NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU

Historical Services Branch

Interview NGB-03

INTERVIEW OF

LTC JAMES COYNE

G-4 42nd Infantry Division

CONDUCTED BY

MAJ LES MELNYK

National Guard Bureau

Wednesday, September 19, 2001

Written corrections to transcript submitted by LTC 

Coyne, 1 Feb. 2002

TAPE TRANSCRIPTION
2

1 P R O C E E D I N G S

2 MAJ MELNYK: This is MAJ Les Melnyk, the Army 

3 National Guard Historian at the National Guard Bureau, 

4 and I am interviewing LTC James M. Coyne. That's C-o5 y-n-e.

6 LTC Coyne, you have -- this interview is 

7 taking place on the 19th of September 2001, Battery 

8 Park, New York City.

9 LTC Coyne, please, if you would, you have read 

10 and signed the access agreement for oral history 

11 materials and agreed to release everything in this 

12 interview for the Army's use. 

13 LTC COYNE: Yes, I have. 

14 MAJ MELNYK: Could you state your name, your 

15 rank, your duty position, and briefly describe what you 

16 do both in the civilian world and the background of 

17 your military?

18 LTC COYNE: Okay. My current position is I'm 

19 the G-4 for the 42nd “Rainbow” Infantry Division.

20 Most of my duties recently have been planning 

21 for our current war fighter exercise at Fort 
3

1 Leavenworth. I have been in this position since 

2 February of '01. 

3 Prior to that, I had spent four and a half 

4 years as the division's G-2. 

5 MAJ MELNYK: And civilian?

6 LTC COYNE: Civilian, I worked for General 

7 Electric for 32 years and retired in 1997.

8 MAJ MELNYK: Where do you live, sir?

9 LTC COYNE: I live in Saratoga Springs, New 

10 York.

11 MAJ MELNYK: So you're upstate.

12 LTC COYNE: I guess we're apple knockers.

13 MAJ MELNYK: You're apple knockers. Could you 

14 describe for me what you were doing, how you learned of 

15 the attack, your immediate actions upon learning of the

16 attack on September 11?

17 LTC COYNE: On September 11, I was at Fort 

18 Leavenworth, Kansas, participating in a Warfighter 

19 seminar, and we were sitting in a classroom when the 

20 messages came in first that the tower number one had 

21 been hit by an aircraft.
4

1 And most of us had thought that it’s possibly 

2 an accident. And then about a half hour later, we 

3 learned news that the second tower had been hit, and it 

4 appeared that this had been an act of terrorism.

5 And what we did pretty much then was stood 

6 fast for about an hour or two and made a decision that 

7 – [Major] General Garrett, our division commander made 

8 the decision that we should redeploy to New York. 

9 What we did is we contacted the Kansas 

10 National Guard and they made arrangements for us to 

11 have bus transportation back to Troy, New York.

12 MAJ MELNYK: How many individuals from the 

13 division staff were at the Warfighter seminar?

14 LTC COYNE: I believe, off the top of my head, 

15 there were about 90 of us. That included cells from 

16 the various MACOMs [Major Commands] within the 

17 division.

18 MAJ MELNYK: So you -- bus transportation for 

19 all the New Yorkers back to Troy. What time did you 

20 arrive back in Troy at division headquarters?

21 LTC COYNE: I would have to think for a 
5

1 second, because I believe we left Kansas about 1700 

2 Central [time] and arrived back in Troy about 1500 the 

3 following day, Eastern time. 

4 MAJ MELNYK: So Wednesday, about 1500.

5 LTC COYNE: Correct. 

6 MAJ MELNYK: Were you apprized of what was 

7 going on in New York during that time? What did you 

8 know?

9 LTC COYNE: About the only thing I knew is I 

10 had a Walkman that had radio capability that I was 

11 listening to and picking up bits of information. 

12 MAJ MELNYK: But no knowledge about the Guard 

13 being mobilized or who was in control or what units 

14 were deploying.

15 LTC COYNE: No, we did not. We just had some 

16 assumptions.

17 MAJ MELNYK: Were you aware if General Garrett 

18 or anyone else was in touch with command back here?

19 LTC COYNE: Yes. What General Garrett had 

20 done is sent a quartering party forward in a couple 

21 vans, and they actually arrived only a couple hours 
6

1 ahead of us, and he was in contact with them and, 

2 again, we were just picking bits of information from 

3 the local media. 

4 MAJ MELNYK: When you arrived back in Troy, 

5 were you still on active -- were you then placed on 

6 state active duty? What was your status? What did the 

7 division staff do when they got back?

