Notes Byrning XIV (The Nine One One) © 2015

I went with the second team on September 13, 2001. Took us all day to get our supplies, check our trucks, refrigeration units, and the briefings.  All along the while soldiers, who were on there way out of the army for their misbehavior, were spreading the rumor that WWIII was going to start by the end of the week. Before we left Fort Lee a two star general told us how important we were. We rode on a nice bus. The kind with movie screens in the seats and everywhere. Remember watching Remember The Titans . We were anxious to finally be able to do our jobs. Many of us had never done our job because there was no great war. We all gasped when we saw the American flag covering the hole in the Pentagon. Specialist Pickering put it best when he said “How am I supposed to feel there’s a hole in the brain of the military?”

They sent in the Honor Guard. They wear the Washington Monument on the patch on their shoulder. Word went around quick that they couldn’t handle it. We took over Operation Noble Eagle.

There were so many gathered on the Pentagon lawn. There was The Red Cross, and every fast food restaurant of the New World Order, reporters, and movie stars. Linda Carter (Wonder Woman 1970’s) came to talk to us with tears in her eyes. Sixties and seventies babies were awestruck. Also hear that Rumsfeld came out telling all the troops, “We’re going to get those sons of a bitches!” I also saw the Sergeant Major of the Army playing cards with the troops.

There was too much visibility during the day for many of the Mortuary Affairs soldiers from all over the country to go into the Pentagon. The night teams went in. Heard they saw bodies in pieces. Most of these pieces were meshed and melted to parts of the plane. I was on the day crew. Mostly stayed at our collection point and at the garage docks where we’d load the refer units with remains in human remains pouches and boxes. Most were in boxes (in pieces).  There were around two hundred and fifty remains.

I was so frightened that we were on the verge of WWIII. Therefore, I started writing down fighting techniques in a tiny green note book. I still have that notebook. My years of Taekwondo training were the blueprint.

I practiced these techniques in my barracks room.