led by a Captain Bill Martin, who had set up . . . a temporary morgue at Jacobi 

Hospital [Bronx, New York] in conjunction with the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office. 
 89

. . . We had a kitchen established up there. Everything was squared away [and] . . . ready for 

whatever casualties might occur. . . . We had chaplains on call. The ratio of dead to wounded in 

combat would normally be five, six wounded to one dead. We had [the] . . . reverse here – so 

many more dead and buried and unreachable versus the wounded, who were absorbed primarily 

by the hospitals downtown. . . . We spent some time with them [the 140th soldiers]. General 

Plewes spoke with every soldier. . . . We then drove . . . with police escort . . . down to ground 

zero – first to . . . Pier 92 – one of the piers that FEMA had set up there. He got the tour of the 

FEMA operation there and met our EPLOs [emergency preparedness liaison officers] and our 

SEPLOs [state EPLOs]. . . . Colonel McEnerney was the senior guy in charge for the FEMA for 

the Army Reserve. He briefed General Plewes . . . and myself, and introduced us to the 

members. . . . 

 We went from there to 26 Federal Plaza and got a public health briefing. . . . We had 

respirators. We had our over clothes [because] you could feel . . . the air and all the ash all over 

the place. In just five days they had done a heck of a job cleaning up some of the outlying areas 

from outside in and . . . clearing lanes for more and bigger equipment to come into the site – 

pulling stuff out so they could get more into the rescue operations. General Plewes got a pretty 

significant tour. Colonel McEnerney knew his business backwards and forwards. . . . Then we 

moved out from there and then went back up to midtown for him to have an interview with either 

Mr. Hannity [or] Mr. Combs at the same place I had been four days before that. We did that and 

then we took him out to Newark [New Jersey] that night. He was staying over and leaving out 

first thing in the morning. We went back to our headquarters. . . . During the course of that time, 

. . . I did interviews with MTV . . . another one with Channel 12, then one with WABC and 

Stacey Sager, who has been a great friend to the 77th and the Army and the Army Reserve. 

 We went forward from there. . . . We had confirmed our losses [six killed]. . . . We work 

very closely with the families of our soldiers who were killed. . . . We just had a prayer breakfast 

this past weekend. . . . They died in an act of war. . . . We will not forget September 11th here. 

And then we have to move forward from 9-11 to . . . where we are now supporting and deploying 

soldiers in a war on terrorism around the world and doing that as well and to the same standard 

and with the same commitment of our soldiers. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: You mentioned earlier about pulling people in response to this contingency. 

How was this done? How was this resourced? 

COLT: We resourced it probably every possible way you could. I think most of the soldiers 

who served, particularly senior leaders, would have served without a dime. . . . But as we got into 

significant [taskings] and we were bringing junior soldiers in, we . . . knew we would be on duty 

for awhile. We started using a combination of annual training [AT]. We started using ADSW 

[active duty for special work] money, which is money for special work, for training and other 

activities that we would conduct normally as a reserve command. . . . We went to USARC and 
90 

told them . . . everything that we did. . . . Every decision that we made was communicated to 

USARC, and the support from USARC was absolutely tremendous. . . . We operated under two 

basic guidelines – that we would . . . do everything that we could to support the rescue and 

recovery and . . . it was a matter of life and death. . . . We were working under guidelines . . . that 

everything . . . we did would be ethical, legal, and moral. . . . We would not cut any deals. . . . 

We would not do anything shady. . . . We were going to work as professional American military 

folks. . . . 

[A] couple of different things came into play in those considerations. . . . Looking at our 

annual training plan, not every unit was having every soldier go out to annual training. . . . We 

were conscious of trying to use as little [as we could], to spread it around so that we did not take 

it all because we weren’t mobilizing soldiers. . . . We looked at using annual training so we 

would not disrupt any soldiers more than was necessary. Employers were superbly supportive 

because we weren’t mobilizing soldiers, but everybody in this . . . metropolitan area stepped up 

to meet the demands of that crisis. . . . We used soldiers as little as possible . . . except military 

police. . . . 

 One area where we used a lot of people and continue to use is our military police support 

because force protection became a major issue. We have Fort Totten, Fort Dix, the West Point 

Military Academy, Fort Drum, Fort Hamilton [all within the New York, New Jersey state areas]. 

Each of these other areas has . . . military policemen deployed. . . . We have been using them in 

an annual training status to provide force protection. . . . There was going to be a major . . . 

military police exercise this coming summer. But that was cancelled because military police . . . 

across the country . . . are being utilized for force protection. . . . I see no major impact on . . . 

their readiness. The deployments, . . . because they are not all total units, . . . degrade the 

readiness of the units to do the overall mission. . . . Nevertheless, they are deployments of taking 

the people that are needed to do a particular mission as opposed to taking a whole unit just for 

the sake of taking a whole unit. . . . The soldiers who are deployed are doing what they’ve 

trained to do, [and] come back more ready. . . . I also firmly believe that this whole process that’s 

been [going] on since 9-11 and emotions generated to those of us in uniform has reinforced the 

need for us to be ready individually and collectively. . . . That is something I have preached and 

spoken to and written to, time and time again. . . . This is the time when soldiers . . . [who] wear 

the uniform . . . step up. This is when people look to us to be the role models. . . . I think the 

message has been received throughout the 77th. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: What were some challenges or concerns that you had and how did you 

overcome them? 

COLT: I think the primary challenge was lack of information. The great thing about the 77th – 

and I’ve said this at the . . . commanders’ conference for the Army Reserve with my peers from 

around the country – that I don’t think anybody else, any other command in this country, would 
 91

have done anything differently than I. [It] just happened to be New York, but I think every other 

command in the Army Reserve would’ve stepped up exactly the same way. The challenges 

[were] lack of information, lack of doctrine. Part of what we get paid for as soldiers is to take 

whatever information is available and make the best decision we can. . . . try to do the right thing 

. . . . I don’t want to lose anymore people. So I did not sense that many challenges in terms of 

the operation, . . . significant challenges. I think keeping our emotional keel steady while we did 

this, understanding the criticality of the mission, understanding the losses that our city faced 

[were challenges]. You can always fix things, but you can’t fix people. 

INTERVIEWER: What about your major subordinate commands? Did you find that your 

dealings with your subordinate commands were effective in the execution of their tasks? Were 

there any concerns there? 

COLT: I probably talked to every commander daily of when we should perform. They 

managed somehow, someway to get in here. I think I mentioned earlier Colonel Ganci. It took 

us about three days or so to get him home. . . . They all got back. They were all at their posts, all 

with their units. All had emergency operations centers established, [which] . . . were established 

concurrently with ours, so that we had that communication. We had plans, if need be, for 

relocating critical people out of Totten to subordinate headquarters . . . if something else had 

happened in New York. So the chain of command worked well. Communication worked well, 

and again, it’s a function of staying at that level of competence and focus[ing] on a continuous 

basis even when we don’t have a major threat or a major event to have to face. That will make 

us better even than we are. 

INTERVIEWER: Can you evaluate the current training or doctrine to this contingency that was 

called “Liberty Crisis,” and indicate any positive or negative lessons that can be learned from it? 

COLT: Well, there was no doctrine [at] 9-11; 8:46 in the morning. . . . We basically went 

[toward]. . . protection of life and limb, rescue and recovery, life and death. . . . One of the things 

this whole process did validate for me . . . is that I think the Army Reserve has a place to play as 

a higher . . . player than we might normally have been. And I think that applies around the 

country . . . to our other reserve components [such as] the Coast Guard, which were immediately 

out there on the harbors and on the docks. . . . We had lots of assets, both in people and in 

equipment that are absolutely suited to support an event of this magnitude. . . . If we got called to 

go someplace else in the world to be part of some response to the attack, we could’ve done that. 

And, in fact, we’ve been doing that through this whole deployment process. . . . I’ve spoke[n] 

with General Plewes about this, and Major General [William] Collins, who is the former 

commander of the 77th, [and] who is engaged in a dialog as a retired general officer with the 
92 

Army War College and other senior active and reserve component general officers, all of them 

retired – to talk about what can the Army . . . do in an event like this. 

 There is no doctrine out there. Regional support commands are coordinated with FEMA 

regions. . . . I think the center for the federal military side of business and a crisis like this should 

be the RSC [regional support command] headquarters. We know the area. We’ve got people in 

the local community. We’ve got facilities all around the state. We’ve got secure 

communications and . . . most importantly, we’ve got community based soldiers who know their 

way around our towns, and villages, and cities. I think we should play a bigger role, and I do . . . 

understand there are [limitations] . . . for federal troops. . . . I spent the last four years through 

March of 2001 up in New England as the deputy commander of the 94th Regional Support 

Command. I loved being in New England and I have roots up there. I had a tremendous time 

with great soldiers. . . . But I looked at 9-11, and I looked at being commander of the 77th, which 

was a dream fulfilled, and there was absolutely no place in the world I wanted to be on 9-11 

[than] as a New York boy commanding New York [soldiers]. . . . I think there has to be a serious 

look at how does the Army [Reserve] play in catastrophes of this sort. . . . We’ve got the tools 

and equipment that are much more suitable for digging people out of bombed out buildings – 

logistics expertise, medical expertise, [and] chemical expertise. . . . We own those competencies 

in New York. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: You mentioned the National Guard. How is the relationship with the 77th 

and the 42nd Infantry Division National Guard command? What took place there? 

COLT: I think it’s been mostly neutral for all the years that I’ve been in New York. . . . We 

compete for the same talent pool within New York. I have spoken recently to the new 

commander of the Army National Guard in New York, and I have said, “Look, we need to work 

together better." . . . The Guard did a great job in New York. They did what they were asked to 

do, and they did it very well. They did it with great confidence and great soldiers. Our soldiers 

aren’t any different. . . . I think the integration of assets and resources between the Guard and the 

Reserve could’ve been better, working together more jointly during this, even if you’re going 

with logistics support to the Guard. . . . We moved the Air National Guard. We put up tents for 

[the] Army National Guard. . . . I need to work hard at trying to create a mutually supportive 

relationship to where both of us . . . can work more effectively together. I don’t think we did that 

this time. And I think that it’s both to our loss. . . . We could’ve done better. . . . I think that 

being a civilian as well as a soldier . . . you deal with people you know. If you need to get 

something done, you go call [someone] that you know, and that personal relationship is always 

the first step to a successful business relationship. . . . I went to a dinner last week to say goodbye 

to the outgoing TAG of New Jersey and the new commander of the Army Guard in New York, 

and I’m going to maintain and build on that. We cover both states. We can support both states. 

I think we need to work together as soldiers to support the citizens we’re committed [and] 
 93

supposed to protect, whatever the calamity is. And I think 9-11 sent the message that it’s not 

necessarily which component you’re in . . . [but] to get something done when there’s an 

emergency.251

 

251 Brigadier General Richard Colt, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 7 February 

2002. 
94 

Mr. Gary DiLallo 
 95

Chapter 2 

Mr. Gary DiLallo, Command Executive Officer, 

77th Regional Support Command, Fort Totten, New York

 

[Mr. DiLallo was also a brigadier general in the Individual Ready Reserve. He began his 

military career in 1968 as an enlisted Army National Guardsman. After six years, he received a 

direct commission and served in a variety of staff positions in the Army Reserve and the National 

Guard before assuming the position in 1977 as deputy commander of the 77th.] 

INTERVIEWER: Could you tell us what was transpiring here on the morning of September 

11th, 2001? 

DILALLO: [Mr. DiLallo, along with several key staff members, was attending a class on how 

to handle difficult employees, when at about 9 a.m., his administrative sergeant interrupted him 

in class and told him that an airplane had just hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center.] 

 First thing I thought it was some pilot off course. I responded upstairs [the command 

section]. . . . I also grabbed Mr. Brian Seglia of the DCSOPS [Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations] 

. . . as we came in here and we turned the TV on. . . . [It] reported that there was a jetliner that 

crashed into the World Trade Center. Approximately . . . twenty minutes . . . later, we watched 

the news here, and we saw a second jetliner crash into the World Trade Center. At that time, I 

knew it was not any sort of accident. It was purposely, . . . a terrorist attack. I immediately left 

[the Command Group], went down to the DCSOPS operational room where I came into a group 

of about twenty-five people watching the TV broadcast. . . . Immediately, I knew that we were 

under attack. 

I immediately cleared the room, and I designated the stand up of the Emergency 

Operations Center probably within twenty-five minutes of the first plane crash. . . . [I] cleared 

everybody out, secured the building, told people to start getting water and provisions, and then 

closed all the entrances to the building. . . . We secured the gate out front, and then I started 

sending non-essential employees home. I told Brian Seglia he was in charge and to start pulling 

together troops and cots and blankets – whatever we needed for the disaster. [I] came back to 

my office, and I called the commander [Brigadier General Richard Colt] and tried to get him 

down here. The bridges were closed at that time, so we got a police escort to get him down here. 

And we started doing a mini alert – notifying people that we needed them. Probably within 

about two hours, maybe three, we got the commander and some of the Command Group in. We 

got the DCSOPS [operating], and reserv[ists] started filtering in here. And we began our 

communications with the various police and fire agencies. We did our preparing rations, started 

setting up food, meal schedules – everything we needed to do to be self sustaining over the next 

twenty-four or forty-eight hours. Probably within about two hours, the cell of full time civilian 
96 

employees turned over a fully operational Emergency Operations Center to the reserve staff that 

was filtering in, and we began relieving people. [We] couldn’t send them home because there 

were security concerns. [We] started finding places to put people to sleep and then we began 

briefing the commander, letting him know what was going on. . . . [We began] answering 

inquiries [from] the FBI and [from] the Coast Guard and providing whatever service 

we...[could]. [We also] touched base to our folks at FEMA. [Colonel] Gerard McEnerney was 

the only federal FEMA person on duty that we could reach out to. . . . He was one of our soldiers 

[who was] getting an idea of what was going on [and] what type of support we needed. 

[We provided] any support that was needed if it was [a] life or death situation. We 

needed FEMA [tasks], but when people called [and] they needed cots and generators, we gave 

out whatever was needed. These were our people, our community, so we did what we could to 

support our community and care for those in need. . . . I think I was here for about eight days 

before I ever went home. [We handled] briefings, media requests, [and] preparing soldiers for 

mobilization, for possible world-crisis type of events, . . . a lot of phone calls. . . . Cell phones 

were totally inoperable during that entire time. It was difficult getting a hold of people. We 

pretty much relied on the computers. . . . We reached out to our reserve centers [and] told them 

to secure . . . their facilities. [We] talked to the USARC at times, talked to [Lieutenant General] 

Thomas Plewes. He called me personally several times asking what was going on, [and] we 

were giving him updates . . . then pretty much recovery type operations. 

[Mr. DiLallo worked with his staff to provide supplies to the city. He specifically 

mentioned blankets for the morgue at Jacobi Hospital. He mentioned working with the fire and 

police departments, taking a lot of phone calls and providing security, direction, and guidance. 

Lieutenant General Thomas Plewes called the 77th within two days to ask how everything was 

going. Mr. DiLallo said he was also in contact with the USARC Emergency Operations Center 

soon after the attacks. He said the 77th operations center was fully operational soon after the 

attacks. During this time, he was also in contact with Colonel McEnerney. Mr. DiLallo was 

conscious of the fact that he could not lend support to the community unless it fell under the 

immediate response policy, though the 77th did offer support and waited to do the paperwork 

later on many requests. The 77th lent out much of what various organizations asked for. The 

command did so by tasking subordinate units – the 301st Area Support Group being one. 

However, many soldiers volunteered independently. The 77th put teams of these volunteers 

together to move vehicles, equipment, tents, generators, desks, tables, cots, blankets, and chairs 

to various government agencies, such as the Coast Guard in Manhattan. Also, the 301st 

provided food support to the 77th soldiers who had volunteered.] 

INTERVIEWER: Were there any 77th Regional Support Command units called up in response 

to the World Trade Center attacks? 
 97

DILALLO: I believe the 140th Quartermaster Company was . . . called up to provide morgue 

operations. . . . That was the only unit that I’m aware of that was called up besides this 

headquarters and a lot of emergency operational cells at each of the MSCs – major subordinate 

commands. . . . [The 140th was] assigned [to Jacobi Hospital] to provide a sabbatical morgue, a 

bath, a laundry. . . . I know our chaplain went down there a couple of times to assist with the 

counseling. . . . [Colonel] Rich Cochrane, . . . our deputy chief of staff for force structure, . . . 

took over [force protection]. He provided force protection for the next couple of weeks. . . . 

Our provost marshal, who is Lieutenant Colonel Seth Garr, . . . is a [New York City] emergency 

service unit police officer [who was] . . . providing rescue operations. . . . A lot of our soldiers 

who were dual status as police and fire personnel were providing various rescue operations down 

there. . . . 

 [Mr. DiLallo mentioned other soldiers and civilians who helped in the crisis. They 

included: Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Fink from the 361st Press Camp Headquarters, who 

provided public affairs support; the civilians who helped set up the Emergency Operations 

Center – Mr. Brian Seglia, mentioned earlier; Mr. Paul Silverman, deputy chief of staff, 

personnel; Mr. Michael Scotto, deputy chief of staff, information management; Mr. Anthony 

Filosa, deputy chief of staff, logistics; and Mr. Peter Bianci, deputy chief of staff, comptroller.] 

While all this was going on, we started getting word that one of our soldiers died. That 

became an emotional drain on all of us. . . . [We] confirmed six [of our] soldiers died at the 

World Trade Center. . . . We set up [an] Emergency Operations Center about three years ago, 

General [William] Collins [former 77th RSC commander] and myself. . . . We needed an 

Emergency Operations Center in case we mobilize. We put together the money. It took us three 

years to get it, but we got it. The first time we tested it [the EOC] was in the year 2000 [when] 

we had a skeleton crew. . . . It worked good. And then we had [the] USARC come in and train 

us [in the year 2000 and on 12 August 2001]. . . . The training and the redundancy of training 

paid off because we were able to react without thinking what to do. . . . We had a training group, 

. . . the Eagle Group [comprised of] . . . contractors. They tested our emergency operations 

procedures – the ability to call up units, test the computers and the redundancy, and the time paid 

off because soldiers and civilians reacted. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: What kind of mission guidance was coming from the commander? 

DILALLO: The commander’s intent was to take care of life and limb. . . . Whatever we needed 

to do and whatever the people in New York needed, he was going to do it because, as he quoted: 

“This is my community.” And he did fine. . . . He was the first . . . federal soldier on the news to 

tell them what people were going to do to provide support and whatever next came. Now, we’re 

in the next phase, and it’s providing soldiers for Operation ENDURING FREEDOM and 

NOBLE EAGLE. 
98 

INTERVIEWER: What challenges were faced within the first three days of the incident? 

DILALLO: Communications [and] cell phones [were] a major challenge. A lot of people were 

tired, worked three or four days without sleep, and we had to start getting people rotating. . . . 

Not knowing what was going to happen next was an unknown factor out there. And the rest was 

just providing the security on the gates, making sure our soldiers were cared for . . . and trying to 

recover what we could in New York. Then we came into . . . our mourning phase, as we then 

began to provide funerals for our fallen soldiers. . . . 

 [Mr. DiLallo explained that either Major Bernd Zoller or Colonel Al Kose, operations 

officers, coined the term, Liberty Crisis, to refer to the 77th’s quick response following 11 

September. He also reiterated that the emergency training he and his staff received in the past 

three years was helpful and that every regional support command must have an emergency 

operations center.] When I went [to a conference] in December . . . of all the RSCs’ 

[command executive officers], I briefed them on 9-11. . . . One of my key points to them [was], 

“If you don’t have an emergency operations center, I strongly suggest you put one together.” 

And it really paid off for us. . . . 

 [Mr. DiLallo explained that the 77th Emergency Operations Center had all the 

equipment and trained personnel it needed to function well – televisions, telephones, secure 

faxes, lines, and maps. The staff used land-line telephones more so than cellular phones because 

they had heard that trapped people underneath the World Trade Center may be using their cell 

phones to call out, and the 77th did not want to tie up those lines. Mr. DiLallo remembered also 

speaking with the FBI who wanted to borrow some office furniture, so the 77th lent some. The 

77th authorized the FBI, the Secret Service, the New Jersey State Police, and the Fire 

Department of New York to use Caven Point, New Jersey, and Fort Totten as a storage area.] 

INTERVIEWER: Mr. DiLallo, what mission guidance was initiated by the commanding 

general? 

DILALLO: General Colt, in conjunction with the [DCS]OPS . . . and advisors . . . came up with 

what type of mission statement we were going to use for this mission. . . . Everything was going 

to be directed by our higher headquarters, the United States Army Reserve Command, in 

conjunction with FEMA because it pretty much was a local operation. . . . We would prepare and 

provide all units and equipment to civilian and military agencies that required our support for the 

extent of this relief . . . for an indefinite period of time until relieved. . . . The second part of that 

mission [was] that we were prepared to execute any follow-on missions that should be assigned 

to us by the United States Army Reserve Command . . . whether it be disaster relief, protection, 

defense of our borders, whatever. We would be prepared. . . . Here’s what the commander 

actually intends to do – that this regional support command headquartered in New York City 

would not turn away any requests for assistance without us knowing about it here in the 
 99

Command Group. We would provide twenty-four operations, provide any sort of legal, moral, or 

ethical needs in their area of operation[s]. We would analyze the requests and whatever support 

we could, we would get it out, . . . and we would do whatever we could to capture our funding, 

whatever we spent, so we’d safeguard our equipment, and see what funding we have so we could 

get reimbursed. . . . 

[The 77th Regional Support Command's senior officers attended funerals and burials for 

the six fallen 77th soldiers.] 

It was General Colt’s decision that a general officer would be at each funeral to represent 

the Army. . . . He was not always able to go to every funeral. . . . We got a hold of General 

Collins, who attended the funeral of our [legal] officer who died. . . . It’s important for the 

families to have a general officer there, to have that military representation, to let them know that 

we care about our soldiers that have died. . . . We still keep in contact with the families. . . . 

We’re still taking care of our own . . . . Most of the funerals [were] . . . conducted by firemen. . . . 

We were able to augment and supplement the fire department with our soldiers, provide the color 

guard, presentation of the flag, the rendering of honors to the gun salute, as well as Taps. So our 

honor guard performed their duties in a very honorable way. 

INTERVIEWER: As time went on after 11 September, the command was faced with its normal 

course of business, as well as the response to the actual attack. What challenges did the 

command face? I know earlier you mentioned communications. Were there any other primary 

issues that the command had to address regarding long-term support of the response? 

DILALLO: Well, besides the crisis that was going on, NOBLE EAGLE, and taking care of the 

recovery operations, . . . [we must start] refocusing . . . and . . . downsizing all the people we had 

here. . . . [Then] we had your normal day-to-day operation of this mega corporation. . . . There 

are people to be paid. There are union issues to contend with. There are normal events. . . . We 

had to start thinking of some other areas [such as] force protection. . . . You’ve got force 

protection evacuation procedures, alternate sites, intelligence. . . . We’re working longer hours. 

People are putting in a lot more time, and we’re still trying to maintain our sanity. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: How is the use of soldiers for your front gate being accomplished? 

DILALLO: We had military police out there rotating every two weeks. . . . We ran out of those 

because we had to save those for future possible deployments. . . . We used annual training for 

[military police] soldiers out there on the front gate. . . . We exhausted that means. . . . We’re just 

using soldiers [who] are not military police officers to maintain the security of our front gate. . . . 

We were going to ask for ADSW [active duty for special work] funds [for] the short tours, . . . 

129 days, twenty people. . . . I believe that the 77th RSC . . . is a potential target. There are over 

1,000 people here on a day-to-day basis. We can’t leave this up to the city. The city doesn’t 
100 

have the means to secure this facility. . . . It’s the [commanding general’s] decision, . . . but 

USARC [must] sign off. 

INTERVIEWER: Has the use of personnel utilizing their AT [annual training] to fund their 

duties impacted any other areas within the command? 

DILALLO: Yes, there have been several exercises that we had to cancel. . . . Gold Sword has 

been one exercise t hat I know has been cancelled because of that activity. I believe Rio [Bravo] 

has been cancelled. . . . So this has curtailed and cancelled exercises and annual training for some 

of the units. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Is practicing soldier skills with that particular detail [military police] being 

used? 

DILALLO: Correct, so they’ve got their training really on the gate. . . . We’re preparing to meet 

the president’s request to mobilize our soldiers and continually telling people in the building that 

we’re at war and to be cognizant of that. . . . Over thirteen [77th] units have been mobilized 

[since 11 September]. Over 500 soldiers we have all over the country [are] in support of 

Operation NOBLE EAGLE and Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.252

 

252 Mr. Gary DiLallo, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 14 February 2002. 
 101
102 

Mr. Richard Cochrane 
 103

Chapter 3 

Mr. Richard Cochrane, Supervisory Management Analyst for the 

Deputy Chief of Staff, Force Development, 

77th Regional Support Command, Fort Totten, New York 

[Mr. Cochrane was also an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel for the 77th. He was the acting 

provost marshal during the 11 September crises. His civilian job responsibilities included 

dealing with force structure issues, military table of organization and equipment, tables of 

distribution and allowances, and the activation and deactivation of units.] 

INTERVIEWER: What were you doing on the morning of 11 September 2001? 

COCHRANE: I was in my office in the DCSFOR [Deputy Chief of Staff, Force Development] 

office of the 77th RSC. . . . I had just come back from the commanders’ conference. . . . . About 

nine o’clock [a.m.], one of my people had come into work a little bit late and he told me that 

there was an accident at the World Trade Center. . . . I tried to get some information on the radio 

and couldn’t, so I went upstairs to [the Emergency Operations Center] . . . and the television was 

on there. . . . I hooked up with. . . Colonel [Alan] Ecke, . . . deputy commander of 800th MP 

Brigade. And we’re basically collaborating on this to find out what we needed to do to establish 

physical security here at Fort Totten. So we identified the areas of concern, and he really did all 

the work there. I was just tagging along with him to see what help we would have to provide.. . . 

Colonel Ecke works here as a civilian in the Engineer’s Office. . . . We identified [how many] 

personnel we needed to secure Fort Totten. [So we] reached out to the 800th to see what we 

could do about getting personnel to come on duty to take care of the physical security. We also 

needed weapons and ammunition. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: What was it that made you initiate this type of a response to the action that 

occurred at the World Trade Center? What made you feel that security was at risk? 

COCHRANE: Well, based on what we determined was an attack on America, we needed to 

know what type of threat we were going to be up against. We didn’t have any real information 

that was coming in other than what was on television. 

 [The 77th soon established an Emergency Operations Center. Physical security became 

one of the first concerns, due in part because of the heavy traffic entering and leaving Fort 

Totten.] 

INTERVIEWER: Are there any established operating procedures for security measures to be 

taken on this installation that you would implement right off the shelf? 
104 

COCHRANE: The provost marshal has responsibility for force protection. They do have 

procedures in place. . . . Periodically they go through a physical security inspection that 

encompasses what procedures . . . they have in place. . . . There are two full-time civilian 

personnel [who] work in the Provost Marshal’s Office . . . plus, you have the reservist, a 

lieutenant colonel, [Seth Gahr] that is the provost marshal. . . . On the civilian side we have Phil 

Haynie, [and] Colin Fraser. . . . At that point I didn’t have coordination with them because it was 

basically Colonel Ecke and myself . . . making phone calls, getting in contact with the 800th, 

[and] identifying the areas of concern, going back to the EOC to get additional information. . . . I 

did not actually hook up with the Provost Marshal’s Office until the following morning. . . . The 

problem that we faced was that the provost marshal has approved two people. They don’t have 

any additional MP assets. The 800th has . . . MP assets. . . . 

 [Lieutenant Colonel Cochrane and Colonel Ecke then worked together to address 

security issues throughout the command.] 

INTERVIEWER: What is your prior experience with security? 

COCHRANE: I’m an MP officer. . . . I was the commander of the port security detachments 

when we went through the physical security training. . . . In past years, I [worked at] the 340th 

Military Police Battalion . . . [and had responsibility] for manning one of the wings of [a] prison 

when we did our two weeks [of] annual training. . . . There was also the brigade S-3 [operations] 

of the 800th MP Brigade. . . . At that time we were responsible for attorney resettlement type 

activities. . . . 

 [He explained that because of his prior relationship with the 800th, it was easy for him to 

contact the commander and ask for assistance at Fort Totten. On the afternoon of 11 September, 

military police soldiers began arriving at the post. He also asked the commander of the 408th 

Personnel Services Battalion if he could use some soldiers for security inside the reserve center. 

He explained how he and Colonel Ecke determined the security needs at Fort Totten.] 

 We determined that we needed to guard the front gate. We needed building patrols to 

take care of the entire post because we’re now on alert and concerned with the enclave . . . the 

entire post . . . and we had also identified another entry point, which was the dock area for the 

Coast Guard. So those are the areas that we determined . . . needed personnel immediately. . . . 

We wanted to have a minimum of two personnel per entry point. . . . We identified a number – 

twenty-two – [who] would be able to handle the building security . . . and also identified that the 

roaming patrols and the fixed stations [docks and front gate] ... [would] need another twelve to 

fourteen personnel from the MPs. . . . It was difficult getting in touch with everybody. . . . 

Phones were busy. . . . [The 800th and the 408th provided soldiers for security throughout the 

night.] 

I don’t remember hearing the actual THREATCON level mentioned until the twelfth. 

But since our main concern was securing Fort Totten, what we were doing first was just 
 105

establishing some type of security. We identified that everybody [was] going to have to have 

100 percent ID check, and we were going to be doing vehicle search, as well as locking the 

building here at the Ernie Pyle Center to make sure that people couldn’t just come in and go out 

as they please. . . . We wound up being at . . . THREATCON level Delta [the highest threat level 

condition]. . . . There’s approximately thirty-six, thirty-eight different areas that [Delta] is 

responsible for. . . . Our main concern was 100 percent check of all vehicles, 100 percent ID 

check, [and] armed guards. All guards were properly counseled on use of force, and we had 

certain restricted areas where either there was no access or extremely limited access. . . . On the 

first day we had guards with weapons and no ammunition because we did not have security 

[required to store] ammunition. . . . By the next day . . . we realized this was not the way to work 

it properly. The MPs were able to go down to Fort Dix and secure a limited number of secure 

rounds for us to have. That limited number stayed with us for about a week before we were able 

to get a more significant amount of ammunition to properly arm all the MPs at the gate and the 

roving patrols. . . . But the guards inside the building at Fort Totten, they did not have any 

weapons. . . . Toward the end of September, beginning of October . . . we identified the need to 

have secure ammunition at these places at the reserve center. . . . Ammunition . . . needed to be 

kept secure and in a separate location from the weapons. . . . 

[Lieutenant Colonel Cochrane explained that he became acting provost marshal 

informally when Mr. Gary DiLallo simply said he was going to appoint him. The regular 

provost marshal, Lieutenant Colonel Seth Gahr, was a New York City emergency services police 

officer who was called to duty in his civilian capacity.] 

 On the twelfth . . . we started formalizing the security details. We . . . also initiated the 

alert roster so . . . we could first tell everybody that we were here, be prepared in case we need 

you for something, as well as trying to get personnel to volunteer to come in to provide 

assistance. . . . We identified the NCOIC [noncommissioned officer in charge] for the personnel 

inside the building, and we started [briefing] the NCOIC on the missions that were going to be 

performed by the MPs outside. . . . One of the things we needed to do was make sure we had 

[the] appropriate number of vehicles [and conduct] . . . a physical security survey . . . identifying 

the areas that might be of big concern to us. . . . 

[Units that provided security were the 408th, the 310th and 306th Military Police 

Battalions, and the 340th, 812th and 423rd Military Police Companies, which fall under the 

800th.] 

 The Provost Marshal’s Office was in touch with the other reserve centers to ensure that 

they were adhering to THREATCON Delta. And basically, that meant that they were going to 

lock down the buildings. . . . 

[Fort Totten received ammunition on 12 September, and within two weeks the guards had 

sufficient ammunition to protect the installation. Lieutenant Colonel Cochrane also explained 

that as acting provost marshal, his other duties included providing security for visiting 

dignitaries. He did this on 16 September when Lieutenant General Thomas Plewes visited Fort 
106 

Totten, ground zero, FEMA’s office at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, and Jacobi Hospital. He 

also helped organize and provide security for Lieutenant General Plewes’ news interview with 

Hannity and Colmes – a cable news talk show. He mentioned the devastation was phenomenal 

and people worked well together at ground zero. He said he felt patriotic and proud to be in the 

Army at that time. He also provided security for Brigadier General Colt when he visited ground 

zero a few days earlier.] 

 I did do other escort details with General Colt. He was interviewed by Channel 12 

News, which was a Long Island all-news station. And we also provided security for him when 

he attended the funeral of Chief [Peter] Ganci [fire marshal, City of New York]. He went to the 

actual funeral ceremony and at the gravesite. . . . Chief Ganci was a well-known . . . fire official, 

and everybody wanted to show respect – not just to him but also to his brother, who was highly 

regarded here at the 77th. 

INTERVIEWER: Were there any incidents that occurred with providing security at Fort 

Totten? 

COCHRANE: We had an incident where . . . a vehicle was able to bypass the MPs at the gate. 

They had asked [him] for ID. They told him to stop. He kept on going [and] he went onto the 

post. . . . The MPs went onto the post [and] were able to contact some police personnel here at 

Fort Totten. [They] did a complete sweep of Fort Totten, but they never could find the vehicle, 

and unfortunately we still don’t have complete details ... [on] that vehicle. . . . 

