Vice commander shares 9/11 memories Published Sept. 12, 2011 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs RAF MILDENHALL, England -- Col. Kyle Voigt, 100th Air Refueling Wing vice commander, remembers the day the world stood still ... Back in September 2001, my oldest, and at the time, only, son was just 3 years old. My wife, Jean, (also an Air Force colonel and pilot, currently stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.)and I had just finished retraining in the KC-135 Stratotanker. At the time, I had just pinned on major, and she was a major-select. We were stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., and on the morning of 9/11, I had a late start because I had flown late the previous day. So, I decided to take my son, Matthew, to the base, for a medical appointment and I wanted us to enjoy the day and some father/son time. As we drove onto base around 9 a.m., there was a newsflash on the radio about an airplane that had flown into the World Trade Center. I remember hearing the radio discussion, but at the time there was a great deal of confusion about the cause, as there were no witnesses immediately available. The first round of pundits were saying it was an accident; nobody immediately understood the depth of the matter, at least not within the first five or 10 minutes. We got through the gate and headed to the base exchange for haircuts, only about two minutes away. Matthew had his cut first, then I sat in the chair ready to do the same. There was a TV in the barbershop, and it was about that time that the visuals of the smoke and fire started to come in. But at that moment, there still wasn't any real recognition from the commentators. People were saying, "Oh, what a terrible accident! I wonder how that could have happened!" It was sad, but not yet ominous. It was roughly 9:15 a.m. and we were all watching the TV coverage of the building. Amazingly, we watched on live TV as the second plane hit the second tower. I was astounded by it, and the TV commentator suddenly said, "Oh, it looks like we have coverage of the initial impact! Where did we get this?" - they thought it was the first plane hitting the first tower. From the reactions of the commentators who were watching the screens and events unfold, they still didn't realize we'd just watched the second attack; they just thought some video had come up showing the initial plane hitting, then they came to the reality that it was actually live. Once that was established, everything changed. I decided to take my son over to the flying squadron, where my wife was already at work, to see exactly what was going on. From the moment we set foot through the door, everything was moving. We had people gathering details from open source and classified; intel channels; senior leaders were meeting with crisis-action teams for the base - all of that was being pulled together at the same time. The gates were already restricted and a lot of activity was kicking off. What we didn't know right away were the changes that were happening in the air traffic control system, as they were essentially initiating an all-out nationwide air stoppage. The stoppage had been talked about and fully planned before, but nobody ever believed it would actually be used. It was always considered to be something that would only be used in a homeland war scenario. My son's medical appointment had already been cancelled. My squadron commander had returned from one of the key meetings, and his wife took our son back to her house, where he stayed with their family for about a day. This turned into an interesting balance for my wife and I. We were both flight commanders and senior in the squadron, so we told the schedulers to put us on opposite schedules. I'd work nights and she'd work days. In between, we'd bring our son to the gate and hand him off to the other one, play tag at the door, and head on back. It happened a lot with other families too; they drove in and drove home together. They were staying together and they were seeing their Service member - man or woman - off the spot; and they were there when they came back from flying. My wife and I have always been extremely fortunate to have fantastic family support as well. My mother-in-law came to Florida within a couple of days of 9/11, and she stayed with us as we were kicking off this operation. It quickly became apparent that things were going to get even more drastic, so our 3-year-old son went with his Grandma back to Texas as the operation got more involved. My parents and my wife's parents live just a couple of hours from each other, so they shared time looking after our son for about six of the next nine months. He had absolutely no lack of love and attention for the entire year! We spent the rest of that first day putting together our portion of an ad hoc nationwide air defense plan, that later morphed into Operation Noble Eagle - it covered the capability to take off, either on a scheduled or alert-launch mission, to fly over the continental United States and refuel fighters, defending our country from another such threat. Throughout the day, TVs were on everywhere, and we were getting as much news as we could. I remember spending 10 minutes at a time watching the screen, just feeling drained of belief and emotion that comes with such an event. I remember old movies from when I was a kid, such as "The Towering Inferno," but this version was taking place right in front of our eyes. The gravity and almost hopeless nature was astounding. You saw the buildings, and you saw someone give up. Some of the folks who were higher up in the building tried to climb down ladders, but couldn't get through the fire, so they jumped from the building. I watched a couple who jumped together. That type of situation doesn't ever go past you without blowing you away. It was comforting that I was able to be with my wife at the squadron, but I cried almost uncontrollably ... imagining that situation, and comparing completely innocent lives that had been crippled by an event as dramatic as that. Roughly four hours after the event, I noticed a change within the squadron. Initially it was just a spark, but with each passing minute and hour, that spark grew more and more, into a definite message - "We will not