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September 11, 2001, changed Bob Ellis's life, just as it changed mine. Bob was working at the Pentagon that morning and had walked out of the building only minutes before Flight 77 struck the area where his meeting had taken place. You will hear how he immediately became part of the response, helping organize emergency supplies and support for those working at the Pentagon. We also compare our experiences from two different locations that day, Bob at the Pentagon and me at the World Trade Center with my guide dog Roselle. Twenty-five years later, our conversation is about more than remembering 9/11. It is about leadership, teamwork, service, controlling fear, and deciding what we do with the life we have been given. I believe Bob's story offers lessons we can all use when the unexpected happens. Highlights: 05:29-Bob shares how his early life and military support career shaped his path. 23:53-He recalls realizing the first World Trade Center strike was not an accident. 32:59-Bob describes being just 300 yards away when the Pentagon was hit. 37:00-He explains how he helped organize emergency relief supplies within hours. 1:03:54-Michael reflects on survival, fear, and the responsibility to move forward. 1:06:55-Bob shares the lasting life lessons he took from September 11. About the Guest: Bob Ellis is the Vice President, American Logistics Association responsible for Exchange, MWR, Food Service Operations. The native of Fort Walton Beach, Florida began his career with AAFES in 1972. From 1972 through 1984, he held retail management positions as a Branch Manager, and Operations Manager Main Store. In 1985, Ellis began a string of assignments as an Exchange General Manager trainee at Fort Belvoir, VA, and Exchange General Manager, Fort Hamilton, NY and Carlisle Barrack PA, (Army War College). Assignments as Area Retail Manager and General Manager at the former Japan Area Exchange ran from 1989-1992. In 1992, Ellis was transferred to Travis AFB in California as Retail Manager, Main Store. In 1994, Ellis was selected for the General Manager's position at Travis and spent three years assisting in the design and new construction effort of the largest retail Main Store ever constructed by AAFES. From 1997 to 2002, Ellis held the position of Director of AAFES' Washington Office, serving as the principal representative of the Commander, AAFES to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Departments of the Army and the Air Force, Congressional offices and industry representatives. Notable among his accomplishments, Ellis was instrumental in spearheading AAFES support to the Pentagon after the attacks of September 11th. Within 48 hours of the event, AAFES established a mobile exchange in the shadow of the impact site to support rescue workers and investigators with critical need and personal comfort items. After Washington, Ellis moved to AAFES Headquarters' in Dallas to assume the Vice President Specialty and Consumables position. In this role, Ellis was responsible for the SD-C Category Team Managers/Buyers. In August 2003, Ellis took his a position as Vice President of Corporate Planning and Communications where he managed the development of AAFES long range and contingency planning programs, oversight of corporate public affairs and ensured compliance with Department of Defense policy guidance with the goal of preserving and protecting the exchange benefit for soldiers and airmen and their families around the globe. Bob joined the ALA on 31 July 2006 where he continues to serve a role in military resale supporting Exchange, MWR, and Food Service, operations still serving military resale over 51 years continuous service. Ways to connect with Bob**:** You can find more benefits how Branded Riches can help you build your Brand, Product, Business, and Yourself at https://www.BrandedRiches.com Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neryk-davydov Branded Riches Audiobook by Neryk Davydov https://www.audible.com/pd/Branded-Riches-Audiobook/B0GCP9MMRB Branded Riches Book https://www.amazon.com/Branded-Riches-Increase-Income-Irresistible/dp/1987753836 $5 Free Gift for Creating A New Ovato Wallet www.ovatoCoin.com About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson 00:00 Everyone, I am Michael Hingson, the host of Unstoppable Mindset. You've heard my voice for the last 471 episodes, but I'm calling you all out today and asking you to listen to this because we're going to make a special announcement now regarding the next four episodes, starting with 472. We're going to help commemorate the historic events of September 11, 2001. Yes, they're definitely historic, although not necessarily the most positive things that have ever happened. But as many of you may know, I was in the World Trade Center working on September 11, 2001, on the 78th floor of Tower One, and escaped with my guide dog. I've delivered a speech about that, which we put in the first episode of this podcast series back in August of 2021. But this Friday, episode 472 is going to have an updated speech that I delivered just a few years ago at the Marshfield, Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival. That festival is a yearly event celebrating different kinds of things that have happened in American history, and I was invited to come and speak, which I did. I'm going to put that speech up for you as episode 472. I think you'll find it enlightening. It'll teach you something about blindness and blind people. It'll tell you my story, and it'll give you some inspiration that I hope you will find helpful. Next Tuesday, september 8, Michelle Abraham is going to interview me. Michelle is with Amplify You, the company that does all of our back office stuff and helps me with the editing and other things regarding the podcast. Michelle owns her own podcast, and she is going to interview me about September 11th and other kinds of things relating to what I've learned and things that have happened over the past 25 years. She's also going to be putting this up on her podcast Amplify You, so you can find us in a lot of different places. On September 11th, I'm going to chat with Bob Ellis. Bob was in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and had literally just walked out the door of the Pentagon when the plane crashed into the Pentagon and did the things and the damage that it did, and of course generated all the things that occurred at the Pentagon. On the 15th of September, I'm going to come back and have a conversation with all of you about lessons that I've learned over the past 25 years, and just reminisce a little bit about all of that. While the podcast is occurring on September 11th, I will be actually in Kilgore, Texas, doing a speech about September 11th. So lots of things going on, I hope you listen to these episodes. I hope that you'll tell everyone that you can about them. I really enjoy all of the support that you've given us over the years, and we're going to continue to do things with Unstoppable Mindset. And of course, as always, if you'd like to come on or know anyone who would, please let us know. We're always looking for guests. Thanks very much. We'll see you on Friday with the first of these four episodes. What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. You are listening to us today, or at least I'm assuming you're listening just when this came out. But whenever you're listening, it is today, September 11th, 2026, which is needless to say, a special day. If you have kept up with my podcast from the beginning, you know that I worked in the World Trade Center on September 11th, and ever since then I've been a public speaker, traveling the world, talking about trust, teamwork, leadership, the human-animal bond, and a variety of things. But recently, I met Bob Ellis. Michael Hingson 04:40 Now, Bob, as it turns out, on September 11th worked at the Pentagon, and I have not ever really had the opportunity to talk with someone who was at the Pentagon, especially on September 11th. But we get to chat about that today, and Bob knows our rules, which are basically. He sent me a series of questions that he wants to cover, but we are doing this as a conversation, so we'll probably talk about a lot of the things that he specifically sent. But we can go any old way that Bob wants to go, so that's what we'll we'll make this really fun. And I'm really looking forward to having the opportunity to talk with Bob. So again, welcome to September 11th, and Bob, I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset. We're really glad you're here, Bob Ellis 05:28 Michael. Thank you for inviting me. I know you you've inquired several times, and I've debated it, and and I was just holding it for the right time, and this is the right time-the 25th anniversary of the event. Michael Hingson 05:40 Yeah, it is, and and and as as we've said, if you find anybody who needs a a speaker to come in and speak, let me know. But but for now, we get to chat about you and and hear your story, which I think is the important thing. I think we'll probably talk about both of our stories in the course of the day, no doubt about it. But I