 Another incident that occurred on . . . the 19th of September . . . [involved] an employee 

here at the headquarters of the 77th RSC. I came in contact with him as he was running past one 

of my guards on the third floor entrance to the Ernie Pyle Center. The guard was complaining 

that he was trying to tell him to stop and he refused and was walking out the door. I ran after the 

individual, caught up to him on the [walkway] bridge. . . . By that time, we had established 

certain entry and exit points [to the reserve center], and the third floor was not an authorized 

entry to exit point for just about every person in the building. 

 [Lieutenant Colonel Cochrane caught up to the employee and counseled him about not 

obeying the guards and using the wrong entrance. The individual said he had medical problems. 

He was barred from the post for an undetermined time. The 77th was now providing security for 

the entire Fort Totten, as well as storage space for the fire and police departments. ] 

 We did have another incident where . . . we were providing storage . . . . and there was a 

break-in. Certain equipment was stolen. . . . We contacted the police department [and they] did 

take down a report, but it still remains unsolved. . . . We established tighter security for that area 

with limited access, and we also put a guard outside the warehouse. . . . I believe [those] were the 

main three incidents. . . . 

 [The other agencies who share the Fort Totten post have expressed their gratitude over 

the security that the 77th soldiers provided.] 
 107

INTERVIEWER: How long were you the acting provost marshal? 

COCHRANE: Technically, I’m still the acting provost marshal. . . . I was on active duty for the 

. . . remainder of September. . . . I’d performed periodic days in an active duty capacity during 

October, November and December. I was also asked by Mr. DiLallo to continue as acting 

[provost marshal] during the week in my civilian capacity so that I could be aware of any 

circumstances that might arise that might need some type of assistance. Although the amount of 

activity has decreased, and we have a pattern established, and the full-time provost marshal 

personnel are handling day-to-day activities, I’m still there in case they [have] certain 

circumstances. . . . 

 The only area that I think has posed a problem for the 77th is the . . . land. . . . It has been 

leased to the city, . . . but we have our own enclave. . . . We had a concern about the actual 

security because before Fort Totten was inactivated, it properly belonged to Fort Hamilton 

[Brooklyn, New York]. Fort Hamilton used to provide us security, MPs at the front gate, as well 

as roving patrols. [After the] . . . base realignment and closures [during the 1990s] – Fort 

Hamilton basically pulled away from Fort Totten. . . . When this issue came about, we were 

looking to get some assistance from Fort Hamilton . . . since they do have MPs and . . . 

Department of Defense police personnel. . . . [However], Fort Hamilton [officials felt] that there 

was no longer any requirement for them to provide any security. It’s an issue that really hasn’t 

been resolved yet, and it really does need to be resolved. . . . 

 The general has been concerned about the physical security at Fort Totten. Obviously, 

we’re [close to] the World Trade Center, and plus, we have the fire department and police 

personnel, [and] emergency services who are constantly coming and going on Fort Totten. That 

in itself is a security issue. . . . There have been concerns about the effect of emergency service 

vehicles. . . . They could be used for whatever means – whether it be with a bomb, or to transport 

cells. . . . Since we have them coming and going on Fort Totten, the threat appears to be realistic. 

What we needed was to identify personnel [who] could have been mobilized to support Fort 

Totten for this physical security measure. Instead . . . we’re utilizing personnel, reservists in an 

[annual training] capacity. So, that’s draining personnel from all the different units. . . . We’re 

still waiting to see if we can get it approved to have approximately forty MPs mobilized to 

provide physical security for Fort Totten. But we still don’t have an answer yet. . . . There are 

certain personnel that need to be mobilized to provide appropriate assistance in case the request 

comes through to us. Yes, you’ve got full time civilian personnel and full time military here on 

post, but you also have the expertise from reservists that need to be utilized, as well. . . .253 

 

253 Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cochrane, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 18 

January 2002. 
108 

Colonel Matthew Cacciatore 
 109

Chapter 4 

Army Reserve Colonel Matthew Cacciatore, Deputy Chief of Staff, 

Operations, 77th Regional Support Command, Fort Totten, New York 

[Colonel Cacciatore has been in the Army since 1973. He had two years on active duty and has 

been an Army Reservist since 1975. He has held company and battalion command positions 

before joining the 77th staff in 2000.]

 

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us how you began your day on September the 11th, 2001? 

CACCIATORE: I remember vividly. In my civilian occupation, I’m an operations manager 

with Federal Express. Ironically, that day we were scheduled for an off-site meeting in New 

Jersey. . . . My personal plan that morning was to leave my office and drive through Manhattan, 

which would’ve taken me through lower Manhattan [near the World Trade Center]. . . . 

However, my schedule didn’t call for me to depart my office until about 10 o’clock. My office is 

in Maspeth, Queens. . . . From my office I can see Manhattan to include parts of the World Trade 

Center. 

 [At about 9 a.m., Colonel Cacciatore remembered an employee telling him to look at a 

TV set they kept at the office. The first tower of the World Trade Center had been hit, and the 

news was reporting it live.] 

 Since I’m in the air cargo industry, I know enough about aviation to say it was a perfectly 

clear day in New York. There was actually not a cloud in the sky. . . . First of all, besides 

wondering about the people and what could possibly be going on to help save them, . . . I keep 

saying to myself something’s not right. . . . I went to my office. . . . I called . . . Fort Totten [and] 

spoke to Major [Bernd] Zoller, . . . our mobilization officer here in the DCSOPS at the 77th 

Regional Support Command . . . I spoke to [Major] Ben [Zoller] to let him know that I was 

aware of what was happening [and] that I was accessible. 

 [The call lasted about a minute. Colonel Cacciatore went back to watching TV, when a 

second airplane hit the second tower. He called Major Zoller back and said he was coming into 

Fort Totten. He told his fellow managers that he was leaving for the post. He received verbal 

support later from his civilian supervisor to do what he needed to do with the Army Reserve. 

Colonel Cacciatore could see both World Trade Center towers ablaze as he was driving on the 

Long Island Expressway to Fort Totten. The little traffic on the highway at that point was 

emergency vehicles going into Manhattan. At some point, he heard that the Pentagon had been 

hit and about the crash in Pennsylvania. Once he arrived at Fort Totten, the first tower had 

collapsed. He went up to the Emergency Operations Center and met with Mr. Brian Seliga, fulltime civilian operations chief; and Mr. Gary DiLallo. Several people were gathered in the 

center watching the events unfold on TV.] 
110 

As we progressed through . . . that first hour, . . . the initial thought was there would be a 

massive search and rescue operation underway. . . . None of us . . . could’ve envisioned that there 

would really be no survivors. I think after the first twenty-four hours there was only one. . . . As 

such, we being here in New York with the U.S. Army Reserve assets we had – the medical, the 

engineer – [we thought we] would be immediately called upon for anything and everything 

needed. The military police role started to unfold rather rapidly, as concerns for threats – not just 

here at Fort Totten, but [at] any military installation. It became apparent that something was out 

there, that we were actually under attack. So the military police, specifically the 800th MP 

Brigade['s] . . . assets were called upon almost immediately. Colonel Al Ecke, who’s the deputy 

[and] who is now deployed overseas as part of ENDURING FREEDOM, . . . was initially very 

instrumental in the calling in of the initial military police assets out of the 800th. The only 

[tasking] at that point in time was me turning around to Colonel Ecke and saying, “Hell, bring 

them in.” . . . Al also works here as a civilian in DCSENG [Deputy Chief of Staff, Engineer.] 

There was eventually . . . a formal [tasking]. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: As the person who is not in a command position, but as a deputy chief, you 

did not receive any sort of guidance from the command executive officer or General [William] 

Turpeluk, or General [Richard] Colt pertaining to your conversation with Mr. Ecke ? 

CACCIATORE: That’s correct . . . because of the speed that it had to happen. . . . It was my 

professional opinion that something was so horrible out there that we needed to take immediate 

and decisive action to protect against . . . any other threat. . . . So I [went] . . . as a DSCOPS 

[officer] to Colonel Ecke to bring in the MPs. . . . In a very short period . . . [they were] 

reporting in to their headquarters in Uniondale, [Queens] and then . . . started providing force 

protection here at Fort Totten, which they continue to do through this day, as well as personnel 

security arrangements for General Colt. [Lieutenant] General Thomas Plewes . . . visited here. 

So they were immediate in their response. . . . During the course of those first few hours, . . . 

anyone [who] was a critical full time or TPU [troop program unit] person of the command, 

dropped what they were doing and came into the Emergency Operations Center. . . . People 

literally put their lives on hold and just came in. . . . Besides myself, you had Colonel John Skoll, 

the DCSLOG [deputy chief of staff, logistics]; Colonel Philip Caccese, the DCSENG [deputy 

chief of staff, engineers]; Colonel Mike Scotto, the DCSIM [deputy chief of staff, information 

management]; Colonel Dick Tracey, the DCSPER [deputy chief of staff, personnel]. We had 

Colonel Tom Butler, who was the ADCSOPS [assistant deputy chief of staff, operations]. So 

you had new O-6s [full colonels] coming together for the first time in what was a crisis. This 

was not a practice run. We knew . . . there would be a pledge call with medical support from the 

. . . 8th Medical Brigade . . . from the MPs, and from the engineers. And we started to [deal 

with] . . . force protection concerns, as well as issues that started to arise. . . . 
 111

We literally started canvassing the MSCs [major subordinate commands] . . . as to what 

they had on the ground. . . . Certain MSCs were almost immediately tasked and rendered 

immediate assistance. The 1179th DSB [Deployment Support Brigade] at Fort Hamilton, . . 

Colonel [Daniel] Ganci’s command, . . . provided protective masks to . . . the New York City 

Police Department initially because of the concerns over the breathing of hazardous materials at 

the World Trade Center site. They provided cots and . . . sleeping bags. The 301st Area Support 

Group. . . provided the most immediate response, in terms of providing generators . . . to both the 

Fire Department of the City of New York. . . . [Colonel Ganci's brother, Peter, was a fire chief 

and perished at the World Trade Center.] 

Initially, everything was a VOCO [or] verbal order of the commanding officer. . . . 

General Colt’s guidance was very specific – that we would not decline any offer or any request 

for assistance. . . . That gave us the green light that our [commanding general] was going to the 

wall on this thing, and he had a lot of guts. I give him a lot of credit. . . . There was no doctrine. 

The requests for the equipment [came from] . . . battalion chief Larry Connors, who was a former 

DCSOPS colonel U.S. Army Reserve, retired. He is . . . a senior officer of the Fire Department 

of the City of New York here at Fort Totten. . . . We moved equipment up to Jacobi Hospital in 

the Bronx, which . . . never was utilized because initially it was intended to be a site for a 

morgue. So it was never called upon. . . . 

The 301st Area Support Command under the command then of Colonel Jack Wohrle, 

provided immediate assistance. He provided trucks [and soldiers] to move the equipment. . . . 

We had soldiers [who] probably worked fourteen, fifteen, sixteen hours to load equipment [and] 

move equipment [which consisted] . . . primarily [of] . . . generators, light sets, cots, [and] 

sleeping bags. . . . 

The 140th Quartermaster Company . . . were the soldiers making it happen with all of 

those requests. They were . . . providing mess support [and] . . . around-the-clock movement of 

the material that was requested . . . [also] the furnishing of vehicles, . . . drivers, [and] the loading 

of equipment going to Jacobi. . . . The request for mortuary support, as I recall, came as a VOCO 

without a formal FEMA [task]. . . . The 140th Quartermaster Company provides food service, 

shower, laundry, and bath as a U.S. Army Reserve unit. . . . They got up to Jacobi in record time. 

There was a police escort arranged to get them up there, through the New York City Police 

Department. . . . With rare instance, everything was done within the first twenty-four hours by 

VOCO. There was very little paper . . . all phone calls. . . . There were some soldiers who 

happened to be . . . from the 8th Medical Brigade [who] participated in the actual setting up of 

the equipment and moving all that equipment to Jacobi. . . . While that was going on, we had the 

1179th giving masks and other support. . . . 

 We had the 800th rolling out with force protection and security. . . . We had engineers at 

that point on call . . . both in Newburg and New Windsor, New York, where the 411th Engineer 

Brigade is headquartered. . . . Also . . . the legal service organizations or JAG [judge advocate 

general] were on duty, as well as our chaplain. The JAG personnel intervened in terms of 
112 

interpreting the role of our military police in a civilian disaster. Our chaplain staff provided the 

spiritual support and guidance that was anticipated that would be needed. . . .[The 8th Medical 

Brigade also provided a certain type of tent to Jacobi.] 

Continuing with the day of September the 11th, . . . the staff came together to do an 

assessment [and] . . . General Colt did arrive on the scene. . . . He walked into the . . . Emergency 

Operations Center sometime . . . late morning or early afternoon of the 11th. He issued . . . his 

intent. . . . I’ll read [it] for the record, and I quote, “The 77th Regional Support Command will 

not turn away any requests for assistance without acknowledgement from the Command Group. 

The 77th RSC will continue twenty-four-hour operations and provide any assistance that is 

commensurate with the commanding general’s guidance of legal, moral, and ethical operations. 

The 77th RSC will continue to monitor all sources of information and analyze it to determine 

what support the command can provide. The chain of command for the commanding general is: 

the commanding general, the deputy commander, the chief of staff, and the deputy chief of staff 

of operations.” And that intent allowed us as a staff to not turn away any requests. There was no 

request that was turned away. . . . We wished to have more and . . . that there would have been 

more life-saving [missions]. The staff, through the night of the 11th, continually assessed the 

capabilities of the respective MSCs and their subordinates and [presented]. . . a staff estimate on 

what we were capable of doing. We presented a briefing to General Colt. . . . During the day of 

the 11th, [we] continually assessed the capabilities of the respective MSCs and their 

subordinates. . . . What was of concern . . . were force protection issues [and] accountability of 

our own soldiers. . . . We had USAR soldiers [who] were first responders to the attack. . . . Six of 

our soldiers perished at the World Trade [Center]. . . . 

[Colonel Cacciatore explained that each MSC had to conduct a “grazing herd” or 

personnel status report on their soldiers by calling them on the phone. Many people could not 

be contacted because of poor communication lines, or they were out of town, or because they 

were first responders at the World Trade Center. By 14 September, the 77th command had 

accounted for about eighty percent of its soldiers, including the MSC commanders. The 77th 

and the Fire Department of the City of New York were working together to identify firefighters 

who were also Army Reservists who may have been killed at the World Trade Center. The 77th 

staff activated its Emergency Operations Center by around 10 a.m., and it began twenty-fourhour-a-day operations. Immediate issues were soldier and equipment accountability. Could the 

77th support the city, as well as being conscious of another terrorist threat? At first taskings 

were informal, though the EOC began documenting these tasks. Soldiers began volunteering 

their services to the 77th. Colonel Cacciatore explained USARC guidance.] 

On 20 June of 2001 . . . the USARC [issued] immediate response guidance. And in the 

first several hours of September the 11th, [when] . . . communications were very bad, . . . with 

both General Colt’s guidance and the immediate response guidance, we used theirs as our 

benchmark on what were we going to do in this attack on America. As the communications 

evolved and got better, their guidance was very clear. . . . It was summarized by Lieutenant 
 113

General Plewes. . . . That guidance was [the same] as . . . General Colt’s: When there were 

serious conditions that exist as a result of a civil emergency and time does not permit prior 

approval from the higher headquarters, that USAR commanders are vested with the authority to 

take immediate action in response to requests to civil authorities to save lives, prevent human 

suffering, or mitigate great property damage. . . . As day one evolved into later, concerns were 

force protection. The force protection evolved. . . . We got clear and definitive guidance from 

them. . . . We were at THREATCON Delta. . . . Their guidance was very plain – that we would 

protect our soldiers. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: You mentioned the protection of soldiers and that the general had a personal 

escort. I believe it was tasked to the lieutenant colonel at the time, Rich Cochrane. . . . 

CACCIATORE: Right. . . . He’s also the GS-13 in the DCSFOR at the 77th RSC. And Ritchie 

has since joined [the staff] on his promotion to colonel as the ADCSOPS [assistant deputy chief 

of staff, operations]. Colonel Cochrane . . . provided the . . . armed escort for the commanding 

general, which . . . included his visits into the site early on. But as we evolved into day two – 

and this is where our support by and our relationship with the USARC headquarters really 

assisted us and where the intervention of Mr. DiLallo as the CXO [command executive officer] 

and Colonel Phil Spies in his role as the senior AGR [helped] – because they knew the people 

down there, and they knew the workings. There wasn’t anything we couldn’t get. Whatever we 

needed we got it. . . . There were no questions asked, provided they performed and provided they 

were accountable. . . . The DCSOPS . . . in the USARC. . . . [was] not just looking at what’s 

happening in the 77th RSC. . . . They were looking at all the RSCs and what the potential was for 

attack and all the assessments. . . . As the course of events took place, it turned out that became 

part of NOBLE EAGLE . . . [and] ENDURING FREEDOM. . . . 

 [Colonel Cacciatore explained that the primary staff at the 77th began giving classified 

intelligence and THREATCON briefings to the commanding general, sometimes three times a 

day. He spoke about using the Global Command and Control System (GCCS) and the STU-III, 

which are secure internet and telephone communications. He talked about some 77th personnel 

having to perform both Army and civilian duties.] 

INTERVIEWER: Did you find that it was a challenge for this command to have people who 

were filling important roles here performing their civilian job responsibilities and not being able 

to participate on the Army Reserve side of the house with their responsibilities? 

CACCIATORE: It was a challenge. . . . One of the things from . . . basic training is that there is 

a chain of command. . . . If . . . a unit goes into combat and it loses key leaders, . . . a unit should 

still be able to function. It still should be able to carry on its wartime mission in the absence . . . 

of certain key people because that’s the way the system is supposed to work. There is supposed 
114 

to be some depth. And we found out that we had it. . . . For example, had the response been from 

the 8th Medical Brigade that they needed many registered nurses and many medical doctors, . . . 

those medical doctors and those nurses would’ve responded. . . . You would’ve had the absence 

of them on the TPU side. . . . Yet in their civilian capacity working in hospitals and medical 

professions, they would’ve been providing that service. . . . The DCSOPS . . . was providing a 

service . . . maybe under a different role, . . . but they were providing it. . . . We had to send 

nonessential people home . . . on the . . . 11th. I think it was prudent and . . . the right call that 

someone who’s deemed nonessential . . . be sent home for their safety and . . . protection. . . . I 

ordered that and directed that. . . . 

[Colonel Cacciatore spoke a little about the importance of some Army Reservists who 

were also emergency or police-service personnel on the civilian side and how their skills on the 

outside helped the Army Reserve. He also spoke about the provost marshal’s job and how the 

regularly assigned soldier for that job, Lieutenant Colonel Seth Gahr, who worked for the New 

York City Police Department, could not perform his Army Reserve duties at the 77th, and 

therefore, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cochrane became acting provost marshal. He said 

everyone performed admirably at the 77th. He also said his contact with the 77th's Public 

Affairs Office was limited within the first seventy-two hours. He confirmed that Brigadier 

General Colt and Lieutenant General Plewes were interviewed by news programs in New York. 

He talked about Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Fink, 361st Press Camp Headquarters commander, 

performing much of the public affairs duties at the 77th for the first few weeks. He said the 

Public Affairs Office performed well. He then spoke of the days following 11 September.] 

As we get into the following days, we got into the issues . . . of sustainment. We 

eventually did get a very good picture on soldier accountability on what the MSCs had done. We 

did brief Lieutenant General Plewes on Sunday . . . the 16th of September. . . . 

[He explained that top 77th officials representing all staff sections attended the briefing. 

The command continued to hold briefings twice a day for the next several weeks. He spoke of 

costs associated with the 77th response, of THREATCON Delta, and of operations over the next 

few weeks.] 

THREATCON Delta is very taxing in terms of sustainment. It requires that a lot be done, 

that you have . . . the right type of soldiers on the ground because they have to be trained in 

firearm use, . . . security issues. . . . Through the conclusion of General Plewes’ visit into the next 

week, we were also monitoring about how many soldiers remained on duty. . . . The EOC 

continued twenty-four-seven . . . beyond week three. . . . We were able to start to give people a 

little bit of a rest for those who remained on duty. We did an analysis on nonessential TPU 

soldiers. . . . We worked closely with the Command Group . . . and also in providing the USARC 

DCSCOMPT [Deputy Chief of Staff, Comptroller], through the 77th RSC's DCSCOMPT, with a 

cost analysis of what we would do to maintain a twenty-four-seven EOC and . . . force protection 

here at Fort Totten. In concert with that, the Log started and continued to get a very thorough 
 115

line-by-line description of what had been lent out by each MSC . . . and it’s projected date of 

return. . . . By week three . . . some equipment start[ed] to be returned. 

 [The 77th began assessing mobilization capabilities of subordinate units and how that 

might impact training exercises.] 

 We have been impacted specifically in the military police community, which has and 

continues to provide force protection on a twenty-four-seven basis to Fort Totten here. The 

major training event for training in [year 2002] was Golden Sword ’02, the executive agent for 

that exercise being the 800th Military Police Brigade [and its subordinate units]. . . . Almost all 

those soldiers on the TPU side have . . . been utilized to provide force protection. 

 [The military police unit commanders cancelled Golden Sword as a result, but planned to 

conduct an exercise in the year 2003.] 

 Hopefully, [in years 2003 and 2004] and beyond, we can return . . . to a normal annual 

training event cycle. . . . That is currently the plan that both the MSC staffs and the RSC staff are 

working on. . . . 

 As it has been evident, the mobilizations that have taken place to date have not been 

exactly the ones that one might have forecasted back on September 11th, which is what we’re in 

the business of doing. . . . We’re in the business of meeting the demands of the National 

Command Authority and executing on order. 

INTERVIEWER: Elaborate further on the financial aspect of how soldiers were put on active 

duty – you have the last month of the fiscal year, and then of course, the new fiscal year began – 

just a brief overview of how that occurred. 

CACCIATORE: It was very forthright and very well executed by the 77th RSC DCSCOMPT 

in concert with the USARC DCSCOMPT. On the TPU side of the house – for those soldiers 

who had not completed their statutory AT, or at least fourteen days AT for [training year] ’01, 

which was the training year in which the September 11th attacks took place – those soldiers 

could and were placed on annual training funding status. That’s how they were funded. If their 

tour went beyond their fourteen-day statutory AT, but went to up and including 30 September, 

they were then placed on ADT, active duty for training. Case in point continuing – if a TPU 

soldier had already done his or her fourteen days of statutory AT but was activated in support of 

[Operation] LIBERTY CRISIS, . . . NOBLE EAGLE, and ENDURING FREEDOM, then they 

were initially put on ADT through . . . and including 30 September. . . . In addition to that, we 

certainly could use some RSTs [reserve secondary training] if people had not drilled for August 

or September. So we had that flexibility . . . getting to 1 October and beyond. . . . There were 

some uncertainties regarding the continuing resolution . . . being the new start of the fiscal year 

for the federal government. . . . It’s a temporary understanding that funds on a limited basis are 

available. . . . 
116 

 [He explained that money was available for the first three months of drills and fourteen 

days of annual training for soldiers, but the extra active duty funds may not be available at the 

beginning of the fiscal year. Colonel Cacciatore ended the interview by commending Colonel 

Gerard McEnerney, an Army Reservist and emergency preparedness liaison officer with FEMA; 

Lieutenant General Plewes; and some other soldiers of the 77th. ] 254

 

254 Colonel Matthew Cacciatore, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 28 March 

2002. 
 117
118 

Mr. Brian Seliga 
 119

Chapter 5 

Mr. Brian Seliga, Staff Operations Officer, 

Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, 77th Regional Support Command, 

Fort Totten, New York 

[Mr. Seliga, a GS-12, was also a Army Reserve lieutenant colonel civil affairs officer for the 3rd 

Battalion, 385th Regiment, 1st Brigade, 98th Division, Fort Dix, New Jersey. He had over 

twenty-one years of military service.]

 [Mr. Seliga began by explaining that his normal civilian job as a staff operations officer 

required him to be responsible for three primary sections – mobilization, readiness, and 

intelligence.] 

SELIGA: Personnel-wise, we have a major that is in charge of each one of those cells. [In] 

intelligence, we have a GS-11. Within that section, they’re responsible for coordinating the 

policies and regulations both in the 77th RSC side and also the Army and USARC levels. For 

example, we have several units . . . and individuals being mobilized, so my mobilization cell is 

responsible for coordinating orders and making sure units are prepared for mobilization. . . . 

Ongoing are intelligence message traffic on the threat conditions, also security of people. . . . 

Before this position, I worked for [the] Drug Enforcement Administration in Philadelphia as the 

administrative officer. 

 [Mr. Seliga described his day on 11 September.] We were . . . attending a video 

teleconference [on] . . . how to handle substandard employees. . . . That session was interrupted 

by the chief executive officer here, Mr. [Gary] DiLallo, when he approached me and told me 

there was an incident in New York City. 

INTERVIEWER: Why would he come to you with that information, and approximately what 

time did he do that? 

SELIGA: I was the senior person in the DCSOPS [Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations]. My 

boss, John Arnim, was away on military duty. And since I was in charge of the . . . Emergency 

Operations Center, he went to me to restart or activate . . . the EOC. . . . I proceeded to do just 

that. . . . I think it was about 8:35 [a.m.] because I remember watching the tower burning at about 

8:45 on the 11th. . . . I went to the operations office and directed . . . my staff to begin calling 

units and then identifying the people in the staff sections of the 77th to man their stations in the 

EOC. . . . I went back to this classroom because many of the senior civilians were still there 

watching that video and not informed that there was an incident downtown. . . . I informed them, 

and they went to their sections to brief their employees. 
120 

INTERVIEWER: What is involved in establishing an EOC? 

SELIGA: We have in the EOC about fifteen work stations that are staffed by specific sections. 

As an example, the DCSPER [Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel]. . . has a work station that tracks 

a database of where all the people are at in the unit or in the command. I . . . told them to come 

up with some key individuals [who] may be necessary for this mission, . . . things like medical 

assets, MP assets, getting the strength of the units. We had the engineer specialists look at the 

different vehicles that could handle the rubble – large vehicles – so they were tasked to do that. 

That went throughout the staff sections here. So we . . . got people assigned to their work 

stations, . . . started making phone calls, . . . creating a log . . . of all the different actions that we 

were taking for historical purposes and to brief the Command Group on a routine basis. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Who was the EOC communicating with from above as a higher 

headquarters? 

SELIGA: With the USARC EOC. And we had other operations centers that we were talking to, 

which [included the] . . . New York State Police, . . . New York City Police Department, . . . the 

FEMA. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: How did you liaison with the New York City Police Department? 

SELIGA: We had callers . . . make calls from the office to us, and then through other military 

police soldiers’ contacts. . . . The New York Fire Department, who resides at Fort Totten, was 

giving us information about the situation and requirements which we supported during the 

mission. . . . We have an individual – Pete Garcia – who is in charge of our military and civilian 

activities, and he knew of some experts in that field. We made some contacts that way. We also 

have a provost marshal on our staff, and he was able to assist us. He’s an officer with the New 

York City Police Department, . . . Lieutenant Colonel Seth Gahr. . . . [He] was calling us and 

saying he couldn’t make it to reserve headquarters because he was actively involved in ground 

zero . . . performing . . . security missions downtown. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: How was the command prepared to facilitate the process of those requests? 

Under what authority? 

SELIGA: We initially used General [Richard] Colt’s VOCO [verbal order of the commanding 

officer]. . . . We later got USARC approval to use . . . our federal resources. . . . There’s a system 

established for payment of federal assets, so we finally got that system going about . . . day three 

of the mission. . . . 
 121

INTERVIEWER: So at this juncture point you made contact with Pete Garcia. Who initiated 

that communication? 

SELIGA: I did. I asked Pete to make some contacts with the FEMA [representatives], and then 

any specific EPLOs [emergency preparedness liaison officers], which are emergency planners 

within the states of New Jersey and New York – and the state representatives in those two states. 

And he made those phone calls. . . . We have a group of about three individuals who are assigned 

to those duties, and most of them were scrambling to find a FEMA office because the FEMA 

office fell with the towers. . . . They were attempting to set up a site . . . in Edison, New Jersey. 

And they attempted to find space and move finally to the New York City area. 

INTERVIEWER: Is there a particular term that you use for contacting the units to get a 

readiness level? Is there a standard operating procedure for that? Is it called anything? 

SELIGA: The term is called “grazing herd,” but no one used that phrase. We . . . instructed the 

units to get accountability of their . . . soldiers. The reason for that was because we were 

concerned about reservists actually becoming casualties at ground zero, so that’s why it was 

important to make a hundred percent accountability of soldiers. 

INTERVIEWER: When did you start receiving support requests, and from where did they 

come from? 

SELIGA: I don’t remember which requests came in first. I know that by one o’clock that 

afternoon, we certainly didn’t receive any medical [requests.] We did receive a request for tents 

for our temporary morgues. We requested cots for the fire department. . . . [There were] about 

thirty-five requests for logistics. . . . Jacobi Hospital asked for some tents for their morgue. . . . 

The FBI, the [National] Guard asked for some transportation support [and] generator support for 

their tents. They asked for some tactical radios. We provided some radios, and that was about it. 

INTERVIEWER: What kind of support did you receive from your higher headquarters? 

SELIGA: The USARC headquarters initially said for us to use annual training [funds] to 

support this mission. Never really gave us any financial guidance to execute this mission. Later 

on they asked us . . . what it would cost to continue the . . . EOC mission. . . . We provided a 

thirty day budget, and it turned out that budget would have to be funded internally, that we 

would not receive any extra dollars. We were not reimbursed for expenditures that we had 

already made with reservists on active duty. It . . . seemed like we were doing more with less. 
122 

INTERVIEWER: The whole idea of financing the activities of the EOC and its environments 

was under discussion? 

SELIGA: After two weeks we sat down and said we need to have a long-term plan. . . . For the 

first two weeks [we used] . . . soldiers on annual training, and then after that period we used 

extended AT for primary security missions at Fort Totten and our subordinate units – Fort Totten 

being an interesting location because we have the New York City Fire Department here, DEA 

[Drug Enforcement Agency], FBI, [and] other agencies. . . . General Colt decided that . . . the 

main gate would be a target. . . . We used several soldiers [for guard duty], up to forty for a 

typical shift. . . . It cost . . . for a thirty day period $200,000. . . . Each MSC . . . had [its] own 

EOC, which they were able to man for approximately thirty days, and then could not maintain 

that pace much longer, so they stood down, while we continued with an EOC here. 

 [Mr. Seliga said the 77th’s EOC operated twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week 

until November 2001. By December, the center had almost returned to normalcy.] 

INTERVIEWER: Were there any other taskings that you received from higher headquarters, 

from the USARC? 

SELIGA: One I specifically remember is supporting West Point during their football games. 

The OCAR [Office of the Chief, Army Reserve] – General [Thomas] Plewes thought there was a 

real need, real critical need to support the security mission at West Point during games. So we 

had sent . . . twenty military policemen to West Point for each of the four games following 9-11. 

We provided MP support . . . to the gates. . . . We were also asked by the USARC to prepare 

briefings, so the USARC senior commanders came down here. General Plewes came here and 

we briefed him. . . . Then Pete Garcia . . . was briefing FEMA representatives throughout the 

USARC on 9-11. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: So what happened on day two, 12 September? 

SELIGA: We’d get trickle-in requests from the agencies to support. We would provide 

briefings to the local Command Group here. We would provide information to the USARC 

headquarters in Atlanta, and we weren’t seeing much change at all. We were getting some 

reports that there were some terrorist activities in the area. So our heightened alert status kept us 

on our toes for the first . . . thirty days . . . for the first sixty days after 9-11 . . . day in, day out, 

same activities, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. So we didn’t really see anything 

different to speak of. 

INTERVIEWER: Was the Emergency Operations Center prepared for something like this? 
 123

SELIGA: If there’s anything positive to speak about this event is that we were prepared. The 

EOC was well prepared. In fact, through the Y2K [Year 2000] exercise that we had, we merely 

fell in on that operation that we conducted . . . so everyone rehearsed it. . . . We had a 

mobilization exercise following the Y2K exercise. So [there are] two specific training events 

that the staff here went through so that when 9-11 happened, it was not something that we had to 

relearn. 

INTERVIEWER: What about the challenges that you faced with 11 September? 

SELIGA: We learned that we were a little bit short sighted on the intelligence side. We 

could’ve used . . . a staff member that could’ve assisted us with real-time intelligence 

information. . . . It would’ve been . . . helpful to have someone on the military police side that 

could’ve been looking forward on security missions. But our provost marshal, as we mentioned 

before, was deployed to ground zero in his civilian capacity. . . . I would also think that we could 

have captured the lessons learned a little bit better. We could’ve put together a written package, 

a particular format could’ve been used so that we could’ve captured this. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: How about financially? How did the command pay for this extension of 

personnel man power in support of LIBERTY CRISIS? 

SELIGA: Quite simply, it was taken out of hide. If the soldiers . . . happened to perform 

fourteen days of annual training during that period, that was it. That soldier is no longer able to 

support training missions throughout the year. So we were never given extra man days, nor an 

increased budget for this additional mission. 

INTERVIEWER: Isn’t September pretty late in the fiscal year for anybody to have any 

additional AT days left over? 