8 LTC COYNE: We were still on ADSW for our trip 

9 to Kansas, which was culminating on Friday. So we 

10 remained in that status till Friday afternoon, when 

11 myself and eight other individuals were put on state 

12 active duty to come down to Battery Park in lower 

13 Manhattan to assist the Aviation Brigade, which was 

14 going to be the C&C [Command and Control] for the 

15 battalions that had been mobilized.

16 MAJ MELNYK: Between your return on Wednesday 

17 and deploying down on Friday, setting up on Saturday, 

18 you said, what did you do?

19 LTC COYNE: Pretty much what we did was 

20 continue to get bits and pieces of information from the 

21 units that had been mobilized and we were continuing 
7

1 with writing our order for the war fighter exercise.

2 MAJ MELNYK: So you continued -- were you part 

3 of the emergency operations center or was there 

4 emergency operations set up at division headquarters? 

5 LTC COYNE: There was an EOC set up on 

6 Wednesday night and, yes, I participated in part of 

7 that, as did all the staff sections. 

8 MAJ MELNYK: You took shifts.

9 LTC COYNE: Correct.

10 MAJ MELNYK: Great. And what -- did the EOC -

11 - were they involved in directing actions down in New 

12 York City or simply monitoring activities? 

13 LTC COYNE: Right. We were monitoring 

14 activities and we were also receiving information from 

15 the state EOC. 

16 MAJ MELNYK: And the state EOC is located --

17 LTC COYNE: In Latham, New York.

18 MAJ MELNYK: In Latham, as well. Who was 

19 running the operation down in New York? What was your 

20 understanding of the command situation?

21 LTC COYNE: The 53rd Troop Command took the 
8

1 command and control of the divisional units and the 

2 units under their control, and they were operating out 

3 of Valhalla.

4 MAJ MELNYK: So when you arrived on the 

5 ground, was it Friday?

6 LTC COYNE: I arrived Saturday.

7 MAJ MELNYK: Saturday. What were your first 

8 actions? Where did you first come in? Did you 

9 coordinate first with 53rd Troop Command and go to 

10 Valhalla? 

11 LTC COYNE: I coordinated through the Aviation 

12 Brigade Commander, who was also with me.

13 It was kind of an interesting situation, 

14 because before leaving Troy or while leaving Troy, we 

15 went to the Latham facility first to pick up the gear 

16 for the Aviation Battalion, which had theirs in the 

17 Latham Airport, because of the fact that they had 

18 redeployed from Fort Polk, coming out of the JRTC. 

19 So what I did is I brought two five-ton 

20 Expando-vans with me for the Aviation to use as their 

21 command post, picked up their gear, and came 
9

1 immediately to Battery Park.

2 MAJ MELNYK: Normally, all their material 

3 would be located on Long Island, where brigade 

4 headquarters is.

5 LTC COYNE: That's correct. 

6 MAJ MELNYK: And you weren't picking up 

7 aircraft, but headquarters gear.

8 LTC COYNE: Yes. We were picking up mainly 

9 their TOC equipment, i.e., field desks, situation 

10 boards, and personal equipment. 

11 MAJ MELNYK: Okay. And so you and your party 

12 brought that down and married up with the rest of 

13 Aviation Brigade.

14 Was there any particular reason why you, a 

15 member of the division staff, was selected to integrate 

16 with the Aviation Brigade staff?

17 LTC COYNE: Yes. The decision was made by the 

18 CG [Commanding General, i.e., MG Garrett], because our 

19 immediate thought was their needs would be in the one20 four area, where -- you know, upon mobilization, we've 

21 learned, with our experience with state active duty, 
10

1 that initially the one-four is the area that's the 

2 heaviest concentration with missions.

3 MAJ MELNYK: So Aviation Brigade provided 

4 which -- did they also provide a slice of one-four 

5 personnel?

6 LTC COYNE: Oh, yes. We were coming down to 

7 augment them, participating in the heavy work load.

8 MAJ MELNYK: When you came on the ground 

9 Saturday, you brought your Expando-vans where? 

10 LTC COYNE: Right here to Battery Park.

11 MAJ MELNYK: Right here to Battery Park.

12 LTC COYNE: And, also, we brought generators 

13 so we could provide power to them. 

14 MAJ MELNYK: You were integrated into the 

15 staff there. What function have you served since 

16 Saturday? Has that changed or remain constant?

17 LTC COYNE: I have remained acting as the four 

18 for the Aviation Brigade, because what they did with 

19 their own S-4 was put him out as one of the LNOs 

20 [Liaison Officers] in the area.

