WEBVTT 00:00.540 --> 00:02.429 and we were walking away from the 00:02.429 --> 00:04.830 building and he said , mom look up in 00:04.830 --> 00:06.997 the mommy look up in the sky and there 00:06.997 --> 00:09.219 was smoke coming from the other side of 00:09.219 --> 00:11.300 the building The 00:11.310 --> 00:15.020 morning of 00:15.020 --> 00:17.020 September 11 started like any other 00:17.020 --> 00:19.131 work day . I was in the Office of the 00:19.131 --> 00:21.076 Secretary of Defense , I worked on 00:21.076 --> 00:23.110 resource issues for the policy 00:23.110 --> 00:25.388 organization in the Defense Department . 00:25.388 --> 00:27.640 I remember many things about that day , 00:27.640 --> 00:30.860 I think one of the earliest things was 00:30.940 --> 00:33.170 again having the sense of not knowing 00:33.170 --> 00:35.226 what was happening and so opening up 00:35.226 --> 00:37.114 the door to the corridor , seeing 00:37.114 --> 00:39.990 people running , not sure why knowing 00:40.000 --> 00:42.111 something that happened in new york , 00:42.111 --> 00:44.278 knowing it was planes , but not really 00:44.278 --> 00:46.510 connecting the dots In my case , 00:46.510 --> 00:48.566 probably the most important thing to 00:48.566 --> 00:51.370 know about September 11 is that my son , 00:51.370 --> 00:54.020 my oldest child now , my only son at 00:54.020 --> 00:57.010 the time was in the childcare center 00:57.010 --> 00:59.720 and so I knew exactly where I needed to 00:59.720 --> 01:01.680 go when I exited the building , I 01:01.680 --> 01:05.610 picked him up , he's a about two years 01:05.610 --> 01:08.010 old at the time and we were walking 01:08.010 --> 01:10.350 away from the building and he said , 01:10.350 --> 01:12.461 mom look up and then mommy look up in 01:12.461 --> 01:14.683 the sky and there was smoke coming from 01:14.683 --> 01:17.350 the other side of the building . You 01:17.350 --> 01:19.350 know what's really remarkable about 01:19.350 --> 01:21.760 September 11 , everyone in the pentagon 01:21.760 --> 01:25.630 that day who was exiting did so uh they 01:25.630 --> 01:27.797 were looking out for each other , they 01:27.797 --> 01:30.019 did so very , very orderly way , people 01:30.019 --> 01:32.186 weren't running past each other , they 01:32.186 --> 01:34.297 were making sure everyone was walking 01:34.297 --> 01:36.186 in the right direction in my case 01:36.186 --> 01:38.297 because I knew I was going to pick up 01:38.297 --> 01:40.297 my son at the child care center . I 01:40.297 --> 01:42.463 remember one of my co workers as I was 01:42.463 --> 01:44.686 exiting the building said , go get that 01:44.686 --> 01:46.908 baby . You know , people were very much 01:46.908 --> 01:49.074 looking out for their for their fellow 01:49.074 --> 01:52.520 person and then after the attack , in 01:52.520 --> 01:54.853 the immediate minutes after , of course , 01:54.853 --> 01:56.909 you heard the stories of heroism for 01:56.909 --> 01:58.798 those who were on the side of the 01:58.798 --> 02:00.853 building that was hit people helping 02:00.853 --> 02:02.909 other people get out of the disaster 02:02.909 --> 02:04.964 area . The first responders arriving 02:04.964 --> 02:08.550 very quickly on scene . 02:09.640 --> 02:09.850 Mhm .