I am being nominated for the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (or in Pentagon acronyms, ASD/SOLIC). The job entails policy oversight of all special operations forces, budgets, missions, etc. These include such elements as the Army Rangers, the Delta Force, the Navy Seals, and Air Force special operations.

The ASD/SOLIC is also the principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense on combatting terrorism, and for all homeland defense matters within the Department of Defense.

This announcement was made today, which means that I expect to report to work tomorrow at the Pentagon as a consultant, pending my formal nomination and then confirmation by the Senate (which hopefully will move quickly).

I am sharply aware of the very serious responsibilities of this position, which are weighty under any circumstances but are especially momentous at this moment in our nation's history. Like everyone else, I have spent the last week in shock and in mourning over what has been done to our country, and in anxious frustration at not being able to help. Now we all have a job to do. We have all seen such tremendous bravery on the part of rescue workers, and passengers, and many others. The days to come will require bravery from us all, but perhaps especially the men and women in our armed forces. Part of my job will be to help see that they get the support they need. Another part of my job will be to work with other departments and agencies of the government, plus state and local authorities, and key private organizations and industries as well, to help find ways to make sure that we are prepared to deal with terrorist threats. And another part of my job will be to help find ways to defeat this evil. I am far from being confirmed, but I am grateful at the prospect of being able to serve my country in this way.

It has been so comforting, and somehow also inspiring, to read the many messages from you and from our other classmates, sharing their experiences and thoughts. Thank you, Cheryl, for linking everyone together again. It is good to be reminded of the innocent times we shared in high school. And it is even better to be reminded of the many good people, who were (and are) our classmates, who have grown up and grown apart, and yet retain this essential connection.

I may not make it to the reunion, but it would be a source of strength to me to know that I have your good wishes.

Warmly, Michelle (Colella) Van Cleave"

  "My best friend from high school. Color me proud!"

09/13/2001   "Cheryl, thank you for all the e-mails. This has been a terrible tragedy for all us. I worry for all our loved ones.  Our oldest is in the military and has been stationed in Bosnia and Kuwait. The world sees him as a man, but even though he stands 6'5" I still see my baby boy who crawled in bed with Mom in the middle of the night.  He will do what ever he is asked to do to protect his wife, sons, family and country. I pray for all those taken from us and for those who will protect us. Terry Fenn Nagy"

09/13/2001 " Hi Cheryl,
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for all the effort you are making to see that our class of '71 remains in contact.  I also want to thank you for overseeing that all these messages from classmates and friends who are so close to the situations in NY and DC are shared with us all.  A couple of these notes you passed on have extremely touched me.

A note to share with you.  I still live here in La Crescenta ("Home Sweet Home") and I was just out on Foothill Blvd to run an errand.  I saw a sight that touched me and made me proud of our small part of the world here in the Foothills.  City workers were out putting flags on every single light post up and down Foothill.  The view as far as the could see was full of the beautiful colors of red, white and blue of those flags waving in the breeze up and down Foothill.  I got a tear in my eye.  As I drove and approached the workers putting up the flags, I honked and waved in support and the two men stopped and passed along a "thumbs up".  It made me proud to know that we are all so united.  Even here in our secluded Foothill Community this small gesture (by comparison) shows what us as Americans are made of and what true unity is all about.

God Bless all and my heart goes out to anyone who has been more personally touched in these last few days and those yet to come.

With caring thoughts,
Georgie Berls (Eggleston)"

A picture is worth a thousand words

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Crawford
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 7:11 AM
To: LCHS70@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LCHS70] Tuesday

I work at 17th and K Sts. in Northwest Washington DC.  For those of you
unfamiliar with the city that is 4 blocks from the White House. 

As I was driving in I was listening to Imus in the morning broadcasting
from NY. They announced that a plane had crashed into the World Trade
Center and I thought immediately that it must be a terrorist act.  I
parked and went up to my office, turned on the TV and heard that a
second plane had hit the other tower. Shortly there after the plane hit
the Pentagon and although I didn't hear the explosion I quickly saw the
smoke.

DC, in a very short period of time became a center of false rumors.
First the TV identified the smoke from the Pentagon as smoke from an
explosion on the the Mall.  Then TV reported that there had just been a
car bomb explosion at the State Department.  Finally, there was a report
that the Capitol building and been hit. 

As all this was transpiring the DC and Federal Governments made a
decision to shut everything down and get people out of the city.  Now
Washington does not function well when they shut down.  When we get an
inch of snow here the whole city shuts down traffic wise.

So, they evacuated the city and it went fairly well.  I live 8 miles
from my office and it took me 2 hours to get there.  As I was waiting to
get my car I got hold off my wife on the cell phone.  She works as the
Director of Public Affairs at the Department of Commerce.  She was stuck
in traffic on Constitution Ave.  But the head of Security at the
Department had told her that the safest place to be was out of the
building and in your car heading home.  We stayed connected, because she
was scared she wouldn't be able to get through to me again, until we
were both out of DC.  The communication system here was overtaxed very
swiftly.  So Mary and I had a 90 minute cell phone conversation.

Driving out of the city down K street and over the Key bridge (if you
work in Washington and live in Virginia the only way out of the city is
to take 1 of 6 bridges over the Potomac river) I saw no police.  You
could hear sirens everywhere but there was no way they could be making
much headway.  No one was directing traffic which was a grid locked
mess.  As I drove over the bridge into Virginia however it was a
different story.  The police had blocked off all access to DC.  You
could get out but you could not get in.

Most people were very helpful, but very scared.  We had conflicting
information about the subway, so many people were on foot trying to get
out of town. 

My wife and I made it home about the same time.  Happy to be alive. 

Today in Washington life has changed radically.  There are armed
soldiers at key crossroads.  Certain streets are shut down and who knows
when they will re-open. There is certainly a malaise here amongst the
work force and a general feeling of depression.  The airports are still
closed and who wants to get on a plane anyway. I am supposed to fly to
San Antonio next week and my children, who are handling this pretty well
otherwise, are adamant that I don't go.  I live in McLean, Virginia near
the CIA and all day you can see F-18s patrolling the skies. 

Talking to my clients and some people I know in the administration it is
almost a certainty that we will be engaged in fighting a war within a
week.  The resolve is to complete the job this time.  Nothing like the
Gulf War when we let Saddam off the hook.  I have a cousin who is a Top
Gun fighter pilot on one of our carriers stationed in Norfolk.  You can
tell by talking to him that the military can't wait to punish those
responsible.

Looking out my window onto K street there is a military Humvee across
the street checking out a delivery truck with no markings.

Things will never be the same.

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