SELIGA: That’s right. It was a problem really after the fiscal year started on the first of 

October. So our real problem was what to do after 1 October. And we were told to pay for it 

within our current budget. And no one . . . was prepared for this. So we basically had to curtail 

some training events. And that does affect readiness in some cases because soldiers are no 

longer able to drive their trucks because those same soldiers were used for security missions. So, 

it does have a detrimental affect on readiness. . . . [Soldiers] don’t have time to qualify on the 

weapons; they don’t have time to go to school. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: You’re saying there will probably be some sort of repercussion in 2002’s 

training year pertaining to the fact that soldiers were utilized for LIBERTY CRISIS utilizing AT 

dollars? 
124 

SELIGA: It also affects . . . units that are mobilized [for Operation NOBLE EAGLE]. We 

haven’t talked about those units. They’re now mobilized [and] they’re no longer available to us. 

And those soldiers weren’t given the opportunity to train on specific tasks before deploying, so 

they were . . . taken as is. It didn’t matter if they were not at the correct readiness level. They 

were just taken by headquarters, Army as they were. They were not given time to train up for 

this. 

INTERVIEWER: How often did the EOC brief the command after 11 September? 

SELIGA: We established [7 a.m.] and [7 p.m.] updates, and basically developed the format on 

our own. We didn’t have an EOC format, per se. And that’s typical for some operations, but I 

would’ve expected to have some standardized slides. But we basically covered all the bases for 

General Colt. . . . [He explained that typically, all senior leadership at the command, when 

possible, attended the briefings.] 

INTERVIEWER: How many people did the 77th put on orders to support LIBERTY CRISIS? 

SELIGA: I think there was somewhere between six- to eight-hundred soldiers on active duty for 

the first two weeks. . . . That number changed as civilians replaced the military and orders were 

ended. . . . I think we did quite well in responding to the needs of New York City, and that we 

should continue . . . participating in exercises of this nature in the future. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Did the EOC anticipate being tasked for either manpower or equipment, and 

if so, what did they do to anticipate that task? 

SELIGA: What I remember doing is talking with each one of the unit representatives 

personally. I called them up and said there may be a need for medical specialties, [emergency 

medical technicians], psychologists. And on the engineer side, we were talking heavy equipment 

to move the rubble. So, we gave the RSC units a heads up that they may be what New York 

City’s looking for, so that if we did get a call, we’d be prepared. And they did that. The 

engineers made sure that all their vehicles were identified because they were ready to deploy. 

They weren’t broken. They were on good maintenance status. . . . We had a list of volunteers 

that were prepared to go, and we just never received any calls for people or equipment of that 

magnitude. 

INTERVIEWER: What can you say about what supplies the 77th did provide? 
 125

SELIGA: Basically, logistical equipment that you would use in an operations center. There was 

. . . a request at the Jacobi Hospital for a temporary morgue. It was just tents and generators and 

lights. We had cot requests, basic household or hotel-kind of related equipment that would keep 

offices running, people warm, [and] trucks. For example, we had a couple of requests for 

transport of equipment from the Guard, nothing of real substantial ground zero effort. It was all 

centered around supporting the people directly involved in ground zero.255

 

255 Mr. Brian Selgia, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 10 January 2002. 
126 

Sergeant First Class Gregory Carpenter 

(After 11 September, he became a commissioned officer.) 
 127

Chapter 6 

Active Guard Reserve Sergeant First Class Gregory Carpenter, Operations 

Noncommissioned Officer, 77th Regional Support Command, 

Fort Totten, New York 

[Sergeant First Class Carpenter had sixteen years in the Army. Less than a year after 11 

September he was commissioned as a second lieutenant.] 

CARPENTER: [Sergeant First Class Carpenter described his duties as an operations NCO.] 

My specific duties here are to work in the classified realm. I work as the “GATASO,” which is 

the global command and control system terminal areas and security officer. I’m the manager for 

the SIPRNET – secure internet communication -- that provides classified information from Army 

Reserve headquarters, Headquarters, Department of the Army, Joint Forces Command, [and] to 

ourselves. I also manage the STU-III System – Secure Telephone Unit Generation Three – and 

the secure faxes along with that. We take in message trafficking, categorize, classify, and 

disseminate it to specific individuals. We also take in intelligence, create intelligence products, 

and do intelligence summaries – INSUMS – for the commanding general and command staff 

review. . . . Currently, we’re short staffed . . . for about three years now. . . . I have several 

bosses. My first and primary boss is the readiness officer, Major Virginia Rea. I primarily work 

in readiness when the EOC . . . is not stood up. We evaluate the units, their capabilities to stand 

up and go to war. I also function as the intelligence NCO. . . . I report to Mr. Kino [Joaquin] 

Rolon in that area. . . . Our supervisor for intelligence is Major Marcos Castro. He’s a part-time 

guy. He’s a reservist, and he works for the Department of the Treasury. . . . We can [contact] 

him real easy if we have intelligence questions. . . . [The] third boss I have is Chief [Warrant 

Officer 4 Mark] Getzin, who works down at the Northeast Army Reserve Intelligence Center at 

the SCIF – Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility - where we do all the top-secret 

[work]. 

INTERVIEWER: On 11 September 2001, where were you and what were you doing? 

CARPENTER: I had come in that morning at about [5:30 a.m.] to get some work done so I 

could go home early that day. At the time the first plane hit the first World Trade Center tower, I 

was actually in this EOC working on security plans for the intelligence office. When the second 

plane hit, we saw it right on the screen of the television. At that point, Mr. Joaquin Rolon came 

over and said to me, “Did you see that?” I said, “Yeah, I sure did.” He said, “What do you 

think?” I told him that I didn’t think it was a fluke because it was a clear day. The plane 

obviously could completely see what was going on. And at that point, we agreed that there was a 
128 

problem, and we needed to lock down the EOC. We had about fifteen or twenty other people 

who just came walking into the EOC at the time. We had a very difficult time getting people out 

of there because most of them who were walking around thought it was just something that 

happened. But when the second plane hit, they thought differently. I would say by . . . 9:30 

a.m., the EOC was . . . operational and we were doing the functions, establishing the 

communications with our subordinate units, identifying assets, and where they were located, 

doing telephonic alerts, having our subordinates doing their telephonic alerts down to their 

subordinate units to make sure we had a hundred percent connectivity with all of them. We were 

identifying secure capabilities because we knew we’d have to use the STU-IIIs between the 

MSCs and ourselves. We also sent a SITREP [situation report] up . . . to the USARC regarding 

the planes going into the buildings. That probably got to the USARC headquarters at about 

 . . . 9:20 [a.m]. That’s what happened when we first kicked off. . . . 

 I stayed for the next . . . four days working here. We worked about twenty hours a day. 

As the EOC became more efficient in its function, we brought in some more of the reservists to 

augment some of our full time staff. We received several requests from FEMA regarding the 

need for cots, body bags, tents, things like that. We were getting these requests and we were 

processing them. We were evaluating the force protection level consistently, receiving 

[intelligence] to make sure we were making the right decisions regarding the force protection. 

We would sleep, alternating in a room across from the EOC. . . . At one point, the access roster 

listed about 120 people [working in the EOC]. I believe we had twenty-six people on the floor at 

one time. And it ran like that for about ten days to two weeks. Then we found out that we were 

running out of money since it was near the end of the fiscal year, so some people weren’t able to 

stay on tour. So we had to cut back. But [for] most of the . . . full time soldiers, we didn’t 

receive any compensation time or anything like that. We just worked straight through. The 

civilians, they were guaranteed to get overtime pay or compensation time. . . . Major Zoller just 

kind of stepped in. . . . He just took it and ran with it and made the whole thing run very 

smoothly until the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Colonel Cacciatore, was able to come 

in. . . . 

The number one major problem was that people from all over this building came in and 

decided they wanted to watch our television to see what was going on. Now I understand public 

interest and things like that when it comes to disasters, . . . but it seemed that everyone forgot 

that we had a mission to do that day. Obviously, something terrible had happened, and the whole 

world just stopped for them, and they couldn’t follow through with what they needed to do. And 

we needed to do a lot. We gave a lot of support to the National Guard and to FEMA. . . . Some 

of the FEMA [employees] were our . . . [reservists]. They worked for our command. We had 

very few people interacting with our FEMA people down on the streets of lower Manhattan. So 

that was a major problem. People were sitting on my desk with the phone ringing, and I couldn’t 

answer the phone. It turned out that it was the CXO, Command Executive Officer Mr. Gary 
 129

DiLallo. He asked me what was happening and why it took me so long to answer my phone. 

And I told him that I had people sitting in the way, and I couldn’t get to my phone because this 

[one man] wouldn’t move. And that’s when Mr. DiLallo came down and made sure they got out 

of the EOC. That was the biggest challenge within the first couple of hours. . . . 

The full time staff that worked here knew what they were doing because we do it 

everyday. The [Deputy] Chief of Staff for Operations, Colonel Cacciatore, had just gotten that 

job. He had been a battalion commander at the 436th Transportation Battalion at Fort 

Wadsworth on Staten Island before. So he had never worked on the division-level staff, 

especially in the number four position as the DCSOPS. . . . He had no assistant DCSOPS at all. 

As far as the leadership went, [they] had never done this before, never worked in an arena where 

they operated in an EOC. I had worked in an EOC for sixteen months before in the Philippines, 

Japan, and then Korea, so I knew how it functioned. Mr. Rolon had worked in the EOC at Fort 

Dix for eight months when it was fully operational, so he knew what was going on. Major Zoller 

worked in an EOC. Major Virginia Rea . . . was a training officer. She worked in an EOC in 

Korea. So the people who knew how to run an EOC were being told what to do by people who 

had never worked in an EOC before. So, it became very challenging for us to say in a diplomatic 

way, “Okay, this is how we’re really . . . supposed to do it. We have to setup rotating watches. 

We just can’t have people . . . working twenty hours a day for the first week.” We tried to 

explain, “You really can’t do that; people have to go and get sleep every once in awhile. Not 

everybody can run through all night like that.” So that was the challenge in the next couple of 

weeks. 

The third part of it was the middle part, right around where the fiscal year ended up. We 

had no money at the end of the fiscal year, even though we were promised that people would be 

paid. Many people had a problem getting paid. They eventually got paid. And then when 1 

October hit, we were promised that people would be . . . paid. General [Thomas] Plewes came 

up on 28 September and told us we had an open checkbook and do what we needed to do. Then 

a couple of weeks later we found out . . . there was just no money in it. So we had to figure out 

how we were going to pay our people. We had to rotate them in on AT pay . . . so they couldn’t 

go to annual training this year. So that’s going to affect readiness in the units. People could not 

be pulled in on ADSW [additional duty for special work]. . . because it wasn’t authorized. We 

couldn’t pay people for ADT [active duty for training]. . . . So in essence, we were told we could 

bring people in. We just couldn’t pay them. 

Then the [next] major issue over the long run was force protection for our soldiers. We 

started out at force protection level Delta, and the measures we put in place were not even at the 

Charlie level. . . . We had armed guards walking around the base on rotating patrols for twentyfour hours. . . . We never made it to force protection level Delta at Fort Totten. . . . The only 

place that was . . . Delta was Fort Hamilton, which is run by the Military District of Washington. 

. . . We were just checking IDs at the gate, which was nothing. . . . The problem with that is we 
130 

can’t pay . . . all the MPs – military policeman – now. . . running through AT money again, all 

the annual training money. So now we have a whole military police brigade that doesn’t have 

any annual training time. That’s going to negatively affect their readiness, and we’ve deployed 

several of the military police units already, which runs us even thinner. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: So, the pay issue is probably the most important one, and you’re saying it 

still hasn’t been resolved yet? 

CARPENTER: No, it hasn’t been resolved for several cases . . . People still haven’t been paid, 

and . . . we’re running out of people. We put . . . administrative specialists on the front gate to 

guard the gates for a time because we didn’t have any of the military police that were available. 

There’s just nobody available because they’ve used their fourteen days of annual training time, 

and we’re not allowed to give anymore money to anyone else. 

INTERVIEWER: When military policemen pull guard duty, they’re actually training in their 

MOS [military occupational specialty], correct? 

CARPENTER: Some of the units are. Some of the units are law and order units; others are 

EPW – enemy prisoner of war – units. And their METL [mission essential task list] tasks might 

be supported by what they’re doing. But pretty much the [MPs] are sitting in their HUMVEEs at 

the front gate just looking at ID cards. . . . They’re not even performing perimeter patrols. . . . 

They have some weapons that they’re qualified on. I don’t think they are allowed to have 

[ammunition] . . . right now. . . . You go to Fort Hamilton or you go to West Point. They’re 

setup. They’re organized very well. 

[Sergeant First Class Carpenter explained that the military police at Fort Totten were 

not as well trained as they needed to be for the job.] . 

 So they’re kind of a little bit of a deflection shield, but if anyone tried to drive through 

and they had any identification at all, that would fly. Not too long ago, there were several cases 

of dependent identification cards that were stolen out of Bethesda, Maryland that haven’t been 

recovered. Well, the guys down at the gate, they don’t know the serial number on those cards. 

They have no idea what the numbers on these cards are. How would they identify which one is a 

good card or which one is a bad card? Now, that situation is the same at West Point or anywhere 

else. No one [is] checking the numbers off against the roster. This is one example of where 

they’re really lacking. . . . 

The focus of the Command Group . . . has been very much staying in our lane by 

identifying and reporting threats in the New York City area, suspicious activity. . . . We’ve kept 

them [informed] of any situation. We’ve given them trend analysis. And they’ve focused on 

everything that’s in our box, which I can say is very commendable because a lot of the command 

structure out there – they’re not really focusing on what’s in their area. They’re looking 
 131

everywhere else. . . . If they don’t watch their area, that’s where we’re going to have more 

problems. We identified an elevated force protection level that’s been ongoing for the New York 

City area. But the people up at Reserve Command didn’t tell us that. We had to find that out 

from the state adjutant general for the National Guard in New York. . . . So in a situation like 

this, we’re at a lower force protection level. So we’re going to be the likely target if something 

happens, as opposed to one of the other bases that’s at an elevated level. And it goes back to 

where our people – our higher command – isn’t looking over here. The very first message we 

got from them . . . was civilians should go home. This was September 11, . . . but they should 

report back to work, regular time the next day. It was to be understood that USARC’s message 

is “business as usual.” . . . We queried USARC on that [email] traffic, and we identified that part 

of Manhattan was missing. We identified the fact that most of the trains that go through 

Manhattan, the buses that go through Manhattan, the vehicular traffic that goes through 

Manhattan, can’t go through Manhattan. And probably about sixty percent of our people can’t 

get to Fort Totten, not even to mention the other centers. How can it be business as usual? 

People were afraid to leave their house[s]. . . . They [USARC] still [does not] really understand 

what happened that day, or knew what was going on.256 

 

256 Sergeant First Class Gregory Carpenter, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording 

with transcript, 13 December 2001. 
132 

Mr. Michael Scotto 
 133

Chapter 7 

Mr. Michael Scotto, Deputy Chief of Staff for Information Management 

and the Information Management Officer, 

77th Regional support Command, Fort Totten, New York 

[Mr. Scotto was also an Army Reserve colonel and deputy chief of staff for information 

management at the 77th. He had twenty-eight years of military service.] 

 [On the morning of 11 September, Mr. Scotto and other chief civilians at the 77th were 

attending a conference on the second floor at the Ernie Pyle Building when the first attack on the 

World Trade Center occurred.] 

SCOTTO: Someone walked in and handed Mr. [Gary] DiLallo, the command executive officer, 

a note. He got up and left . . . the room. A few moments later . . . Sergeant [First Class] Yvette 

Lee, who works in the command section, . . . says, “A plane has hit the World Trade Center. We 

are activating the Emergency Operations Center. Please, if you are required to be up there, 

please go up there immediately.” Well, I went back to my office to get another pad of paper or 

something and by the time I got up there, people turned to me when I walked into the EOC, and 

they said a second plane has hit the World Trade Center. And then we all knew that America 

was being attacked. 

INTERVIEWER: What did you do next? 

SCOTTO: The immediate crisis from the information management standpoint was the fact that 

people could not get out on the normal LAN [local area network-Intranet] lines and could not 

send or receive faxes. The reason for that is because – just like whenever there’s any kind of 

natural disaster – everybody picks up the phone at the same time to call family or friends or their 

employer. The telephone switches are only able to handle so many phones being off the hook at 

any one time. So . . . there were a lot of no dial-tone reports. There were a lot of people getting 

the recording saying that this call could not be completed. Same thing with faxes – they weren’t 

going through because there were just too many people trying to use the normal phone lines. 

 [Mr. Scotto digressed to explain his section’s primary responsibilities.] We are 

responsible for base operations information management, which includes printing, publications, 

and postage, and administrative dissemination of regulatory requirements. On the automation 

side, we’re responsible for telecommunications and other automation issues, like computers. . . . 

We are the technical providers of computer and telecommunications. . . . We do provide . . . the 

RLAS [Regional Level Application System] software and the RCAS [Regional Computer 

Application System] machinery for the unit to use. I encouraged people to send messages by 
134 

email and to . . . keep trying to get through on the telephone because the cellular phones . . . 

were clogged. . . . Everybody in the New York area – probably everybody all over the country – 

was trying to call somebody else. There were just too many phone calls flooding the line. I got 

with my automation officer, Captain Robert Smith, and I gave him a number of instructions, as 

far as making sure that the system did not take in any viruses, or if there were any virus attacks, 

to report them immediately. I had one person on leave – our information assurance or computer 

security person, Cordelia Cafferty – and I said, “Call her back. We may need her in here.” The 

main person in the section, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Cunningham, was at Fort Wadsworth that 

morning inspecting some new construction going on down there. He was unable to get back to 

Fort Totten till later that afternoon because, of course, the roads were closed off. 

INTERVIEWER: What was taking place in the Emergency Operations Center here at Fort 

Totten on the morning of 11 September? 

SCOTTO: Everyone was pretty shocked and pretty horrified, but they had an idea of how they 

had to function. They were opening up staff logs. They were coordinating with people they 

needed to coordinate with. There was a great deal of tension in the air, especially as we heard 

about the flight in Pennsylvania and the Pentagon. And we were looking at each other, 

wondering, “My God, what’s going to happen next?” But people were functioning, and the 

perception was, “Get ready, they’re going to need us. Everybody should be getting ready, too.” 

INTERVIEWER: What happened throughout the day? What was going on? 

SCOTTO: Throughout the day, I primarily stayed in the EOC. And the reason for that was in 

case somebody had some kind of an automation-related question involving telecommunications 

or the computers, I wanted to be the first line of defense before I had to bring in one of my 

technical experts. . . . Sometimes it would take forty-five minutes for somebody to get out and 

make a phone call to a selected unit. . . . The information management team functioned 

extremely well. . . . They made sure that the network operations were maintained. . . . The 

Administrative Services Division took extra precautions before anything erupted about anthrax 

to make sure that the mail was secure as best they could coming into the center. I was contacted 

by Mr. Richard Eckstein, who is the director of information management at Fort Dix, and he said 

that to give USARC a call, which I did. I found myself being on a conference call with a couple 

of people, and I keep an operational log. And from the 11th of September to 15 September, I 

was not able to make any entries because I was simply that busy. I wound up briefing the 

information management counterparts at USARC headquarters in Atlanta. . . . I gave them a 

situational report. They asked if I needed supplementation, as far as personnel, and I said, “I will 

let you know tomorrow. It’s a little early to judge.” . . . We began preparing for twenty-fourseven operations immediately. That’s pretty much what I did on September 11th. 
 135

INTERVIEWER: Could you elaborate a little bit further on that conference call with our 

higher headquarters at USARC? Was there anything else that was discussed, or some specifics 

with regarding to what kind of guidance they were providing, or level of service that they were 

going to give the 77th? 

SCOTTO: They were asking us what we needed. I said that at this time we appeared to have it 

about ninety percent under control, but with twenty-four-seven operations in a high-stress 

environment, and not being able to anticipate what the next day or even the rest of the 11th of 

September would foist upon us, I was concerned about the endurance of the people. The people 

who work in the network operations center . . . here and the other automation people – they’re 

very dedicated, but it’s also an extremely demanding environment to work in, especially if we 

didn’t know how coordinated the attack would be. For example, would there be electronic 

viruses or anything like that going into our network? If there were, we didn’t know what the 

effect would be. So we were operating in the dark. 

INTERVIEWER: What were the challenges that the DCSIM [Deputy Chief of Staff, 

Information Management] faced over the next course of several weeks from 11 September? 

SCOTTO: We had a number of TPU soldiers who were issued computers, either here at the 

office, or laptops to take with them. About a week prior to 9-11, there was a virus introduced 

called “As Per Your Request.” . . . On the fourth of September . . . when that virus was 

introduced, [the DCSIM section] put in a filter in our server [which] prevented the virus from 

spreading. . . . At any rate, on 9-11, everybody tried to get through – either computer, or email or 

phone – and when the people who were issued laptops, turned to their laptops, some of them 

opened up "As Per Your Request" virus. They didn’t know that it was a virus. It was a very 

cleverly designed attack on our network. The main thing is that it was stopped, and something 

that could’ve been crippling to telecommunications, was not. That was one issue. . . . 

I was working eighteen-hour days primarily being a buffer between the many 

requirements that could’ve been handled and were handled at a relatively lower level. My goal 

was to minimize the interference with my technical people in order to keep them at the high end 

of expertise. If it was a question of something that I could answer, then I would do that. We had 

to make space in the warehouse building 118. We had about 400 boxes of monitors, of 

computers, servers, printers, and other automation equipment in there. Since the fire department 

needed to use that, we had to make a good deal of space for them. 

 [On 12 September, Mr. Scotto contacted the USARC to ask for a fourth contractor who 

specialized in telecommunications. The USARC complied and sent two personnel.] 
136 

I kept working about twelve to eighteen-hour days. . . . Everybody was holding up very 

well. They were under some stressful circumstances, but the troop morale was positive. People 

were determined to do what they could, and that was from the highest and the lowest. 

The goal in the staff meetings was that we will support the needs of our citizens. 

Concurrent with that . . . was the need to secure our own facilities. Of course, there are other 

people who could tell you more about what the MPs did as far as securing the gate. For us, the 

main thing was getting an x-ray scanner for the mail. We were the first ones from USARC to be 

given that. It took awhile for it to get here. It’s just now going into operation because we had to 

construct a special room for it [in building 124]. That was another way that USARC did support 

us. . . . It is a warehouse. So that means that there is a certain amount of empty space available 

[and]. . . that there’s a low density of people working there. Because it was a brand new building 

just standing up at roughly the time that this event occurred, we were able to do modifications 

without disrupting other things. Some of the modifications included a ventilation system that 

would pull the air toward the bottom. If you had a ventilation system pulling air out toward the 

top, you’d be getting potentially particles up your nose. We have two entrances to it. One 

entrance is normal, to be used on a routine basis, with double doors to take in packages so they 

can be put on the end of the scanner. The other door is your panic door. We’re hooking up an 

email there and a telephone. We’re going to be alarming it so that when someone has to go 

through that panic door, an alarm will sound throughout the entire building, so that everyone will 

get out of there. We’re also going to have an emergency flush shower there, so that somebody 

can wash out their eyes in case . . . something is emitted. 

INTERVIEWER: What is the function of this special room? 

SCOTTO: It’s to scan packages through the x-ray scanner, very much the same thing when you 

go through an airport. And it’s just to make sure nothing is in there that should not be in there. 

INTERVIEWER: From my understanding, its construction is very special, with reinforced 

walls. Could you describe that for us? 

SCOTTO: You’d be better off talking to the engineers, but the walls are designed to blow 

outward . . . instead of inward. . . .We . . . had another virus attack on the 18th of September. . . . 

One of our contractors had already updated the system, so that one was thwarted. It took about 

three or four days for a dial tone to resume as normal. There was an occasional wait, but nothing 

like the first two or three days. 

 [Lieutenant General Plewes visited and briefed the 77th command group and key staff on 

16 September.] 

 I would prefer to consider it a classified briefing, although there are a couple of things I 

can mention. General Plewes had nothing but admiration for the hard work the 77th had done. 
 137

He addressed some issues of mobilization . . . I can’t go into here. But he was very positive and 

very supportive of us. He mentioned the initial phases of the mobilization that we were in, and 

he mentioned that we could certainly expect more. He said that because the situation was so 

fluid at that time, he wasn’t sure exactly who would be mobilized and where they would go, 

except for some of the things that we now know. For example, there are some MP units that 

have been mobilized. . . . Some of it was homeland defense . . . for the security for military 

installations. I believe the National Guard has the airports that they’re responsible for. 

INTERVIEWER: Was there anything conveyed pertaining to USARC's support for LIBERTY 

CRISIS? 

SCOTTO: Other than what I already mentioned for our area – information management – 

there were two things. . . . USARC did pay for the scanner. . . . It’s very much like the large 

scanners that you go through at an airport when you go through security. And we did have the 

understanding – and you’d have to talk to the comptroller or the operations people on this – that 

USARC would be picking up the bill for the costs of LIBERTY CRISIS, which was our 

involvement in this, as far as putting soldiers on orders and that sort of thing. I can tell you that 

in the civilian world, I pulled a couple of strings with my former employer, Verizon, to get some 

support that we needed at one of our centers. And they came through. . . . We were able to get 

some additional support to [Fort] Wadsworth, as far as some of the engineering work. So 

between my Verizon experience, [the contractor’s] telecommunication experience, and the help 

we got from Verizon, we were then able to have a plan of action for the new lines for the units 

that were going to be moving into the Wadsworth Reserve Center – the 8th Medical Brigade and 

the 353rd Civil Affairs. The idea being is that we do not want to be defeated. We want our 

operations to continue, and if possible, to enhance and improve, despite the attack. 

INTERVIEWER: You mentioned Fort Wadsworth. Was this in direct correlation with the 11 

September attack, or was that facility going to be stood up anyway? 

SCOTTO: That facility was going to be stood up in the future anyway. . . . 

 [Mr. Scotto explained that the DCSIM section was not directly involved in aiding New 

York City. It worked internally supporting the 77th’s information technology needs.] 

INTERVIEWER: In prior experience with the section, were they trained for this contingency? 

SCOTTO: We have a number of people who had seen combat, either in Vietnam or the Gulf 

War, and that kind of helped with the initial shock. The technical experts . . . had been through 

virus attacks before. Our Administrative Services Section . . . looks for [any] suspicious 
138 

package. That was a matter of routine before the attack on September 11th. And of course, 

that’s been significantly enhanced and emphasized since then. 

INTERVIEWER: What about any sort of prior training with the establishment of the EOC with 

DCSIM’s involvement there? 

SCOTTO: The EOC was first stood up for the Y2K rollover – December 31st, 1999 to January 

1, 2000. I was not in the section at that time. I was the assistant deputy chief of staff for 

logistics. . . . I wound up . . . being the senior officer in the EOC that night, but the primary staff 

sections had representatives there. We rolled over without incident at any of our centers, and 

that was a good exercise for the EOC. 

INTERVIEWER: Prior to your involvement here, your staff had been exposed to working in an 

EOC environment with the Y2K time period. 

SCOTTO: That’s correct. They had, in a sense, a dress rehearsal for it, where they had the 

lines up and operating. They had phones on the desks. They had a fax and a copier. Both the 

fax and the copier were secure up there. They had the big screen television going so that we 

could monitor what was going on. . . . We were watching the time zones throughout the world. 

 [Mr. Scotto then elaborated on the sometimes twice-daily LIBERTY CRISIS senior staff 

meetings] 

 Each section would give an update on what had transpired. . . . I think we were up to 

three staff meetings at a time, but only the principle staff, which was in this case [personnel], 

[operations], and logistics, were in the midday meeting. . . . I wanted to make sure that my 

technical experts were doing technical expert things, and that if somebody had a problem with, 

for example, email, that I was there to act as the buffer first. If it was a lower-level technical 

problem or some kind of administrative issue, I would handle [it]. The administrative issue I 

could think of off the top of my head would be how do we handle anthrax? . . . At one point, 

there were about thirty different websites talking about how to handle anthrax . . . from various 

governmental entities. Now with that in mind, we had to go to the USARC. Reserve 

headquarters did come up with a protocol, as far as what to look for, how to handle things, and 

we, of course, passed it on to the units. Mr. Harry Rivera, the head of the Administrative 

Services Division of this section, was the one who was doing that. He worked with Mr. Marty 

Sullivan down at the USARC headquarters. 

INTERVIEWER: Could you tell me how these new protocols affected the dissemination of 

incoming mail? 
 139

SCOTTO: We immediately stopped all incoming mail the next day. . . . Around 17 October or 

thereabouts, we resumed mail operations. We didn’t resume packages until the 19th or the 20th. 

INTERVIEWER: When you say, “you resumed,” does that mean the packages were held in 

storage for an indefinite period of time before they were delivered? 

SCOTTO: That’s correct. The U.S. mail went through. Anything that came through UPS 

[United Parcel Service], Federal Express, Airborne, or any of the other ones – that became 

something of a concern because a number of the AMSA [area maintenance support activity] 

shops were getting critical parts that they needed. I spoke with Major Douglas Gradwohl and 

Mr. Robert Neglia in the logistics shop . . . and I said, “If you can identify anything specific with 

a manufacturer and a designation, we will ask the delivery services to look for that specific 

package and we’ll get that one through.” . . . The criticality of the package itself was going to be 

the driving force. I don’t think we had more than one or two that came into that category. The 

shops were able to sustain themselves for that period of time without anything of that critical a 

nature. We also put out the word on handling mail with gloves. We reminded people that they 

should look for certain things, like misspelled words, excessive amounts of postage, grease spots 

on the envelope, heavy and bulky envelopes, and that kind of thing. 

INTERVIEWER: Colonel, it’s been a little over four months now since the attacks on the 

United States. Now that you’re looking back on it, what could you have done differently starting 

from that date, 11 September? 

SCOTTO: First thing that I would have done differently, would have involved myself. I think 

that if I were to walk into the EOC reliving the whole thing, seeing me sitting there and handling 

the occasional automation or telecommunications question, I think the first thing I would’ve said, 

“Scotto, where’s your staff log?” Because when somebody’s opening up a staff log, you’re 

focusing them away from the pictures on TV, and you’re getting them back to doing their job. 

And with all that, with the inertia of all the training that’s been done before, kicks into play. 

Most of the training had been done before. People knew what to look for in a suspicious 

package. The network operations people knew how to handle proactively a virus. That’s one 

thing I would’ve done differently. We’ve taken some corrective measures, for example, having 

extra batteries and chargers for the cell phones. Our staff coordination internally was well. . . . I 

believe we need to look at phonetics. The reason for this is because in the EOC, you’re going to 

have soldiers from private on up to general going in and out of there. Some of those soldiers, 

even if they’re officers or senior NCOs, are not necessarily familiar with how an RSC staff 

works. We experienced confusion between IM, EN and PM, in other words, information 

management, engineers, and provost marshal. There was confusion between IR and IG – 

internal review and inspector general. On at least one occasion, one of my IM soldiers was 
140 

called in because somebody said, “You know, we’d better talk to the PM and get some help up 

here.” They meant provost marshal. I would venture to say that’s a couple of things that we 

learned out of this. 

INTERVIEWER: There was an issue pertaining to secure phone lines. Would you elaborate 

on that, Sir? 

SCOTTO: The secure equipment that we used is called a STU-III – Secure Telephone Unit 

Generation-3. And this is designed so that each center has one, and I believe each general officer 

has one as well. It’s designed so that somebody could take it home with them if need be and 

conduct secure telecommunications over to the unit from their home. . . . It’s a regular unit that 

plugs into an ordinary phone jack. The scrambling is at each unit, at each end, not in the line 

itself. [The 77th Regional Support Command has about forty STUs throughout thirty-eight 

Army Reserve centers.] 

INTERVIEWER: In cases of emergencies, national crisis, these phones are what’s to be 

utilized for the exchange of classified information? 

SCOTTO: That’s correct. I know that during the immediate aftermath [of 11 September], there 

was a need or a perceived need by USARC to get in touch with some of the commands. All the 

commands experienced significant problems with getting these units to work. There were 

several reasons for that. Number one, the key [that] codes the STUs, had expired. This is a 

COMSEC [communications security] item. You’d have to talk to the [operations] folks who 

know more about that than I do. But if it’s not used and updated, it will expire. People did not 

know how to use the equipment. And just like any other piece of Army equipment, if you don’t 

know how to use it, it’s effectively useless. Some of them were being used as regular 

telephones, which they can be used as, because people didn’t really know. It’s not an item that 

has to be locked up because without the key, it’s just another telephone. We should consider 

using secure telephone equipment during our mobilization exercises, for example, or perhaps 

during AT preparation, and other things like that. It’s a way to keep people current with secure 

technology. 

INTERVIEWER: Is our higher headquarters – Army Reserve Command – aware of the 

problem with these STU units? How far up the chain has this been acknowledged? 
 141

SCOTTO: I know it’s been acknowledged up to the USARC chief of staff level. I do know that 

at the 77th a number of secure telephone conversations were conducted. So I would like to 

believe that we’re better than most.257 

 

257 Mr. Michael Scotto, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript , 1 February 2002 
142 

Mr. Peter Garcia 
 143

Chapter 8 

Mr. Peter Garcia, Civil Military Project Officer, 

77th Regional Support Command, Fort Totten, New York

[Mr. Garcia was also an Army Reserve operations master sergeant in the Third Brigade, 98th 

Division, Bronx. He had worked in his civilian job since 1996.] 

INTERVIEWER: Can you please describe what your [civilian] position entails? 

GARCIA: I manage the emergency preparedness liaison officer program for the 77th RSC 

Region 2. I work recruitment for counterdrug support to the United States government, and I 

work a program called innovative readiness training, which provides support to civilian 

communities using military resources. 