really am glad that you are here and that you are able to to talk with us today and and and talk about things. So let's start the way I love to start with people. Let's start at the beginning. Tell me kind of about the early Bob growing up and so on. Let's start with that. Bob Ellis 06:17 Well, I I grew up in let's say grew up until I was four years old. I lived. I was born in Pensacola, Florida. Lived in the Panhandle. Mother and father got divorced, and we moved to Norfolk, Virginia. And it was just my my mother and I until I was 14 years old. And I found out about my dad and found some letters from him and insisted to go see him. And so, between 14 and 15, I made a couple of unauthorized attempts to to make my way to Florida. On the third attempt, I made it, and it was quite a surprise for my father. Ended up living with him and being my closest friend up until I had he had grandkids, we had kids, and so I lived and grew up in the Destin, Fort Worth, Fort Walton area. Went to work, and this is where the story begins. I went to work at Eglin Air Force Base as a as a janitor in a gas station for the Army Air Force Exchange Service, so that I could continue to play high school football and practice, was a great job. It was an opportunity to work with the military, be around the military, and I took great pride in that feeling that that that that while I I wanted to go into the air force and I wanted to fly jets, that opportunity just never presented itself because the Vietnam War was going on and they were banking pilots instead of taking pilots. Anyway, I I ended up staying with the Army Air Force Exchange Service for 34 years. I moved all over the world. I've seen the every AOR and every combat scenario since the Vietnam War. Not in the Vietnam War, but I was in the refugee program, helping with the resettlement back in 1972, 1973. Spent the rest of my career going wherever they sent me, and and and that was from Tokyo, Japan, to to Tuli, Greenland, to California, and ultimately to to Texas. Michael Hingson 08:30 I remember during the Vietnam War, someone called me one day. I was a student at UC Irvine, and there was a refugee camp fairly close to the university, and someone said, and someone said, "There's a blind young man at the sent at the refugee center, and we should go see him. And so we we bought a transistor radio for him and went out to visit with him and spent some time with him, and I never got to see him after that. But I hope I hope he did well. He he seemed like he was doing okay, but he was a little bit lost, needless to say, because it's a whole bunch of people. There are no a lot of people who knew much about blindness and blind people, but I would presume he did reasonably okay. I hope so, but that was the only time I specifically had an involvement with him or anyone at the refugee camps. Later, when I met my wife Karen, she lived, I think, a door down, and she and her parents lived a door down from a Vietnamese couple, and he was a tailor and actually made her wedding dress, which was kind of cool, and so we got to spend a fair amount of time with the Voo's, which was was good, but what's. Interesting for me now, with with now being well so many years later. In November, I will be going to do a speech in Hanoi, so I'm really looking forward to to going over there and and experiencing it. At least it'll be a little bit cooler then than it probably is now. So we'll see, but it'll be it'll be pretty enjoyable to go and again see a different a different part of the world, and I I think we'll be fine. At least that's that's that's the plan. Bob Ellis 10:34 That that that that tour that I had at Eglin Air Force Base with the refugees, will come back to to to 911 2001 and the experiences that I had at that refugee camp replicated in the Pentagon park and lot there in 911. So we'll get to that. I'll explain it further. Michael Hingson 10:56 Yeah, I'm sure it was a a great a great lesson. Where did you do college, or did you Bob Ellis 11:03 went to went to Duke University and the University and the University of Maryland? Michael Hingson 11:10 Okay. Well, at Bob Ellis 11:12 least much of it was correspondence as well, only because I was deployed for for so many years back to back, 17 moves in 34 years. Michael Hingson 11:22 Wow, Duke University. At least you didn't go to one of those other schools in North Carolina. Boy, talk about talk about rivalries and basketball. What a what a group down there. Bob Ellis 11:35 Oh, I know, I know. Michael Hingson 11:38 I once spoke in Kentucky, and the Wildcats were in the NCAA championship that year, and I was asked to speak at an event on the night of the championship. But I was told I had to end by 630. I could not go one second past 630 because the gym I was speaking in was going to clear out. Well, I ended in time so that at 630, what they said was absolutely true. That gym cleared out. Everybody went home to watch the game. Bob Ellis 12:09 That's that's sports. Michael Hingson 12:11 Not sports. It is, but it's okay. I I learned a lot down there and got to meet a number of people, and so it was it was a lot of fun to to do it, and then years later I was in North Carolina when NC State and UNC were playing to see who was going to go into the championship. So again, pretty interesting world, and and sports ruled everything then, so it's okay. It Bob Ellis 12:43 hasn't it hasn't changed at all because my my my daughter I got her graduate studies done at NC State, and it hasn't changed a bit. It's just I'll bet it's just crazy as it's when was 20 3040 years ago, Michael Hingson 12:58 and it shall ever be, won't it? Bob Ellis 13:01 Yeah, yeah. Her undergraduate degree was at University of Texas. This was my son's, and she went on to NC State, and and he went on to medical school in in Houston. Michael Hingson 13:16 Okay. Well, UC Irvine, when I was there, had the championship water polo team, but that's what we had. But they started basketball while I was there, although it wasn't anything huge. But a couple of years ago, they made it to the Sweet 16, and that was kind of fun for UC Irvine. One of these days, it'll go all the way. Bob Ellis 13:40 Yep. Michael Hingson 13:41 Well, anyway, so you you went to college, and and what did you major in? Bob Ellis 13:45 Political science. Michael Hingson 13:47 Okay, political science Bob Ellis 13:48 and business management. With a with my two aspirations, I wanted to. I really wanted to major in in aviation science, but that that wasn't offered. So that's political science and business science, business law. Michael Hingson 14:06 But you were working for the Army Air Force Exchange Service. What is that exactly? Bob Ellis 14:11 Yeah, it's a it's it's it's a non-appropriated funded Service provided all goods. I think of it as the the Walmart or the Target of of the civilian sector, except the Army Air Force Exchange Service has stored everything from stores, every business that you can think of therein, from stores to convenience stores to gas stations to beauty shops and barber shops to dining facilities, franchise Burger Kings, anything that a soldier and his family needs at the base or overseas or in the combat arena, where we were there with it, providing it. It's been a great career. Michael Hingson 14:59 Did you? Do you have any involvement with, especially here in the U.S. the the Randolph Sheppard programs, the blind vending stand operations at any of the facilities? Bob Ellis 15:09 Yep, sure did many many times. We're still working with it. There's there's some issues present right now under the Randolph Shepherd that they're looking at. I don't know what what's going to change, but yes, sir, we were very, very close to that. Michael Hingson 15:24 Yeah, I know there. The current government's looking at it; they want to scale a lot of it back, which would, I think, not be a good thing. I think there's a lot of reasons to keep it, but we'll see. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. But I, the closest I ever came to dealing with anything from AAES was I was invited to speak once at an organizational meeting of the National Property Managers Association in the military. Are you familiar with that? Bob Ellis 15:56 I am. Yes. Michael Hingson 15:57 And when I was asked to come, the Speakers Bureau didn't do a good research job because they told me, "Oh, it's the people who rent apartments and all that. When I got down to the to the event, I will say that the National Property Managers Association certainly serves a nice breakfast. But anyway, the conversation just didn't seem like what I what I was expecting. So I asked somebody, and they told me that the organization was the organization that had complete jurisdiction over anything physical that the government owned, and Bob Ellis 16:30 absolutely Michael Hingson 16:31 that that changed my grass. Sorry, Bob Ellis 16:34 right down to the grass, right down to the grass and the concrete. Michael Hingson 16:37 There you go. Well, it also changed my speech in 10 minutes, but it was fun. They invited me back the next year, so that was good. But it's it's fun when you're you're planning to do a particular speech, and suddenly it turns out it's got to change. It's good to have the flexibility to do that. But I'm I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it, and hopefully we'll have opportunities to do it again, but you have served a lot of different kinds of of services within AAES, and and I assume that's all worked out pretty well. Bob Ellis 17:14 That that worked out very well. Yep, I had I started at the bottom and and climbed as close to the top as I possibly could, but Michael Hingson 17:23 you eventually got the the highest medal that was available for civilians when you retired or after you retired. Bob Ellis 17:31 No, the highest award that I ever received was from my man over the Pentagon 911 support program, which was a nice medoris civilian award. Michael Hingson 17:46 Okay, where is your favorite place to live in the world? Or is that really easy to say? I mean, you've been all over the place and seen a lot of different kinds of places. Don't know how much you got to two of them, but anyway, Bob Ellis 18:00 it wasn't the two places that I that I went overseas, which was Japan and Greenland. Those were the longest tours of my life. Beautiful country in Japan, and and great facilities and support in tuning Greenland. But I would I would guess throughout the United States, I had a great assignment at the Army War College, and I had a great assignment at Travis Air Force Base here in Michael Hingson 18:26 California. Yeah, Bob Ellis 18:28 yeah. Michael Hingson 18:30 I've spoken. Bob Ellis 18:30 My son was born in Japan. He's dual citizen as a result on the Air Force Base, and my daughter was born in California. So it was a great time, mainly because the kids were younger and and and and we were in great climate areas. Michael Hingson 18:48 When people ask me what my favorite place in the United States is, I say everywhere. I I just enjoy meeting people wherever I go in the U.S. It's so many different cultures and customs and ways of doing things. It is so fun to to see all the different places and see how they are. People ask what I like, where I like outside the U.S. And so far, it's been New Zealand. I would say is probably the best, but Japan has to be up there too. I've really enjoyed being in Japan. I've been there a couple times, and I thoroughly enjoyed Bob Ellis 19:23 it. I, I had, I think the most the the greatest thing about the assignments was some of the people I I got to to meet in in my in my tours. One of them would be the Crown Prince of of Thailand, who who is now the king of Thailand, King Rama, got to meet him when he was a pilot, and supported him when when I was at Yokota Air Base, and multiple other celebrities. I I had the opportunity as a kid to attend the funeral. For Douglas MacArthur, and and his his memorial was right across the street in North Virginia from where my mother worked. And 20 years later, I had the opportunity to to meet mrs. Mcarthur, Jean MacArthur, at Gracie Mansion in New York, and I I I wrote protocol. I when it came time for her to to meet me and meet meet her, I got down on one knee and I held her hand and I said, "I want to tell you a little story, ma'am. And she said, "Well, certainly, absolutely. And I told her the story how when the general had died in in 1964, I was required by my my mother to go to the funeral, and the most fascinating person I'd ever seen in my life was herself, and she just got she just turned red. Well, long story short, I was at an army command at Fort Hamilton. The next day, the the group the the installation commander called me over to his office, very angry, but he wanted me to know that I was going to be the first civilian aide for the old lady, which was mrs. Mcarthur, and he had to take one of his lieutenants off. And I got to know the family and and the Mcarthurs as a result of that. So lots of opportunities, just absolutely amazing. 911, and we'll get to it. I got to meet President Bush momentarily, but I I got to meet him and have a short conversation. Michael Hingson 21:32 I got to meet him in 2005. We went to the Oval Office, and we were supposed to have a two minute photo op, but he kept wanting to interact. We ended up talking for about 15 minutes. He kept the Italian ambassador or prime minister waiting, but it was a was a great conversation. I very much enjoyed having the opportunity to meet with him. Bob Ellis 21:53 Yeah, he was remarkable. Michael Hingson 21:54 Yeah, in in so many ways. If Speaker 1 22:00 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson 22:33 So that's that's pretty cool. So as you were going around to all these different places, what would you say you were learning. Bob Ellis 22:41 I was learning business. I was learning relationships. I was learning marketing. Pretty much anything that you wanted to do as a general manager or a vice president, the exchanges let you do it. You know, until you got too far gone, and they they reel you back in. But I love being able to run multiple businesses on the installation, and and be accountable for them, and run them at a profit, and and at the end of the day, do great things for military families. Michael Hingson 23:16 Wow! So you um, you you've you've had a lot of challenges and and had to learn a lot of different things. Needless to say, but I would would think that you've you've been able to to keep a lot of that and use it. And you know we've referred to September 11 th, and so let's let's get to around that time. The first thing I would ask, and people have asked me, but you're in a better position in theory than I. Did you have any inkling that something like September 11th was going to happen? Bob Ellis 23:53 Well, actually, September 11th was was happening. I left for work about 4:30 in the morning. I lived out in the suburbs in Centerville, Virginia, and it was one of those days that you just wished you didn't have to go to work. It was the as the sun was coming up, it had a little cold breeze to it. The skies were blue. It was just one of those days that you just wanted to sit out in the yard and and relax or go bicycling, whatever. But I did my duty and I drove in to the Washington D.C. area and reported to my office on time, which was right around 5o'clock. My staff showed up around six and some at seven, and my secretary came in, and I don't know exactly what time it was, but it was shortly after, right around 9o'clock in Eastern Time, when the first airplane had hit the the trade center. Michael Hingson 24:49 Yeah, Bob Ellis 24:49 846-940-6846, Yes, right, 846. Yeah, and and so I I went in to look at the. The the television monitor standing there it was just her and I at the time and and and I said that's not an accident and she says how do you know that I said look at the skies that was an airliner they were talking about it was a little small private aviation well I'm a pilot I've been a pilot for 40 years 41 years I knew exactly, you know, that that where it was, what it was doing, and that wasn't a it wasn't an accident. And and my inkling was is that I was in a in rented space in Arlington, Virginia, because we had been moved out because the wedge that got attacked was the one that was still under construction. My office had not been completed there, and and I had a meeting in that wedge at 9o'clock that morning. And my secretary said to me, "You know, Bob, the Pentagon is next. And I paused for a minute and I looked at her and I said, "How in the world could you even imagine that, you know that that that's a fortress? Who would be crazy enough to attack the Pentagon? And she says, I I just I don't want you to go over, you know, just just just do it by phone, which I I probably could have done. And I said, No, I'm I'm going to go over there. If they're going if they're going to attack the Pentagon, I'm going to go down with it, and that was kind of my philosophy. So, in the back of my mind, seeing that airplane hit the Trade Center and her telling me that certainly made me wonder if it wasn't a possibility. Michael Hingson 26:33 So, you didn't. You don't think that anyone, and I've never heard of any such, but that anyone had any advance notice? There wasn't chatter. There wasn't anything that made people suspect what might be getting ready to happen. Bob Ellis 26:47 No, I I I think that is the the worst our country has ever been off guard. It reminds me of you know the the attack on Hawaii and that you know in in Pearl Harbor. We were completely unprepared, and I thought we were completely unprepared on 911. And in fact, after the attack, I knew we were unprepared when I saw the two jets fly over with no armament on the wings. So no, I don't think anybody had any idea. Michael Hingson 27:18 Well, the other side of it, and I've talked about this in in some talks I've given. I talk a lot about trust and teamwork, and like it or not, one of the things that I observe is you had 19 terrorists who functioned well enough as a team that they didn't talk about it. They didn't let anything come out. So no matter how much armament or whatever we might have had, I'm not sure whether we could have predicted that on September 11th, what occurred was going to happen. Bob Ellis 27:49 You know, all the