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9/11 changed the National Guard forever, according to four NGAUS staff who were profoundly impacted by that fateful day.
Wednesday marks the 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, which killed 2,977 people nationwide.
Nineteen terrorists hijacked four airplanes during the attacks, which crashed in New York City, Arlington, Virginia, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Retired Col. Mike Hadley was in Arlington when one of those airplanes struck the Pentagon over two decades ago.
Hadley — who is now the association’s vice president of government affairs — was working as a strategic planner for the Army Guard at the time.
"We could feel the impact," he said. "It was enough that it threw us out of our seats.
"I feel pretty fortunate," Hadley added. "You’re either in the line of fire or you’re not. It is so random."
Hadley recalled "a lot of confusion" as those at the Pentagon on 9/11 tried understanding what had happened and how they could exit the damaged building.
He remembered eventually escaping the Pentagon and seeing airplane parts outside, with some scattered "at least 200-300 yards away" from the structure.
"If that plane had hit any other side of the building, the fatalities would have been in the thousands," Hadley said, noting renovations were happening in that part of the Pentagon back then.
"It took away that innocence," he continued. "We had been lulled into a false sense of security that nothing would ever take place on American soil."
Retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the NGAUS president, was working as a detective for the Massachusetts state police when the attacks began.
McGinn said 9/11 permanently altered the Guard, transforming it from a strategic reserve into an operational one.
"I knew that we as a nation were immediately going to war," he stated. "Being attacked in our homeland was unthinkable.
"9/11 was a gamechanger," McGinn finished. "The country realized we can’t meet all our military obligations without the Guard."
9/11 prompted the War on Terror, which saw the United States invade Afghanistan in 2001 and then Iraq in 2003.
The War on Terror dramatically increased the Guard’s operational tempo and the number of deployments for Guardsmen.
For example, McGinn spent 11 months in Tikrit, Iraq, between 2004 and 2005 after volunteering to deploy with the New York Guard’s 42nd Infantry Division.
McGinn — who had two children ages two and four when he deployed — said 9/11 influenced his decision to deploy overseas.
"You want to be part of the solution," he said. "To me, it wasn’t an option. It was the right thing to do."
Retired Lt. Col. John "Ike" Fesler, the association’s chief of staff, said 9/11 prompted him to join the Tennessee Air Guard in 2003 after leaving the Navy in 1997.
Fesler eventually became the deputy chief of public affairs at the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center in Dover, Delaware, in 2010.
He helped honor 162 fallen service members who died in Afghanistan or Iraq during his tenure at Dover, including a 19-year-old from his hometown in Tennessee.
"It was the worst job that I have ever loved," Fesler said. "You’re taking care of those service members, giving them the deference they earned and deserved.
"But at the same time, you see the pain and the anguish on the families’ faces," he admitted. "I forget a lot of things, but that number, it is etched in my mind."
Retired Brig. Gen. Maria Kelly — who is now the NGAUS director of membership and marketing — was serving at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Ohio, on 9/11.
Kelly said 9/11 and the War on Terror revealed the Guard must be better equipped and resourced to help protect the nation.
"The National Guard of today that most of those currently serving experience didn’t come to be without a fight by our predecessors," she said.
"It is up to us to continue telling our story and advocating for what our soldiers and airmen need," Kelly concluded.
— By Mark Hensch
