Honoring those who gave all Published Sept. 7, 2006 By Capt. Robert Magee 16th Air Force RAF MILDENHALL, England -- I'd been in the Air Force for four months when Sept. 11 happened, and I was a young lieutenant assigned to Dover Air Force Base, Del. I was the flight commander for the vehicle operations flight, and we were in the center of everything that happened because New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. were spread out around us. As soon as it happened we went into (Force Protection) Delta. Being a young lieutenant, my first thought was to grab my senior NCO and find out what we needed to do. We ran through all our checklists; everybody has checklists to tell them what they need to do, but there's nothing in a checklist that prepares you for what was happening on Sept. 11. There's no checklist that says, "Hey - control your emotions." It was very difficult as a young lieutenant to grab my emotions and say, "What we need to do is to figure out where the threat is next." I'm sure everyone in the U.S., either on a military base, or in a large city, thought, "We're next." That day was very sad and somber. We kept hearing about the aftermath, and there were reports that we were going to start sending medical folks from our base. When we sent out a list asking who could volunteer, 100 percent of the people in our flight said, "We'll go help wherever they need help - whether it's at the Pentagon or Philadelphia - just tell us." My involvement became a little more important to me and changed my career in the Air Force when I was approached by my logistics group commander, who asked if I would be involved with the reception of the human remains from the Pentagon. Dover Air Force Base, being the only port mortuary in the continental United States is where most of the remains came. Once again, I sat down with my senior NCOs and my commander, and drew up a plan on how the transportation piece was going to be handled for our folks who'd passed away at the Pentagon. So we worked with the services commander and the wing commander was involved, and how it kind of worked out was the CH-47 helicopters would fly out of D.C. and they would land on the hotpad at Dover. The chaplain, wing commander and services commander, Senior Master Sgt. Tim Yeager, my superintendent, and I would walk onto every one of those helicopters (two a day for about a month). I was last one to walk on - we'd walk on the lift, and the pilot and loadmasters would come out. We'd all bow our heads, the chaplain would say a prayer and then we would unlatch the remains - all were in body bags, and all were on gurnies. Then the wing commander, services commander, chaplain, supterintendent and I would carry out the first of the remains. There would be a host of Air National Guard and Reserve troops who had volunteered to come to Dover to help in the port mortuary, and it was a unified effort to do the best thing we could to honor those who had perished on 9/11. Every day we'd get a call, telling us the Chinooks were an hour out, and we'd come out, form up and everyone would be at attention. It was all about honor. It wasn't about selflessness - it was about bringing home our heroes who died that day. It's not only that, but the people who were on the airplane who were found, they came back as well. It was an experience that definitely changed the way I feel about the military. The reason I joined the military was because my grandfather served in Korea and he never came home. I remember my mom telling me the story about how she saw him in the doorway, she was 6 years old, and she saw her dad. He waved 'bye', gave her a little kiss. and he never returned - to this day he has never returned. It made me think about what I was doing with my life - it made me think, "I want to be remembered like that, whether it's dying in combat, or serving out my 20 or 30 years in the military." Being involved with Sept. 11, and the reception of human remains from the Pentagon, seemed like it meant more to me than why I originally chose the military, to honor my grandfather. It took me to a whole new level of respect, not only for our country, but it filled me with more respect for those that serve beside me. You have to separate the heroes - those who save lives - from those heroes who give their lives. Heroes are prepared to give their lives. Every person we brought home from the Pentagon, to me, was a hero. I was just a very small part of the effort, working with the Guard, Reserve, and active duty. All of us were doing what was right. It felt good. I've never seen anything like what I saw at Dover Air Force Base; their operations are absolutely professional. Everything they do is to honor the human remains that come through. I have many different images in my mind of what happened, but one is the hardest to think about and remember. They allowed some of us to go in where the FBI were doing X-rays and DNA tests, and in another room they had folks doing autopsies. I walked in while a physician was doing an autopsy on an Army soldier, lying on the table. I'm assuming it was probably smoke inhalation he died from, because his uniform was perfectly pressed, his boots were shined perfectly, and he looked like he was just sleeping. What struck me the most - and broke my heart - was that they had all his personal items there. Everything that was on him was beside him, so they could prepare it for the family. And beside his wallet was a picture of his wife and children. Most likely, at that moment, his family didn't even know he'd perished. They were hoping he would be OK, but here I was looking at the possessions of someone who'd given his life for his country. To me, it painted a bigger story, because he gave his life, and his family gave of their lives too - their father, husband, dad - he was gone. When I looked at him I knew he was a hero - he was someone who died for what he believed in, who gave his life for his country. I wouldn't want something like 9/11 to happen again, but that's why we serve - to protect people. Whether military or civilian, people who do or don't believe in our Constitution - we're out there protecting them. It's a job that I take great pride in. September 11 definitely changed my life and made me a better person.