INTERVIEWER: On September 11, 2001, can you describe what occurred that day and how 

your role here at the 77th was executed? 

GARCIA: First of all, the emergency preparedness liaison officer program was developed in 

1996 as a transition from the ARCOM to RSC. We have three colonels – one working for New 

York, one working for New Jersey state, and one regional colonel. These teams are attached to 

either a state or Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to support overall federal 

response to an emergency as a result of an emergency or a disaster. My job here at the RSC is to 

coordinate that support as requested from the FEMA . . . or DOD [Department of Defense] as 

the emergency runs its course. On 9-11, I was attending a class when the event happened. And 

as practiced and/or as executed in the past, the EOC immediately comes up as in response to any 

type of disaster or mobilization. So at approximately 9:30 [a.m.], myself, a member or 

representative of the EOC for military support to civil authorities, I assumed . . .[that] role . . . 

as the MSCA [military support to civil authorities] representative. . .in the EOC. My job is to 

advise the commander and coordinate any requests through or down from FEMA and coordinate 

the RSC providing that support to the community. 

INTERVIEWER: The morning on September 11, what was taking place? Were you in the 

Emergency Operations Center here at the 77th? Did you man a station there, and what occurred? 

GARCIA: . . . We were in a state of confusion. We really didn’t know what had taken place, 

the extent of what had happened. However, the first thing that I knew that needed to be done is I 

had to get my EPLO . . . teams to . . . FEMA to begin the coordination of their role . . . as the 

DOD agent. So Colonel [Gerald] McEnerney was at . . . work, and [because] New York City 
144 

was closed down, he couldn’t get into New York City. . . . I coordinated with the McDonald 

Reserve Center, 320th Chemical Company [Queens]. Two soldiers volunteered to escort 

McEnerney into Manhattan and report to FEMA. So the first thing that I did was I called the 

team to find out what their status was. I got McEnerney down to 26 Federal Plaza. And he 

happened to get down there within the first . . . hour of the event. . . . 

 There are three teams. The regional team, Region 2, Colonel McEnerney is the principal 

emergency preparedness liaison officer. The assistant principal is Lieutenant Colonel John 

Maul. The operation officer EPLO is Lieutenant Colonel Ronny Snyder. The communications 

EPLO is Major Jack Lomidico. The logistics EPLO is Major Carolyn Lott. The operations NCO 

. . . is Master Sergeant Dominick Cutaia. Now that’s the regional team. 

 For New York state, you have a Colonel Michael Santarcangelo. He’s the principal 

SEPLO, state EPLO. His assistant is a Major Nicholas Scopelletti. This is New York state. For 

New Jersey, you have a Colonel Walter Jankowski, and he’s the principal SEPLO, and he does 

not have an assistant. . . . The thing to do is to get the principal in place so he can . . . start his 

duties. 

 The next individual was Colonel Santarcangelo. He reports to the state emergency office 

in Albany. However, [he] was in Michigan at the time, and all airline traffic was shut down into 

New York City. So it took him one additional day to get in. His assistant lives in New York 

City. So rather than him going upstate to Albany . . . he reported to Colonel McEnerney in New 

York City. Walter Jankowski, who is the New Jersey state emergency preparedness officer, 

reported to Edison, New Jersey, where there was a temporary EOC set up for FEMA . . . Then a 

former liaison officer, Colonel David Rockefeller . . . a former EPLO for New York State, 

reported to Albany. . . . He took over Colonel Santarcangelo’s duties until Colonel Santarcangelo 

was able to get in from Michigan. So the team was notified within the first . . . eight hours, and 

within the first twenty-four hours everybody was in place. That was my first responsibility – to 

get everybody in place so they can start working their duties. 

INTERVIEWER: You mentioned that Colonel McEnerney was down at ground zero. By what 

time? 

GARCIA: I would say by ten [a.m.] He had [a] military escort, and the highways were closed 

down, [but] he was able to get through . . . So we were able to get somebody over to his office 

[in Queens] within maybe fifteen minutes, and they got him down [to ground zero] within an 

hour or so. 

INTERVIEWER: Who were you communicating with at your higher headquarters? 

GARCIA: . . . The next thing is to open up the lines of communication between myself and the 

USARC and First Army. The next up in the chain . . . is David Claygamon. He’s the GS-12 
 145

military planner at the USARC. So I immediately opened the line of communication with him 

and then at First Army because the EPLOs are . . . attached to First Army. So the individual at 

First Army . . . is Jerome Loving. So my responsibility is to open up the lines of communication 

with these different levels of command in order to begin the coordination of support. 

INTERVIEWER: What kind of coordination did occur? 

GARCIA: . . . As operations were beginning to unfold . . . not so much federal, [but] a lot of city 

and state and local hospitals, agencies were unofficially coming to the command requesting 

different types of equipment [and] supplies. For example, the FBI was setting up operations in 

Floyd Bennett Field [U.S. Coast Guard station in Brooklyn]. They needed generators and cots 

and sleeping bags. The New York City Police Department . . . did not know the extent of the 

damage. They were just beginning to field their way through the early period, and they needed 

protective masks to go into [the] . . . ground zero area. So they came to us, and we gave them a 

number of protective masks using one of our units in Fort Hamilton. The U.S. Coast Guard had 

also needed tents and sleeping bags. The [New York] Fire Department . . . needed GP [general 

purpose] medium-size tents. The NYPD . . . and the fire department were looking for areas to 

store some of their equipment that they were using. They wanted to use Fort Totten as a staging 

ground so they needed to use some of our space. . . . In the early stages, people were coming to 

us just trying get some basic things in order to bring up their Emergency Operations Center 

wherever that may have been. So there was the EOC at Fort Hamilton. Then the NYPD was 

working out of Fort Hamilton. The FBI was working out of Floyd Bennett Field. The Coast 

Guard was working out of Floyd Bennett Field. . . . So those were the initial types of requests we 

were getting. . . . [The requests] were coming in . . . by cell phone. We were [also] getting 

emails. The telephones were down. The local LAN lines were down. 

INTERVIEWER: Were these requests coming in through various authorities being channeled 

through the normal FEMA channel or were these unofficial types of requests coming in outside 

of the normal FEMA requests? 

GARCIA: As we’re getting these requests, I’m supposed to evaluate them and try to route them 

through, without being bureaucratic [to] the right channels. The primary goal is to ensure that if 

we don’t get the stuff [equipment] back, that we get reimbursed for it. That’s my responsibility 

– to ensure that the request is a legitimate request coming from a legitimate entity, and that if we 

do give the equipment out that we are going to get reimbursed for it. . . . I contact my team to 

find out if this can be routed through their process or the FEMA process so we can get 

reimbursement for it. If it cannot be routed through [FEMA], [then] . . . the commander has to 

make a decision [on whether] to provide that support under the immediate response policy. 
146 

INTERVIEWER: Can you describe the FEMA process? 

GARCIA: The process is that if an agency has a request for support, what they do is they go to 

FEMA. . . . FEMA is in charge of the overall operations and wherever their EOCs are at. . . . For 

instance, there may be a city hospital, and that hospital has a need for generators. What they do 

is they go to FEMA and . . . ask . . . for the generators. And FEMA will then determine what is 

the cheapest way to provide that support to that hospital. Now, there is a different level of 

support. They may decide to go to the Department of Transportation to provide those generators 

because they might have a storage area of generators just sitting there waiting to give to the 

hospital. But if those generators are not available, they may go to the Red Cross. If the Red 

Cross doesn’t have the generators, what they do then they will go to the DOD. It might not be in 

that order. However, they tend to go to the DOD last because the DOD is the most expensive. 

So the process is to come into FEMA. FEMA makes the determination where the request should 

go to. If the request comes to the DOD, what they do is then they come to me. The DOD comes 

to [me], and then I coordinate providing that support to the entity that is requesting it. 

INTERVIEWER: Can you describe the process for those agencies which do not utilize the 

FEMA process? 

GARCIA: The doctrine that we use to justify. . . support that is not being funneled through the 

FEMA process is called immediate response. But my job is to find out if we can first funnel the 

request through the FEMA. . . . If we can’t . . . then . . . we respond under immediate response. 

But first we have to decide, does this meet the immediate response policy in order to provide that 

support? So an agency [will] call us directly, and they’ll tell us what kind of agency they are 

[and] why they need the equipment. . . . I’ll . . . first try to get it processed through FEMA. If 

not, then what I’ll do is determine if this is a request that if we do not provide that support . . . 

somebody’s life could be lost, or there would be great damage to property. So we’re trying to 

save lives, and we’re trying to save property. And if it meets that criteria, then the commander 

can say, “Okay. They have a need. We can provide an immediate response. It is justified.” 

And then the commander makes his decision based on whatever I tell him. Usually, that’s the 

criteria I use - loss of life, loss of property. If it meets that criteria, I recommend that they 

support whatever the request is. 

INTERVIEWER: You had illustrated to us earlier several different types of requests that did 

come through concerning gas masks, tents, and sleeping bags. . . . 

GARCIA: . . . We had a request from the National Guard. They were setting up an area . . . 

either in Staten Island or the Bronx. It might have been a couple of areas to store the equipment 

– the stuff that was being taken out of ground zero. In that debris were probably body parts and 
 147

whatever chemicals that might have been part of that debris and that debris was toxic. So the 

National Guard came to us and asked for tents because they had used up all of their tents. The 

commander had agreed to give them tents. So we gave them ten tents, GP mediums. [We] got 

them out of one of our ECS [extended core storage], gave them to the National Guard . . . [who] 

destroyed the tents because the tents had exposure to chemicals, . . . and they were no longer 

useable. . . . [Since] the tents [were] not provided to them through the FEMA channels, there is 

no formal reimbursement through FEMA. However, it’s justified because we gave the tents to 

the National Guard under the immediate response, so we’ll be able to do a report of survey, and 

they’ll find no one liable for the uses of the tents. . . . That was one of the items . . . we did [loan] 

that came from the informal process that we provided, and that’s how we’re going to wind up 

writing it off or getting our money back. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: What was the pace like with these types of requests for those first three 

days? 

GARCIA: Very quick. My job is not to make this a bureaucratic issue. . . . [You are] dealing 

with people’s lives. . . . People are in disarray. So you have a sense of urgency about supporting 

these people. I have to create a system which determines the validity of a request in order to get 

it in, get it out, and coordinate the equipment being provided to the entity. You . . . have to 

come up with a tracking system so you know as it comes in, you’re passing it to another person 

to . . . determine where this equipment is. Then at the same [time] you’re talking to the general 

and providing a recommendation. Should you or should you not provide the equipment? . . . All 

of this . . . is a process that we use to coordinate mobilizations and coordinate disasters. . . . This 

is just a military process that is used to expedite things to the emergency operations center 

process. 

INTERVIEWER: Where were you located when this was occurring and how did you facilitate 

that expeditious process of assisting with these tasks? 

GARCIA: I was in the EOC. I was a member of the primary [staff]. The general had a primary 

staff, which provided him recommendations as the event was unfolding. And then there is a EOC 

staff who is actually managing the process. . . . I was there providing him guidance and 

information as far as FEMA was concerned and as far as what we should be doing from the 

FEMA standpoint. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: You are giving him guidance on the FEMA side of it, but you’re also giving 

him guidance on the unofficial requests that are coming through? 
148 

GARCIA: Yes, because I have to make sure that he understands that he’s providing the support 

under immediate response. And immediate response . . . comes out of disaster management 

emergency preparedness. So anything . . . coming out of emergency preparedness, I’m his 

advisor from that perspective. 

INTERVIEWER: So all of the requests that went through to the 77th are considered to be 

what? 

GARCIA: Informal [tasks] that . . . we provided support under immediate response. 

INTERVIEWER: Give us an estimate of the total amount of requests. 

GARCIA: There were . . . numerous . . . types of requests [for equipment and space]. . . . Our 

soldiers were working . . . the issues. We had probably upwards of a thousand soldiers on duty 

at one point. We activated the 301st ASG [Area Support Group]. They had a couple of their 

units in and on duty. The 800th MPs had a few hundred soldiers on duty. We had to coordinate 

security of our facility. We had to . . . institute our force protection plans. As far as equipment 

is concerned, . . . I have a list of equipment that we gave out. . . . We gave out almost upwards of 

[$363,000] of equipment. We got most of it back, but we’re still short on a number of pieces. 

We allowed the New Jersey State Police [to] use Caven Point. The NYPD and the fire 

department used [the] Ernie Pyle Center. They used a lot of our space. Our EPLOs worked . . . 

essentially between 11 and 12 September . . . to 5 October. The whole team . . . rotated in and 

rotated out . . . for that twenty odd . . . days. The team was working down in Pier 90 [in 

Manhattan] supporting the DOD response cell. 

INTERVIEWER: Now you’re also saying that soldiers were out there supporting in manpower, 

i.e., perhaps providing a transportation truck to get something from point A to point B. Any 

other types of missions like that? 

GARCIA: . . . All of this equipment had to be delivered [and] set up sometimes. Tents had to 

be setup. . . . There was a certain level of security that each facility had to maintain. . . . Our 

security teams were responding as a result of THREATCON Charlie. The requests were coming 

in at the EOC within the first . . . forty-eight hours. We were getting requests for all types of 

supplies and equipment because I don’t think anybody was prepared for this type of operation. 

There was nothing pre-positioned, and I would say every federal and state agency in New York 

City . . . didn’t have pre-positioned EOC operations setup. . . . 

 As we were trying to set up our operations, we were trying to help the FBI and the New 

York City Police Department and the fire department establish EOC operations and staging areas 

so they can in turn begin operations. There is a sense of urgency of providing that support. . . . It 
 149

got [the] immediate attention of the staff that was involved. . . . If there’s a logistical request . . . 

from the fire department, I would immediately ask for tents. Our log[istical] representative 

would immediately identify . . . where the tents were at, and I would be talking to the 

commander explaining to him that we should provide this type of support. . . . He was not going 

to turn down any federal, city, state, or any entity that came to us for help. Under immediate 

response, we responded to all issues. . . . So I had to then respond by trying either . . . [to] get it 

through the FEMA channel or just identify where their equipment was so it can get to the entity. 

 It became a simple process. It wasn’t simple, but the process was. The Log would 

identify where the equipment was. . . . We would coordinate getting that equipment or providing 

that support to the entity. We had soldiers that were on standby . . . at various units . . . for 

security [and] to deliver the equipment. We had a whole team of soldiers in the Bronx at Jacobi 

Hospital that had a medical operation setup. We had a team of soldiers up there working, 

expecting to receive whatever from ground zero. . . . They had a whole . . . mortuary affairs 

system setup at Jacobi Hospital. . . . We had members from the 301st [who] helped deliver that 

equipment. We had members from the medical community . . . [who] were the ones up there 

helping, assisting, and operating that setup. We had to have soldiers take equipment out of our 

ECS [extended core storage] and have the equipment delivered to different sites throughout New 

York, especially the tents for the National Guard. Those were ten GP-medium tents. These are 

very large tents [that] require a lot of personnel to accumulate the wood, the pegs to tie them up, 

and put them on the trucks, and convoy them up to the sites, and take them down, put them up. 

 Everything that we gave out had to be either delivered, or if the entity came to us, we had 

to coordinate providing the equipment to the entity. We had the fire department and the police 

department . . . making deliveries almost like three or four times a day. . . . The police 

department was receiving equipment and supplies from . . . individuals . . . to support the 9-11 

operation. . . . The equipment was being laid out on the streets of downtown Manhattan. The 

police department came to us and asked us if we could use space to store this equipment. . . . 

They would bring the equipment to Fort Totten. And then our soldiers would offload the 

equipment, store it in the cages . . . up to within the last thirty days. They’re starting to get that 

stuff out of here now. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Six, seven months later in hindsight now, what things or processes or 

standard operating procedures do you feel could be implemented today that would have made it a 

great help to you on 11 September? 

GARCIA: To me there’s no doubt that the system worked. . . . The problem with the program is 

that it does not become a priority . . . until there’s a disaster. . . . We get lulled into this false 

sense of security over the years, and we just sit back because nothing’s happening. And then 

everybody just sort of thinks, “Well, I don’t need to attend this class. We don’t need to give this 
150 

 briefing. We don’t because, you know, nothing’s going to happen.” But then something 

happens and nobody knows what they need to do. Fortunately, that’s my job. I’m paid to know. 

And because . . . I do know, the command was able to respond. 

 But what I think we need to do is we need to educate commanders about immediate 

response . . . or their role in these type of events because commanders get requests from 

communities, and they’re not supposed to just go out and provide support . . . blindly. . . . It has 

to meet the test of their liability issues. And if you’re going to give equipment, which a 

commander does have the authority to give, however, he must give it under the immediate 

response policy. And if he doesn’t understand what immediate response is, then he could 

possibly open up himself to a lawsuit. He gives out some equipment, somebody gets killed, 

somebody gets hurt, then the individual sues, and he’s going to be held responsible. So I think 

what we need is more education. The commanders need to be educated about the process. They 

need to know if somebody comes to them and requests [equipment] as a result of a disaster, the 

first thing you do is contact your higher headquarters to see if this can be legally done. Does it 

meet the immediate response, . . . the assistance that FEMA has in place, that the DOD has in 

place, that the role of the RSC [has] and how we interact with the federal agencies and what the 

emergency preparedness liaison officers do? [It] works. . . . It’s just that I have to educate the 

staff on those things a little bit more because they did not know. Colonel [Matthew] Cacciatore 

just came back from the FEMA course. John Arnim [civilian deputy chief of staff of operations] 

just came back from the FEMA course. . . . 

 Right now I have [about] four individuals on staff that have been to the course. Colonel 

[Thomas] Butler who is now the DCSENG [deputy chief of staff, engineer], he’s gone. 

Lieutenant Colonel [David] Van Cleve, he just came back from the course. . . . They are all 

operational . . . people [who] are in the EOC. . . . These are the individuals [who] need to know 

how the FEMA relationship works. So if I’m not here . . . they can do what I do . . . without me 

being here. But that’s what . . . we need to work on. We need to educate the staff.258

 

258 Mr. Peter Garcia, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 13 May 2002. 
 151
152 

Mr. Thomas Kane 

(He is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve.)
 153

Chapter 9 

Mr. Thomas Kane, Military Personnel Officer, Deputy Chief of Staff, 

Personnel, 77th Regional Support Command, Fort Totten, New York 

[Mr. Kane had been in his civilian position for seven years and was also an Army Reserve 

lieutenant colonel in the Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel section.] 

 [He explained his normal civilian duties: to manage personnel functions for 19,000 

soldiers from Bangor, Main, to Fort Bragg, North Carolina; senior enlisted and officer 

promotions; military occupational specialty reclassifications; Active Guard Reserve promotions; 

computer software responsibilities; military awards and decorations; the drug reduction and 

equal opportunity programs; and others.] 

INTERVIEWER: Why don’t we begin with what was transpiring on 11 September 2001. 

KANE: I was coming to work late . . . 8:45 a.m. I was on the Whitestone Bridge, and it was at 

that point I could see [smoke that resulted from] a plane going into the World Trade Center. . . . I 

was listening to 1010 AM [a local radio station] here in New York City, and they . . . started out 

with some reporter who was at home and had an apartment very close to the World Trade Center 

[who], saw a plane go in[to it]. . . . She was on the phone, and they were interviewing her. By 

the time I got in here to the office, . . . the second plane had hit the second tower. So at that point 

we were called into the conference room. . . . We were . . . watching the TV as . . . everything 

unfolded. I believe that at that point the CXO activated the EOC, and we started the ball rolling 

on trying to find out where all of our command and control soldiers were. . . . It seemed like 

forever to verify where everybody was . . . . 

 We got the first word that some of [our] . . . soldiers were missing. . . . We lost six . . . 

one lawyer . . . out of our 4th LSO [Legal Support Organization] and then five firemen from 

various units throughout the command. We contacted the units and put together all the 

information for the commanding general [Brigadier General Richard Colt] so he could make a 

call to the spouses and/or the parents. . . . I think that even at that point it was very hard to do 

because none of the families gave up hope. . . . The last family [that] gave up hope in November 

[was] the Bucca family [because] Mrs. Bucca was going to hang in there until they found his 

body. So they had to be very careful, because if there was no body there was still hope. I think 

the first one to give up was Mrs. Pohlmann, the [wife of the] lawyer. She was on the phone with 

her husband, who was on the 91st floor of the first tower . . . when the plane hit, and he was 

immediately gone. . . . She was the first to declare her husband dead, and so then we started the 

grieving process with the families. . . . Mrs. Pohlmann held the first funeral. She asked us to 
154 

provide military honors, which we did, in a very moving ceremony without a body. . . . So we 

went through [the funerals]. . . . It seemed like it never stopped. General Plewes was calling all 

the time to find out . . . when can we send notes. We did not want any notes, even from the CAR 

[Chief, Army Reserve] to go out until the wife accepted the death. . . . Once we found that out, 

we notified [Lieutenant General Plewes] and then [Brigadier] General Colt went to all the 

funerals. That was pretty much the end of the involvement of the Per[sonnel section]. At that 

point . . . in each case we secured the documents, forwarded them to AR-PERSCOM, [Army 

Reserve Personnel Command] so . . . the life insurance can be paid. 

INTERVIEWER: Just to go back to the initial forty-eight hours around 11 September, you’re 

grazing herd. Could you describe a little bit more about how you reviewed the lists provided by 

the New York City Fire Department with a list you were compiling here? How did that work? 

KANE: Well, we ran our grazing herd, and if a unit came back and said somebody was missing, 

we would check the fire department’s list. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: When did you get the fire department’s list? 

KANE: . . . I would say that we got that within forty-eight hours. It was quite extensive in the 

beginning, but it kept getting wheedled down as they found everybody because a lot of firemen 

just reported on their own. . . .When you [conduct] . . . a grazing herd you get a [poor] response 

from the units. . . . I got sixty-four percent [to] eighty percent. . . . Many [units] did not even call, 

so I think now that grazing herd has become one of the most important things we do in the Army 

Reserve if we are going to keep track of our people during a terrorist attack. They got to take it 

seriously, and I do know the CG [commanding general] is very tough on that right now. . . . We 

ran strength reports on a daily basis as to who was on active duty, AT, or whatever status they 

were in, and then we started very slowly calling up units. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Do you happen to know the names [of the deceased soldiers]? 

KANE: Yes, their names were Lieutenant Colonel William Pohlmann from the 4th LSO; 

Captain Michael Mullen, 344th Combat Support Hospital; Captain Mark Whitford, 331st MI 

[Military Intelligence]; and that was an especially hard one because . . . his wife just had twins. 

Then we had Warrant Officer Ronald Bucca, 3413th Military Intelligence Detachment; and 

[Staff] Sergeant Fredrick Ill, 854th Engineering Battalion; and Sergeant Sean Powell, 4220th 

Hospital. Those were our six soldiers and we are still in contact with the families. We did a 

Christmas gift drive for them over Christmas for the young ones, and right now this week we are 

verifying that everybody got their SGLIs [Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance] and their 

annuities, making sure they are all taken care of. 
 155

 [He explained that many full time soldiers and civilians and Army Reservists in the 

Personnel Section volunteered for duty after11 September. They worked on annual training or 

drill status. Some slept overnight in the reserve center. The Personnel Section was the largest in 

the command. It employed twenty-eight full time soldiers and civilians and around fifty Army 

Reservists.] 

INTERVIEWER: Are there any positive or negative lessons learned regarding how the 

Personnel Section dealt with this contingency, for instance, the grazing herd you had raised an 

issue about? Any other things that come to mind? 

KANE: The need to have a second location for the headquarters is a must. . . . The command 

and control has to go to a senior subordinate one star or something [for a backup to the CG]. 

INTERVIEWER: So you raised the issue of having a back-up headquarters location. Why 

does that come to mind regarding this? 

KANE: I think they are working on that. . . . I don’t know exactly which locations they have 

chosen or which subordinate general would get the command. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Any other operations lessons learned there? 

KANE: Yes, I would say . . . the only other negative that we were totally unprepared for but I 

think we responded very quickly, [was that we] corrected the problems . . . with military honors. 

While most people would go right for the six we lost, by no means was that an indication of the 

amount of veterans who died in the World Trade Center. They were the larger amount. 

INTERVIEWER: Does this command have what you referred to earlier as a burial detail? 

KANE: Yes, for the state of New York and New Jersey. 

INTERVIEWER: And how do those requests come in? 

KANE: They go through what they call a CAC [Casualty Assistance Command] . . . at Fort Dix. 

 

INTERVIEWER: Is there anything else you would like to add? 
156 

KANE: No, that is about all I can think of, [but] I am sure I will remember something 

afterwards. It is a terrible period in the history of the 77th, but we came out of it. As we send 

over our troops overseas, we will get a little bit of payback.259

 

259 Mr. Thomas Kane, interview by Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 14 March 2002. 
 157
158 

Sergeant First Class Richard Perry
 159

Chapter 10 

Active Guard Reserve Sergeant First Class Richard Perry, Operations 

Noncommissioned Officer for Retention and Transition Office, Deputy Chief 

of Staff, Personnel, 77th Regional Support Command, Fort Totten, New York 

[Sergeant First Class Perry trained as an Army instructor and had twenty-nine years in the 

Army. He served twenty-one of those years on active duty. He had worked at the 77th for four 

years.] 

INTERVIEWER: Sergeant Perry, please define what retention is. 

PERRY: Our function is to ensure that the retention programs within the subordinate units are 

operating the way they’re supposed to be. We actually are the eyes and ears for the commanding 

general to ensure the commands are implementing the retention program to include the bonuses 

and all of the aspects of retaining quality soldiers. . . [in] our reserve units. The general retention 

transition NCO at the unit level is responsible to counsel soldiers, to provide them the 

information needed to make decisions to either reenlist and remain in the Army Reserve, to 

transfer to other units, or to transfer to an inactive status because they need a little time off. . . . In 

this office here we have . . . eight personnel. That includes the chief retention transition officer, 

the sergeant major, the deputy, as well as the retention NCOs. 

INTERVIEWER: Do you recall what you were doing on 11 September 2001 at the time of the 

attacks on the World Trade Center? 

PERRY: I was on my way in from my quarters in East Meadow on Long Island. And I heard it 

on the radio. . . . When I got here . . . I went upstairs to the Operations Section because they have 

a big screen television up there. . . . I happened to be there watching it when the second plane hit. 

. . . We immediately went into a high level of security. Some of us full-timers were tasked to 

remain here in the building to set up a command post. . . . We started working twelve to sixteen 

to eighteen hours a day. . . . My family lives in Pennsylvania, and my wife actually was on the 

road, so I was desperately trying to [call] her [while] at the same time doing my duties here. So 

it was pretty traumatic for all of us. I think it was a period of four to six weeks before I got a 

chance to actually go home. We worked double shifts. We worked a shift in [the] Retention 

Office with about four hours off and then went upstairs and worked in command Operations to 

answer the phone, to field any questions and inquiries, or requests from FEMA . . . and other 

organizations who are directly involved at ground zero. 
160 

INTERVIEWER: So basically for about a four-week period, your normal job functions were 

put on hold? 

PERRY: That is correct. 

INTERVIEWER: When and how did you finally get back to doing your normal job? What 

was the situation then? 

PERRY: It took probably about five or ten days for FEMA to actually take control of the site 

and start providing the support that was needed by the rescue personnel. The National Guard 

became involved as well, and things did not get better. They just became more in control. So 

our position here at the RSC was merely to be available to provide any additional support that 

was required by those at ground zero that were actually charged with the situation. . . . I had 

opportunities to go [to ground zero], but I’m a Vietnam veteran. I’ve seen enough of this. I 

didn’t want to go at that point in time. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Now as a result of 11 September, do you have statistics that you can tell us 

whether or not retention increased, decreased, or remained about the same? 

PERRY: I can’t really provide you statistics. Trends I can. As far as trends are concerned, we 

did not have a mass exodus. Things are fairly normal here in the reserve units. The drills went 

on as usual. Some units were mobilized. Those units did not experience a lot of loss of soldiers 

leaving the reserves because of this [11 September]. . . . We received numerous phone calls from 

veterans who had been out of the service for . . . years who are . . . upset about what happened 

and were trying to figure out “How can I get back on active duty, or how can I get in the reserves 

and get mobilized with a mobilized unit.” [Veterans from the] fire department and police 

department, even though they were doing an awful lot with their own respective employment, 

wanted to actually get back into uniform. . . . We provided them the information to recruit them. 

We took down a lot of their information to pre-qualify them to see if in fact they were qualified. 

We have various programs and systems in place that can directly access their records to 

determine if they’re eligible. . . . If they have a break in service, we would provide them to the 

U.S. Army Recruiting Command. If they were already in the service in an inactive status, we 

would provide them the necessary paperwork to transfer into units. . . . I think [retention] might 

have even gotten a little bit better because . . . of the shock of 9-11. Unlike Vietnam where 

everybody was turned off, I think it knitted the country together. And those already in [the 

service], were not afraid of being in. They wanted to stay in. As a matter of fact, . . . [retention] 

might have even had a slight improvement. . . . 

 I understand how FEMA works, and I understand the levels of responsibility. 

Sometimes, however, being a member of the Army Reserve and having been directly involved in 
 161

the command post in the first hours, . . . it seemed . . . that we had all of this talent and assets in 

the 77th Regional Support Command Army Reserve, and yet we did not feel as though . . we 

were being utilized to our capacity when all around us they were bringing in National 

Guardsmen from all over the country. And this is our ground. This is our backyard. [These are] 

our people. I think that maybe the federal laws need to be changed a little bit so that when the 

situation stateside happens [again], that the Army Reserve has an important part in this whole 

scheme of things, not just the National Guard or FEMA. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: That’s a good point because as you know the National Guard basically took 

over the perimeter security, and they posted soldiers at the tunnels and bridges.260

 

260 Sergeant First Class Richard Perry, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, 27 March 2002. 
162 

Colonel John Skoll 

Colonel John Skoll 
 163

Chapter 11 

Army Reserve Colonel John Skoll, Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics, 

 77th Regional Support Command, Fort Totten, New York 

 

[Colonel Skoll, an infantry officer, had twenty-eight years in the Army Reserve and two years 

active duty. As a civilian, he worked as an accountant.] 

INTERVIEWER: Now on the day of the attack on the World Trade Center, 11 September, 

where were you and what were you doing? 

SKOLL: I was on my way to my office here at the RSC headquarters from my home in New 

Jersey. I had gotten to the Outer Bridge Crossing, which connects New Jersey to Staten Island, 

New York, at just about the time the planes hit the World Trade Center. At that time, the police 

stopped everybody from crossing into New York across the bridges. . . . I was stuck . . . for 

approximately two hours. I checked in . . . with my office and told them that I did not think I 

was going to be able to get in, [that] I had heard what happened, [and that] the police were not 

letting anyone across the bridges. . . . I was directed to report to the 78th Division headquarters in 

Edison [New Jersey] as a liaison between the EPLOs, . . . the active duty, and the 78th Division. 

. . . I was the liaison there for the 77th RSC between the EPLO. In fact our EPLO, Colonel Walt 

Jankowski, was stuck there, also the active duty EPLO, Colonel [Kevin] Connors, and the 78th 

Division Commander [Major General James Helmly]. . . . I was at the 78th Division from 

Tuesday morning at [9:00 a.m.] until Friday morning when I was able to get back [to] . . . New 

York City. . . . I was attending meetings with FEMA, with the EPLOs, and with the organizing 

and coordinating of security . . . [and] providing daily information back and forth to . . . the 

RSC. 

INTERVIEWER: Did FEMA request any equipment or storage space through you? 

SKOLL: Not me directly. They were working through the active duty EPLO over there. 

INTERVIEWER: When you reported here at Fort Totten, describe what your tasks were and 

what you did. 

SKOLL: We provided manpower to the EOC, which was running seven days a week, twentyfour hours a day. . . . .All log[istical] and supply activities supported the World Trade Center 

crisis. 
164 

INTERVIEWER: All equipment requests came through your people. They received it, 

evaluated it, and if they could comply, they issued it out? 

SKOLL: That is correct, yes. 

INTERVIEWER: How would you evaluate how your mission went here at the 77th during this 

crisis period? 

SKOLL: I thought it went very well considering that no one had ever participated in anything 

like this before, an event of such tragedy. I thought everybody was professional, well organized, 

prepared, coordinated, and executing properly. . . . I stayed here ten days. . . . It was my people 

doing all the work, the reservists and the full timers. . . . I was new to the 77th . . . . I have only 

been here for a year, and this is my first exposure to the 77th RSC and the New York people. . . . 

I was very impressed with the quality of the people and the caliber of their performance and 

activities.261 

 

261 Colonel John Skoll, interview by Chief Warrant 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 2 February 

2002. 
 165
166 

 

 

Major Robert Henoch 
 167

Chapter 12 

Army Reserve Major Robert Henoch, Commander, 142nd Transportation 

Detachment, 77th Regional Support Command, Fort Totten, New York 

[Major Henoch had thirteen years of Army Reserve service and four years on active duty.] 

INTERVIEWER: Sir, on 11 September 2001, where were you and what were you doing during 

the attack on the World Trade Center? 

HENOCH: I work as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan. . . . That day I was going to a 

job interview . . . in New Jersey. I was on one of the last PATH [Port Authority Trans Hudson] 

trains that left the World Trade Center that morning. Another passenger on that train had been 

listening to a radio and informed the rest of us that airplanes had hit the World Trade Center. 

