|
|
|
|
|
       |
 |
|
| Permanent | Running Indefinitely | Temporary | Past | REFLECTIONS OF FREEDOM - ESSAYS |
|
Leon E. Moores, M.D., U.S. Army Lt. Col. At 2 a.m. we boarded the bus that would transport us to the Pentagon. I introduced myself to the rest of the team that would be working this shift, including our chaplain, who happened to be Muslim. Military and District police vehicles escorted the bus in what was just another of so many surreal scenes over the preceding week. It is rare, even in the District of Columbia, to have four squad cars with lights and sirens activated through an entire transit of the city limits. I had not joined the crowd of people that gathered each day along the highways adjacent to the Pentagon -- this was to be my first direct view. We exited the bus, golf carts drove us to security, ID's were issued, and we were headed to the crash site in less than 15 minutes. Bright white illumination contrasted sharply with the surrounding night, bringing out every detail of the torn and flame-scarred Pentagon. I was struck by the enormity of the scene. Cranes, front-end loaders, bucket lifts, and hundreds of personnel were clearing debris and recovering remains. The realization that the scale of the New York site must have been orders of magnitude greater was overwhelming. The human response left the most lasting impression. The cacophony nearly ceased each time remains were noted. All machinery except generators and idling diesel motors of big cranes stopped. Every eye turned to the point on the site where FBI investigators were dwarfed by surrounding wreckage as they photographed, mapped, and catalogued the remains. The torso, limb, or other portion of what was once a human life, taken away in a fraction of a second by a heinous act of cowardice, was removed by Army mortuary affairs soldiers, some 18 years old and just weeks out of basic training. The chaplain performed last rites, and a viability determination was made in the refrigerator truck as the big machinery wound back up for another search. Throughout all of this the rescue workers, support volunteers, military and federal agency personnel, male, female, white, African-American, Hispanic, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, despite exhaustion in some and overwhelming emotions in all, remained focused and accomplished their tasks as a team. While we all sincerely hope nothing like this will ever happen again, I cannot imagine that any country in the world could be better equipped to handle it. |