![blog_cover_2[3311].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ad726_10131ba18c1644c39690e9c32bafe6e1~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_940,h_333,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/blog_cover_2%5B3311%5D.jpg)
Remembering 9/11 Twenty-Five Years Later
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It’s hard to believe that 25 years have gone by since that terrible day in American history – it still seems like yesterday for Laurie and me. For this week’s blog, we’ll forego the topic of food, wine, and spirits and instead share our personal recollections of 9/11 and how it impacted our lives.
Everyone seems to remember where they were, and what they were doing on the morning of 11 September 2001 when two planes hit the two towers of the World Trade Center, one hit the Pentagon, and another went down in a field in Pennsylvania. That morning is etched in our collective memories as Americans. I was at CNA headquarters in a meeting that morning, while Laurie was taking a well-deserved day off from work.
At the time, Laurie was the CNA field representative to the Theodore Roosevelt (TR) Carrier Strike Group (CSG) and had spent the previous six months supporting the command full-time during their deployment workups. That included carrier airwing training in Fallon NV, and multiple at sea training exercises that lasted 2-4 weeks each. When she wasn’t deployed on the carrier or traveling, she spent her weeks down in Norfolk where the carrier was based, providing analytic support to the strike group commander (RADM Fitzgerald) and his staff. The TR CSG was scheduled to depart on 19 Sep 2001 for their 6-month deployment to the Middle East.
Midway through my meeting that morning, we were interrupted by an analyst with the news that an airplane had hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center – we all looked at each other and mentioned how strange that was but continued the meeting. About 20 minutes later, we were interrupted again with the news that a second plane had hit the other tower. At that point in time, we knew that it was likely a terrorist attack, so we stopped our meeting to watch the events transpire on television. 30 minutes later, the third plane hit the Pentagon, and that’s when it really hit home.
I was able to get in touch with Laurie, who headed home from Tyson’s Corner mall after they closed it due to the terrorist threat. Since we had analysts assigned to the Pentagon and on any given morning it wasn’t unusual to have 15-20 CNA analysts on site there, we immediately started the process of accounting for our staff to confirm they were all safe. That took most of the morning, but by noon we had accounted for everyone which was a huge relief to us. A few hours later I headed home (which was in the opposite direction of the Pentagon and DC, where traffic was still gridlocked at the time).
We watched the news in disbelief for the rest of the day. Later, I went out on our deck to take a break and was struck by how odd and surreal things felt. Long periods of complete and total silence (due to the grounding of all planes across the US) were interrupted periodically by the roar of fighter jets which were patrolling the DC metro area skies to address any potential threats. Laurie checked in with her command and coordinated with them to ensure she was notified if there was any change to their scheduled deployment, which was eight days away. As it turns out, the TR CSG departed Norfolk on schedule on 19th Sep, but instead of a leisurely transit through the Med, they hightailed it and headed directly to the Arabian Gulf to participate in Operation Enduring Freedom and conduct strikes on Al Queda in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
What was initially planned to be a six-month deployment, complete with multiple port visits in the Med and elsewhere (which I was planning to join Laurie for) turned into a 6+ month deployment that included 159 straight days at sea, which, at the time, was the longest stretch of days for a Carrier without a port visit since WWII. Once the strike group passed through the Suez Canal and arrived in the North Arabian Sea, they immediately began strike operations. Laurie was tasked by RADM Fitzgerald to focus on supporting the carrier airwing by collecting data and supporting the analysis to assess the effectiveness of strike operations, including the effectiveness of different ordnance and munitions on planned targets.
This tasking required Laurie to work directly with the airwing leadership, as well as the pilots and other support personnel to collect the necessary data and gain insights from their first-hand observations of the strikes. Now, if you know anything about Naval aviators, you know they are a group of testosterone-fueled, high-energy, arrogant, and somewhat obnoxious type-A males who don’t welcome those who aren’t part of “the team” and haven’t earned their respect. Think Tom Cruise in Top Gun and you’ll get the idea.
Laurie had to find a way to gain their trust and get them to accept her as "one of their own" during the deployment work-up phase I mentioned earlier. Having direct tasking from the Admiral certainly helped, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Being a civilian (and a female civilian at that!) who willingly volunteered to deploy on a carrier into a combat zone got her foot in the door, but she still had to prove that her work would help them and add value. In the end, she was able to break through and gain their trust to the point where they accepted her as a member of their team. Which means she was assigned a call sign (all Naval aviators have a call sign, given to them by the other members of the team). Laurie’s call sign was “Flocka”, as in a flock of geese (nobody knew how to pronounce her last name, Geis – it’s pronounced 'gice' but they usually defaulted to 'geese', hence the call sign!).
CNA was tasked by the Chief of Naval Operations with conducting the official reconstruction and analysis of Naval operations in support of OEF. This meant that we stood up a large group of analysts for the effort that included CNA headquarters-based analysts, as well as field reps like Laurie who were forward-deployed. They all worked as a team, collecting and sharing data from the forward-based analysts, and then analyzing the data to provide near-real time feedback to Navy leadership on the conduct of the operations. While CNA analyzed all aspects of the operations, our focus was on Naval strike operations in Afghanistan. In addition to collecting and scrubbing the raw data from the airwing, Laurie also provided supporting analysis to the team back at CNA HQ and on-site analysis of the strikes for RADM Fitzgerald and the airwing on board the carrier conducting the strikes.
The work schedule on a carrier, especially during combat operations, is brutal. The schedule also included working nights. Reveille (wake up time) was 6:00 pm and “lights out” was 10:00 am. Most of that time was spent working (not much else to do on a carrier), with short breaks to eat and exercise. Laurie’s accommodations were a two-person officer stateroom, luxurious by most standards on board a carrier (you should see enlisted berthing, ...!). Throughout her deployment, Laurie and I would talk on the phone periodically, but we mostly communicated via classified e-mail (no smartphones back then so no way to text each other).
I am so proud of Laurie for what she was able to accomplish as a CNA field rep. She deployed into a dangerous combat zone and provided critical data and analysis to help the strike group assess and adapt their tactics based on the effectiveness of different munitions and ordnance in different strike scenarios. in short, she was a badass!! As a result of her work, RADM Fitzgerald and the strike group awarded her the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service award.
So while my focus for this blog was putting the spotlight on Laurie and the role she played in supporting the Navy and the country during Operation Enduring Freedom, I also want to acknowledge and pay tribute to the fire fighters, police, and other rescue personnel who risked and lost their lives during rescue operations on 9/11, as well as the brave service members who deployed overseas to eliminate the terrorist threat from Al Qaeda and others. And finally, we also remember all of those who lost their lives in the attacks on that terrible day – we will never forget.
Comments