indicators were there. You know, those those 19 trained at private airports, and they and during their training, it was it was reported multiple times that all they were interested in was taking off, not landing. I mean, first clue, you know. Okay. Why would you just be interested? He's taking off an airplane, and and I always found that very curious, and I'd heard it several times. That should have set alarm bells off. Should have. It didn't. Apparently, it did. Michael Hingson 28:20 Good point, and you know the the thing is though that, as as you pointed out, who would have thought that anybody would attack the Pentagon, the fortress that it was? Who Bob Ellis 28:33 yeah, Michael Hingson 28:33 who would have thought? So again, you can only go by what you got, and so nobody, I think, would have ever imagined that. Well, of course, the first plane hit the World Trade Center, and at first, people didn't really know what happened because there were really not very many people who who saw it. In fact, we only have the few photos that were taken by the French photographers who were there for something else, but then a little after nine, the second plane hit, and that changed the dynamic and changed the perspective a lot. Although a bunch of people who started seeing it on TV thought it was just a movie, and it wasn't true, but the second plane hitting changed the attitudes. I think for most people, and that's when people knew something was going on. Bob Ellis 29:24 Yeah, I didn't know anything about the second trade center. I had left my office in Crystal City, and I had headed to the Pentagon. And the meeting, the meeting that I had was with the Army Personnel Chief and several other folks. And as it turned out, that is exactly the window that the airplane flew into. That was ground zero for the for the for the target for the airplane going in just above the first floor for the Pentagon. So I didn't know anything. I was I was trapped at that point. I was trapped. Couldn't go um. Wouldn't go um. Didn't want to go um. And I had lived in New York City for five years, and I was my biggest. I was always impressed by the New York City Fire Department. I mean, they're they're just walking heroes if you've ever seen them. I mean, they were like they were like giants when you got next to them, and that they would they were just superhumans. And I always wondered upon the top floors how in the world you would get a fire put out at the top of the World Trade Center, and and I did not know until two days later when I made it home. That was my first question to my family: How did they get the the fire out at the top of the World Trade Center? And I and and it was repeated to me centers, and I said, What are you talking about? Centers in my family, and they said, "Bob, the World Trade Centers are gone. I said, "I don't understand. How could they be gone? And that was that. That was you know two days later that I found out about that. It was quite a shock to me to learn what it actually while I was on on the Pentagon mission. Michael Hingson 30:58 Well, when the first plane hit. Well, in the second plane, the firefighters were going up the stairs carrying all their equipment, and I had had had known about that and asked people, "Well, why are you or would you be carrying equipment? Because I met I I didn't meet the FDNY people ahead of the World Trade Center attacks, but I did meet with other people to learn about emergency preparedness and so on because I felt as the leader of an office, it was my job to know because I wasn't going to be able to read signs, and I love information, so I was trying to learn all I could, and they told me that where would if you if you had equipment stored in the in the towers, then people would go to it. Firefighters would go to it and get the the equipment. What floor do you put it on? Because no matter what floor you put it on, what if the fire broke out one floor below? You know, you can't get to the equipment. So the only way they could get up the stairs to fight the fires was to carry all of the equipment with them, yep, yep. Not enough is said about those guys in history. No, and I met a number of them coming up the stairs as we were going down, and they wanted to escort me down, and I didn't want them to do that because I knew they were a team, and I I pushed back pretty hard and said, no, you guys go up and we'll go down unless we can help you fight the fires, and they said no. The reason they eventually let me go down without any assistance was I had a friend with me who could see, and I said, "Look, David can see. Don't worry about us. And David and they turned to David and they said, "You're with him. And David said, "Yeah, leave him alone. He's fine. So we went on down, and they went up. I don't know whether the people we interacted with made it down or perished up above. It was about 10 after 10 after nine or so when we got to the 30th floor where we met them. So it was another hour and almost 20 minutes before the tower collapsed, but I don't know where the firefighters were, or how many people from the groups that we interacted with perished, or if they all made it out. I don't know, but Bob Ellis 33:12 yep, I I memorized all those numbers. You know, 189 between the airplane and the Pentagon, 200 injured, but 189. 189 total were 64 on the airplane, 125 in the Pentagon, and I'll never forget those numbers. Yeah, I'll never forget the time. I looked at my watch at 9:17, and and I have to tell you that on 9/11, I always sit very quietly until I get past 917, not 937. I'm sorry, 937. Michael Hingson 33:48 So Bob Ellis 33:48 in the morning. Michael Hingson 33:49 So, how close were you to where the plane came into the Pentagon? Bob Ellis 33:56 About 300 yards. When when it was clear that the meeting wasn't going to happen because the air traffic control system had been shut down. They released us to go back to our our offices, and I was going out the front door. I left about 930. It was supposed to start at nine 930. The generals said we'll just reconvene, and and I agreed. And from his office on on the south portico, I was walking out the front door. Literally, I heard the engines spool up. I had been in the AOR in rail combat munitions, and and I've heard cruise missiles, and and I could hear this one spinning up, and I thought it was a cruise missile, and so when it hit when it hit the building, it was just it was just a horrendous sound. But my first impression was to run to it to see what happened, what what what caused that, and there was nothing there. It was just four or five cars burning and smoke billowing out of the building. And and the the rest turned into a you know a rescue and a a recovery. Michael Hingson 35:08 AOR is what Bob Ellis 35:10 the area of responsibility. Michael Hingson 35:13 Okay, area of responsibility. Okay, Bob Ellis 35:16 yeah, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, wherever we are, it's it's N A O R, and that's your A O R. That's state. That's where you are. So that that's where I encountered first first and only live person coming out of the building, and which was a which was a really big surprise. But I knew that there was something that I I had to do, and and one of the things was to, if he needed assistance, getting him assistance. And there were several people. He was he was he was burned third degree burns over his whole body. He lived. I said one prayer was for him. And as it turned out, he became a a great ambassador. Turned out to be a great friend, and is actually back in the Pentagon to this day, just steps away from his old office as a civilian, went went back on a presidential appointment. Michael Hingson 36:09 So, you mentioned the general a while ago. Was did he survive? Bob Ellis 36:15 No, he was the he was the highest ranking person that we lost in in the entire encounter, and it was the entire office was just instantly vaporized. So he did not survive. Michael Hingson 36:33 Well, so you heard the engines revving up, and you went after you heard the explosion and so on. You went over to see what was going on, and then what did you do? Because it certainly had to be a major surprise and a shock by any standard. Bob Ellis 36:49 Yeah, I went that side of the building, saw the hole in the building, kind of convinced myself it was a cruise missile, but I never heard such a loud engine noise. As it turned out, it was it was two big engines off of a 757 200, and so I immediately tried to figure out you know what can I do? What should I do? Should I even be here? And that's when I saw the colonel coming out of the building, and I was able to walk with him and four others over to the the road, the Washington Boulevard that goes around the Pentagon, and and I sat down on the telephone pole, a light pole that the airplane hit going in. Now I'm a pilot, and and I have to tell you to take an airplane going at Mach point eight seven, and hit a target, hit the building, and not hitting the ground was just absolutely amazing to me. So as they got the colonel into an SUV and and and got him out of the the scene, I sat there. Just it was almost like a movie I was watching. The triage was being set up. The