which is less than half a mile from the Pentagon. My building was about a quarter mile from the building I was in and I had remembered walking outside to the meeting rather than through the Underground because it was such a beautiful day. The conference room in that building had no windows but at one point early in the meeting I overheard the receptionist talking about an explosion at the World Trade Center. At that point we figured it was nothing serious and went about our meeting. About 40 minutes later a friend and co-worker came in and interrupted the meeting and told us there was an explosion at the Pentagon - we assumed it was a bomb. It was my meeting so I paused it and left the conference room and walked to a window that faced the Pentagon and could not believe what I saw. The sky was already filled with soot and black smoke and it was blowing in our direction. I quickly walked back to the conference room and cancelled the meeting and told everyone to pack up and prepare to leave in case we were dismissed. I headed back to my building and decided to walk outside again so I could see more of what was going on, plus it was faster that way. I could not believe how much debris was already in the air since we were about a half-mile away.

On the way back I saw an image that I will never forget. There was a female Naval officer curled up in a fetal position on a set of steps sobbing uncontrollably. I approached her to see if I could help and another (male) Naval officer stopped me and said 'Her husband was in the Pentagon right where the plane hit and no one can reach him'. I think I lost my breath at that point because that was the first I had heard of a plane crash. The rest of the walk was a blur but when I got to my building the entrances were all blocked by Marine guards. I told them I had to get back upstairs to get my car keys but they wouldn't let me up. So I snuck into the Crystal City underground and managed to find an unguarded stairwell. I walked up 11 floors and my office was already empty and locked up - fortunately my Castle Card (remember those) still worked and I got into my office and retrieved my keys. I quickly checked my email and saw that the entire company had been sent home so I walked down to the garage and started what turned out to be a 6 hour drive home. Couldn't make or receive a cell call for the first several hours so I couldn't confirm my safety to the rest of my family nor could I confirm their safety.

Crappy day ... hug your loved ones!