21 MAJ MELNYK: To the area. Who is he liaisoned 
11

1 to?

2 LTC COYNE: I believe MAJ Redgrave has been 

3 working with the 258th Artillery.

4 MAJ MELNYK: So the Aviation Brigade chose to 

5 take the staff officers and push them out to the 

6 battalions.

7 LTC COYNE: That's correct. 

8 MAJ MELNYK: How did you find the situation on 

9 the ground? What kind of command and control existed 

10 when you set up here and what function did you perform 

11 by establishing an additional headquarters here?

12 How did you assist in that command and 

13 control?

14 LTC COYNE: Well, when I arrived here, it was 

15 pleasantly calm, to say. The Aviation commander had 

16 already brought some of his staff before he arrived.

17 MAJ MELNYK: This is COL Meskill.

18 LTC COYNE: COL Meskill, right. And his staff 

19 had been coordinating with the battalions the best they 

20 could, considering they really didn't have C2 nodes to, 

21 you know, talk to everybody they needed.
12

1 MAJ MELNYK: Right. 

2 LTC COYNE: So I think our first sense of 

3 urgency was I had the enlisted people set up the TOC 

4 operations and then we proceeded to get whatever 

5 communications equipment we could, which mainly was the 

6 cell phone.

7 MAJ MELNYK: So as I understand it, you were 

8 inserted as an additional control and headquarters 

9 between Valhalla, the one on the 53rd Troop Command, 

10 and the battalions on the ground.

11 LTC COYNE: Yes. As I say, I was pretty much 

12 embedded into the brigade staff. 

13 MAJ MELNYK: If you can recall, and I realize 

14 you didn't bring any notes with you, what units were on 

15 the ground at that time?

16 LTC COYNE: When I arrived here, it was the 

17 69th Infantry Battalion, the 258 Artillery Battalion, 

18 the 101 CAV, and the 642 DASB, and two companies, B and 

C, from the [1st Battalion, 105th 19 Infantry of the] 27th 

20 Brigade.

21 MAJ MELNYK: How has that changed since your 
13

1 arrival?

2 LTC COYNE: Since our arrival on Saturday, on 

3 -- again, I'm pretty sure it was Tuesday that the 69th 

4 rotated out and the 204th Engineers backfilled them. 

5 MAJ MELNYK: It was -- they rotated out Sunday 

6 night and Monday.

7 LTC COYNE: Okay.

8 MAJ MELNYK: They rotated out of their armory. 

9 I was with the 69th. So just for the purpose of the 

10 time line.

11 LTC COYNE: Yes.

12 MAJ MELNYK: I realize the sense of time here 

13 for everybody I have interviewed has been a little 

14 unsure. 

15 LTC COYNE: It's our best guess of what day it 

16 is.

17 MAJ MELNYK: Other units have been arriving 

18 from upstate to help fill in on the effort?

19 LTC COYNE: No, there have not been any other 

20 additional units. I know there is a plan that is being 

21 put into place right now to relieve units on this 
14

1 coming Saturday and, of course, you need a day to do a 

2 battle handoff. 

3 MAJ MELNYK: Working in the one-four shop, 

4 what have been the key problems that you've had to 

5 tackle since arriving on the ground Saturday?

6 LTC COYNE: I think a couple of the issues 

7 I've had to work with, one is kind of a special one is 

8 respirators for our soldiers and we've been able to do 

9 a fairly good job.

10 We've had cooperation from the New York Fire 

11 Department and from the emergency management operation 

12 in assisting us with that. 

13 The other thing I would say is probably cots 

14 have become a problem. I think we've finally got our 

15 arms around that and everyone has a cot to sleep on.

16 We've also received an awful lot of assistance 

17 from the PD and the City of New York in regard to 

18 subsistence, as far as water and meals and things like 

19 that.

20 It took us about a day to get our arms around 

21 that situation and to get caterers and now our soldiers 
15

1 are getting hot meals instead of what I may call 

2 handouts.

3 MAJ MELNYK: Though the handouts have been 

4 very generous.

5 LTC COYNE: Absolutely.

6 MAJ MELNYK: That's what everybody has said.

7 LTC COYNE: It's been outstanding.

8 MAJ MELNYK: You said that relations with the 

9 civilian agencies are good.

10 Who is conducting that liaison? Can you 

11 describe, in any kind of way, the formal structure of 

12 that? Who is giving the orders and how is Aviation 

13 Brigade involved in that?

14 LTC COYNE: Currently, the area is broken into 

15 five sections and the -- each liaison officer has a 

16 meeting each morning with me -- and I know in section 

17 one, the New York Fire Department is controlling that 

18 area.