Pentagon was burning. The emergency services units were starting to show up, and we had very intermittent phone capability. And I had I had a a friend, my my the commander that I worked for in Dallas at the time. This secretary's husband was a bodyguard for Secretary Rumsfeld, and and Secretary Rumsfeld was actually carrying litter patients, carrying people out of the debris area and out of the offices. He was actually helping people, and he he realized that something needed to be done. So he gave Jerry a note, a piece of paper. We called them snowflakes, but it was a tablet, and he had listed what needed to be done and what needed to be done now. And Jerry found me sitting over there and gave me that that piece of paper, and it had everything listed on it. He wanted a a tactical field operation in place. He wanted it now, not yesterday. He wanted something in the interim, and it was to provide emergency relief supplies. So I I sat down on that telephone pole and I called our our local dist not local our largest distribution center in the world was down in Newport News, and I got the director on the phone and I said, I have an official order from you coming from the Secretary of Defense, and and don't override, don't just just follow my instructions until we can get to the commander at AFIS headquarters, and so I gave him the list. I just gave him the full list of things that we needed to get rolling, and I called another gentleman that was just across the river, the American Logistics Association, which owned all of the brokers and manufacturers, and I gave him a list of stuff that we needed now, like Gatorade boots. the The surface was over 2000 degrees, and the emergency service boots were melting almost upon contact. So I had I had 1000s, hundreds of 1000s of dollars of equipment. And supplies coming in, and we set up the USO tent, put everything in the USO tent. We raided all the stores in the in the Washington D.C. area. I was able to contact the region manager, and I told him, you know, what we needed to take it off the shelf, put it in the back seat of the cars, don't account for it, and get it to me. And that's what we did the entire first night was setting up the USO trailer, and the next morning I had two tactical field tractor trailers coming up the ramp just as the sun was coming up, and they were loaded with supplies, and that's what stayed in place for the next two months. Over $2 million worth of merchandise, emergency recovery type merchandise, everything from linens to the towels to eye wash, and and and we had to actually have some special boots made out of leather for the dogs because the dogs' feet were so it was it was quite an operation. We ended up well running within within 24 hours of the attack, Michael Hingson 41:04 why is it that you are able to stay pretty focused through all of this? Bob Ellis 41:08 I you know I you know I I've often asked that question. I wanted to go home. Alls I could think of is my kids, my wife. What what are they doing? What are they thinking? They're watching this on the news, and I had I had drifted over to which my car was very close, and it was taped off. The parking lot was taped off. It was a crime scene. There was no going anywhere. There was no transportation. If I wanted to walk 40 miles, I guess I could have, but because I couldn't go anywhere, I had to do something there on the scene, so that's that's that's what I did, and and it wasn't until the next day when the phone started working again, our two star in Dallas was able to get through to me on on my BlackBerry, and he wanted to know what the situation was, and and and I told him, and and he said, what what are we going to do? And I explained to him what we had done already, and he says, "How did you do all of that? I said, "I picked up the phone and I told him I was working for Secretary Rumsfeld, and this is the order. And and he says, "How are we going to pay for all of this? I said, "Sir, this is our finest hour. We're not. We're going to donate. These are all donating goods, and and it really was an interesting. I I just I just don't know. I was compelled. He he he ordered me on that second day to go home, and and I said I had no way to go home. And he said go to the motor pool. I'm going to call the motor pool. He had been the commander of the Air Force One Squadron, so he had a lot of connections in Washington, and he he got me a car, and I went home long enough to change clothes and and and to come back out. So it was it was just out of adrenaline, I think. Somebody had to do something, and and everything that I've told you here today is not written anywhere in history. I own every bit of what happened in in in that story, other than some of the people that were working there. Michael Hingson 43:07 What phone did you use that first day? You said you're you're it was the second day or the next day that you're phoned. So how were you able to communicate? Bob Ellis 43:17 We had Blackberries, and and until the networks got completely overrun, we were able to use it. And and so by the second third day, we we had pretty consistent communication, because the the the commander called me back that same morning, and and he said, you know, he said, how come you haven't been home? And I explained to him, and he says, "Will you do me one favor? And I said, "I would. He said, "Will you go back into the building? Said, "Sir, the building's on fire. He says, "Well, well, you get in the front, and I'm looking at it. He was looking at it on television, and the military clothing store was in the very front, within 100 feet, probably of that door that I went out of. And he says, "Would you see if our people survive, and if the store itself survived? It was sitting near the the area. I went in the store. I went into the building, into the burning building, and was able to look in the door, and I could see that the the room was full of smoke, and the door was locked. So I told him I would assume that our people made it out, alive and okay. And they say that was a, and they did, and they absolutely did. And in fact, everybody that that that that had any kind of supervisory capability around the Beltway, they volunteered to come over and work for me and and operating that facility for 2024 hours a day, seven days a week. Wow! So and not and not to shorten the the question, I wasn't there, but because of what I was doing in the in the Pentagon, my old homestead was at Fort Hamilton. Fort Hamilton picked up the same thing and went over to the Trade Center area, and they gave them a place to put a mobile. Food truck, and they brought supplies in and pretty much supported the firefighters and the and the and the police there. So so we had quite an operation going for a long time. Michael Hingson 45:11 Yeah, and and needed to, but it was interesting and commendable that in both places people were able to focus, and were able to carry out missions. I know at the World Trade Center when the two towers collapsed. Of course, it was it was unexpected, but we know now, of course, why they collapsed. It wasn't that the planes hit; it's that they were they were full of what 36,000 pounds of jet fuel each, and that exploding jet fuel is what damaged the infrastructure of the buildings to cause them to be able to collapse. But as well as at the Pentagon, but very quickly people were able to start to move and deal with issues and put procedures in place that were able to, I'm sure, keep more people from perishing and keep kept more people being able to focus throughout the whole the whole sequence of events. It it certainly was very scary, but it is something that that people like you were able to do. I know for me, the reason I was able to focus was because I had learned what to do in an emergency at the World Trade Center. I spent time with people and I learned how the whole building was structured, so I knew when the building tipped, why it tipped, and and things like that. You Bob Ellis 46:40 felt it. You you felt it. Michael Hingson 46:43 Oh yeah. Oh my god. We moved probably at least 20 feet, and then it came back, and oh my Speaker 2 46:48 god, it Michael Hingson 46:48 got vertical again. It got vertical again, and then a few seconds later, it dropped about six feet because the expansion joints went back to their normal configuration. But Bob Ellis 46:59 we uh we we knew from 937 till about 5o'clock that evening there would be no more survivors. It was over, and and and the dogs were getting depressed because they were they were they were not cadaver dogs. They were recovery dogs, and they were used to fight. And we we actually had ceremonies for the dogs every day, where we sewed flags onto their collars, and they had special water and special food. So they played a big, big role in morale, mine especially. Michael Hingson 47:33 And at the same time, I know people had to do drills to keep the dogs focused because they weren't able to find people, as you said, so they had to do things to give them something to find to keep them happy, which was was so important. Bob Ellis 47:50 Yeah, that we had two two tractor trailers lined up. It was just just two 300 feet from where you