And I got to Newark, I could see what was happening, and I went to the job interview . . . at the 

U.S. Attorney’s Office. . . . They ended up closing the office. I left there about 10:30 a.m. and 

tried very hard to get back to the city, which was very difficult. I managed to talk a couple of 

police officers into driving me with their lights and sirens down to a dock where the ferry is. I 

took a ferry into the city, and then I took another ferry home to Brooklyn. I then ran home and 

changed into my uniform. Then I had my wife drop me off at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. 

. . . There were buses. This was probably around two o’clock in the afternoon, maybe three, and 

there were buses that were taking emergency personnel into the city. I had my uniform on and 

my LCE [load carrying equipment] that I put on. I don’t even know why I bothered to put it on, 

but thought I might need it. The bus took me by myself, no questions asked, and I was dropped 

past most of the police barricades. Nobody was stopping anybody at that point because it was 

shortly enough after it happened. So that’s how I got downtown . . . I had a Kevlar on. 

INTERVIEWER: When you got to the ground zero, what did you observe? 

HENOCH: Basically, it was just catastrophe, people just sort of wandering around. . . . I started 

linking up with other people who were walking around in Army . . . and other uniforms. I 

actually met a couple of people from the RSC, nobody I knew at that time. . . . We started to 

organize ourselves into a work detail, and we took everybody’s names and numbers down. We 

organized ourselves into a couple of platoons and started to help set up . . . near Stuyvesant High 

School. After we had walked around right at ground zero for awhile, we started to help the 

police set up different areas. . . . Emergency services was setting up right across the street from 

the high school, and we started to get involved in every way we could. . . . Once we got 

ourselves organized, we started to scavenge around for equipment. . . . Supplies just started to 

sort of show up. It was everything we wanted. There were shovels . . . picks . . . tape . . . 
168 

flashlights. So we got ourselves all geared up and just started to work. It wasn’t a problem at all 

in the beginning, in terms of the police. We just started to work right on the site. . . . By the time 

we started, it was a little after dark, around eight or nine o’clock. . . . After we worked for several 

hours, our groups got split up. We slept that night across the street from Stuyvesant High School 

and . . . Borough of Manhattan Community College. . . . Someone had told us to set up a morgue. 

So we set up blankets and . . . body bags. . . . We just kept working all through that night in 

shifts. . . . [He remembered he may have only slept about half an hour that night.] 

 Every time people went out, someone would yell, “Who wants to go?” We would go out 

in six-ten-man teams and do what we could and help dig around. At that point, it was obvious 

that the fire department was taking control of the situation, and we were going wherever they 

told us to go. They were certainly happy to have anyone there who was willing to help. . . . I 

ended up staying for twelve or thirteen days. . . . The second night, the National Guard started to 

. . . take control of the situation. The second night we ended up staying . . . at one of his 

warehouses that Michael Bloomberg [who would become mayor of New York in January 2002] 

had given to us . . . . on the West Side Highway. . . . He put us up in cots with sheets and 

everything and fed us. It was very nice of him. Then I would just go home at night and come 

back during the day. Eventually, the police required ID tags to get onto the site. A bunch of us 

just walked right up to the Guard people, told them that we were working, and they gave us ID 

cards. So we sort of came and went. 

INTERVIEWER: You were working in an unofficial capacity then. Is that correct? 

HENOCH: Yes, I was. On Friday [14 September], different people from the RSC were told 

that we could actually get put on orders to work. So I figured that would be a good way to stay 

down there and keep working. . . . The 1179th . . . Deployment Support Brigade . . . put me on 

orders . . . starting that Saturday. So, Tuesday to Friday [11 to 14 September], I was pretty much 

at the site the whole time. Then starting on that Saturday, I started to go to the unit during the 

day to help them organize because all the units were doing daily alerts. They had set up an EOC 

at Fort Hamilton, and I helped with that. At night, I and two other people from my unit, Captain 

Joe Mikalotta and Sergeant First Class Harry Bass. We would go down on our own, and we had 

the ID cards. So, we could come and go as we please, and then we would go down at night and 

work on the bucket brigades. . . . Literally all we were doing was working on the bucket brigade 

and whatever else needed to be done. . . . We were issued gloves, plastic helmets, and vests, and 

worked as long as we could. As the days went on, they’d start to move a lot of heavy equipment 

in. . . .The work of the bucket brigade sort of changed. We’d be working for an hour and then 

we would be pushed off the site for a couple of hours. We’d have to wait for the heavy 

equipment. Then we could go work for another hour or two. Then we’d be pushed off the site 

again. . . . During the first three or four days, you could have stayed at ground zero every minute 
 169

you wanted to because there weren’t a lot of people moving you off. But once they got the 

heavy equipment in there, the fire department started to regulate what we did. 

INTERVIEWER: Were you with any other USAR soldiers at this time? 

HENOCH: The Saturday [15 September] was when I probably started to work with two other 

reservists that I know . . . as well as many other police officers that I knew through the DA’s 

[District Attorney’s] office. 

INTERVIEWER: What was your experience with the Army National Guard? Some soldiers 

told me that they were asked to leave. Did you experience this? 

HENOCH: Yes, we were told on Thursday night that the Guard was in charge, and they didn’t 

want us around anymore. Basically . . . we just ignored them. . . . A bunch of us went right 

downtown and kept working. It was the next day, that Friday that we managed to get credentials 

so we could come and go as we pleased. 

INTERVIEWER: On your last day, how did it come about? What made it the last day? Were 

you just tired? Did your orders expire? What happened on that last day? 

HENOCH: No, I wasn’t tired. . . . There was less and less for us to do on the bucket brigade. It 

was also becoming much more of a fire department and construction-worker type scenario. The 

last couple of days we showed up, we would work for about fifteen minutes. And then we’d be 

told to move to the side for a few hours. Then we would work for a half hour. . . . It became 

clear that we just weren’t being used as much as we were in the past. . . .We felt like at that point 

the fire department wanted to be completely in charge of the site. OSHA [Occupational Safety 

and Health Administration] had started to show up, and they were requiring everybody to wear 

special boots and special uniforms and things like that. So there wasn’t much for us to do. And 

that was the only reason we stopped going. There just wasn’t much for us to do. 

INTERVIEWER: Regarding safety, were you wearing safety goggles at any part of the time? 

HENOCH: I wore goggles when I was on the bucket brigade because there was a lot of metal. 

. . .You didn’t want to get one of your eyes stabbed with a piece of metal. And they had 

respirators, which got progressively better. Every day, some new respirator would show up that 

they would insist on you wearing. After a few days, maybe it was a week, they started to 

actually fit you for the respirators. They wouldn’t let you onto the site unless you had . . . one of 

these new respirators 
170 

INTERVIEWER: Sir, were there any problems that you experienced, and if so, how did you 

handle them? 

HENOCH: . . . Most of the guys that I met were reservists, . . . Guard, . . . active duty people on 

leave. We just sort of formed into this big motley crew in those first three or four days. But as 

the Guard began to flex its muscles, that was a little bit irritating that they seemed to be more 

concerned with getting us out of there than getting the work done. Most of the Guardsmen 

weren’t from New York City, and we . . . really felt pissed off [sic] by that, and I lost a couple of 

people that I knew. . . . I didn’t know they were missing at the time. . . . We felt a deep 

connection to this place, since we live here. I live only two miles from the World Trade Center. 

. . . Other than that, I thought the city’s response was very impressive in terms of how quickly 

they organized for this thing, given that nobody had any sort of experience with this type of 

crisis. . . . We did see [Lieutenant] General Plewes and our general, [Brigadier] General Colt, 

commander, 77th Regional Support Command]. We thought we would be in trouble being down 

there, so we ran from them. A couple of drills ago, someone introduced me to General Colt 

because he knew I’d been down there. After telling him the story, he said he wished that we had 

come up to him and talked to him. He would have been happy to meet us down there. We just 

didn’t know if we would get in trouble, so that was just kind of amusing.262 

 

262 Major Robert Henoch, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with transcript, 5 

January 2002. 
 171
172 

Sergeant Major Joanna Pittman 

Sergeant Major Joanna Pittman 
 173

Chapter 13 

Army Reserve Sergeant Major Joanna Pittman, Supply Supervisor, 

353rd Civil Affairs Command, Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, New York 

[Sergeant Major Pittman had twenty-four years in the Army.] 

INTERVIEWER: On 11 September 2001, where were you and what were you doing at the 

time of the attack on the World Trade Center? 

PITTMAN: I was at the new reserve center at 208 Drum Road on Fort Wadsworth . . . going 

through the new building, taking down room . . . jack . . . and telephone numbers so that we 

could set up the telephone architecture for the new system. . . . My cell phone rang, and . . . it 

was my sister calling from Oklahoma City. She was a little upset and wanted to know if I was 

okay. Well, I didn’t know at the time what was going on. . . . She let me know that the first 

plane had crashed into the Trade Center. . . . Then the phone . . . cut off. She called me back . . . 

ten or fifteen minutes later, again in a panic and said did I know that a second plane had hit the 

Trade Center? At that time . . . we didn’t because the building doesn’t have phones or radios. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Did there come a time when you eventually went down to ground zero? 

PITTMAN: Yes, it was several days later. What I did first was I went to the overlook on Fort 

Wadsworth. . . . I could see Manhattan from there. I could see the devastation that occurred 

there. Once the Trade Center disaster happened, they kind of locked down Staten Island. . . . It 

wasn’t until the next morning, then I was able to talk my way off of it using my [military] ID 

card and get across the Verrazano [Bridge] and get back out here to the Bronx. 

INTERVIEWER: So you’re saying it took several days for you to get to your unit in the 

Bronx. How did it come about that you went down . . . to ground zero? 

SGM PITTMAN: Captain [Brian] Goldstein had been working at ground zero, and at that time 

we were running a twenty-four operation here. And so, although we wanted to get faster down 

to ground zero, we were constrained by duty to have to stay here and run the operation center. 

But I think it was Friday night, which would have been the 14th. Captain Goldstein, myself, and 

Sergeant First Class [Rafael] Gomez geared up in BDUs [battle dress uniform] and kevlar and 

LBE [load bearing equipment], and went down to ground zero. We got all the way down to 

where the last barrier was, and we were directed into the school . . . [where] . . . they told us in 

there that we had to have special badges to get into ground zero to help. When they found out 
174 

that we were Army Reservists and Active Guard and Reservists [AGRs], and Sergeant Gomez is 

AC [active component], they told us we couldn’t go down. . . . They didn’t need our help 

because we weren’t National Guard. . . . So they kind of turned us around. We went out to the 

armory at 66th and Park [Avenue] and went upstairs and talked to . . . a chaplain . . . [and] got 

[on] their volunteer list. Sergeant Gomez knew one of the female NCOs working there, and she 

told us [to] come back in the morning, and she’ll . . . try to hook [us] . . . up with the crew that’s 

going out to work. So we came back Saturday morning. . . . She hooked us up with a steel 

worker who’s a president of a company who on the 11th, dropped everything he was doing, 

pulled all out his guys off of this job . . . and brought them all down to the disaster area and 

started working. Well, he had to go over to Park Avenue to get authorization for all of his guys 

to be down there. . . . 

 

INTERVIEWER: So you used some connections to get down to ground zero. When you 

arrived there, what did you do and what did you observe? 

PITTMAN: We were riding around with . . . an iron worker. And we get down to ground zero 

and . . . the first thing that you start seeing is the dust. It’s like a gradual change from nice, clean 

streets . . . to . . . it’s a little dirtier, . . . then it’s complete devastation. We walked . . . right at the 

base of the World Trade Center, and . . . we’re standing there with . . . the iron worker. . . . 

Sergeant Gomez and I are both supply sergeants by trade, and we’re looking at this huge mass of 

steel, and both of us are thinking, “I don’t know anything about steel working.” . . . We didn’t 

have any protective gear because the National Guard wouldn’t let us down there in uniform. So 

we had to leave our . . . military stuff behind. So I sent Sergeant Gomez out to go find us some 

hard hats. When he came back about five minutes later, [he] grabbed me by the arms and said, 

“Sergeant Major, you need to come here. You need to see this.” He drove me over to the corner 

. . . right at ground zero [where] they had a Burger King. . . . Inside was where all the volunteer 

relief supplies were coming in. . . . This place, it was a mad house. . . .There was one poor [man] 

in charge of it, and he had no clue as to what he had or what people needed, and everything was 

just in a huge pile. . . . He was so happy to see us. . . . We told him we were supply sergeants. . . . 

We organize things. We account for things. We can take care of him. He was just so ecstatic. 

That’s basically what Sergeant Gomez and I did for the next two or three days. . . . We helped 

coordinate the volunteer relief supplies. We got rid of the garbage that was up there and we 

organized . . . the boots and the shoes and the batteries and the flashlights and the respirators. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Do you feel that the National Guard treated you unfairly? 

PITTMAN: Absolutely. I mean we’re not just . . . off of the street. We’re trained professional 

soldiers, and we have the self-discipline necessary to get the job done. . . . I understand their 
 175

position . . . to keep to a minimum the number of gawkers. . . . I just felt that they were throwing 

away a resource because I wasn’t wearing a National Guard patch. 

INTERVIEWER: Were there any other problems you encountered? 

PITTMAN: Again, it all centers on the fact that we weren’t National Guard. . . . We really had 

to sneak into ground zero. The first day the iron worker got us in. The second day I had to call 

this guy named Jay. . . . We just felt that [the] . . . relief center was so disorganized that we 

needed to . . . try to help. 

 [Sergeant Major Pittman worked three days at ground zero and explained why she finally 

left.] The fire department came in and cleared the entire ground zero. . . . The only people 

allowed back in were the people that had the authorized issued badge. And they were 

understanding. They knew that we wanted to help, but they were under orders, and there was 

just nothing that we could do.263

 

263 Sergeant Major Joanna Pittman, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with 

transcript, 7 December 2001. 
176 

First Lieutenant Matthew Goodman 
 177

Chapter 14 

Army Reserve First Lieutenant Matthew Goodman, Executive Officer, 

140th Quartermaster Company, Fort Totten, New York

 

[First Lieutenant Goodman was also the platoon leader of the clothing, exchange, and bath 

platoon. On the morning of 11 September, he and four members of his unit were at their Army 

Reserve center preparing to go to Fort Dix, New Jersey, for ten days for weapons qualifications 

and briefings.] 

GOODMAN: On Sergeant Young’s radio . . . we heard that a plane had flown into the Twin 

Towers and then another plane flew into the Twin Towers. . . . Then we started receiving phone 

calls from the battalion commander to send everybody home and then go on a full alert. 

 [The battalion commander called the unit between 10 and 11 a.m. The unit also received 

phone calls from full-time staff and more calls from the battalion commander. Among the 

communications: to lock the reserve building and go home. They continued to listen to the 

radio. Sometime in the afternoon, they went home. Later, they were called back into the unit.] 

INTERVIEWER: And who was there that day, that morning? 

GOODMANN: Sergeant First Class [John] Young, myself, First Sergeant [Edward] Allen, 

Sergeant Battle. 

INTERVIEWER: So then what happened? 

GOODMANN: [At home] I was watching the television about what was going on at the World 

Trade Center. I was very surprised and astonished watching the building collapse on TV. I 

stayed home for a few hours in the late afternoon. Approximately 15:00 [3:00 p.m.], I received a 

call that our unit has been mobilized. It was a verbal authorization to report to the unit. . . . I 

grabbed a few uniforms [and] took my vehicle and drove into Fort Totten. At that point, vehicles 

were being searched at the gate. There were MPs. So we were at the highest level of 

mobilization possible. Everything was very secure. I went to my reserve unit [and] helped 

organize the “grazing herd,” [accountability and alert roster] which we were trying to notify 

everybody in our unit to support. Everything was being handled through phone calls. It was 

very disorganized coming from the 695th Corps Support Battalion trying to get accountability 

from the 301st [Area] Support [Group] operations. . . . Missions were coming in that we were 

going to either Bronx Lebanon Hospital to set up an overflow site . . . for any casualties, for 

morgue operations, to set up a temporary mortuary affairs. At approximately 18:30 [6:30 p.m.], 

First Sergeant Allen and his crew had vehicles loaded with tents and equipment. And they were 
178 

going to one of the sites. I didn’t know which site, and neither did anybody due to the confusing 

information that was coming in. I went to the 301st Area Support Group. They said to me that 

they were going to Jacobi Hospital, and I was going to be the second wave. I was trying to 

secure transportation. The 301st Area Support Group has a Blue Bird bus that can hold . . . sixty 

[or] seventy passengers. . . . I was in constant communication with Sergeant Allen telling us that 

we needed certain equipment that he forgot to bring. . . . I brought him down what we needed. 

INTERVIEWER: What was taking place during those four hours while waiting at Fort 

Totten? 

GOODMANN: The five-ton [trucks] that brought the equipment down came back, [and] we 

loaded them up again with bath units and generators and a forklift. . . . We needed more heavy 

type equipment to move around the pumps and generators in order to set up the bath operation. 

More troops started arriving. . . . The police escort . . . took us down to Jacobi Hospital Medical 

Center site where we had approximately twenty-eight people to work on setting up all these 

tents. My mission guidance was to set up four . . . tents to use as mortuary affairs tents, . . . one 

TOC [tactical operations center] as my command center, . . . one . . . clothing and exchange bath 

operations tent, and one mess tent for food service. . . . I went back to Fort Totten, and I left a 

contingent . . . with First Sergeant Allen. . . . They set up everything to be operational. . . . 

 [The 140th staff worked at Jacobi Hospital about six weeks.] My directives were coming 

pretty much from the . . . 695th Corps Support Battalion. All the managers at the Jacobi Medical 

Center were there just to support us. . . . We were on standby . . . on alert, and the site [was] . . . 

never used because the mortuary in Manhattan . . . was . . . [handling] all the parts and bodies 

that were coming in. . . . They didn’t have a lot of actual bodies. It was mostly parts. In the 

borough of Manhattan . . . there is where they do the DNA testing. So Jacobi actually would 

have been a site more for decontamination and temporary storage of excess body parts that 

Manhattan mortuary couldn’t handle. . . .The expectation that we originally had was to set up the 

site as a nuclear, biological, chemical [NBC] decontamination site in case there was any residual 

. . . attacks. Jacobi Medical Center is a designated site for the city that can respond and treat 

[NBC] attacks. . . .They have all the antidotes, and they have trained medical personnel that 

know how to treat these types of injuries. . . . We can treat, provide decontamination showers . . . 

whether it be body parts or personnel or casualties. . . . 

 [He described other activities at Jacobi.] There were many roadblocks and check points 

to get into the hospital. Roads . . . were closed, . . . and there really was just military traffic on 

the roads. There were many missions that the 140th were doing – driving missions going down 

to ground zero and bringing equipment to us, whether it be generators, heaters. . . . So there were 

daily missions coming down to our support office, as well as other units that were down at 

ground zero using our equipment: tents for the FBI, generators, . . . food service personnel to 
 179

cook for the FBI, . . . cots, blankets, medical supplies that we were transporting that came from 

the 344th General Hospital [and] . . . also to get equipment we had at other locations – at Fort 

Dix and Fort Drum, ECS [extended core storage]. . . . Morale was very good. We had our 

chaplain coming down daily to spend time with us. We had morale welfare recreation setup in 

my TOC. Jacobi Hospital personnel . . . were visiting all the time. They were very curious [at] 

what was going on, and they were very impressed and thanking us everyday for being there. 

There were many visitors coming around – Fernando Ferrerer [Bronx Borough president] 

[and] Mayor [Rudolph Giuliani], . . . colonels. . . . [Brigadier] General [Richard Colt] came 

down to the site, and the deputy commanding general, Colonel [William] Terpeluk. . . . Three 

days after we setup [16 September], General [Thomas] Plewes . . . came down with the staff 

from the 77th RSC to inspect the site. . . . He was curious how the building exchange bath 

operation actually worked. [He] wanted to see the showers run, which we showed him. . . . We 

had . . . mortuary affairs tents setup with tables and lights and had canvas bags and all the 

equipment necessary. . . . He interviewed a lot of enlisted personnel that setup the site as well as 

myself. . . . He congratulated us that we did an excellent job and was very impressed. And then 

he went down to inspect the site at ground zero. . . . We had a staff of five on the day shift plus 

myself, so that’s six, and then five on the evening shift. We went twelve-hour shifts. . . . I 

believe it was [from] six in the morning to six at night – six at night to six in the morning. 

INTERVIEWER: Did you face any challenges with setting up your operation in that first two 

or three days? 

GOODMANN: Yes. [It was] very difficult to setup tents at the sites. We needed two different 

types of tents, . . . frame tents that would fit on concrete . . . and the other tents that needed 

wooden pegs . . . [to] set up on the grassy areas around the cement site. . . .The hospital provided 

us security. . . . Also the clothing-exchange bath . . . needed electricity so we had electricians 

come down from Jacobi to run us lines for light in the tents. 

INTERVIEWER: How did the operation end? 

GOODMANN: Our battalion commander called me and said he wants to break down the site 

slowly, that it’s not official but when the official word comes down, we’d be ready. . . . We were 

on active duty special orders. 

INTERVIEWER: Can you evaluate your current training or past training and the relevance of 

that training to this operation and maybe indicate any positive or any negative lessons that can be 

learned in preparing for this mission? 
180 

GOODMANN: Two years ago we went to the National Training Center out in Fort Irwin, 

California, which is a desert environment where we actually setup and conducted clothing 

exchange/bath operations and laundry operations. And we were in a wartime environment where 

we had to setup a perimeter and actually man the perimeter with foxholes and weapons. . . . We 

had to setup tents and equipment in a certain amount of time and get it operational. . . . As for the 

horrors that we . . . faced, I don’t think the unit was prepared emotionally for that, especially 

from the lower enlisted and even myself. 

INTERVIEWER: Are you referring to the anticipated casualties that were expected to come to 

your area? 

GOODMANN: Correct. What we expected was body parts coming in. We were going to act as 

pallbearers along with the mortuary affairs personnel that were going to be in the tents. 

INTERVIEWER: What were the concerns in dealing with body parts? 

GOODMANN: . . . A lot of them [the troops] haven’t seen any dead bodies. It’s a laundry and 

clothing exchange bath unit. We really don’t deal with mortuary affairs type work, which we 

were being tasked to do. It was nothing this unit personnel couldn’t handle. But in order to 

mentally prepare us for these challenges, we underwent counseling by the 695th Corps Support 

Battalion chaplain, . . . Captain [William] Heisterman. . . . He came down twice daily . . . to visit 

us. . . . He counseled us and talked and held services for us on the weekends when we had 

counseling sessions about our feelings. . . . He also brought his TV . . . and Play Station [game 

center]. 

INTERVIEWER: Is there anything else that you would like to say? 

GOODMANN: Both the 77th RSC chaplain, Major Sosa, came down and conducted counseling 

sessions with us along with [our] chaplain. . . . We had as part of our equipment a forklift, and on 

a daily basis we provided the fire department with forklift support because trailers were coming 

down to the Jacobi operations site for our donated goods. So we needed to offload the trailers so 

the trailers could go back to where they came from because they had limited space. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Are there any lessons learned from this experience for perhaps the next time, 

if the next time was to happen, Lieutenant? 

GOODMANN: The lesson learned is that you don’t have to be prepared for a specific type 

mission. . . .We’re a laundry and bath unit operation, and yet we curtailed the unit to perform 

mortuary affairs operations. . . . That if you’re in the Army, [you can] be tasked to do anything. 
 181

You don’t have to actually do something that’s in your specialty in case of a big emergency like 

this. . . . As a soldier in the unit, you can be told to do anything.264

 

264 First Lieutenant Matthew Goodman, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 14 

February 2002. 
182 

Sergeant First Class Harry Bass 
 183

Chapter 15 

Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Harry Bass, Traffic Management 

Coordinator, 1179th Deployment Support Brigade, Fort Hamilton, New York 

[Sergeant First Class Bass had twenty years in the Army. His unit’s mission was to help deploy 

active duty units to their duty station. On 22 October 2001, he was called to active duty for 

Operation NOBLE EAGLE.] 

INTERVIEWER: On September 11, 2001, where were you and what were you doing at the 

time of the attack on the World Trade Center? 

BASS: I was driving in my car on the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens . . . when I heard about 

the attacks. I immediately called my reserve unit on my cell phone and asked them if we needed 

to report to the unit for further instructions. We were told to stay in a stand-by status. . . . 

 [On the evening of 11 September, he went to ground zero.] Volunteers started to go 

down there on their own to help in any way they could, whether it be on the bucket brigade or 

whatever they needed. . . . I went with Major [Robert] Henoch, with another unit within the 

reserves, and with a Captain [Joe] Michalotta, who is also in the 1179th. . . . We took a civilian 

car. There were check points, but actually it was very fast because there weren’t many vehicles 

on the road. We assisted on the bucket brigades in taking out the debris, bucket by bucket. We 

did that for many hours. . . . We were trying to help in the rescue effort to find survivors. . . . We 

only found dead bodies. . . . By the time I [had] gotten there, the towers had already come down. 

 [He worked on the bucket brigades in civilian clothes as an unpaid volunteer for six to 

twelve hours a day for about a week. He saw other workers in military uniforms.] 

 Most of them were in the National Guard, . . . but there were many reservists who . . . 

were volunteers on their own. They weren’t paid; they just showed up on their own time and did 

whatever they could. . . . It got to the point where they were doing less of a rescue operation and 

more of a recovery. So they really didn’t need the amount of people that were there at the 

beginning. 

INTERVIEWER: Did you come to that conclusion or did some city official perhaps down at 

ground zero ask you to leave? 
184 

BASS: Well, they never actually asked us to leave. It’s just that they were doing less of pulling 

debris out by hand and more of a machinery operation at that time. Eventually it got to be a 

safety hazard.265

 

265 Sergeant First Class Harry Bass, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with 

transcript, 12 December 2002. 
 185
186 

Sergeant First Class James Farran 
 187

Chapter 16 

Army Reserve Sergeant First Class James Farran, First Sergeant, 

1179th Deployment Support Brigade, Fort Hamilton, New York 

[First Sergeant Farran had thirty-one years of service.] 

INTERVIEWER: On September 11, 2001, at the time of the attack on the World Trade Center, 

where were you and what were you doing? 

FARRAN: [In] my civilian occupation I work for the New York Board of Trade at 4 World 

Trade Center. It’s one of the . . . shorter buildings at the foot of both towers —nine stories tall. 

. . . I was in the cafeteria getting a bagel at that particular moment . . . when the building was 

struck with the airplane. Not knowing it was an airplane, I immediately looked out the window 

and saw the explosion, saw all of the debris falling down to the courtyard in the middle of the 

two towers where people would normally walk to the Trade Center. [I was] watching the people 

scatter . . . holding their hands over their heads to shelter their heads as debris started to fall 

down. . . . I stood there for about five to ten minutes watching the fire and making phone calls to 

people from that location letting them know what was going on, not realizing that it was a plane 

that hit the Trade Center, just thinking it was an explosion and watching the fire. . . . I had 

noticed everybody . . . running down the hallway. . . . I walked up the steps and stood at the foot 

of 4 World Trade Center adjacent to Tower Two — the southern tower of the Trade Center 

making sure that we have all our employees out. . . . 

The second plane hit right above our heads. . . . And then [there was] another explosion, 

and all the debris started to fall on our heads. That was a little more frightening because we were 

a little closer. I was outside the building watching the explosion. It sounded like you were at an 

airport hearing the plane roar its engines as it hit the building. . . . Everybody knew it was a 

plane. It just penetrated the building and came out the other side. Myself and everyone else who 

was standing at the foot of the building, all ran to the little park that’s adjacent across from 

Church Street. . . . The debris in the air . . . and dust . . . was something that you couldn’t believe 

[He saw people get hit by falling debris, though at the time he didn’t know if anyone was 

killed.] 

I . . . just started to move as quickly as possible. . . . We all think that we’re trained and 

we know what we’re going to do but you never really know until it happens. You see the best of 

people running for their own lives and you have to pretty much save yourselves so you can save 

someone else. . . . Right now you’re just protecting your head from debris running. . . . We 

eventually stopped right on Broadway watching both buildings on fire burning. . . . We started to 
188 

collect some of our people that we know to make sure that everyone that we worked with was 

out of the building and safe. And as we were standing there, all of a sudden [there was] the 

sound of slapping. . . . The floors started to collapse. . . . Every time we’d hear a slap, it was a 

floor caving in . . . where the plane hit. . . . Tower Two just stayed almost erect and just cocked a 

little to the left and came down almost in slow motion. . . . The people I was standing with . . . 

stood there . . . frozen to the ground. 

When the building eventually [fell] . . . to the ground and the cloud started to engulf us, 

we started to run thinking the debris was going to start hitting us. . . . I may have taken maybe 

five or six steps, realizing that I would never make it down the block without something hitting 

me in the back. So I made a 180 [degree turn] back to where I was standing and ducked behind 

this monument that was part of the decoration of a building outside the front of the building. 

And we just crouched down behind it and held our breaths. . . . I believe what saved me from 

dying . . . was some other fellow workers . . . gave me a bottle of water. . . . I was able to put that 

in my mouth and try to breathe through it and breathe through the drinking water and spit out till 

the cloud eventually dissipated. . . . The plane never came out of the building. The plane went 

inside the building, never came out. . . . It went in one end, the other end . . . [and] just a fireball 

came out the other side of the Trade Center. . . . From there . . . we were being engulfed as it 

went from daylight to pitch black. . . .There were two girls with me. . . . As the debris started, as 

the sky turned black, she made a cellular phone call, . . . screaming on the phone to whoever had 

called her, “We’re going to die, we’re going to die.” . . . The other young lady I was standing 

with was saying, “Are we buried alive? We’re buried alive.” 

 The two things that went through my head were that I never thought I would die 

suffocating. I thought I would die of old age. . . . I just called my father earlier to inform him 

that I was okay and I was out of the building. . . . When the cloud dissipated somewhat, . . . there 

was a side door of the building we were standing next to. The door opened up [and] some people 

came out. . . . I couldn’t see much because of the debris in my eyes and the burning from the air 

[which] had gasoline in it. We were all choking. One of the custodians . . . had gotten a fivegallon bottle of water. . . to try to flush our eyes and our mouths. . . . Everybody [who] came in 

that doorway looked like they just went through a ringer. We were all trying to help each other, 

. . . taking dirt out of our eyes. . . . We stayed there a while and then we went back up to the 

lobby level. . . . Somebody was walking around [who] had a cell phone that was working. My 

cell phone stopped working . . . probably because the antennae was on top of the building. . . . He 

had called my father letting him know again that I was okay. . . . We went out the back door, . . . 

[and] we started to the East River where the air was . . . a little better. The wind was blowing 

toward . . . Brooklyn and that’s the way we were going, toward the east side. . . . Some of the 

people [who] had sandwich stores and storefronts were giving us water. . . . A truck driver let his 

doors open. [We were] listening to the radio telling us that the Pentagon was just struck. And I 

just said, “What the hell is going on?” I said, “Gee, I can’t believe this is happening.” 
 189

You know I worked in the Trade Center since they built the building practically and 

watched all the improvements in the courtyard [and] the shows they used to put on in the 

summer. Just imagining [if] they [had] hit it later in the day or a month or two sooner, they 

would have killed thousands of people watching shows. . . . The building opened up just like a 

banana. The floors fell right through the middle of it, and the outer skin just fell apart—just 

peeled away. . . . From my vantage point there was a building obstructing me looking between 

the two towers. Anybody who was standing watching the two buildings burn [who] was able to 

look between the buildings . . . were seeing people fall. [From] my vantage point, I didn’t see it. 

There were people standing next to me saying they just came from that side. . . . They were 

saying people were jumping out of the building right in front of them. 

Well after the building fell down . . . I had walked to the East Side and then eventually 

walked to the Brooklyn Bridge and crossed over. . . . Everybody was walking across the bridge 

like zombies. . . . [These were] people who were buried with the dust like I was or people who 

were fortunate enough to be in the building and outran it or stayed away from it, . . . the dust. I 

guess it’s sort of insulation or fire retardant [from the World Trade Center]. From there . . . I got 

[on] a bus to [ride to] . . . my father. . . . He picked me up and drove me home. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Did you go back to ground zero any other days after you left there or was 

that your only time there? 

FARRAN: . . .[Since] I was in the reserve, a few days later I was called to [duty for] sixteen 

days. . . . When I was off duty, some of our soldiers . . . went down there a couple of days later to 

help out with the buckets [brigade] . . . [to] do whatever we possibly could. . . . We were there 

approximately three days. . . . I saw them carry three garbage black bags – I don’t think [they 

were] body bags. . . . I know body bags. I’ve been in Vietnam, and I’ve seen body bags. They 

have handles on them. These bags looked like garbage bags and [it] took three people to carry 

one of them. I could only assume the person was a heavy person. . . .The whole package 

couldn’t have been more than two and a-half feet long. I guess it didn’t have the extremities of 

the person. . . . When I wasn’t there, I was working here [in the Army Reserve unit]. Either I 

slept here or I went to my father’s house. 

INTERVIEWER: So basically during those three days that you came to ground zero, you were 

a volunteer manning the bucket brigade, meaning that these buckets or pails would be filled with 

debris and passed along a chain like in the old days when they manned a water brigade by 

putting out fires. Is that correct? 

FARRAN: That’s correct. . . . The buckets were emptied in a pile. . . . You couldn’t bring in 

heavy equipment because you never know what you can grab with the heavy equipment. You 

can grab a person. . . . As they were emptied, someone would carry twenty buckets inside one 
190 

another and they would be brought back to the starting line, [and] the firemen would fill them up 

again . . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Did you have any problems getting into the ground zero site or passing the 

check points? How did that work out? 