stand down." It was happening throughout the entire unit. It wasn't a commander running up and down giving orders; it was spouses calling other spouses, getting together and making sure children were picked up and looked after; it was pilots helping each other out, giving spare flight suits and boots to those who hadn't brought theirs in because they hadn't been scheduled to fly that day. Without being told, our life support troops packed the mobility bags of everyone they knew was scheduled to fly that day, and had them ready to go before the flights were even ready. Our aircrew were prepared to go anywhere in the world. The maintainers made sure that every airplane that was on the line, was put into fully-mission-capable status within just a few hours. But with each minute and each hour, that spark continued to grow; our commander had it, the wing commander had it. It wasn't about, "I'm going to fly a specific mission" - it was about, "I'm going to fly any mission!" No matter what happened at the end of the day, we were going to be ready, and at a moment's notice, we were going to be in the air. As the crews came in, they were put into flight preparation mode. Even though we had no mission orders from higher headquarters at the time, we had every jet ready to go by 8 p.m. Right around that time was our first training sortie, which we transitioned into the Operation Noble Eagle environment. From that moment on, for about the next four weeks, we flew around-the-clock air refueling, up and down the east coast, flying anywhere from Miami, to New York City and Washington D.C., sharing time, splitting tanker assignments with any of the Air National Guard units, or active-duty units, KC-10s, KC-135s - taking the preventive steps to ensure this would never happen again. That flying environment was one of the most uncanny feelings; at that time, I was a very experienced KC-135 instructor pilot and had flown around the world and seen all kinds of things - but I was never prepared to fly a take-off into a totally dormant flight environment and have an air traffic controller say to me, "The sky is yours; you're clear unrestricted-climb to 30,000 feet. Cleared direct. At your discretion, anywhere you want to fly - just tell me what you need." Once above the ground, there were no airplanes in the sky except another refueling tanker, and fighters that were patrolling the sky. It was such an amazing and quiet environment. Although I didn't launch on 9/11, I went into crew rest in the middle of the day and came back for the second or third overnight sortie, and took off around 1:30 a.m. I flew over New York City, and saw the Statue of Liberty all lit up. Although the lights were clouded, because of the smoke, you could still see it. TV was no longer TV to those of us who were in the air at that moment. We were looking across the bay, at a huge trail of smoke. It felt really strange, because when I took off in the middle of the night, there was nothing to be seen - there was smoke over the top of the fires, causing a lack of visibility. But as the sun started to come up, and we could see what was there and what wasn't ... I've never had a flight in a KC-135 which was so quiet. We were all awestruck by what we were seeing. Everybody knew that skyline, but when those towers were gone, their absence was almost a vacuum. I flew to Washington D.C. and New York City a couple of times, and even a couple of days later there was still smoke. I've never thought of a flight or deployment as having a healing potential, but I've got to say, being in the air that first night after (the attacks) had happened, even though there were no other events and no airplanes to avoid, being there and doing something was very rehabilitating. People nationwide did their own things to heal as well; this was just what we did - it was our tools and our capabilities, and the missions and the roles that were expected of us. We were all finding our own ways of coping and rehabilitating, and making things right from each perspective. Fire departments all over the country were sending their personnel to New York City to assist. And the incredible giving of the New York Fire Department and New York Police Department and port authority was absolutely unmatched. It's unimaginable to think that some of those fire departments came out of it with up to 50 percent losses ... there is no true comparison to that degree of sacrifice and giving for fellow man. I remember Rudy Giuliani, New York City mayor during that time, making incredibly powerful statements to the country on the very first day, such as saying New York was a tough town and would persevere, and that it would be around long into the future. The next day, the president was at the scene, and was there with the firefighters. He was encouraging, and symbolically telling the nation, "We are bigger than this." I truly believe it was a galvanizing experience for the American population, in ways only known to each and every one of the people who experienced it in some way - whether directly, in the dust and dirt of downtown New York City, or at an Air Force base somewhere else around the country, or a quiet suburb in mid-western America, going out and gathering clothes for a fundraiser and doing what they could do help. It was a test of American resolve and mettle. We definitely learned that we were incredibly capable as a service and as a nation. We can generate a response anywhere, any time, any place. Without a doubt, it showed the resolve of the United States and the community of nations, and the capability of the global community to band together to work together for a common goal ... and to work together for the benefit of others, whether it be in humanitarian relief or in measured military response. I still have pain when watching coverage of the events of 9/11. I can't get through that frame of mind without reliving all of those thoughts, fears and concerns as to who or what could have been next. But one thing is for sure - I will never forget. Editor's note: This story is the personal recollection of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, based on interviews with the subject. It is compiled and written by Karen Abeyasekere, 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs.