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Daedalians receive first-hand account of National Military Command Center on 9/11

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Rachel Martinez
  • 305th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. --  More than 50 current and past pilots gathered at the monthly Garden State Chapter 43 Order of the Daedalian's meeting March 21 to hear the guest speaker, Col. John Brunderman, Secretary of the Air Force/Acquisitions, at the Pentagon. 

Colonel Brunderman was working in the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. He shared his experiences from that day with those present at the Daedalian meeting. 

"We normally hear from World War II pilots and their war experience in the air, but this is a unique opportunity to hear some ground-war stories," Lt. Col. Joseph Wolfer, 6th Airlift Squadron commander, said as he introduced Colonel Brunderman. 

According to Colonel Brunderman, the NMCC functions as the top of the pyramid for all command posts around the world. The NMCC staff provides continuous operation monitoring, reporting, training, maintenance management, and coordination for all communications-electronics activities and systems supporting the NMCC to ensure minimum essential National Military Command System connectivity for the Single Integrated Operational Plan execution, worldwide situation monitoring and crisis management. 

"The first indication was news reports of an explosion at one of the World Trade Towers," Colonel Brunderman said. "We saw pictures of smoke coming out of the building against a clear blue sky backdrop, and we began immediate notification of a potential terrorist attack. While doing that, we saw live coverage of the second airplane hit the tower. In an instant, the attitude and energy changed to 'Oh my gosh, the United States is under attack.'" 

On any given day there are 500 to 1,000 threat warnings, said Colonel Brunderman, but only a small percentage of those actually happen. 

"It's hard to capture and explain the fog and friction of war," he said. "When you're looking for things that are abnormal, a lot of things appear abnormal." 

While responding to the attacks on the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, where the NMCC is located, was attacked itself. Due to their location in the Pentagon, staff at the NMCC did not feel the impact, but Colonel Brunderman took the call notifying the NMCC that there had been an explosion at the Pentagon. 

"The NMCC never evacuated," he said. "We were given paint masks and water because the smoke had penetrated the whole building." 

Not only did Colonel Brunderman not evacuate, he ended up working 16 hours that day. The NMCC staff continued to work 12-hour shifts for the next eight months. 

"One of the proudest moments I have from that day was with all the chaos; you know you train for this everyday, it was amazing to see how quickly everything switched to a different mode. Everything went pretty much as it's supposed to." 

Although things went as practiced, there were some bumps and challenges along the way. 

"You find out all sorts of stuff when you're actually doing things rather than practicing." 

One such example was the increase in Defense Condition. DEFCONs are a very deliberate process, explained Colonel Brunderman. Normally, emerging conditions are taken into consideration and it could take days, if not weeks, to change the DEFCON. That was not the case on Sept. 11. 

"The Secretary of Defense walked into the NMCC and the acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, 'Sir, I think we need to go to DEFCON 3,'" Colonel Brunderman recalled. "The SECDEF said that he concurred and to execute. In about 30 seconds we went from peacetime to DEFCON 3." 

The attacks of Sept. 11 may have taken some people by surprise, but it is for incidents like this that the military trains and exercises the way it does. 

"Overall, I think the military performed extremely well for a bolt out of the blue incident, which is what this was." 

Colonel Brunderman's story brought in one of the largest crowds to the Daedalian's meeting. Next month, Eileen Lodolis from the FAA is scheduled to speak. 

The Order of Daedalians is a national fraternity for heavier-than-air powered aircraft military pilots. The organization, started in 1934, offers a number of scholarships and awards programs, to include JROTC scholarships. The Garden State Chapter 43 meets the third Wednesday of every month at 11:30 a.m. in the Daedalian Room at The Club. For more information or to join, e-mail Lt. Col. (ret.) Dan Todd, Garden State Chapter 43 flight captain, at dantodd@verizon.net.