FARRAN: We had someone who had a little [authority]. . . . Some people were civilian 

policemen and that helped. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Did you run into any other military people such as the National Guard? 

FARRAN: Yes, we had seen some National Guard people there. They were pretty much 

pulling security. 

INTERVIEWER: We have reports that some of them did not welcome Army Reserve soldiers. 

Did you have that experience? 

FARRAN: Personally, I didn’t have it myself. . . . I heard stories, but I did not see it for myself. 

INTERVIEWER: So on the third day, how and why did your volunteering come to an end? 

How did that occur? 

FARRAN: After awhile, I think we had enough because I work there and never could realize 

that I won’t be going back there again. But the whole area where I used to sit and have lunch, 

talk to people, watch the shows in the summer, just can’t imagine that it’s not there . . . 

everything from the ground sub basements all the way to the 107th floor. . . . I got called to 

active duty on October 21. The 1179th Deployment Support Brigade was activated, . . . and we 

were under [the] MTMC, Military Traffic Management Command, and that’s who we report to 

in Virginia. . . . I couldn’t really say so much [about the mission] because some of it’s classified, 

but we move people . . . and equipment . . . . 

INTERVIEWER: And you’re stationed in Virginia at this time? 

FARRAN: My home station is right here, [Fort Hamilton] but our duty station is Fort Eustis, 

Virginia. That’s where MTMC is. 

INTERVIEWER: Now on your civilian job, when you go back to it, what’s there? Describe 

those circumstances. Have those people been relocated? 
 191

FARRAN: Fortunately, the company had the foresight to have a disaster recovery site in Long 

Island City [Queens]. It was a building they had rented for years just sitting dormant with 

equipment and booths – trading booths with people who work [with] phones and trading pits. . . . 

We trade commodities at the New York Board of Trade. Unbeknownst to us, this building was 

really designed for a power outage or a shortage or something minor only . . . for a day or two, 

at most, a week. . . . There were quite a few trading pits that trade at the Trade Center. When we 

got to this building, fortunately it didn’t need too much to get it going. . . . 

It is a crying shame what had happened . . . how someone can go after civilians. I guess 

that’s the way that part of the world fights their wars. . . . It could’ve been worse. I mean they 

could’ve hit the building at 12:00 [p.m.]. They could’ve hit 42nd Street at New Year’s Eve. 

They did take out a lot of people, and they destroyed a lot of real estate – probably the most 

prime real estate. And I don’t think anything will ever be the same again. Just traveling in 

traffic – just going one place to another – nothing’s the same any more.266

 

266 Sergeant First Class James Farran, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2, tape recording with transcript, 6 

January 2002. 
192 

First Lieutenant Kurt Godbey
 193

Chapter 17 

Army Reserve First Lieutenant Kurt Godbey, Logistics Officer, 

344th Combat Support Hospital, Fort Totten, New York 

[First Lieutenant Godbey had three years in the active duty Army and three years Army Reserve 

time. At the time of this interview, he was an Active Guard Reserve soldier and had two years in 

his current unit.]

GODBEY: My job is to manage equipment and supplies. I requisition the supplies needed for 

the hospital and manage moving equipment and hospital medical equipment that needs to be 

calibrated and maintained to run the hospital. 

INTERVIEWER: Do you recall what you were doing on September 11, 2001, at the time of 

the attack on the World Trade Center? 

GODBEY: Yes, . . . I had an alternate AT. . . . I have . . . hospital equipment . . . to train our 

people here at the unit. We were [taking inventory of] equipment at the time. We could see the 

smoke from the towers after it happened. We heard the commotion. We could even smell the 

scent of the smoke from it blowing this way. So after the 11th, there was a big change on how 

things were going on. That day was probably the most memorable for me because after that it’s 

never been the same here in the unit. . . . We had the opportunity to bring more people on to plan 

for being mobilized. . . . [We began by] calling our staff to make sure [our reservists were ] okay. 

It was a real wakeup call for the unit and some people [answered] the call. I’ve seen a great deal 

of patriotism during that time. 

INTERVIEWER: Describe how it changed your work day. What did you do that was 

different? 

GODBEY: I was on alert twenty-four hours a day. We went on work shifts. It [was] probably 

the hardest two weeks after 9-11 that I had since I’ve been here at Fort Totten. . . . We were on a 

high alert status waiting on whatever was going to happen. Tensions were high, and it was a sit 

and wait kind of standstill. It kind of helped me as the logistics officer here with the extra staff 

that came in. We got ready for our . . . inspection. We managed more inventories. We really 

got things done while we were waiting on everything to take place. So it was a stand and wait 

kind of posture. . . . I mean my work day was probably fourteen to sixteen hours a day for two 

weeks. [They] were the hardest two weeks in my life. 

[He explained other unit activities.] We loaned cots to the police department here at Fort 

Totten. . . . We loaned six to the canine unit here. . . . We loaned more cots down at Fort 
194 

Hamilton to a [National] Guard unit. I think it was over fifty cots we loaned down there. We 

gave up our body bags to the [Jacobi] Bronx hospital. . . . We also took our trucks and moved the 

140th [Quartermaster Company] to Jacobi . . . [and] helped them move their equipment. . . . As 

we went into the Bronx, it was the first time I’d seen people cheer people in uniform. . . . It was a 

very patriotic day. . . . We got out [of] the convoy. We lined up our vehicles. We unloaded 

tents. We unloaded generators. We talked to the hospital personnel [about] where they wanted 

their equipment, where they wanted the water buffaloes. . . . We helped move the stuff into 

place. . . . We worked with the 140th. They had their first sergeant down there running the show 

for them. He knew what was going on and we worked closely with him. . . . His crew . . . set up 

the tents for the makeshift morgue hoping if they needed it that would be the overflow from 

whatever happened down in the city. . . . That was the only trip I had made to Jacobi. The rest of 

the time I managed on getting my staff there. We gave food service personnel to cook soup and 

hot coffee for the people who were working there . . . . 

[He was not at Jacobi Hospital when Lieutenant General Thomas Plewes visited on 16 

September. The three people who made the trip with him that day were: Sergeants Leanne 

Gouveia, Carroll Jefferson, and Lisa Hammonds.] 

We also loaned out a refrigerator . . . here at Totten to use to refrigerate food for the extra 

soldiers that were on Totten. . . . For about two weeks we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner here at 

Fort Totten, which was like . . . an active duty unit here. I mean we were running full steam 

there for two weeks. So it was a very . . . exciting time to be here. . . . 

We never went to ground zero. We were told not to go to ground zero unless we were 

directed to. We were not part of that support. There were many people who went to ground 

zero, but our staff was not directed to do so. . . . Jacobi was the only time I went out to do 

anything for this event, other [than] manning my personnel at Jacobi. . . . We loaned [equipment] 

to the Guard, we loaned to the canine unit, and we also loaned to the fire department. . . . We 

collected everything back. We even loaned M-9s to the MPs. . . . We were here at Totten and the 

MPs were just getting activated, and they didn’t have all of their equipment accessible at the 

time. So the first week here we loaned M-9s to the MP unit here at Totten. We loaned rounds 

[ammunition] to the MPs because I had enough rounds to securely move my weapons from one 

location to another. . . . Everything that we loaned out we received back other than the body 

bags, which we didn’t want back. . . . It was a very vivid experience, the 9-11. I was surprised at 

the patriotism I saw in the people of this country and the soldiers and staff here at Fort Totten. It 

was a very learning experience.267

 

267 First Lieutenant Kurt Godbey, interview by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with 

transcript, 1 April 2002. 
 195
196 

Sergeant Harold Ross 
 197

Chapter 18 

Army Reserve Sergeant Harold Ross, 344th Combat Support Hospital, 

Fort Totten, New York 

[As a civilian, Sergeant Ross worked for the Jersey City [New Jersey] Police Department as safe 

haven director for an after-school program.] 

ROSS: On 11 September I had planned to go to my office early and get a head start on some 

work. When I awoke that morning my fiancée, Angie, told me that our daughter, Natori, was not 

feeling well. . . . This meant that I would have to stay home or bring Natori to work with me. . . . 

I decided to work from home instead of going in early. Still, Natori and I had to bring Angie to 

work and then return home where I would begin my work for the day. . . . After bringing Angie 

to work, Natori and I started on our way back to Woodbridge. We were on the New Jersey 

Turnpike very close to exit 12 when I heard the DJ [disc jockey] for the morning radio show that 

I listen to [WBLS] announce that an airplane had just hit the World Trade Center [also referred 

to as WTC]. My initial thought was that some idiot in a Cessna flew off course and hit one of 

the towers, but that wasn't the case. I got to my exit and paid the toll collector who was watching 

a small television. He told me that a passenger plane flew into one of the towers. I paid the toll 

and raced home to turn on the television. When I got home and turned on the TV . . . I picked up 

the phone and called my fiancée to see if she knew what was going on since her office is directly 

across the river from the WTC. She knew what was happening and so did everyone in her office. 

In fact, some of her coworkers, including her supervisor, went to the roof or a higher floor to get 

a better look. While on the phone with Angie, I heard screams in the background, and Angie 

herself began to scream and cry out loud saying that another plane had hit the other tower. . . . 

She told me that people were running for the doors and that she was going to join them. I told 

her to go to my mother's house, and I would call her there. We ended our call and my phone 

rang. When I picked up and said, “Hello,” I was surprised to hear my sister, Carolyn, on the 

other line crying. She said, “Are we being attacked?” I said, “It looks like we are.” While 

talking on the phone with Carolyn and watching the news. I read a message that flashed across 

the screen. The message said, "The Pentagon has been hit by a plane and is on fire." I told my 

sister that I couldn't talk anymore, that I had to get to my unit. 

I hung up the phone, went to my bedroom, and started packing my duffle bag. I grabbed 

a couple of uniforms, my boots, and [a] few other essentials. I told my daughter to come with 

me, and we loaded the stuff into the car and headed back to Jersey City. I had a hunch that the 

NJ [New Jersey] turnpike would be backed up, and I thought that my chances of making it into 

Jersey City would be better if I drove through the towns taking Route 1 North. I made it as far as 

the outskirts of Newark International Airport before Route 1 became too congested. I took an on 
198 

ramp to Interstate-78 East which I knew would give me access to the NJ Turnpike extension that 

led to Bayonne and Jersey City. After less than 1/4 mile, I ran into another traffic back-up. 

Looking ahead I could see a New Jersey state trooper car close to the shoulder of the road. I 

made my way to the shoulder, drove up to the state trooper, and told him that I had to go into 

Jersey City. As it turned out, traffic was backed up because he and other troopers were not 

allowing anyone access to the extension. This particular extension leads to Liberty State Park in 

Jersey City and the Holland Tunnel. The trooper asked why I had to go, and I told him that I am 

a soldier in the Army, and I had to get by. He asked for my ID card, and I showed it to him and 

also showed my uniform in the car. He told to me to go back to my car and wait for his signal. 

 When I got back to my car I looked at the trooper, and he signaled me forward while making 

other drivers move out of my way. I gave him a thumbs up as I passed him and raced across the 

extension to Exit 14B and then to my mother’s house. 

 At my mother’s house, I found my older sister, Cherry, my friend and a former Marine, 

William, who had an appointment in New York that morning and had taken the path train from 

Jersey City to the World Trade Center. As it turned out, the planes hit the towers before his train 

made it to the WTC, and he and the other passengers were rerouted to 34th Street in New York 

and then back to Jersey City. Needless to say he was quite upset, and I was glad to see him at the 

house. . . . The TV was on and everyone was watching in shock at what was going on. I took my 

uniform upstairs, changed, and asked my friend, Kelly, to drive me to Exchange Place. Exchange 

Place is Jersey City’s business hub and is located on the city’s eastside waterfront directly across 

from the WTC. I suspected Exchange Place would be a jump point for response activity and 

thought I could find a ride across the river to ground zero. 

 The JCPD [Jersey City Police Department] had road blocks set up on the main street 

leading to Exchange Place. At each check point I showed my ID and told the police officers that 

I was going to ground zero. Each one of them let me pass. Some of them knew me from the job. 

At the waterfront, I walked up to a police officer and asked who was in charge. I was pointed to 

a man I recognized . . . from OEM [Office of Emergency Management] and police HQ 

[Headquarters]. I told [him] that my unit may be over at ground zero providing medical 

assistance and that I had to get over there. [He] sent me to the dock where I could take a tug boat 

returning from ground zero with dust-covered civilians. I jumped on the tug. It turned around 

and back we went. In my mind, as we crossed the [Hudson] River, I had images of scenes from 

[the film] Saving Private Ryan and any other movie I've seen where soldiers are preparing to 

land on the shores during some amphibious assault. My personal equipment was limited to [a 

multi-purpose tool and a small flashlight], a small first aid pouch, and two camouflage 

bandannas. I wet one of the bandannas in the boat’s kitchen and used it as a mask/filter for the 

dust and smoke which was already starting to get thick. I looked at the smoke cloud and all the 

dust and wondered if this would be my last day on earth. I had no idea of what I would see or 

do. I just had to get over there and hopefully link up with some Army folks. 
 199

The tug boat landed at or near Battery Park, southwest of the WTC. The streets were 

empty with the exception of a few lost civilians looking for a way out of the city. They asked me 

for help, and I walked with them back toward the park and the tug boat. Some time had gone by, 

and I was anxious to get to ground zero and link up with some soldiers. Helping people made 

me feel good, but I didn't feel safe being the only military person around. I would only feel safe 

in the presence of my Army brothers. 

So I began my trek toward ground zero. The smoke and dust were so thick I could barely 

see in front of me at times. And there must have been at least three or four inches of soot and 

papers on the ground. I came to several streets that looked liked a black hole. I felt an element 

of fear but knew I had to continue. I made [it] to BMCC [Borough of Manhattan Community 

College] and finally found my Army brothers, as well as a few other military members, one 

[from the] Air Force, . . .and one [from the ] Marine [Corps], as I recall. 

I saw a major standing near or under a raised connection between two buildings, one of 

which may have been BMCC. He was facing south toward the towers and was trying to get a 

signal on his cell phone. I approached him from the east passing BMCC on my right. I saluted, 

and after he returned my salute I asked him if he had an NCO with him. He said no, and I said 

that I would be his NCO until he found another or until I found members of my unit. To my 

surprise the major . . . was a National Guard officer, but he recognized the patch on my shoulder 

as the 8th Medical Brigade. He told me that he had a mission for me – "Go to Federal Plaza 

and find [a colonel] and bring him back to me.”. . . 

I started running towards Federal Plaza. After about five blocks, I realized that motorized 

transportation would be easier on me. I saw a man driving a pick-up truck and I yelled out . . . 

that I had to get to Federal Plaza, could he take me? He said yes and I got in the truck. He 

dropped me off at Federal Plaza, and I walked around looking for an officer in uniform. A 

young private came up to me and said, “Sergeant, I just got home from basic training. Can I stay 

with you?” He was in uniform BDU’s [battle dress uniform] and standing at parade rest while he 

spoke. I said, “Yes, help me find the colonel.” Unfortunately the private and I got separated, 

and I found the colonel first. 

The colonel was in civilian clothes standing next to a [HUMVEE]. . . . For the first time 

in my military life and otherwise, I saw soldiers completely armed, locked, and loaded here in 

the city that I could practically call home. I rushed up to a colonel who stood about six feet tall 

and was strategically placed between the two armed guards, one in front and one to the rear. The 

colonel was talking on the radio mounted inside the hummer. My first contact was a sergeant [E5] male type, who although seemed very determined, was nonetheless respectful and accepted 

me as [a] comrade. The atmosphere was more than serious. It was thick with mission-oriented 

attitudes. The military feeling of the day was more real than any words could express, and the 

more uniforms I saw – Army especially – the better I began to feel about my decision to cross 

the river. Looking back I almost believe the others felt the same way. 
200 

 I told the sergeant that I had a message for the colonel. The sergeant let me pass and 

when the colonel finished his conversation I reported to him as I was trained and told him that 

the major was waiting for him at the EMS [Emergency Medical Service] rally point down near 

BMCC. We loaded ourselves into the [HUMVEE], minus the private who I never saw again. 

Losing him makes me feel like I failed in part as an NCO. He was looking to me for direction 

and guidance, and I sent him on a search mission that separated us and ultimately left him on his 

own in a hot zone. I hope he made it through the day okay. 

When the colonel's group and I arrived at the rally point, I spotted the major close to 

where I left him, and the sergeant parked the [HUMVEE] between an office building and what I 

think was a high school across the street. The colonel and the major had a meeting to go to and 

instructed us to stay together. They went into the building, and now I was with the sergeant and 

specialist, and they proceeded to show me the stock pile of equipment and goods they had in the 

[HUMVEE]: MOPP [Mission Oriented Protective Posture – designed to protect against 

chemical and biological weapons] gear, Kevlars [helmets], MREs [meals, ready-to-eat], 

chem[ical] sticks, magazines, rounds, flares, water, and a medics bag is about all I can 

remember. We agreed that one of us would stay near the vehicle at all times to protect the gear 

from theft. The specialist pulled first guard while the sergeant and I walked around to try to find 

out what was happening. We walked back to the EMS rally point where I first found the major. 

We moved southbound toward the WTC and the Bell Phone Company building. We were able to 

find out that the rescue and recovery effort was being held up by the condition of Building Seven 

near the World Trade Center Plaza. 

Building Seven was located somewhere near the phone company's building and was 

burning badly. The fire seemed to be on the upper floors. We were told that it was empty, and 

the fire department engineer was certain the building would fall soon. I remember hoping that 

no one was trapped in the building, and I remember preparing myself for a call for volunteers to 

help evacuate the building if someone was found to be inside. It was a stupid thought, but it was 

generated by a desire to do something and by the frustration of being an American soldier in a 

crisis environment but being locked out because I wasn't a fireman. All at once, I realized that it 

seemed no one was in charge and that everyone was in charge. I just wanted the people whose 

authority I recognized to be in charge because then I would get an order to do something. 

 Anyway we headed back to the [HUMVEE] so I could relieve the specialist, and he could 

get a closer look at the situation. The specialist and the sergeant didn't walk on FDR [Franklin 

Delano Roosevelt Drive] like the sergeant and I did. They took a parallel street one or two 

blocks east of FDR but in the same direction [towards the WTC]. I stayed back to guard the 

[HUMVEE] but had to do it without a weapon. The situation didn't exactly call for the sergeant 

to break protocol and give me one of his. It was okay. I felt like we were the safest people down 

there. I watched them walk off, and after a while they turned a corner, and I couldn't see them 

anymore. 
 201

I started to get bored and ventured a short distance away from the hummer to where I 

could see Building Seven. More than a few hours had gone by now, and the building was still 

burning. A few civilians had passed my way and expressed their happiness with the presence of 

the military. I was about fifty feet away from the hummer when I saw the sergeant and specialist 

coming toward me. I moved in their direction, and suddenly the people behind them started 

running. Then they started running in my direction, and before I did an about-face the ground 

shook, the air roared, and Building Seven came down. The collapsing building caused another 

wall of dust, paper, and other debris to fly around us, and I remember getting [angry] at two guys 

who began to cheer in amazement at the whole thing. I tend to have a low tolerance for that sort 

of youthful ignorance, but . . . I guess folks were coping anyway they could. 

Reunited with the sergeant and specialist, and with Building Seven down, we wanted to 

do something. We wanted to go in. The sergeant tried to get to the colonel for instructions but 

had no luck. Someone on the FDR Drive [an army officer] called for a formation, and soldiers 

from all branches reported. He told us that the time to go was close at hand, and he wanted to 

know if anyone was search and rescue qualified. He got a few, and he had them stand to the side 

of the formation. He passed out a sheet of paper and asked us to list our information to include 

our units, rank, name, SSN [social security number], the usual. It was around then that the 

FDNY [Fire Department of New York] started moving in, and someone told the officer that only 

his qualified people could go in closer to the site. 

 Now determined to do something other than just stand around and watch, we [the 

sergeant, specialist, and I] moved back toward the high school and separated from the group of 

military personnel in the formation. The lobby of the high school was being converted into a 

trauma center, and we decided to give a hand. On the inside though, it seemed that things were 

just about done. . . . The EMS group inside was beginning to triage victims. As I recall, there 

was a lot of eye injuries and lung or coughing related treatments going on. We left the building, 

and once outside we ran into the colonel and the major. They said something about going . . . 

somewhere in Jersey or Delaware. I can't really recall. . . . At any rate I didn't want to leave 

ground zero just yet, and I didn't want to chance spending the night in the tunnel. The sergeant 

gave me an MRE and the medics’ bag. He said don't leave, he'll be back, and he would look for 

me. I told him that I was there for the duration, and he would find me at ground zero or very 

close to it. They got into the [HUMVEE] and drove off. I picked up a sandwich out of a box of 

sandwiches. There was food and water everywhere, and I thought I'd hold on to the MRE and 

ate it with some water. 

 It was dark outside at that point, and I really wanted to do some work at the collapsed 

WTC. The FDNY was beginning to tape off the FDR Drive area, and I thought that I better get 

as close as possible before I get blocked out completely. I went around the corner to the street 

the sergeant and specialist took which ran parallel to the FDR Drive and moved quickly down 

that street toward the WTC. To my surprise I made it to a building on the southwest corner 
202 

across the street (diagonally) from the phone company building in spite of the many police 

officers stopping photographers and others trying to get close. 

 I walked into the lobby of the building and saw one soldier in uniform helping a group of 

medical folks set up a trauma treatment center. I told a nurse . . . that I was a medic and could 

help. We converted a private room into a morgue [that] didn't involve much by the time I got 

there except moving furniture out . . . [of] the way to clear the floor for bodies. I off-loaded a 

bunch of saline solution in cases, helped set up tables, and then sat down for awhile and waited 

for some more work. I walked around the lobby of the building we were in and moved to where 

I could get an up close and personal look at the WTC. At this point the building I was in was 

west directly across the street. . . . I could see the WTC about twenty to thirty feet in front of me, 

maybe closer. I was amazed at what the most obvious force the collapsed building created. In 

front of me was what used to be a fire truck, crushed under the debris. . . . I stood looking at the 

truck and its background for quite awhile when I realized that I might look to someone else as 

though I was in shock or something, and I snapped out of it and went back to the main treatment 

area of the lobby. . . . I was the only soldier in that area. A cop came in and asked for some help 

off-loading cases of body bags. I thought – that sounds like my call. 

 I went outside and found the truck with the cases of body bags and started taking them 

two cases at a time. Needless to say that after a few trips two cases became one. When the truck 

was empty I went back to the lobby and looked at the wall of cases of body bags we off-loaded. 

All in all they were stacked about six cases high, about five or six deep, and ran from left to right 

about twenty or more. That's a lot of body bags. Someone yelled out, "I got one!" Suddenly 

there was a frenzy of activity. It was not a survivor. . . . It may not have even been a whole 

body. I don't know because I wasn't able to get close enough to see. I know that about thirty or 

forty minutes after that at approximately 01:30 [1:30 a.m.], I started making my way to the 

waterfront where boats were still making runs between Jersey City and Manhattan. Along the 

way I ran into a fireman who asked me if I had anything to eat. His group was far removed from 

where the streets overflowed with food. I told him no and took a few steps before remembering 

that I still had my MRE. I called to him, and as we walked toward each other I pulled the MRE 

out of my pocket and handed it to him. You would have thought I just fed his kids or something. 

He was so happy. As for me, I had to leave [Manhattan] and get back to family. The look on 

their faces as I walked out the door had finally caught up to me, and [I] realized how dramatic a 

moment it must have been for them. 

 When I got to the docks, a boat from Jersey City was tying on and preparing to unload 

more food and water. I was tired. . . . by that time, but for a ride home would gladly help offload the goods. I did just that, got a ride back across the river, made a collect phone call to my 

mother's house, and asked my sister to come to Exchange Place and get me. I told her that she 

would find me standing in front of the federal building at 30 Montgomery Street. She drove 

down, picked me up, and that was the end of day one. The next day I went back to ground zero, 

using the route as I did on 11 September to see if the colonel and his crew [the major, the 
 203

sergeant, and the specialist] could be found. I spent less than two hours there when the feelings 

being given off by the cops and FDNY irritated me. Back to Jersey I went, back to the house, 

and to my car. I took the car to my unit at Fort Totten where my arrival was more than welcome. 

 I was put on orders and given a number of assignments. I had to check the unit’s alert 

roster by making actual calls to unit members and asking them to confirm all information listed 

on the roster. I drove a five-ton truck over to [Jacobi] Hospital in the Bronx. [It] was loaded with 

equipment [tents, phone lines, food service, etc.] all of which was needed at the hospital where 

one of the morgues for the body parts was being set up. I was available as a driver for the 

company commander, the hospital commander, the executive officer [XO], the chief nurse, and 

ended up taking the chief nurse . . . to the home of Captain Michael Mullan, . . . a unit member 

and a New York fire fighter. [He died at the World Trade Center on 11 September.] 

 [A colonel] received information that the captain was missing in action at ground zero 

and presumed killed in action. She wanted to visit his family to assure them that they could 

count on the unit for support or anything else they thought we could do. Captain Mullan lived in 

Queens not too far from Fort Totten. His family was pleased that a representative from the unit 

came by. . . . I spent the next two weeks living at the unit and working with my company 

commander, First Lieutenant Matthew Aiken. 

 Of the many lessons learned from the whole experience, the one thing that stays with me 

the most is that . . . the Army's system and training does . . . work. What I mean is that I entered 

the hot zone alone, found a colonel and a major and a unit, (I can’t recall the unit, but they came 

from an armory in Manhattan not too far from Federal Plaza.), watched a pseudo chain of 

command form, and although the group was made up of a variety of specialties the immediate 

situation didn't call for much more than some basic military knowledge (i.e., CTT [common task 

training]). Our system does and will work, even if it is forced together in a hap-hazard fashion. 

I've always had confidence in my own ability as a soldier, but now I have more confidence in the 

Army. I'm not saying it's perfect. I'm just saying it works.268

 

 

268 Sergeant Harold Ross, email correspondence with Sergeant William Miller, 12 August 2002. The 90th Military 

History Detachment, in conjunction with the 311th Military History Detachment, conducted this interview through 

email. 
204 

Major Paul Guilot 
 205

Chapter 19 

Active Guard Reserve Major Paul Guilot, Mobilization Officer, Deputy Chief 

of Staff, Operations, U.S. Army Reserve Command, Fort McPherson, Georgia 

[On the morning of 11 September, Major Guilot was working mobilization issues concerning 

Bosnia and Kosovo. It was a normal day.] 

GUILOT: The planes impacting on the World Trade Center thrust us into NOBLE EAGLE 

sometime within twenty minutes of the second plane impacting. . . . We assumed our positions 

down here in the EOC and began tracking the different operations as far as what was going on in 

the world and what our requirements were going to be, . . . establishing our communications with 

our higher headquarters, which is FORSCOM, and also reaching out to our reserve RSCs, . . . 

and establishing contact with them, making sure that they are up and running, and we have good 

[communications] with them. . . . I would say after six or seven hours we had contacted all of 

our subordinates that we needed to speak to and established that they were manning their 

emergency operations centers. . . . At first there weren’t any [communications]. The first . . . 

units that we had that were requested were mortuary affairs units from down in Puerto Rico. 

That’s when the mob[ilization] section of the EOC started tracking the MOS [military 

occupational specialty] qualifications of the people. . . to make sure they were deployable status 

and ready to go. . . . I believe it was within forty-eight hours we had them tracked and ready to 

go. 

INTERVIEWER: Who was asking for those assets within the USAR? 

GUILOT: It didn’t come from the USAR. It came from our higher headquarters, which was 

FORSCOM that requested mortuary affairs units. . . . . We started to determine that we had units 

located down in Puerto Rico, and we started assessing their readiness with FORSCOM. . . . 

Right now I don’t remember how many [passengers], . . . but they went in two different 

increments. I do know that . . . a new unit just standing up . . . wasn’t ready to go, so we worked 

to plus-up [to borrow people and equipment from another unit] that first unit that went. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: So within hours of the planes hitting the World Trade Center and the 

Pentagon, FORSCOM was looking for, in particular, the occupational specialty of mortuary 

affairs? 

GUILOT: Absolutely, because there’s only one active component unit located out of Fort Lee 

[Virginia] . . . that does mortuary affairs. We have the remainder in the reserves, and that’s only 

two other units. . . . The process that takes place is that FORSCOM requests a derivative UIC 
206 

 – a derivative unit identification code – that identifies a specific unit that they want to go into 

specific pieces. We in turn look at our structure, pull out the structure that FORSCOM has 

directed us to look at, derivatize [sic] the unit, send the derivative to FORSCOM who requests 

activation of that derivative up the chain of command to the Department of Army . . . [which] . . . 

cuts a notification for training, which comes back to us, and at that point we notify the RSC that 

they . . . need to start looking at spinning out four possible mobilizations. . . . It can [also] be the 

double A unit, which is the whole unit. Every [tasking] that we get, every unit that we mobilize, 

originates from FORSCOM. . . . We have about 482 units [mobilized]. . . . FORSCOM has 

generated those [units]. I’m not sure as to what the other types of units that they were looking 

for early on in the operation. . . . The other units that we activated were a lot of our GSUs 

[garrison support units], [and] the military police [MP] . . . to protect certain areas, . . . other vital 

interests. . . . 

 The MPs out of the 99th RSC were required to report to “SITE-R” immediately. SITE-R 

is . . . the Pentagon’s Emergency Operations Center. Things go on there, and they need to move 

to a secure facility. [The unit’s mission] . . . is to provide security for the exterior outside Site-R, 

the perimeter. . . . The unit . . . wasn’t [called up] through formal channels. It was the RSC 

commander saying we need to provide the support to SITE-R, and placed . . . the MPs on 

extended ADT [active duty for training], AT until we could get the mobilization formalized. . . . 

The RSC commander, General [Karol] Kennedy, responded to . . . the threat [on] the Pentagon 

and that SITE-R was going to be activated. I don’t know where they got the word. It didn’t 

come through the mobilization cell here. . . .The unit was . . . [deactivated] shortly after when 

they didn’t think they were going to need it. . . . Then they were recalled to SITE-R by a formal 

FORSCOM [task]. . . . I believe they had an advance party that made it to SITE-R . . . within . . . 

twenty-four hours of the 9-11 incidents. Then they were recalled a day or so later. . . . The rest 

of the unit was getting there. They were filling in. They were getting [ready] . . . at SITE-R. . . . 

[Then they] were sent back . . . within twenty-four hours of them being told not to go, that they 

had to turn around and head back to SITE-R. 

INTERVIEWER: Were you aware of . . . any communications occurring from the 77th up in 

New York with the World Trade Center attack? 

GUILOT: Now we did monitor the security of their buildings. That would be the Provost 

Marshal who would be able to answer this better than me, but there were many calls here from 

the units themselves asking, “Are we going to be mobilized? Do we need to go? Do we need to 

get ready?” And our answers to them were to, “Hold. Our security posture is up. There is a 

possibility of mobilizations, but we don’t have any information. When we get it we will pass it 

on to you.” 
 207

INTERVIEWER: Major, what were some of the challenges that were faced those first few days 

here within the Emergency Operations Center? 

GUILOT: Establishing something that was real life that was not a planned exercise with 

MESLs [pronounced “measles”] – [mission event synchronization list or master events 

scenario list – used interchangeably] that we knew were coming, that we could plan for. . . . . 

INTERVIEWER: “MESLs,” define that please. 

GUILOT: The . . . contractors [Eagle Group] who would run our exercises for mobilization, 

would come up with some scenarios, which are called MESLs that we have to react to and 

process the paperwork that we needed to do to make sure that what needed to happen, happens. 

. . . Some of the big challenges that we faced were the USAR was not built to send individuals to 

be mobilized. It was built to send units. And our requirements were coming in for pieces and 

parts of units which required us to break units [in order] to bring other . . . units . . . up to 

strength so they could deploy and be mission capable for the mission that FORSCOM directed 

them to do. 

INTERVIEWER: You’re speaking of NOBLE EAGLE, ENDURING FREEDOM activations? 

GUILOT: I’m talking . . . 9-11. They didn’t want . . . the . . . cooks, the maintenance. They 

wanted mortuary affairs specialists with specific MOSs. . . . . We had to go in and look by those 

specific MOSs and build derivative UICs to mobilize. So it was . . . something that we haven’t 

done in any of our exercises, and we came to realize that that was going to be an issue for us. . . . 

That was something that we had not trained for. 

INTERVIEWER: What about the prior training that you did receive concerning the Emergency 

Operations Center? 

GUILOT: Eagle Group training that they did provide us utilized FORMDEPS, which is 

FORSCOM Mobilization Planning and Deployment System. . . . This deployment right after 9-

11 did not conform to what FORMDEPS was written for, and our training had not included 

individual mobilizations. So we were, and as we still are, . . . just making it up as we went along, 

trying to perform best to the Army regulations that were there. As a result, we’re talking about 

re-writing FORMDEPS or putting another volume in for domestic emergencies that we have to 

respond to. 

INTERVIEWER: When was the last time that [you] . . . conducted a training exercise? 
208 

GUILOT: August [2001] we did a four-day exercise. . . . It was built on the scenarios of a fullscale deployment basically. So we’re using the TPFDDs that are out there . . . time phase force 

development data. What that tells us is . . . line units . . . that are anticipated to deploy by certain 

times, will have to be in theater. So . . . you have a ranking. We need this type of unit first, 

second, third, and all of our units are located somewhere . . . right now. I know there are three 

TPFDDs, . . . and those are the ones that we exercise off of when we use Eagle Group 

mobilization exercises. . . . [Eagle Group is comprised of] either six or seven contractors [who 

are] former military [with] . . . the rank of O-5 [lieutenant colonel] or above. They work . . . in 

the DCSOPS. They have offices in the DCSOPS and they create exercises for us, . . . usually . . . 

two a year. . . . They supposedly train us . . . for exactly this type of contingency, . . . what the 

reserve was built for. . . . 