went into the damaged area of the Pentagon, and those dogs and their handlers would get up underneath those trailers and sleep, and they would play with the dogs. We actually had some carpets brought out, tarps brought out, and that's kind of where that was kind of their headquarters during 911. We had to make it up as we went along, and and the other interesting part of this story is in 1972 at the at the refugee camp, I was sleeping in the back of a van because there was just no way to go home. It was too it was too far to drive home to turn around and come back at 8o'clock the next morning, and I heard somebody knocking at the door, and and and I and I opened up the door, and it was a military colonel in uniform, and there was a civilian standing there with him. And he says, "Are you part of this operation? And I said, "Yes, sir, I am. He said, "Who are you with? And I said, "The Army Air Force Exchange Service. And and he says, "You're not provided any other facilities. This, I said, that was my choice. And as it turned out, I was speaking to Secretary Rumsfeld during his first administration as Secretary of Defense, and it was interesting that when he found out that what I did in in that program, I won the Indo Indo China Award for service, and then of course you you move ahead to to 2001, and we we knew each other. I had briefed him several times, and we we knew each other in the Pentagon. And that day, he knew that I would know what to do for the support role, and that's why he sent the letter up. And as it turned out, when he retired and and left the Pentagon, he was on a book tour, and and the the general secretary and myself got an invite to come to the book tour with him and and have lunch with him. And he handed me a book and he said, "I want you to have this, but I don't want you to open it up until you, Bob. I don't want you to open it up till you get home. I don't want you to give it to your wife. And and it was like this. Sure, I'm not not a problem, and so I got I got home. You know, this is this is 10 years later, and handed the book to her, and I said, "Open it up. I'm not wasn't allowed, and there's a nice thank you page on the front from Secretary Rums for allowing him to use me on 9/11, and you just you just that's the best reward that I could have ever ever expected. A guy that I just idolized to do that. Michael Hingson 50:26 When you got home, so you weren't able to talk to your wife before you got home, or did you ever get communication so you could call her? Bob Ellis 50:33 No, I didn't. I when I finally got the phone back up and running and got in the car. I had lost the battery, so I said, "I'm gonna be home in in an hour. I'll just be there. But General Wax called up, and she answered the phone. She went. She went sometime during that day and pulled the kids out of the private school, brought them home. She could see my car. It was a yellow SUV, and she could see it in the South parking lot in the news choppers going around. She said that was my car where my spot was, and General Wax got her on the phone and she and and she answered the phone and he said this is C J Wax and she thought that was the call. She thought that was it, and she alls I could do was drop to my knees and and and C J said and it's it's okay. I've ordered him to come home. He's all right. He's running. He's running a a program for us for for recovery. And if he's not there, he should be there shortly. And then by the time I got there, I got to the front step. I'm asking the question about the World Trade Center, how they got the fire out, and I was ordered that I could not go in the house because I smelled like smoke. So, so two minutes before that, I was the most important person in the world, and and then all of a sudden, I was I was back to Bob, and I wasn't going to wear that that suit in the house to to smoke it. So anyway, that's that's how she found out. He he called her up. I asked him. I think I asked him if he would get in touch with her at our last conversation, and he did. Michael Hingson 52:06 Soon after both towers collapsed, like a minute or so later, I called and got through to my wife Karen. I had talked with her before we left our office, and then when we got downstairs, I couldn't get through to her because the circuits were busy, and it was obvious that everyone we learned later was saying goodbye to loved ones, and so the circuits were busy. So after both towers collapsed, I was able to get through to her, and as I tell people, there were tears on both sides of the phone at the when that conversation started, but she was the first one who told us how two aircraft had been crashed into the World Trade Center towers, one to the Pentagon, and at that time, the fourth one was apparently still missing over Pennsylvania, and of course, then it crashed at Shanksville. Bob Ellis 52:52 I love it. Michael Hingson 52:54 Yeah, but we, you know, we talked, so she knew I was okay. Then a friend of ours, Tom Painter, who had been a friend of Karen's at high school out in California, but Tom, over the years, had ended up moving to New Jersey. He came down to stay with her, not knowing until he arrived whether I was in the office that day or out with a customer or what was going on. And of course, then she told him, and so he drove her to the train station to pick me up. When, when I got back out to Westfield, we went home. And you talk about with with dogs. We got in the house, and I took Roselle's harness off because I was going to take her out, and she would have none of it. She ran off, grabbed her favorite tug bone and started playing tug of war with my retired guide dog Linny, and I talked to the veterinarians at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael the next day, and they said, "Did anything threaten her? And I said, "No, not directly. And they said, "That's why she ran off because it was over. Nothing threatened her. Bob Ellis 53:58 Comfortable. Michael Hingson 53:59 She, they don't. Dogs don't do what if like we do, and so she was comfortable. She was happy. She wanted to play, and then then she did go out. But by the same token, the the whole point was that she was able to deal with with all of it and was able to to focus. Then we got her outside and and came back in, and she ate and and all that. But the the the thing is that she focused all day, and and she did a a wonderful job. And the reason that she focused and did so well was mainly because I worked at keeping her focus by telling her every chance I got. You're a good girl. What a good dog! Good dog. You're doing a great job. Keep going. I did that all the way down the stairs in the World Trade Center, and I was very deliberate about that because I knew she had to sense the fear and what was going on, and I wanted her to know that I was okay and I was going to be there for. Her, which is of course what teamwork and support is all about. You understand that very well. You you proved it in so many ways. I kept working with Roselle and kept her focused, and you know it all it all really went well. I still think one of the most relevant things for me in the World Trade Center. I went down the stairs with a guy named David Frank. David was from our corporate office in California, and David and I were going to be conducting sales seminars that day, teaching some resellers how to sell our products. And we got down to about the 50th floor, so David was there to talk about the the pricing and so on. I was going to do the majority of the presentation because I was going to be their technical contact, anyway, and we got to about the 50th floor, going down, and suddenly David said, "Mike, we're going to die. We're not going to make it out of here. And as I tell people, since I got a teaching credential, I had learned all about the secrets of how to yell at students. So I just said, "Stop it, David. If Roselle and I can go down these stairs, so can you. And he then immediately said that I brought him out of his spunk, and he told me that later as well. But what he told me was that he wanted to walk a floor below me on the stairs and shout up to me everything that he was seeing. He had to take his mind off of what was going on, and so he asked if I cared, and I said, "No, go ahead. That's what you need to do. That's fine. So I got like down to the 48th floor, and he yelled, "47th floor, Mike. All's clear here. Going on down. So we went down several floors that way. Eventually, I got to 45, and he was 44th floor. This is where the Port Authority cafeteria is not stopping. And the reason I mention it is because I think what David did is one of the unsung things that is so important from September 11th. He kept shouting up to me everything that he saw, but the reality is, anyone in the sound of his voice heard that there was someone who was okay going down the stairs, and he had to keep panic out of people's senses for so many individuals, because they just heard him, Mike, 43rd floor, all's good here. Going on down the stairs, all the way down the stairs. He had to have been able to keep so many people focused because he was able to keep his mind off of what was going on by shouting to me, and I think that that's so important, and so I'm. I always tell that story. I've been telling it for many years now because I want people to know what he did to keep so many people focused going down the stairs, and he had to have done that. Bob Ellis 57:31 Well, you know, I have. That's that's the first I've heard that, and and and and I read everything that I followed your story very closely, as well as the colonel who I was so close to, but there there are a couple of stories that are just never mentioned, not talked about, and one of them where we had to do every day. There was an update that the military gave the families an update as to what is happening, what was found, what was recovered, what to expect, and they would bring the kids in to listen to these brutal military briefings. I mean, just you know, these were these were soldiers, these were these were combat folks, and this is the way they briefed. And the therapy dogs were brought in, and there wasn't but about a dozen of them, and I will never forget not only the kids on the floor with the arms around those dogs, but some of the adults were as well. And I thought, what what a moment! That was the most touching moment of my entire life witnessing that. I mean, I could have done without it, but it was it was a very special moment. And then the the other thing that the world doesn't know about is on the second day, I got a I got a phone call from Secretary Rumsfeld's office that the VA was completely out of coffin flags. We had nothing in inventory to to cover the remains or the caskets for burial, and what could I do? And and right right from the Pentagon parking lot, I I called one of the buyers that bought American flags in Dallas, and then I asked her who do you get flags from, and she says it's American Flag Company. I'll give them credit for that, and and I said you need you need to get their entire inventory. We need to get it flown in, whatever expenses cover it, and get them here. The Pentagon doesn't have them, and New York doesn't have them. And those flags came in. They were they were there about that midnight that that that night. Now boxed up, thrown in the bag box, whatever tape they were bound, but everybody that came out later, you know, the recoveries as we got deeper into the debris, that had a had a flag that that came that came from us in the as well as at the Pentagon, and they put two very big special flags in there. I mean, like you see flying over a car dealer. And they hung that on the side of the Pentagon. And if you look at any of the any of the news willers of that time, it was on day two that flag was hanging that that came in with the rest of the other flags. So it was it was quite impressive. You never know what the next moment was going to bring you on you know from my side and and and can I meet the challenge? That was what I constantly worry about. How could I let any of this down? And I've got to do something. And and we were making it up as we went along. Michael Hingson 1:00:33 Yeah, that's all you could do. And so when I go back to Bob Ellis 1:00:37 to to this to this day, you know, we go back. They've got 184 markers. I don't know how many people attend it, but it's it's right in that zone, right outside the building, in that grassy area where they they they've made that memorial. And 184 people, to include I think two infants, are are memorialized there forever, which is very touching. It was a that was a hard place to go back to. Still was New York City when I went to it because I'd never I had never been 20 years 20 years yet 18 years before I ever went to to New York City to see the recovery there. I've never I've not been to the to the to the Pennsylvania field. I plan to go. I want to go. Just hadn't been convenient to get there, but but if I do that, I will have seen all all the sites. Michael Hingson 1:01:26 Yeah, I haven't been to Pennsylvania either. In 2017, I did make it to the World Trade Center Museum. In well, so we moved out of Westfield, and I moved back to California in late January, beginning of February of 2002, to work for Guide Dogs for the Blind and and speak from there. And traveled around and speak. Karen was there for a couple more months selling our home, and then she came out. But in May of 2002, Roselle was going to be honored by Hart's Mountain, the pet food and pet supply company. So, so we went back to New York, and while we were there, I met one of the police officers with with one of the service with one of the rescue dogs that that had been around the World Trade Center, and he arranged for us to get in a vehicle and drive down into the pit that was where the World Trade Center was, and they had built an artificial, well, a temporary road, and they were bringing things up, but we got to go down to what would have been the seventh sublevel, the bottom of the tower, and it was just a for me just imagining it standing in that dirt area in a hole seven stories deep and remembering what what it was like, and then in 2017 I went to the World Trade Center Museum and got to spend a little bit of time there, and of course everything had been rebuilt. The reflecting pool was there, and so on. But it was nothing like what I remembered from having been in the World Trade Center, and I walked around with someone who was able to be aware and describe what was where we were and what was above us, or what part of the building we were in as we walked through the complex. But of course, it was totally different. So it was it was such a strange feeling to experience all of that. But we did it, you know. And so now I've been to the museum, and actually there is a there's an animal exhibit in the basement, and Roselle's collar is is part of that exhibit. We donated that to oh Bob Ellis 1:03:50 really, oh really, oh God, I I was I was thinking that when I asked you that question earlier today, and I was thinking about that that has got to be remarkable, you know that that that's what touched me so much at the period. That the fact that the two of you were such a team, and I read everything that newspapers printed and watched. I guess there was some there was some CBS specials and so forth too, where you were interviewed, and it was it was just it was just absolutely amazing. Michael Hingson 1:04:21 Well, it is. you know, it is a an awe-inspiring sort of thing. And you know, people always say, you know, don't you feel guilty about surviving when so many people didn't? And and I said, no, I I didn't have any control over that. But what I do have control over is having been a survivor. What am I going to do about it? It's my responsibility to decide how I'm going to deal with moving forward after something like that. And of course, the opportunity opened to travel and speak, and so I've been doing it ever since. And I believe my job is. Is to educate people about what happened on September 11th, and let them know t
日米韓共同訓練「フリーダム・エッジ26」の開会式で登壇した統合幕僚監部の石巻義康海将、在日米軍のスティーブン・ジョスト司令官、韓国合同参謀本部のキム・ジフン少将、7日午後、東京都日米韓は7日、3カ国の共同訓練「フリーダム・エッジ26」を開始し、横田基地で開会式を実施した。 Japan, the United States and South Korea kicked off their Freedom Edge 2026 joint military exercise on Monday with an opening ceremony at the U.S. Air Force's Yokota Air Base in Tokyo.
Japan, the United States and South Korea kicked off their Freedom Edge 2026 joint military exercise on Monday with an opening ceremony at the U.S. Air Force's Yokota Air Base in Tokyo.
Send us Fan MailSummary: In this in-depth interview, Sergeant Major Daniel J Wallace shares his extensive military career, insights into strategic communication, leadership credibility, and the evolving landscape of military public affairs. Discover practical advice for aspiring public affairs professionals and the importance of authenticity and adaptability in high-pressure environments.BIO: SGM Daniel Wallace enlisted in the U.S. Army in January 2003 as a health care specialist before reclassifying in November 2009 to become a public affairs specialist. He is currently assigned to the 21st Theater Sustainment Command as the Chief Public Affairs Noncommissioned Officer at Panzer Kaserne, Kaiserslautern, Germany.SGM Wallace has served in a variety of positions during his 23 years of service, these include: Public Affairs Advisor to the Sergeant Major of the Army at the Pentagon, Virginia; First Sergeant for American Forces Network Pacific HQ at Yokota Air Base, Japan; Public Affairs Plans and Operations NCO for Eighth Army at Camp Humphreys South Korea; and Public Affairs Operations NCO for the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He has had multiple deployments, including: Operation Iraqi Freedom to Tikrit, Iraq, and Camp Burhing, Kuwait; and Operation Enduring Freedom to Kabul, Afghanistan.SGM Wallace is a Christian and husband to Jobelle Wallace, and father to three daughters, Althea (22), Tyrish (21), and Ayumi (17), and one son, Gabriel (14).SG
This video product for AFN Tokyo highlights the 374th Airlift Wing Vehicle Management Shop's Summer Rebuild Program at Yokota Air Base. The Summer Rebuild Program is put in place to ensure that all snow fleet vehicles are ready to keep the flight line and roads clear of snow during the winter months.
