Photo By Timothy Lawn | Michael Thomas Burmeister, Major (USA), JAG. Afghanistan deployment (Courtesy Photo)... read more read more
“There was a sudden, loud, rumbling boom… the Pentagon shook as if in a long, magnitude 5.0 earthquake (I’m originally from California). The windows open to the outside swung shut and then the curtains blew in, debris rained down outside. I had time to say, that was an explosion,” said Michael Thomas Burmeister, Major (USA), Judge Advocate General, staff assistant in the Department of Defense, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.
“Looking outside, a large, black column of oily smoke had begun to rise above the part of the building immediately to our East. The office director said it was time to get out. Alarms began and a recorded message directed immediate evacuation of the building,” Burmeister said.
Burmeister and his fellow workers were in Room 3B661, a little East and clockwise from the point of impact.
He was the only military person in the Pentagon office. There were three, senior civilian employees, all of whom were former Army JAGs. There were also three college interns on staff. Their office duties were to negotiate and maintain classified status of forces and other agreements with foreign countries.
Burmeister recounts how his then girlfriend, Ms. Patty Brewer, called from her office at the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., two blocks from the White House. She asked if he knew anything about a plane hitting the World Trade Center in New York City.
“I said I’d check into it and get back to her,” Burmeister said.
Switching to streaming CNN news on the computer Burmeister and those in his office watched in shock as they saw the first burning tower of the twin towers. The sky was clear blue and he thought that maybe the fog had burned off. Burmeister still presumed the Twin Tower crash was an accident.
Burmeister and the other staff watched the CNN live feed in shock and horror as the second airliner slammed into the remaining twin tower and the office realized that it was no accident.
That’s when the day changed for Burmeister and his fellow.
Burmeister recalls that he did not hear the plane approach. Upon impact, his staff panicked, people started rushing to the door.
Burmeister took charge and called out for everyone to secure their classified documents and lock their computer hard drives in their safes.
After securing classified material he called his girlfriend, Patty, but only got her voice mail. Assuming she was in a meeting, he told her they’d been hit, but that he was ok and they were evacuating.
Patricia worked near the White House, Burmeister fearful of her safety recalled they already had rumors of another suspect plane in the air.
Remembering the poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway years before, Burmeister instructed Patricia to leave work, stay away from the White House and avoid the Metro subway.
“I was the last person out of the office,” Burmeister said.
Catching up to the interns in the hallway, Burmeister shepherded them out of the building and over to the I-395 embankment across the south parking lot. Security was urging everyone to get away from the building and had stopped Metro buses from approaching the Pentagon. Even Metro trains were not allowed to stop at the Pentagon station.
Eventually, Burmeister and the group walked the couple hundred yards to the Crystal City Mall. At the mall they all attempted to phone loved ones and ensure them they were ok. Shops in the mall were closing. The mayor of Washington D.C. and the Federal government had shut down the city and started an evacuation.
The Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area Transit Authority established an ad hoc bus station adjacent to the Mall and were attempting to evacuate people out of the area. Police blocked incoming freeways at the far ends, and traffic left the city using all lanes on both sides.
“It was a pretty amazing (and sobering) sight, like something out of a movie,” Burmeister said.
Taking the interns in tow, they boarded a bus headed out of town. It took over an hour to travel back roads two miles southwest from the Pentagon. Burmeister and the team got off and hiked the remaining two miles to his apartment. Using back roads, he lead the interns home or to where they had parked their cars at the outer Metrorail stops.
Back at the Pentagon, fires from the attack raged for several days. The fire came up to the hallway on the other side of Burmeister’s office wall. The hallway suffered extensive smoke damage, but sealed offices had only smoke smell. Power and phones outages were extensive.
Burmeister checked the offices every day and informed our personnel. Phones came back in a week. Power took several weeks to restore.
The extensive damage awed Burmeister.
“It’s a testament to the construction of the Pentagon that, at the time of the initial explosion, I thought that we’d been hit by an explosive-filled panel truck rather than a large airliner,” Burmeister said.
Amazingly, Burmeister found out something that reminds him how truly fortunate he and his office staff were.
The nose of the airliner ended up penetrating to within 100 feet of his office, upon impact the fire raced its way up to Corridor 6, on the other side of their office wall.
Reflecting on his experiences, Burmeister looks strategically at the situation he was in and role he was thrust into.
“If no one else senior steps up, you don’t have to be senior to take charge in an emergency and make a difference,” Burmeister said.
Burmeister also believes that taking stock of the situation is critical before acting. He feels comforted believing that several of his compatriots are still alive due his quick thinking.
“My command voice halted a rush for the door.”
Burmeister also added that it was later discovered that many offices failed to secure classified information before evacuating.
Before evacuating, he supervised securing the office, followed by an orderly evacuation.
“I checked everything and was the last person out of the office,” Burmeister said.
Without a doubt, he feels a little guilty for following first responder instructions and leaving the scene.
“I did get our interns away safely, but I could have returned from the bus area and helped out at the Pentagon,” Burmeister said.
| Date Taken: | 09.11.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 09.11.2016 14:42 |
| Story ID: | 209261 |
| Location: | PENTAGON, WASHINGTON D.C., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 530 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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