 The emergency operation – much like the rest of the Army – was probably running 

around trying to figure out what they were supposed to do. . . . We immediately realized that our 

prior training . . . was not going to address the issues that we had to deal with . . . individual 

deployment, pieces and parts, the different techniques that we were going to have to use to get 

people to a mob[ilization] station. Examples are . . . the quartermaster unit that responded to the 

Pentagon, the mortuary affairs guys. . . . FORSCOM asked for the entire unit. . . . However, they 

placed a restriction on us by putting a number of soldiers [who] could deploy to . . . respond to 

this. . . . By doing that, they disable our ability to support any future requirements because the 

active component assumes the entire structure of the double A element that took it out of the 

reserve hands. So we couldn’t send soldiers forward. I hope I’m explaining it right and clear to 

you. . . . A good example of that is the [people] coming back from [Army] school[s] who are non 

deployable cannot join the unit that was up there once they got back because we had no structure 

to mobilize. . . . The [active component] at FORSCOM took the full double A unit with all its 

structure and left the guys in school to come back. . . .What had to happen was the 63rd RSC 

[Los Alamitos, California] had to pull those soldiers into the RSC structure and assign them 

positions. 

INTERVIEWER: So they are on the unit manning report, that particular unit. All of those 

positions went with the unit to the Pentagon. When these soldiers come back from school, the 

actual paragraph-line number on their unit manning report for that unit is no longer there because 

they’re on active duty? 

GUILOT: Correct. 

INTERVIEWER: So they in essence needed to be absorbed by another reserve unit? 

GUILOT: Right. . . . There was an additional requirement for those people who came back 

from school. . . . I believe what we did was create a mobilization support det[achment] [that] 
 209

transferred those soldiers into this support [detachment], which was managed here by the 

USARC. . . . [This detachment] cut individual mobilization orders on [the soldiers who came 

back from school], and sent them to join the mortuary affairs unit. . . . [The] mobilization support 

[detachment] that’s created off our NAAD, which is the National AMEDD [Army Medical 

Department], – we [create] that here at the USARC. 

INTERVIEWER: Any other challenges, issues? 

GUILOT: The issue [is] that we are not set up for extended manning of more than three or four 

days. There are four mobilization officers, and if you’re running a twenty-four-seven [twentyfour hours a day, seven days a week] operation, burnout sets in pretty quick. With the way the 

Army rotates its people, . . . we have some weak people who didn’t know [who] had just 

transferred in and have no way of knowing the mobilization process or what had to happen. So 

they were relying heavily on the more senior people that had some mobilization knowledge. . . . 

It’s a big learning curve, and that’s something you can’t just fall in and know all this stuff right 

up front. So that was an issue for us. 

INTERVIEWER: What about training being validated by the Eagle Group? What were you 

going to say about that? 

GUILOT: . . . The Eagle Group in our training exercises functioned as our higher headquarters 

or as FORSCOM. . . . I don’t think they were totally aware of what the mobilization cell did 

because often times we were excluded from a lot of the information. . . . We’re the hub or 

planning cell for Eagle Group, and if a [personnel] issue comes down, it comes down through us, 

whereas Eagle Group would just flow that information right to [personnel], [and] leave the 

[mobilization] cell out of it. . . . Since we had no real play in the mobilization exercises, they 

didn’t require us to go out and look at units. A good example is . . . the mortuary affairs unit. If 

they needed them, they would go directly to readiness and say, “Give us a recommendation for 

which unit is the best qualified to do this job.” Readiness would . . . process this information and 

give it directly to Eagle Group, leaving the mobilization cell out of it. . . . We know that 

FORSCOM will . . . make a recommendation to the mobilization cell itself, and we will 

disseminate the information of who we need, . . . combine it all, and tie all the pieces together 

before we come back to FORSCOM and Eagle Group and say, "Hey, this is the best unit, and 

we’ve already conducted our personnel [review].” We’ll tie all that. . . . We’re the hub for the 

information. . . . The bridge [another term for the emergency operations people] . . . will 

disseminate the information to mobilization and then we will make coordination with all the 

different entities. . . . In our exercises, Eagle Group was acting . . . as the mobilization cell – and 

not realizing that FORSCOM was going to come directly to us and not through the bridge. . . . 

But they left us out of a lot of the critical operations that we found out that we were in charge of. 
210 

. . . There’s a lot more to mobilization. . . . We have to look at personnel, structure, readiness, 

training, as well as cutting mobilization orders and recommending derivative UICs to 

FORSCOM. . . . We were ill equipped for that prior to 9-11, and our exercises never addressed 

anything like that. 

INTERVIEWER: So in essence with this particular contingency that occurred, because of the 

nature of these Eagle Group exercises that were being conducted, they didn’t really train the 

mobilization cell, the EOC ? 

GUILOT: That’s correct. They also were . . . stuck on FORMDEPs, and that was the only way 

we could do business. . . . FORMDEPs went . . . right off the bat. FORMDEPs is based on . . . 

more traditional [exercises] over in Germany. . . . This was an emergency response. And you 

couldn’t take what we learned from the mobilization exercises and transform that into this quick 

response. A good example is the Army decision-making process. [It was] pretty much out the 

window when we had to come up with a unit within a day. There was no time for the staff to do 

that.269

 

269 Major Paul Guilot, interview with Major Robert Bensburg, tape recording with transcript, 20 March 2002. 
 211
212 

Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski 
 213

Chapter 20 

Active Guard Reserve Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski, 

Noncommissioned Officer in Charge, Emergency Operations Center, 

U.S. Army Reserve Command, Fort McPherson, Georgia 

[Master Sergeant Buyarski had thirty-two years in the Army, four of which was spent on active 

duty and seventeen years as an Active Guard Reserve soldier.]

INTERVIEWER: Where were you and what were you doing at the time of the attacks on the 

World Trade Center and the Pentagon? 

BUYARSKI: When the first plane hit the first tower, I was actually driving to work . . . little 

later than normal because I worked the third shift, which would take me to about 17:30 [5:30] 

hours. I heard the plane had hit the first tower and I said to myself, "Wow, that doesn't sound too 

good." I was thinking [a] light plane, . . . serious but not too serious. So I got to work, and we 

had the TV on because we had to monitor CNN [Cable News Network]. When I saw the tower 

burning I said, . . . “This looks bad . . . real bad . . . .” We still had no idea where this thing was 

going to go, and then as we were watching it, we saw the second plane, and it looked like it was 

just flying by beyond the buildings. And when it hit the second tower, we all looked at each 

other and said this was no accident. That's basically where it started. . . . Major Phillips turned to 

either Sergeant Polk or me and said, "Get on that computer and send an email to all the crisis 

action team members. . . . Send a message for all of them to get . . . here and note that this is the 

real thing. This is not an exercise." And that's where we started with it. We sent messages to all 

of our major subordinate commands that this is the real thing and for them to stand by for further 

orders. 

INTERVIEWER: Please explain to us an email you sent on 11 September where the subject 

was "No weapons or ammo." Can you tell us about that? 

BUYARSKI: Many of our subordinate units had called us, and they were asking about security 

for their buildings. At that point, there was a decision made that there would be . . . no weapons, 

firearms, or ammunition issued. I guess what they were concerned with at that point was that we 

didn't want armed people running around the outside of the various reserve centers further 

alarming citizens. We didn't want any accidents to happen. At that point, something had to be 

put down in writing: "This is how we're going to secure those buildings.” So basically while 

security was being provided and people were guarding doors and gates, the commanding general 

had decided that there would be no weapons or ammo issued. 
214 

INTERVIEWER: Did this rule apply to MPs [military police], or were they excluded from this 

rule? 

BUYARSKI: Well, as a rule, the military police, because of their unique job as [the] military's 

police officers, they're authorized to be issued and to carry weapons and live ammunition. This 

message was more directed at everyone else other than the military police. . . . As a rule, there is 

no ammunition stored at those reserve centers. 

INTERVIEWER: The next subject is regarding public affairs guidance. Could you please tell 

us what type of guidance was issued by the Public Affairs Office on 11 September? 

BUYARSKI: . . . The civilian population wanted to get some information. They turned to 

military installations such as recruiting stations or the local reserve center or a National Guard 

center, and we needed to have guidance to be able to give these folks without causing any further 

alarm. In other words, we weren't going to say we're standing by with rifle in hand ready to repel 

. . . a border invasion. We told them that we were definitely on alert, and they should be getting 

their information as to what was going on from their local radio stations and the national news at 

this point. We weren't going to make any bold statements as to where we were going to go with 

this. 

INTERVIEWER: This next subject is called "Armed Guard Guidance," where you refer to 

Army Regulation 190-143, Chapter 3 [Carrying of Firearms and Use of Force for Law 

Enforcement and Security Duties]. Did you receive this or did one of the officers ask you to put 

that out? 

BUYARSKI: This message had come from our Provost Marshal's Office here. . . . I was the 

avenue by which it was sent out to all our subordinate units. . . . The Provost Marshal's Office 

had sent that and this was, at that moment, how this was referenced [regarding the use of force]. 

INTERVIEWER: I see there's a memo referring to the THREATCON level, and it was put on 

Delta. Now was this put on Delta nationwide? Perhaps you can tell us what THREATCON is 

and the different levels? 

BUYARSKI: Well, the THREATCON is a threat condition, and THREATCON Delta is the 

highest or next to highest level, whereas the imminent problem, the danger of something 

happening very soon and very seriously, is very possible. And this was THREATCON Delta 

[which] was established countrywide, actually world wide. All military were put on 

THREATCON Delta initially. This message was sent out so that folks would let us know that 

they have taken the necessary measures. For each one of the THREATCON levels (there's 
 215

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta), . . . there are certain measures according to the regulation that 

concerns THREATCON that tells us what you're supposed to do for each one, for example, 

secure all doors and start checking ID cards and these kinds of things. At THREATCON Delta 

no one comes into the building without having an ID card. . . . In this building you have to have a 

badge or a visitor's badge. So the level of security went way up. All of the doors were secured. 

Guards were posted. You had roving guards on the base. So, yes, it was very serious, very, very 

serious. 

INTERVIEWER: Nothing ever happened at the post, did it? For instance, all of the action 

being at Washington and New York, you didn't catch, for instance terrorists or anybody else 

down in this area? 

BUYARSKI: No, it was pretty safe here. And of course, the MPs immediately secured the two 

gates that we have here. Within a short period of time concrete barriers were placed and that's 

the way it's been ever since. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: What THREATCON are we in right now [19 March 2002]? 

BUYARSKI: We are at what's called Bravo Plus . . . a little higher than a regular Bravo. Most 

places across the United States are at Bravo Plus now, but there are some areas that are still at 

Charlie, which is the next highest one. And basically [there is]100 percent ID checks for coming 

in the base. If a person doesn't have a badge, ID cards are checked, and you have to sign in when 

you come in the building. 

INTERVIEWER: How did you receive the directive stating the half staffing of the American 

flag? How did that come about? 

BUYARSKI: We received it from the watch team at Forces Command, which is our higher 

headquarters. This item had gone to all the major units in this country. When it came in on my 

email system, I sent it to all our subordinate units. It was referring to what happened on 

September 11. It was directing all the units to place their national flag at half staff in front of 

their installations. 

INTERVIEWER: So this kind of memo had started with the president from the White House 

and worked its way down, correct? 

BUYARSKI: Yes, sir. That's a very high level, and it was of importance that this be put out to 

all of our subordinate commands. 
216 

INTERVIEWER: Tell us about the memo referring to military personnel on leave or in transit. 

BUYARSKI: It was for anyone who was on leave. They were to call their parent unit, wherever 

they were assigned to get directions and instructions. Folks who were in a transit status between 

assignments were still supposed to go to wherever they were going and they would be told what 

the next [assignment] was going to be once they got there. 

INTERVIEWER: Does this include soldiers who were . . . on vacation with their families in 

another part of the country and had a hard time getting back because of the grounding of planes? 

Did that affect them? 

BUYARSKI: . . . We had some people who were in California, and they ended up having to 

drive back here because they couldn't get a plane back. So, yes, it even affected us here. As long 

as the person called their unit, let them know where they were, then they wouldn't get in any sort 

of trouble. 

INTERVIEWER: Did you have any disruption in telephone communication like we had in 

New York? 

BUYARSKI: No, sir. In fact New York was one of the very first places that we were placing 

calls to because we had the 77th Regional Support Command at Fort Totten in New York City 

and we were able to talk to them continuously. We were on the phone with them a lot in those 

first weeks of the operation after the disaster. 

INTERVIEWER: Explain to us some of the guidance USARC provided to the field regarding 

the SITREP report. Define SITREP and tell us the guidance you provided. 

BUYARSKI: The SITREP is a situation report . . . that all the major subordinate commands – 

and there's nearly thirty – some of them were required to send us a situation report everyday. 

What it would [say] are things like how many personnel they have assigned, how many were 

supporting what turned out to be Operation NOBLE EAGLE and ENDURING FREEDOM later. 

Just to let us know on a day-by-day basis this is what we're doing. And it would include things 

like points of contact, phone numbers that could be reached at twenty-four hours a day, seven 

days a week, types of problems with equipment, personnel, and any issues that deal with soldiers 

would be sent to us. This would be looked at and passed along to the appropriate folks to deal 

with those problems and issues that they had. And we still get those every day from every unit. 

INTERVIEWER: Tell us the difference between THREATCON and TFPCON condition? 
 217

BUYARSKI: Well the THREATCON or the threat condition was changed to terrorist force 

protection condition [TFPCON]. And this was a part of Army Regulation 525-13, Anti-Terrorist 

Force Protection. What they did was it changed the name, and it was changed to terrorism force 

protection condition because that seemed to be the main driving force for the operations that 

we're doing right now. That's about the only reason that I can think of why it was changed. We 

had never before dealt with a terrorism threat issue in this country. . . . It was a common thing 

overseas at different assignments but not here. 

INTERVIEWER: Tell us about this memo dated 14 September regarding the partial 

mobilization of the National Guard and the Army Reserve. 

BUYARSKI: That was a pretty important one. . . . Before we could give our subordinate units 

any direction, we had to have this order about mobilization of the National Guard and the Army 

Reserve. It had to be authorized. It was released by the United States Department of Defense on 

September 14, 2001. . . . After we received it by fax, it was immediately given to the folks in our 

Command Group, and we sent it out to all of our subordinate units. . . . 

 

INTERVIEWER: What was your relationship with the public affairs officers here, Lieutenant 

Colonel Boyd Collins and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Phillips? 

BUYARSKI: Oh, yes, we were working very closely with them. Basically they had passed to 

us this item we're looking at, White House Executive Order dated 14 September 01, and it was 

from the White House Office of [the] Press Secretary. It was the actual executive order that the 

Public Affairs [Office] sent to us so that we could send to everybody. This is the one that orders 

the Ready Reserve of the armed forces to active duty. 

INTERVIEWER: Did the PAO have a lot of reporters coming up here during that time of crisis 

period? 

BUYARSKI: Well, they weren't allowed here on the fort, but they were definitely doing a lot of 

telephoning and emailing. 

INTERVIEWER: I noticed that you sent out on September 15 a situation report. . . . Was that 

because you were getting reports from the field in different formats, and you had to provide 

guidance? How did this come about? 

BUYARSKI: Yes, sir, that's absolutely correct. What we did was we came up with a 

standardized format so that our subordinate units would be giving us the information that we 

absolutely needed, in that we were receiving it from everyone the same [way]. 
218 

INTERVIEWER: Tell us what were some of the manning requirements for the Emergency 

Operations Centers. Do you recall that? 

BUYARSKI: Yes, sir. . . We had a requirement for all our reserve centers to be on twenty-four 

hours manning of their Emergency Operations Center. Some of our subordinate commands were 

authorized to stand down twenty-four-hour operations, for they were physically there. But they 

still had to provide . . . our [Emergency] Operations Center with a point of contact and phone 

number that was available twenty-four hours. 

INTERVIEWER: I assume these were twelve-hour shifts in the beginning? 

BUYARSKI: Well, yes, sir, . . . from the very beginning we started twelve-hour shifts in the 

operations center, and we have continued that to this time. Not everyone, but there's about four 

or five of us a day. We do twelve-hour shifts – twelve on twelve off. We cover all twenty-four 

hours in the day. And we work a three days on and three days off schedule. 

INTERVIEWER: Sergeant, what about force protection antiterrorism funding? Can you 

explain that to us? 

BUYARSKI: Because the units had to man their reserve centers twenty-four hours a day . . . 

money was being involved because many of the reserve centers don't necessarily have people . . . 

assigned. . . . They're not active duty people so they were going to have to call in some of their 

reservists to help out with this. So a USARC directive told them not to reprogram any of their 

fiscal year zero-two [2002] fiscal security and counter-terrorism funding without written 

approval from us here at the USARC's DCSOPS. 

INTERVIEW: Can I assume that many soldiers were using their two week active duty training 

during this crisis period? 

BUYARSKI: Yes, sir, that is my assumption and that did happen because at the very least, they 

were able to call in someone who hadn't done annual training for two weeks. 

INTERVIEWER: Sergeant Buyarski, explain to us what the SIPRNET [Secure Internet 

Protocol Router Network] type of communication is? 

BUYARSKI: Well, the SIPRNET is very closely part of the Global Command and Control 

System. It's a secure information processing network, and we can send emails back and forth, 

and we don't have to worry about them being intercepted by anyone. 
 219

INTERVIEWER: Sergeant Buyarski, is there anything else you want to add? 

BUYARSKI: In our building about a month and a half ago we had an anthrax scare. . . . 

Something was discovered here, and we were put on 100 percent alert. We were evacuated. The 

building was sealed. Major Phillips and I were present in the [Emergency] Operations Center 

that evening when that happened. It was absolutely very serious. It turned out to be not anthrax, 

fortunately, but it was pretty scary. Other than that we just march along with our day-to-day, and 

it seems like a way of life now. We don't know when it will change.270 

 

270 Master Sergeant Fred Buyarski, interview with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner, tape recording with 

transcript, 18 March 2002. 
220 

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Koons 
 221

Chapter 21 

Active Guard Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Charles Koons, 

Chief of the Operations and Plans Division, U.S. Army Reserve Command, 

Fort McPherson, Georgia 

[Lieutenant Colonel Koons was responsible for mobilization, plans and current operations since 

1 September 2001. He had twenty-two-and-a-half years in the Army with twelve years in the 

Active Guard Reserve.] 

INTERVIEWER: You just started your current position on 1 September 2001, so you were 

getting to know your job. How did September 11th affect all of that? 

KOONS: I’ve been in training and operations the majority of my career, so this was pretty much 

a natural stepping stone. But on 1 September I’d already done a couple of TTXs [table-top 

exercises] with the RSCs, so I understood where I was going. . . . This brought it to light much 

more. We had scheduled a TTX for the USARC in November, and we were gearing up for that, 

so it kind of led us up to September 11th in that we were starting to get ready and looking at 

those things that we needed to accomplish for our CPX [command post exercise]. . . . It’s where 

we go out to the RSCs and we run through a CPX for them that is very structured. We have 

events that we put in that will cause them to go through the mission planning process and see 

how they handle each one of the events as they come forward. 

INTERVIEWER: Now on September 11th, how did the events of that day and the subsequent 

days cause you to have to change your plans? 

KOONS: . . . I was sitting down doing a leave form, and I’ve got a little TV here in the office, 

and I keep it on CNN, when I heard the first airplane hit the first tower. At first, I thought I had 

it on a movie channel, so I turned around and looked and realized that it was CNN, and I went 

down to Mr. [Anthony] Guisti’s [assistant deputy chief of staff, operations] office and said, 

“Look, we probably need to start getting things geared up.” And I called the EOC and said, 

“Start calling people in.” And I would say within the first two hours we had things fully 

functional downstairs, even though we didn’t know to what extent we were going to be involved. 

We had everybody in the EOC. We were starting to work through the process of getting things 

into a shift scenario, so that people could plan on what they were going to be doing for at least 

the next forty-eight, seventy-two hours. . . . We had three shifts . . . ninety-seven people. 

INTERVIEWER: How long did you continue that tempo? 
222 

KOONS: Until about the end of October. And then we started paring back on those who were 

sitting in the EOC but weren’t really contributing. So, we’ve gone through probably four scale 

downs and revisions on the EOC schedule. Originally we had two shifts going twenty-four 

hours, two twelve-hour shifts. A nd what that was causing was a lot of burnout. So, we started 

picking out those folks who could go to eight-hour shifts, and we still have some folks who are 

twelve-hour shifts. We just modified it as we went on. 

INTERVIEWER: What type of training does an individual need to go through in order to work 

in an Emergency Operations Center? 

KOONS: Basically, a good grounding in basic tactical operations. . . . We run two or three 

CPXs a year normally to [train] people up enough so they can work down there. The [soldiers] 

we have on the bridge are very tactically oriented, and we tend to select those [soldiers] who are 

very well grounded in those S-3-type [operations] functions. We’ve got representatives from 

per[sonnel], log[istics], DCSENG [engineer], the chaplain, IG [inspector general]. Each one of 

those has specific requirements as far as being familiar with their specific areas. And then we 

take them in, train them on the overall operation of the EOC to make sure that they understand 

who they go to when they get a problem, or how they go about coordinating stuff. 

INTERVIEWER: So each representative of the other sections still needs to know something 

about operations? 

KOONS: Yes. 

INTERVIEWER: During the time of September and afterward, what sort of interaction did you 

have with the Pentagon? 

KOONS: We had very limited communications with the Pentagon, other than OCAR when they 

have their requirement. We send them our daily SITREP, our update slides, [and] specific 

information on personnel. And when they are working on a contingency, then they’ll ask for 

information on specific units. . . . 

 

INTERVIEWER: During September and October, what types of challenges or problems did 

you face in the EOC? 

KOONS: Information flow. That was the biggest one. . . . It was information on what the 

requirements were from FORSCOM, what the RSCs needed to know from us, [or] where we 

would need to go to get the information. . . . In [the] September-October time frame, unlike a 

normal mobilization process, we were in a hasty mob[ilization]. Normally, you would have a 
 223

theater of operation that had a requirement. They’d send the request for forces to JFCOM [Joint 

Forces Command], who would go to DA [Department of the Army]. Then they’d determine who 

sourced it, and FORSCOM would – if it was an Army requirement, . . . determine whether it’s 

USAR, National Guard or an AC [active component] sourcing. And then if it was ours [USAR], 

then we’d determine [which were] the best units . . . from that perspective. But in this case, we 

were getting requests from locations all over the United States. We were getting requests from 

outside the United States, and nobody knew where to input the requests to get it into the right 

chain. 

INTERVIEWER: What sort of requests? 

KOONS: For units. We had the RSCs that would come to us requesting the mobilization of MP 

units to support their force protection requirements. We had installations that would go to 

FORSCOM requesting mobilization of MPs for force protection. . . . Now, nobody knew exactly 

where in the system they had to input the requests. . . . So that probably was the biggest stress 

factor that we had was getting the requests into the right channel to make sure it was approved all 

the way up and down the line. 

INTERVIEWER: When an RSC or any other unit requests to have soldiers mobilized at their 

installation or wherever, it does have to go higher than you, doesn’t it? 

KOONS: Yes. . . . You get a conflict, [which] creates a requirement. They send the requirement 

to the commander in chief of the theater, [who] sends a request for forces to DA. DA sends the 

request for forces to FORSCOM. FORSCOM determines which of the three components is 

going to source it. If it’s us, then they send the request for forces to us. We look at the units that 

we have out there that fill those requirements [and] send out any requests for information to the 

RSCs. They look at it and say, “Okay. We’ve got these units and this is probably the best one.” 

We send that back out. It goes to FORSCOM. FORSCOM then sends a request for a work 

mode to DA. DA sends the alert mob[ilization] order down to the CONUS [continental United 

States] at FORSCOM and out to the RSC, and then the unit moves. That’s how it actually 

happened. 

INTERVIEWER: But during this conflict, it didn’t quite happen like that, right? They were 

coming to you? 

KOONS: Right, they were going everywhere. They had requests going directly to the unit to be 

mobbed [mobilized]. They had requests going to DA, to FORSCOM, to us, [and] to other 

agencies. 
224 

INTERVIEWER: How was this able to finally get resolved? 

 

KOONS: Finally, every time we got a request or we were made aware of a request that was 

outside the normal process, we, at FORSCOM and finally DA would tell them where they had to 

start with the request. 

INTERVIEWER: You mentioned one of the challenges you faced during a couple of months 

after September 11th was communication. And is this what you’re referring to? Did you have 

any other sort of communication problems? 

KOONS: Communication problems in the respect that FORSCOM was working off one 

classified system that we [and the RSCs] didn’t have access to on a regular basis. . . . We’re in 

the process of working that out so that we can fund it and get the communications in a classified 

means worked out. 

INTERVIEWER: Is that something that they call the “GCCS [pronounced “geeks” – Global 

Command and Control System] or STU-III? 

KOONS: SIPRNET [Secure Internet Protocol Router Network]. 

INTERVIEWER: Speaking about the Emergency Operations Center, what’s going on down 

there right now? 

KOONS: Currently, we’re working rotation policies. Right now the policy is while you’re in 

the AOR [area of responsibility], you’re going to be in the AOR for about six months. So we’ve 

got a lot of units that have been over there since the October time frame, and they’re getting 

ready to hit that six month window. So we’re looking at what units we can replace, what units 

we can’t replace, and how we go about doing that. . . . I’m talking over in the CENTCOM [U.S. 

Central Command]. . . . Right now we’ve got two eight-hour shifts going on and then we have 

an on-call shift. We’ve got the bridge and the watch officers on for two twelve-hour shifts. And 

I’m on from about 5:30 [a.m.] to about 19:00 [7:00 p.m.] 

INTERVIEWER: Is this going to continue on indefinitely? 

KOONS: Till they tell us to stop. 

INTERVIEWER: You’re also a mobilization officer. You mentioned just a moment ago about 

your six month rotations with the units that are in various places. Can you tell me what is going 
 225

on with that, mobilizing troops for say Operation NOBLE and Operation ENDURING 

FREEDOM? 

KOONS: Well, as far as the rotation policy, there’s actually three [or four] of them out there. 

. . . For medical units, you get a ninety day . . . rotation policy for . . . doctors and clinical nurses, 

[etc.]. For the non professional medical folks, then it’s a six month in theater rotation policy. . . . 

In [all other] theaters . . . it’s a six-month rotation policy. For CONUS units NOBLE EAGLE, 

it’s a one year rotation policy unless you’re in an austere site, and then it’s a six month rotation 

policy. So first of all we’ve got to determine what type of situation they’re in, whether their 

CONUS, OCONUS [outside continental United States]. If it’s CONUS, is it austere or non 

austere? If it’s OCONUS, then it’s six months. . . . It makes it very complicated to say [to the] 

. . . reservist [that you are] . . . going to be on duty for this period of time. You may be one of 

those units that are one-of-a-kind, and therefore you’re going to be mobilized until you’re no 

longer needed. The guy sitting next to you may be there for six months. 

INTERVIEWER: What is an austere site in the United States? 

KOONS: If you’re on a force protection mission in one of the classified sites that has no 

significant life support capabilities, other than a place to eat and sleep, that’s considered austere. 

No MWR-type [morale, welfare, recreation] activities, no gym, that type of stuff. 

INTERVIEWER: So those soldiers will only be on duty about six months? 

KOONS: Well, they’ll be mobilized for a year, but they’ll be at those sites only six months. 

INTERVIEWER: When did you find out that reservists were going to be mobilized for either 

NOBLE EAGLE or ENDURING FREEDOM? 

KOONS: I think it was about three or four days after . . . September 11th, when the president 

signed the order to mobilize under a partial mob. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me how many soldiers are mobilized to date, a rough estimate? 

KOONS: . . . We have a total of 8,820, as of today. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: How is this mobilization different than prior mobilizations? 

KOONS: It goes like this. Prior mobilizations we followed FORMDEPS. It’s been very 

systematic because you’re following a war plan that you’re mobilizing people against. In this 
226 

one, the first priority was NOBLE EAGLE, which was crisis management and force protection 

and protection of the CONUS assets. . . . [NOBLE EAGLE] was [not] a true war plan that we 

could take off the shelf and say, “These are the forces I need.” 

INTERVIEWER: Are there any changes in how you’re going to mobilize troops in the future? 

KOONS: We are looking at a different version with FORSCOM with FORMDEPS for hasty 

mob[ilization]scenarios. 

INTERVIEWER: In getting back to your Emergency Operations Center, what types of lessons 

learned have come out of all this? 

KOONS: Probably the key thing to the whole thing is flexibility. 

INTERVIEWER: Sir, can you think of anything else that you might like to add concerning 11 

September and the aftermath of that? 

KOONS: In a CPX scenario, a lot of people have balked at the idea of participating, and a lot of 

folks have said, “Well, it’s the Emergency Operations Center. It’s an operations function, and 

therefore, we’re not going to put a lot of emphasis on it.” The fact that the chief of staff and the 

DCG [deputy commanding general] put a lot of emphasis on participation in making sure that we 

were all doing the same thing has paid off big dividends. Our last CPX before September was in 

July, so going into . . . 11 September . . . wasn’t new to us. We were able to step in, pick up the 

books, and say, “This is what we’re doing. This is how we do it. This is why we do it, and this 

should be the result.” And it’s paid off big dividends. As far as on the personal side, it’s caused 

a lot of people to either prove or disprove their abilities. So it’s amazing who the heroes turn out 

to be. It’s not necessarily at the star [general] level or the O-6 level, or the GS-15-type levels. 

It’s the [soldiers] you don’t see on a day-to-day basis that just keep things going and making sure 

that things continue to happen. And it’s been a learning experience.271 

 

271 Lieutenant Colonel Charles Koons, interview by Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, tape recording with 

transcript, 19 March 2002. 
 227

 
228 

Major Kent Jennings 
 229

Chapter 22 

Active Guard Reserve Major Kent Jennings, Plans and Operations Officer, 

Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics, U.S. Army Reserve Command, Fort 

McPherson; with Comments from Active Guard Reserve Master Sergeant 

Harry Rote, Operations Noncommissioned Officer in the Same Section 

JENNINGS: [Major Jennings described his normal job duties.] Basically, we’re in charge of 

mobilization and logistics for all Army Reserve units that fall under USARC’s command for 

exercises, deployments, mobilizations. We’ve worked with the RSCs and with subordinate 

commands to ensure that we’re logistically ready. 

INTERVIEWER: What sorts of things does logistics entail? 

JENNINGS: Readiness of units, equipment readiness . . . equipment on hand, equipment that 

units are supposed to have that they’re authorized. Make sure that they have the right type of 

equipment to perform the mission that they’re going to be called upon to do . . . also the actual 

maintenance, the readiness posture of units. [Six people work in the Plans and Operations 

Branch.] 

INTERVIEWER: And were all of you involved instrumentally in the events of 11 September 

at the USARC? 

JENNINGS: Yes, we were. However, . . . myself and Captain [Ronald] Frame . . . were 

actually in Germany . . . working issues for Kosovo and Bosnia, some equipment issues for our 

units – K-4 and S-4 [Kosovo and stabilization] rotations – when 9-11 occurred. We were sitting 

in Heidleberg when it happened. 

INTERVIEWER: So, when 11 September occurred, what then happened with the Kosovo and 

Bosnia operations? 

JENNINGS: . . . We still support that, however, we were called to come back in as soon as 

possible. It took two or three days . . . before they allowed the flight back out. 

INTERVIEWER: What were you actually doing when you heard of the attacks on the World 

Trade Center and the Pentagon? 
230 

JENNINGS: We were working some equipment issues with the 7th ARCOM, OCAR, 

subordinate units, major subordinate commands under OCAR. We were working – in fact, I 

think that day we were working postal conveyor-belt issues for some of our units, postal units 

that are in Bosnia and Kosovo. And we had just heard. . . . So, that’s how we found out. Then, 

of course, we went up to the operations center at our headquarters over there, and we saw the 

pictures. . . . 

 [Major Jennings kept in contact with the USARC until he was able to board a flight there 

on 14 September.] 

 The first night, of course, we came in here. And then we had a lot of units nominated to 

go different places, so we had to look at the readiness posture of all those units. So, it was a lot 

of going into the unit status reports looking at on-hand equipment. We call it “scrubbing” the 

units. There was a lot of work there. The first few weeks, there was a lot of effort and a lot of 

time. . . . NOBLE EAGLE was a different scenario than ENDURING FREEDOM. For NOBLE 

EAGLE, the basic guide we got was that the units come as they are. Whatever readiness posture 

they’re at in that point in time is what they’re going to go in. Of course, we’re not going to send 

a unit that’s completely broken. We’ve got to make sure that what they have to perform their 

mission they have, and it works and it runs. But, it’s just a matter of going through again and 

making sure that . . . their primary pieces of equipment, their mission-essential pieces of 

equipment are operational, and that they actually have them on hand. 

INTERVIEWER: Now, we can talk about ENDURING FREEDOM in a moment. First, I’d 

like to talk a little about NOBLE EAGLE. 

JENNINGS: You’ve got to understand, when it first happened, too, the guidance was sketchy. 