19 MAJ MELNYK: Section one is ground zero.

20 LTC COYNE: Right. And the other four areas 

21 are handled by the New York City Police Chiefs. And 
16

1 what they do is they have a morning and an evening 

2 meeting with our liaison officers to coordinate our 

3 efforts and what they need.

4 MAJ MELNYK: And the liaison officers are --

5 for those meetings, are all coming out of Aviation 

6 Brigade. 

7 LTC COYNE: No. They've been augmented, 

8 initially, even before the Aviation Brigade arrived. 

9 Some division staff officers who live here in New York 

10 City did an immediate response, and were probably the 

11 guys that actually the Aviation Brigade linked with 

12 initially were a couple of the liaison officers that 

13 were already on the ground.

14 MAJ MELNYK: Anyone in particular that you 

15 want to talk about?

16 LTC COYNE: Yes. I'd say MAJ Bob Magnanini 

17 and MAJ George Chin were two of the first to offer 

18 their services and, again, are still on the ground 

19 here. 

20 MAJ MELNYK: And MAJ Magnanini, what role did 

21 MAJ Magnanini and MAJ Chin -- they are both on division 
17

1 staff?

2 LTC COYNE: Correct. And they live in the New 

3 York City area and both of them were close enough to 

4 what we'll call ground zero, I guess, to realize the 

5 urgency of the situation and immediately deployed to 

6 the area to offer their services to whoever was in 

7 command and control.

8 MAJ MELNYK: What has your impression been of 

9 the performance of the units that you've seen? I 

10 realize that you're mostly in the one-four shop, but 

11 you've gotten glimpses of the soldiers.

12 LTC COYNE: I would say that whatever my 

13 opinion may be is a little biased, but from the 

14 feedback we've gotten from the police, the fire 

15 department, and everyone like that, we've done an 

16 outstanding job.

17 MAJ MELNYK: Sir, if you could address the 

18 issue of command and control. I have spoken to several 

19 people who, especially early on in the operation, had 

20 problems with the command and control, as emanating out 

21 of Troop Command.
18

1 And you arrived later on the scene and things, 

2 by the time Saturday rolled around, seemed to be more 

3 in a routine.

4 But could you talk about your perception of 

5 the command and control issues?

6 LTC COYNE: Yes. I think we have to realize 

7 that the 53rd Troop Command does not have the staff 

8 power and manpower that a division staff has, and they 

9 essentially work on support missions.

10 And when you get into an environment where 

11 we're actually doing more of a security type mission, 

12 they are not that familiar with it.

13 But I feel they did an outstanding job and 

14 their people worked awfully hard to coordinate. And, 

15 again, these battalions are kind of used to the 

16 division, the division personnel.

17 It was kind of a new experience and it's very 

18 difficult when you get put into an environment where 

19 you don't actually know the person you talk to. It 

20 takes a little while to get confidence factors.

21 And as I say, I really feel that the job done 
19

1 by the Troop Command is outstanding considering all the 

2 situations that arose. 

3 MAJ MELNYK: What input -- now that Aviation 

4 Brigade has taken care of most of the liaison on the 

5 ground here, what input does Troop Command continue to 

6 have or have -- what influence do they have in the 

7 operation now?

8 LTC COYNE: The Troop Command continues to 

9 operate as our headquarters. I think right now, as far 

10 as mission changes, they're very limited, because we're 

11 into about the eighth day here and everyone has got 

12 familiar with their mission and understands who to talk 

13 to and how to make things happen. 

14 MAJ MELNYK: All right, sir. If you would, 

15 anything that I haven't touched on that you want to put 

16 on the table, impressions of this operation, its 

17 significance for you or for the New York Guard.

18 This is your portion of the -- the whole 

19 interview is for you, but this is your free time.

20 LTC COYNE: I think, first of all, all of our 

21 soldiers are contributing, contributing wholeheartedly, 
20

1 probably taking more risks than they normally would do 

2 at any other time in their lives. 

3 They've all worked hard together and pulled 

4 together. And I know when you get into situations when 

5 you're training, there can be a lot of discussions 

6 about who's doing right or wrong or things like that.

7 What it's been down here is let's not really 

8 worry about who is going to fix the problem. Let's get 

9 together and make it work. It's been great.

10 MAJ MELNYK: Thank you very much, sir.

11 THE WITNESS: You're welcome.

12 (The interview was concluded.)

13 * * * * *