Like most people in the U.S., Randy Fowler of Cleburne, Texas will spend a portion of today thinking about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Fowler, now retired, worked as a senior weapons systems analyst 15 years ago for the office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the western facade of the building, killing all 64 aboard the plane, including the crew and hijackers, and 125 military and civilian employees inside the building.

“It was a beautiful clear day in Washington,” he said, “everything normal.”

He and a colleague were sitting outside around 8:30 or 8:40 that morning when they saw a report on the internet about a plane striking the World Trade Center in New York. “We joked it was probably a crop duster.”

 Without a TV in their office, that was about the best assumption they could make about the news. For the next few minutes very little was clear.

“Then a few minutes later, also on the internet, we heard the second plane went into the World Trade Center. Being defense analysts, our brains were sharp enough to say, ‘This is not crop dusters.’ We knew we were probably under attack at that time.”

Although it was clear to him an attack had been made, no one then knew the extent of the attack and continued on with their business until further notice. Fowler had a presentation at 10 a.m. and was going over his notes when Flight 77 struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.

His office was on the other side of the building, away from the plane’s impact. “I was a long way from the impact zone. I heard a loud thud that sounded like scaffolding falling. You would think there was an industrial accident.”

He claps his hands against a table to demonstrate the sound, delivering a sharp pop.

It didn’t take long for him to realize this was a second attack. A security manager stuck his head in the office within a minute and said, “Randy, get your guys, get out of the office, seek an exit, don’t ask questions. You’ll know what happened as soon as you exit the building.”

Immediately after getting outside of the building, the acrid smell of jet fuel hit him. Then he saw the smoke billowing from the wreckage.

He said though people were confused the evacuation of the building was orderly, with most of the people keeping their cool as emergency teams began rescue operations.

People by the hundreds were coming out of the building and those who had already made it out had gathered on grassy knolls overlooking the building.

Just after he left the building, Fowler said he was angered by the attacks, that someone had attacked an American institution. It’s a feeling that hasn’t gone away to this day. “As I came out — you’re teary-eyed because you’re mad about what happened to your country. And then, as you watch it on TV throughout the day, your emotions turn to horror, you turn to just sadness when you realize thousands were going to die in New York City.”

Of the 189 killed at the Pentagon, Fowler knew four, one of whom was a Pentagon staffer on the jet, which was originally heading to the West Coast before it was hijacked after leaving Dulles International Airport in D.C.

Still in shock, unable to get in contact with his wife, Karen, or other family with cell service jammed up, his mind still in work mode, Fowler left the grounds for a meeting he had scheduled at 1 p.m. When he arrived across town for the meeting, the people he was scheduled to meet with were shocked to see him.

One thing he was able to do was call his wife and family on a land line phone at that location and assure them of his safety.

He said his parents, who live in McKinney, relayed to him how many people had called them asking about his safety.

It wasn’t until the next morning the magnitude of the attacks sunk in, when he arrived at his office.

“I remember driving in and tearing up,” he said of seeing the Pentagon the next day, smoke still pouring from it, the security men in black uniforms – the ninjas as they were known – patrolling the rooftop, emergency personnel on the grounds.

Still, he had a job to do and met with his boss.

Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had assured everyone that the Pentagon would not shut down, although many people had relocated at alternate stations, as Fowler and his boss eventually had to do because the odor of burning jet fuel made them nauseous.

Although the attacks changed everything, they didn’t deter Fowler and the other employees in their service. Fowler would continue working there for the next 10 years, retiring in 2011 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Material Readiness.

He and his wife then returned to Texas, settling in The Retreat neighborhood in Cleburne. Fowler had grown up in McKinney and wanted to live near the DFW Metroplex but out of the hustle and bustle of the city.

He worked briefly at Lockheed before retiring to settle down. Now Fowler teaches adult Sunday school classes, proud to teach others about his faith, because he is quite certain God was looking after him 15 years ago.

Like most Americans, Fowler hasn’t forgotten the events of 9/11, especially all of the lives lost that day. And it’s not just a day that crops up in memory on anniversaries.

“I think about it many days of the year,” he said. 

Glasscock writes for the Cleburne, Texas Times Review.