And FORSCOM was . . . trying to figure out what to do. . . . We were getting so many messages 

coming in and out of the ops that it was so confusing. So, we were looking at how do we fix the 

units so that they can perform the mission no matter where they go, at the very beginning. 

INTERVIEWER: How many days after 11 September did you realize that some units were 

going to be mobilized in some capacity? 

JENNINGS: We knew immediately. Particularly the MP [military police] units . . . were called 

upon pretty early in that scenario. 

INTERVIEWER: What were some of the challenges that you discovered with those mobilizing 

units? I know we’ve talked about equipment. 

JENNINGS: . . . We have a mortuary affairs unit that’s mobilized out of Puerto Rico. And 

you’ve got to get the equipment from Puerto Rico to the United States, so that’s one scenario. . . . 
 231

INTERVIEWER: I know that a lot of units didn’t have everything on hand that they needed. I 

only happen to know because I was in a mobilizing unit, and I saw that, for example, some MP 

units that came through the same installation as we did, didn’t have some of the major things like 

trucks. 

JENNINGS: What we do in that instance, particularly for ENDURING FREEDOM, [is] to 

meet whatever the deployment criteria that’s set. We’ve got to look at cross leveling units, but 

we don’t want to break other units to fix them. So, you’ve got to look at different units to see 

how they’re resourced and where you can pull different equipment, so you don’t hurt the other 

unit. So . . . when we say scrubbing, that’s where we really get into the detail work, because you 

have to make sure you’re not breaking other units. 

INTERVIEWER: How did that work out getting the mobilizing units the equipment that they 

needed? How did you basically do that? 

JENNINGS: Again, we go through readiness reports. We look at units that are . . . either not on 

some of the [operational plans], or different scenarios, or they’re later deploying units, or 

possibly deploying. And then you’ve also got to look at the per[sonnel] side of the house. If 

there’s a unit that you know you’re not going to be able to fix ... for personnel, you may want to 

get another unit in that case. . . . Why fix them for equipment if you can’t fix them for personnel? 

INTERVIEWER: Why did it appear that quite a lot of mobilizing units – at least for the 

CONUS [continental United States] – were broken, in terms of not having equipment? 

JENNINGS: I wouldn’t say they were broken. I can tell you some of the other issues. A lot of 

the units, making sure that they’re doing their inspections of their personnel clothing and OCIE 

[organizational clothing and equipment] and things like that. That’s a big issue. You’ve got to 

identify shortages in that arena, too. . . . We didn’t have huge, major issues with a lot of 

equipment shortages. And that was a result of getting feedback from FORSCOM that you come 

as you are in NOBLE EAGLE. And we didn’t get that until three or four weeks into the 

operations. . . . We had, but nothing to the point that we couldn’t perform our missions. 

INTERVIEWER: Once units go overseas, then, what happens if they run into other equipment 

issues? 

JENNINGS: If it’s overseas, then normally they’re under active Army auspices. Then they 

would request through those channels. . . . One of the things that General [Thomas] Plewes 
232 

wanted was . . . us to . . . make sure that our soldiers were being taken care of, particularly for 

NOBLE EAGLE, and that our units have adequate billeting, that they’re being fed properly, that 

they’re being supported properly at their deployment sites and installations. Our Transportation 

Services Division . . . [does] weekly slides on that. It’s not like we had a hands-off approach 

once they’re at the deployment sites with the active Army. But, really, as far as getting support 

they’re emphasizing, according to FORMDEPS, all the phase one activity. When you're 

planning, when you’re making sure you have all equipment on hand as far as personnel clothing, 

as far as OCIE [was concerned], that was a real challenge because a lot of these units were . . . 

hastily mobilized. They didn’t have time to do a lot of the stuff that they would normally do in 

an alert phase. So, that was a real challenge, to identify shortages within a three or four day time 

period, and get them to their deployment site. . . . Sometimes the equipment was trailing the 

soldiers because we didn’t have enough time to get the stuff GBLed to [government bill of 

lading] the location, wherever they were going stateside. . . . There was just a lot of coordination 

between the CONUSAs, [continental United States Army], the installations, the direct reporting 

units, to the USARC. 

INTERVIEWER: What were some of the lessons learned? 

JENNINGS: We had to determine in a lot of instances what units needed to bring because we 

had little or no logistics guidance as a result of hasty mobilization. . . . We had undefined 

missions in a lot of instances. So we were calling the CONUSAs. I say “we” and our 

Mobilizations Branch, here in the USARC – mob DCSOPS. . . . We had some of the units that 

were being mobilized [that] went straight to deployment sites early on because they had to be [at 

a duty location]. They didn’t go through mob station. That creates other things. [There was] 

more emphasis on the RSCs to make sure everything’s squared away because, of course, at the 

mobilization stations they do a validation process to make sure that the people have all their 

equipment. . . . Our RSCs had to do a little bit more work to make sure the units were prepared – 

the ones that were going straight to their deployment sites. 

 Again, I talked about reduced time to complete phase two and three tasks according to 

FORMDEPS. In some instances, phase two was completely the alert phase – was completely 

taken out of the equation because they had to get to their mob site or their deployment site. . . . 

It’s evident we need to place more emphasis on phase one tasks prior to being alerted for mob. 

Just in peace time, it’s important that we do showdown inspections of personal clothing, of 

OCIE, because with hasty mobilization, you don’t know what’s coming. . . . It’s important that 

we do a lot of the SRP [soldier readiness processing] checks. . . during phase one. We’re not 

going to have the time in some instances to do that. I saw in some instances some inventories 

were not conducted or were incomplete. [There was] the lack of having real good mission 

statements in the mob orders or in the FORSCOM deployment orders. And equipment guidance, 
 233

again, has been limited or not provided in some instances. So we’re having to try and track that 

down. . . . When you don’t have mission statements, particularly when you have the scenario 

come as you are, it’s sort of difficult to determine do we have the right equipment sometimes. 

We try to do the best we can do in light of not having that, calling the CONUSAs, calling 

FORSCOM. That’s where we’re beating up our mob folks upstairs. We’re calling the 

CONUSAs, and we’re calling FORSCOM trying to get their guidance. That’s a lot of work, and 

that takes a lot of time, dealing with the installations – a lot of installation issues [such as] 

DODACs. [Department of Defense activity codes]. Once they hit the installation, their 

DODACs should be changed to wherever they’re deployment site is going to be at. And that’s a 

mob station responsibility. We found a lot of the DOCAC’s haven’t been changed. It’s a real 

issue. . . . It has been a major problem for us. 

 And if DODACs aren’t being changed, that means that you send a unit overseas, and they 

still could be using their peacetime requisitioning process. The funds are coming out of our 

pocket – the reserve pocket – when they actually should be billed to [the] active component. 

And again, if the . . . addresses aren’t changed when they order stuff, it’s coming to home station 

rather than where it needs to be going. So, that’s been a real issue. 

INTERVIEWER: So, then you still have some deployed units that are using their peacetime 

DODACs? 

JENNINGS: Yes . . . Not just the reserves – the National Guard, everybody’s having this issue. 

And we’ve raised this to FORSCOM, so they’re aware of the problems that are happening. I 

don’t know, but I think a lot of the installations were cut off from the process too. . . . They 

haven’t done this in awhile. So, I don’t know if it’s part of re-instituting the set procedures that 

are on FORMDEPs again and making sure people abide by those. 

INTERVIEWER: What were some other issues that you faced in dealing with the installations? 

JENNINGS: . . . Depending on the area of operations that we’re sending folks to, there’s a 

different set of clothing plus-up that the installation has to provide and just making sure things 

are standardized across the board with different mobilization stations. That’s [varying standards] 

been sort of an issue we’ve had to work with FORSCOM on. 

INTERVIEWER: When a unit needs equipment or clothing, and it’s unable to be cross leveled 

or borrowed from some other unit, I know that in some cases the installation will purchase what 

they need. 

JENNINGS: Yeah, according to FORMDEPS it’s their responsibility to do that. 
234 

INTERVIEWER: So, then, do you know who gives them the money? 

JENNINGS: FORSCOM. Or they take it out of their pockets and request for reimbursement. 

Fort Dix is a good example -- our installations having to plus up. That’s another thing, too. Not 

only do we sort of have an oversight of working these issues, but Dix, as being an installation to 

us, we work hand in hand with . . . Fort Dix, as a power-projection platform. In fact, we’re 

running into those issues right now because they have to do all the plus ups for all the units that 

are falling through Fort Dix – OCIE plus ups. And if a unit’s coming in and is not fully 

prepared, they’re having – their maintenance is getting involved to fix the vehicles. Then they 

request reimbursement from FORSCOM. . . . There's probably somebody you can address in the 

Comp[troller] shop. But, it's a little confusing because there’s different pots of money out there 

– all the different operations. So it gets a little confusing for the installations and what they 

should charge. 

 Fort Dix is a good example. They’ve got folks flowing there for S-4 rotations, for folks 

deploying for an S-4 rotation. They’ve got folks returning. [The] 29th Division [is] returning 

right now from a Balkans rotation. And then they’ve got people going out for NOBLE EAGLE 

and ENDURING FREEDOM. So they’ve got different groups coming in, and it’s really tough 

to manage a CIF [central issue facility] there to issue out all this clothing. . . . 

 One of the things we’ve noticed, it’s tough for RSCs to be able to look at all their units. 

. . . . We’ve raised this in our after action review comments [and that]is getting mob orders that 

say both NOBLE EAGLE and ENDURING FREEDOM. There’s different deployment criteria. 

. . . On the mob orders it’s saying both NOBLE EAGLE and ENDURING FREEDOM. There 

are different deployment criteria for it. There’s different funding channels for both of those. So 

that’s an issue that we have raised, and we have raised [it] at FORSCOM, too. It’s tough for us 

to distinguish. It’s tough for our folks . . . to determine if you’re getting mixed messages. 

INTERVIEWER: So, why are these orders coming through saying both? 

JENNINGS: One of the issues is not having a defined TPFDD [time phase force development 

data] . . . . Without having a defined TPFDD, it’s tough. Doing these hasty mobs . . . you don’t 

have good mission statements. You’re not getting a lot of guidance . . . whereas, with maybe 

Southwest Asia or Korea we have defined [operation plans] that are a little easier to follow. 

INTERVIEWER: So, these units that are stating both operations on their orders, how are they 

being handled right now? What’s happening with them? 

JENNINGS: If it says both, we’re trying to get them to the deployment criterion that’s worse 

case. 
 235

INTERVIEWER: Which is ENDURING FREEDOM, right? 

JENNINGS: Yes, which would be ENDURING FREEDOM. . . . Let me digress for just a 

moment. . . . For RSCs being able to look at all their mobilizing units, it’s real tough because 

they’re limited on staff there. One of the things that . . . we’re suggesting out of log[istics] is . . . 

looking at TDA [table of distribution and allowances] force structure for RSCs to have maybe a 

mob[ilization] support team that would be similar to what you see at FORSCOM with their 

augmentation unit. But maybe we could have an augmentation unit at RSCs that, upon a war 

like we’re in right now, they’d have a mob TDA for these mob support teams, and they would 

bring them on and then they could go out and look at units that have been alerted and assist these 

units. So, that’s one of the things we’re suggesting and one of the things that we’re suggesting in 

this homeland defense, homeland security practical exercise that our O-6 [colonel] attended with 

the chief of staff on Monday. So I don’t know where that’ll go, but we’re suggesting that we like 

that idea. 

 One of the other issues we’ve had . . . that’s a challenge for us is when they call a “double 

A” unit up – mobilized double A unit up without equipment. . . . A double A means it’s the entire 

unit mobilizing. According to FORMDEPs, when you mobilize a double A, everything goes – 

the equipment, everything. But early on in the scenario, we’ve mobilized units, and we were told 

don’t bring the equipment, or if you don’t bring the equipment, who actually owns that 

equipment? It should be the active component, if you’re mobilizing that unit. But then they say, 

“Keep the equipment at home.” Well, who maintains it, who reports it? 

We’re breaking new ground. The way we’ve done business with FORMDEPS, a lot of it 

was changed as a result of this. That was a big challenge for us . . . . Basically with the units we 

mobed [mobilized]without equipment, we’d find a caretaker in the RSC for that, and they’d 

basically monitor the equipment report for the unit and make sure the maintenance would get 

done on the vehicles. So, they’re basically a caretaker . . . within their peacetime chain of 

command . . . which is not really the way we should be doing business. . . . We had one unit that 

we mobilized like that, and then, three months later they said, “Oh, well, now we need the 

equipment.” This was that unit out of Puerto Rico I was telling you about earlier. We mobed the 

mortuary affairs unit. We mobed that unit to begin with early on. They said, “Oh, no, no 

equipment,” and then three months later, they say, “Oh, now we need the equipment.” . . . We 

get ready. We make all the arrangements, but the peacetime chain of command made all those 

arrangements. So, that’s a real issue. 

Should there maybe have been a CONUS movement order or something like that? . . . It 

was something so new that we’ve never done that. We’ve never done that. Normally, you have 

a TPFDD and everything flows as part of that TPFDD, to include equipment. So, it’s just a 

different way of doing business. So, it’s a big paradigm shift for us. And I don’t know if it’s 

going to continue that way, or if it’s just a result of 9-11 happening. So, that was a direct result 

of 9-11, just having to get units at some of these sites that we never mobilized soldiers to before. 
236 

Have we ever mobilized a mortuary affairs unit to go to the military district of Washington? 

That’s new. . . . We got the equipment from Puerto Rico to Fort Lee [Virginia.] We made all 

those shipping arrangements, so when I say “we” I mean the RSC. So, that’s a big job. . . . The 

unit’s already gone, so that’s just an additional burden that the peacetime chain of command had 

to do. . . . 

One of the things we’d like to see [is in logistics guidance]. We’ve addressed this. . . 

because you’re getting log guidance, and you’re getting guidance in a lot of different formats and 

with ENDURING FREEDOM you may get some log guidance in the deployment orders. You 

may get some guidance in the mob orders. But we would like to see the log guidance – clearly 

defined logistics guidance and a clearly defined mission statement in the CONUS mob orders. 

And the reason we say mob orders is because everybody gets that mob order. The installations 

get that mob order. The unit gets that mob order. We get that mob order. And that’s another 

issue we’ve raised is we’d like to see that happen. That’s a real challenge. If you’re trying to go 

to four or five different places to try to figure out what your mission’s going to be and what 

equipment you’re going to bring, that’s a huge burden. . . .When they come to us to try to get the 

information, if we don’t have it, it’s tough. 

INTERVIEWER: You talked earlier about some units not having mission statements or 

guidance. How is that rectified? What happens then in a case like that? 

JENNINGS: Well, normally what we’ll do is if we get calls from our log counterparts, we’ll go 

to our mobilization branch and [ask for help.] The . . . DCSOPS . . . they define the 

requirements. . . . We as logisticians . . . fill that requirement. We make sure that they have the 

equipment to be able to perform that function. But if no one’s defining the requirement, then 

we’ve got to go through our ops [operations] counterparts and say, “What is the requirement?” 

So, that’s been a big issue. . . . 

 Under a well-defined Oplan [operational plan], you’re going to get your mob order thirty 

days out. So, that would force them to at least have mission guidance and log guidance thirty 

days out to help our units prepare . . . . They [have] called upon to mobilize TDA units that aren’t 

authorized equipment. Facility engineer teams -- these units were never intended to go 

OCONUS. So that’s been a real challenge with us working with mob stations at FORSCOM. 

How do you get these people equipment? 

INTERVIEWER: And what kind of units are those? 

JENNINGS: Facility engineer teams. They just go out and look at facilities. They don’t have 

equipment. They’re just people who go out and do site surveys at facilities. 

INTERVIEWER: Why would they be mobilized? What’s their play in all of this? 
 237

JENNINGS: I don’t know what their mission is. I would assume to go to these different 

locations and determine what type of structures. . . . It’s a unique thing. We’re mobilizing units 

that were meant to stay stateside. So that’s a different mission for us now. . . . 

 Property accountability -- there’s another issue. When we mobilize soldiers, if it’s a 

derivative UIC, you’re not taking the whole unit. You’ve made a derivative UIC, and they take 

equipment with them. What they’ll do is what we call a “task force download disk” and offer 

them as PBSRs, which is the automated property book system. When they take that disk, which 

has that portion of equipment off of the whole unit’s equipment, . . . it’s supposed to be 

downloaded on some active component property book system for accountability purposes. 

We’re finding it’s not being downloaded. Thus, we have equipment that’s floating out there. So, 

that’s been another issue. It needs to get put on somebody’s property book system so you can 

manage it, so you know where the equipment is. 

 That’s been another issue we’ve been working with FORSCOM. Within twenty-four 

hours all that’s supposed to happen at the mob station. DODACs are supposed to be changed. 

The task force download disk should be put on somebody’s property book, active component 

property book for visibility purposes. And we’re finding that’s not current. . . . That’s why 

we’ve highlighted a lot of these issues to FORSCOM because we’re finding that happening. I 

don’t know if that’s part of the validation process at the installation. That’s why we raised these 

issues. . . . We’d like to see more added emphasis being placed on the logistical aspects of that 

validation [process] at that installation. We’re thinking the CONUS is making sure the people 

are trained, making them perform their mission, but we’d also . . . like to see [that] those 

CONUSA . . . validation teams have a standardized log checklist that they’d check off at mob 

station prior to letting a unit leave that mob station, i.e., that they have their new DODACs, have 

their TAC [tactical command post] addresses. . . .Somebody’s taking control of their property. 

 So, those are some of the issues we’re looking at. . . . A lot of times, it can’t be done until 

they get to the mob station. . . . They’ll have to have their peacetime DODAC until they get to 

their mob station. So, it’s really clearly the mob station’s responsibility right before they deploy 

to give them the new DODACs, the new TAC addresses to wherever they’re going. . . . 

Mobilization stations didn’t request or modify DODAC and TAC addresses for mobilization. 

We continue to pay the bill. . . . [The] USAR has different pots of money. 

 One of the other things, too, from the mob station, we’re still getting a lot of calls back 

from the RSCs under USARC. Once a unit’s mobilized at the mob station or their deployment 

site, they’re calling us back and saying, “Well, you need to send this. . . .” No, we sent them 

according to the deployment criteria, and now they’re active component, whoever their caretaker 

is. So, that’s still been an issue. 

 One of the issues I think we had . . . [was that] one of the unit’s that mobilized . . . [was] 

supposed to mobilize with their weapons. Well, they get to their deployment site CONUS and 

whoever they’re supporting says, “Well, you don’t need weapons.” So they say, “We’ll send 
238 

your weapons home.” So . . . they tell a unit, “Well, you use your own fund site to send it 

home.” “No, you need to provide a fund site to send it home. They work for you now.” So, 

they were calling back to the RSC asking for a fund site. So, those are some of the issues. It’s 

just a challenge that we have to educate people in. The process is out there. It’s well known that 

they should be taken care of, and I think that’s part of the reason that General Plewes had the 

quality of life stuff. He wants us raising those issues to FORSCOM when we see them. . . . 

INTERVIEWER: Are units that are mobilized provided an installation as a caretaker if they’re 

in the states? 

JENNINGS: No. See, the installation is the caretaker while they’re processing through the 

installation, but no. Some of these sites, I don’t know if they’re not equipped . . . to be able to 

take care of them, as well as an installation is equipped to take care of them. Once they get to 

their actual deployment site, we send an MI [military intelligence] guy to the National Security 

Administration or team, for instance. 

INTERVIEWER: So their caretaker is supposed to be the site where they’re ultimately 

deploying to? 

JENNINGS: Their ultimate deployment site, right. That’s our understanding. . . . Somebody 

should be taking care of them. . . . For the most part they are. 

 [Major Jennings spoke about Fort Dix, New Jersey, as a mobilization installation being 

among the busiest for in processing soldiers for active duty.] 

 [Another issue is] mobilizing some units that may perform different missions, other than 

what their SRC [source code] states . . . If we get good mission statements, it can also avoid 

selecting the wrong unit for a mission. That’s really important. . . . 

 We mentioned personal clothing. Again, there’s going to have to be a heightened 

concentration on phase one activity. . . . You should’ve gotten all the plus-ups of the other stuff, 

too, at the mob station. . . . One of the issues that was raised is [whether or not we] should . . . be 

[at] the same standard as [the] active component? . . . Should we be at the [active] standard? 

Harry [Rote], anything else that we need to add? I think . . . [of] some of the challenges 

we’ve faced right off the bat. 

ROTE: . . . Pretty much everything we’ve done we’ve reinvented the wheel. Forces Command 

has doctrine, FORMDEPS. It talks about everything. 

JENNINGS: Yeah, we really haven’t followed FORMDEPS. 
 239

ROTE: It’s talks about the whole spectrum of mobilization, the whole nine yards. And we’re 

not doing it. We’re not following that. 

JENNINGS: Well, nobody’s enforcing that, and that’s when we get back to talking about the 

power projection platforms and the different standards. 

ROTE: FORMDEPS tells everybody what their responsibilities are. FORSCOM doesn’t. 

FORSCOM has no control over the installation. Every installation will see their own thing. 

There’s no standard. . . . We have all these CPXs and all these other things, and table-top 

training exercises, the whole nine yards. We train one way, but when it comes time to fight, 

we’re broken. And higher echelon doesn’t want to hear that. 

JENNINGS: And they are – to FORSCOM’s credit. That’s what this is all about. I don’t know 

if this’ll mean another volume to FORMDEPS. 

ROTE: But see, what’s that going to resolve? If you can’t follow the current, simple things in 

FORMDEPS, you’re rewriting [policy]. . . . We don’t need to rewrite policy. . . . This isn’t the 

first mobilization we’ve been through. What’s irritating me is you can’t take the lessons learned 

from DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM and apply them. Supposedly that’s what the new 

versions of FORMDEPs and all that’s all about. But the bottom line is . . . we are not fighting 

the way we trained. And even here in USARC, our emergency operations didn’t work the way it 

was supposed to. Our DCSOPS seems to change step every time we turn around. It’s like 

they’re changing it to modify – like they’re the only directorate that matters. . . . We have our 

own problems. . . . When we look at unit status reports . . . we . . . validate that data. . . . So we’ll 

go on, and we’ll actually look at their . . . data, . . . and we’ll find out exactly what they look 

like, . . . and we’ll bounce that off of the USRs [unit status reports]. . . . 

One of the other things we do . . . is we look at . . . what they may be substituting items 

for or in lieu of items. We want to make sure that they have the right items to perform their 

mission. So, they may have a CUCV [commercial utility cargo vehicle] instead of a HUMVEE 

[high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle] that they’re using. . . . Or they may have another 

type of radio that’s not a SINCGARS [single channel ground to air radio system]. . . . We’ll look 

at subjective upgrades because commanders can do subjective upgrades on their USRs . . . . 

You’ve got a lot of other equipment in the units that may not be reported on the USRs but may 

be broken. . . . 

Another item that we had to do is that we pulled MTOES [modified table of organization 

and equipment]. We bounced MTOES off the USRs, off our on-hand data, because again, not 

everything’s being reported on the USRs. . . . It would be nice if [FORSCOM] had mission 

statements there [and] . . . then let us determine what meets that capability. . . . We’re not 

sending leadership in a lot of these rotations, which I see as an issue personally. 
240 

ROTE: See we used to with K-4 and S-4 stuff. We used to get really good mission guidance. 

. . . They’d even give us equipment guidance. Then, if we can do it for S-4/K-4 stuff, why is it 

we’re having so much trouble now? 

JENNINGS: Again, I think it’s [a] paradigm shift. In a lot of these, particularly for homeland 

defense, we’ve never done this before. 

ROTE: But the issue is the things we’re struggling with are the simplest things, like what do 

you do with your equipment? If you take the double A, if you want the whole unit, you get the 

whole unit. 

JENNINGS: And it’s interesting that you say when we mobilize these derivative UICs and 

they’re here in CONUS, we were told by FORSCOM is that we still report those forces as 

available to the double A. . . . So, they may be mobilized doing this mission in Connecticut, but 

yet they’re still seen as available to the unit, the double A that’s still sitting at home station, as 

part of that unit. . . . 

ROTE: See, once again it’s that same thing with the USR. You’re saying that they’re available, 

so you report them, but they’re not really available. . . . For the sake of readiness, we’re just 

going to make up stuff as we go along. . . . One of the problems is that if you’re showing them as 

available – these guys have been mobed for up to two years – well, the calendar’s already started 

on them, and here’s the rest of the unit, and they haven’t been mobed. So what happens when 

they mob the rest of these guys to go do a mission, and this derivative UIC, if you will, that’s 

already been mobed a year or a year-and-a-half. See there’s a big disconnect. You’re heading 

for disaster. 

JENNINGS: Another reason for having good mission statements and making sure that we get 

that . . . is so we don’t mobilize soldiers that we don’t need to mobilize, that don’t have a true 

mission. And I know there’s been some instances of that, for instance, DIVITS [division 

institutional training units] – mobilizing some folks out of DIVITS. . . . 

 

ROTE: . . . Division institutional training, for the training base expansion. If you mob these 

guys and they don’t have any soldiers to train, they just mob them in anticipation. I don’t know 

if that’s necessarily a good thing either. I don’t know what that does to your recruiting and to 

your retention. . . . 

 [Information technology] was a huge issue right after 9-11. . . . We’re operating 

downstairs [Emergency Operations Center] and all of a sudden the word comes down that 

everything has to be classified. Everything has to be over secured voice. We didn’t have all the 
 241

STU-IIIs. We didn’t have SIPRNET [Secret Internet Protocol Router Network] on every 

terminal downstairs. We do now. But that was a huge lesson learned from all this. 

 The same with the RSCs. I know the CIO [Chief Information Office] [is] working to get 

more capability out to the field. . . . A lot of [correspondence from the regional support 

commands] was coming by secure fax or by the limited number of STU-IIIs that we did have. 

. . . We’re still very limited on STU-IIIs, but we’ve made a lot of progress. I think every 

terminal downstairs in the ops center has an SIPRNET drop, so we can talk with classified email, 

which is nice. One of the issues that we have raised – I think almost each main directorate here 

to include us, personnel and ops readiness – we have our own secure area like this. We’re 

requesting to have SIPRNET put in here too, . . . so that we can communicate classified between 

this cell and the cell that’s downstairs. . . . 

 Not only were we activated downstairs, but here. We call this the logistics ops center. 

We activated this. We brought people in here to work actions. . . . When we first started, we 

were working twenty-four hours. . . . We were working twelve-hour shifts – a day shift, a night 

shift. So, we’d have the CAT [crisis assistance team] chief, the DCSLOG [Deputy Chief of 

Staff, Logistics] CAT chief downstairs, which was myself and Captain Frame. And then we’d 

have a cell up here to work actions because you’re trying to coordinate a lot of stuff downstairs 

between the other directorates. So, in doing a lot of scrubbing, we’re sending the stuff upstairs. 

And then we have the team up here that does that scrubbing. . . . We kept twenty-four hour 

[operations] till the end of January. 

 [Major Jennings gave some background information on his section and other duties.] 

 We are, as the DCSLOG representative. . .the conduit between operations, between 

DCSOPS [Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations], and DCSLOG. We’re the Plans and [Operations] 

Branch. . . . We are the primary CAT representatives to the EOC, which is the tie between us and 

DCSOPS. But we were already pre-designated to fill that slot. For all of the mobilization 

exercises, we’re always the ones who do that for the DCSLOG. We provide the training for the 

DCSLOG for any command post exercise and things of that nature. So we already knew. We 

had a procedure set in place. We have a big SOP [standard operating procedures], standard SOP 

with continuity books ready to take off the shelf when something like this happens. 

 [At the time of this interview, Major Jennings was still working in his CAT position, 

though fewer hours than in the months immediately after 11 September.] 

 [Who are] . . . the primary people who are going to be in charge of mobilizations? If you 

think about it, we and the National Guard Bureau. Yet FORSCOM has an augmentation TDA 

for that purpose. The CONUSAs have an augmentation TDA for that purpose. So, we’ve 

learned a lot out of this. And now, I don’t know if anybody commented to you, we have 

developed an augmented TDA. I think it’s like 44 people, or something like that. I don’t know 

when that’ll come into effect. I know that’s gone on TDA. So, that’s one of the lessons learned, 

a valuable lesson learned. But I think we need something similar to that at the RSCs – mob 

support teams . . . and look at all units. 
242 

ROTE: Right now we’re hung up on just focusing on the one-A units, the tier one A units. 

JENNINGS: . . . In this scenario, particularly in homeland defense, . . . we pulled . . . all the non 

one-A units. 

ROTE: Right now the resources go to the one As. They get everything. Whatever’s left over 

everybody else gets. But you have to look at all of the units. Maybe that every two years – 

we’ve got to do something. . . . We’ve got to get out here and see what’s actually out in the units, 

and we’re not doing it. Right now, the priorities are retention, . . . but it’s consuming all your 

resources. . . . 

JENNINGS: . . . Our installations have done exceptionally well. . . . We’ve blurred the lines of 

responsibility between us and the mob station – who takes control, who does what. . . . For 

NOBLE EAGLE they’re being told to capture the costs and ask for reimbursement. For 

ENDURING FREEDOM they have to give budget estimates straight to FORSCOM from 

different pots of money. So it’s really sort of confusing. And then K-4/S-4 is a different pot of 

contingency. It’s really confusing. And they’ve got to manage all this together in one little CIF 

[central issuing facility]. . . . [Fort] Dix is busier than it’s ever been, even when it was an active 

component installation. We’re mobing more people through it, and yet, you’ve got to understand 

when it was bracked, [under base realignment and closure]. . . a lot of the manning . . . went 

away from them, to run a CIF – central issuing facility. So, these are some of the issues that 

we’ve readdressed with CONUS, with FORSCOM, and with our leadership here. . . . 

 I think it’s just we need to develop new processes, or refine the way we’re doing 

business, maybe make some changes to FORMDEPS and determine who’s going to be 

responsible for what, and maybe your idea of having the mob station responsible for certain 

areas. If you know that you’re going to have somebody who is in charge of units, they can make 

sure that they’re getting what they need to get. And I don’t know who that’s going to be. I’ve 

heard rumors that they may have a CINC [commander in chief, combatant commander] that’s 

going to be in charge of homeland defense. But I think that would resolve a lot of the issues . . . 

because then you’d have oversight of those units upon mobilization. . . . Overall our installations 

are doing a great job, and I think our subordinate commands have done an exceptional job with 

not having a whole lot of good mission guidance.272 

 

272 Major Kent Jennings, interview with Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner, tape recording with transcript, 20 

March 2002. 
 243

 

About the Authors 

Major Robert Bensburg of Mahopac, New York, 

joined the Army Reserve in 1984. His branch is Adjutant 

General. In 1998 he took command of the 311th Military 

History Detachment. In October 2001, he and the unit 

mobilized for Operation NOBLE EAGLE to document the 

Army Reserve response to the 9-11 terrorist attacks. In 

April 2003, Major Bensburg took an assignment to Kuwait 

and Iraq to document the Army Reserve role in Operation 

Iraqi Freedom. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business 

administration from Iona College, New Rochelle, New 

York. As a civilian he is an individual consultant for 

Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College 

Retirement Equities Fund in New York City. 

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner of 

Yardley, Pennsylvania began his military career with the 

New Jersey Air National Guard in 1985. In 1993 he joined 

the Army Reserve as a warrant officer candidate. He 

obtained the military occupational specialties of motor 

transport operator and supply systems technician. He also 

holds an Army skill identifier of military historian. In 2000, 

he joined the 311th Military History Detachment and in 

October 2001 mobilized under Operation NOBLE EAGLE

orders. He holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from the 

City College of New York, a master’s degree in education 

from the City College of New York, and a master’s degree 

in military history from American Military University. As a 

civilian, Chief Werner is a manager for the Transportation 

and Networks Division in Delaware for the U.S. Postal 

Service.

Sergeant First Class Christina Steiner of New 

York City joined the Army Reserve in 1988. Her primary 

military occupational specialty is photojournalism, though 

she holds a secondary specialty in preventive medicine. She 

joined the 311th Military History Detachment in 1998, and 

in October 2001 she mobilized for Operation NOBLE 

EAGLE where she worked in New York, Washington, and 

Atlanta over two years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in 

journalism from Wichita State University. As a civilian she 

is an administrative assistant and freelance writer in 

Manhattan. She has written newspaper and magazine 

articles for various publications and online web sites around 

the country, including: The Wichita Eagle, USA Today, the 

Miami Herald, Army Reserve, and Soldiers Magazine.

New York, 

2 November 2001 – 

Sergeant First Class 

Christina Steiner, 

311th MHD, stands 

next to the “Sphere” 

or globe that once 

stood in the plaza 

between the two 

towers of the World 

Trade Center. – 

(Photo by Major 

Robert Bensburg, 

311th MHD)

New York, 11 November 2001– (Left) Mr. Dwayne 

Piorioux, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, explains to 

Major Robert Bensburg and Sergeant First Class 

Christina Steiner progress being made at the World 

Trade Center. Staff Sergeant Nick Tovo, Soldiers 

Radio and TV (background), films the event. Chief 

Warrant Officer 2 Michael Werner (far right) 

confers with another Corp of Engineers employee. 

(Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Corp of Engineers) 

New York, 19 October 2001- Sergeant Patrick 

Jennings, (right) 126th MHD, Massachusetts 

National Guard, shows Chief Warrant Officer 2 

Michael Werner, 311th MHD, how to use a new 

digital camera. (Photo by Sergeant First Class 

Christina Steiner, 311th MHD)