The 374th Airlift Wing brought together Airmen from various career fields for Yokota Air Base's first mission-ready Airmen rodeo training at Tama Hills, Japan, on June 28, 2024. This training is essential as the Air Force transitions to employing smaller teams capable of performing a broader range of duties with limited resources in contested locations globally. (U.S. Air Force video by Senior Airman Manuel G. Zamora)
米軍横田基地に配備された空軍仕様の輸送機CV22オスプレイ、5月18日、同基地防衛省陸上幕僚監部は9日、今月下旬に九州で実施される陸上自衛隊と米海兵隊の最大規模の実動演習「レゾリュート・ドラゴン」に、米軍横田基地配備の輸送機CV22オスプレイも参加することを明らかにした。 U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft based at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo will take part in a Japan-U.S. defense exercise in the Kyushu region of southwestern Japan later this month, the Defense Ministry's Ground Staff Office said Tuesday.
U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft based at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo will take part in a Japan-U.S. defense exercise in the Kyushu region of southwestern Japan later this month, the Defense Ministry's Ground Staff Office said Tuesday.
米軍横田基地に配備されている米空軍の輸送機CV22オスプレイが2日、運用を再開した。 U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft resumed flight operations at the U.S. military's Yokota Air Base in Tokyo on Tuesday, Japanese Defense Ministry officials said.
U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft resumed flight operations at the U.S. military's Yokota Air Base in Tokyo on Tuesday, Japanese Defense Ministry officials said.
Welcome to the Mike & JD Show. On this week we discuss the following:CM Punk - Jack Perry All In FootageMike's tells a story about his altercation with Akebono in 2006 at Yokota Air Base in Japan. RIP AkebonoWill Ospreay claps back at Triple HPorn or AEWOur Sponsors:* Support our sponsor eufy and learn more about the new eufy Video Smart Lock E330 by searching "eufy video lock" on your search engine of choice or visit http://eufyofficial.com/videolock to see how you can finally gain complete control of your door. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Welcome to the Mike & JD Show. On this week we discuss the following:CM Punk - Jack Perry All In FootageMike's tells a story about his altercation with Akebono in 2006 at Yokota Air Base in Japan. RIP AkebonoWill Ospreay claps back at Triple HPorn or AEW
Robbie Nishida started drifting in the 90s in Japan, forming an all AE86 Team Hey Man! with his friends at Yokota Air Base. He shares stories of the origins of his “drifting team”, how they befriended legends of Japanese drifting such as Nobushige Kumakubo, Dart Izumi Jr., and Hideo Hiraoka. Robbie discusses his 13 year long career in Formula D as a competitor and how he became an FD Judge. He takes us behind the curtains, and gives us some insight on what it's like to be a judge and he provides some advice for those who are serious about competition. This episode and all episodes of Season 2 are brought to you by Falken, a supporter of drifting since 2003 and a major reason drifting is where it is today. Check out their ultra-high-performance(UHP) Azenis RT660, Azenis RT615K+ and their UHP Azenis FK460 at https://www.falkentire.com. Follow Robbie: @robbienishida Follow us: @sileightymania #drifting #driftingpodcast #driftinghistory #robbienishida #robbiekiester #heyman #teamheyman #driftteam #ae86 #toyotaae86 #hachiroku #86 #kstyle #kstyletruck #gtr #nissangtr #r35 #driftingr35 #driftinggtr #falkentire #teamfalken #kumakubo #bridgesracing #jerryyangracing --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sileightymania/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sileightymania/support
MDJ Script/ Top Stories for Dec 7th Publish Date: Dec 6th Commercial: Henssler :15 From the Henssler Financial Studio, Welcome to the Marietta Daily Journal Podcast. Today is Thursday, December 7th and Happy 75th Birthday to HOF catcher Johnny Bench. ***12.07.23 - BIRTHDAY - JOHNNY BENCH*** I'm Dan Radcliffe and here are the stories Cobb is talking about, presented by Credit Union of Georgia. Kennesaw Airman is 1 of 8 Killed in Training Exercise Off Japanese Coast Cobb State Lawmakers Split Over Israel Resolution Cobb School Board to Consider $100 Million in Construction Loans Plus, Bruce Jenkins sits down with Leah McGrath from Ingles Markets to discuss reflux diets. All of this and more is coming up on the Marietta Daily Journal Podcast, and if you are looking for community news, we encourage you to listen and subscribe! BREAK: CU of GA STORY 1: Kennesaw Airman is 1 of 8 Killed in Training Exercise Off Japanese Coast Air Force Staff Sgt. Jake M. Turnage, a 25-year-old from Kennesaw, was one of eight U.S. airmen killed in a CV-22 Osprey aircraft crash off the coast of Japan during a training exercise. Turnage served as a flight engineer with the 21st Special Operations Squadron, part of the 353rd Special Operations Wing at Yokota Air Base. The crash occurred on Nov. 29, and recovery operations have transitioned from search and rescue to search and recovery. The other seven airmen who lost their lives in the crash were identified, representing various roles and units within the Air Force. STORY 2: Cobb State Lawmakers Split Over Israel Resolution The Georgia House passed a resolution condemning Hamas for murders and expressing support for Israel, with Democrats splitting on the vote. The resolution, condemning an attack by Hamas that killed Israelis and a subsequent conflict that led to Palestinian deaths, saw some Democrats abstaining or being excused. Cobb's Republican House representatives supported the resolution, except one, while most Democratic representatives were excused or did not vote. Critics accused some Democrats of avoiding a vote. The resolution's GOP sponsorship drew criticism from Democrats, suggesting it was politically motivated and failed to address Palestinian deaths. Cobb's divide on the issue was highlighted by the Board of Commissioners' consideration of a similar pro-Israel resolution, which was ultimately pulled amidst community concerns about the Palestinian experience. STORY 3: Cobb School Board to Consider $100 Million in Construction Loans The Cobb Board of Education is set to consider issuing a request for $100 million in construction notes to fund special-purpose local-option sales tax (SPLOST) projects in 2024. This short-term borrowing tool will be repaid using SPLOST revenue. The move is part of a common practice in Cobb to get a head start on projects and counter rising construction costs. While the board will decide on the request, a vote on approving bids for loans is expected later. Additionally, the board will vote on approving new vehicles, including transit vans, maintenance trucks, and police vehicles, using SPLOST V funding. We have opportunities for sponsors to get great engagement on these shows. Call 770.799.6810 for more info. We'll be right back Break: ESOG – CHRISTMAS PIEDMONT STORY 4: Cobb Planning Commission OKs Chastain Road Development With Caveats The Cobb County Planning Commission approved a mixed-use development along Chastain Road proposed by Strategic Real Estate Partners. The development encompasses three warehouses, up to 140 townhomes, 200 age-restricted apartments, and up to 30,000 square feet of retail space on a 57-acre piece of land. The land, zoned differently in various areas, would see the northern part rezoned for housing and retail, and the southern part for warehouses. The Planning Commission made two motions for the Board of Commissioners to consider—one rezoning the entire property for retail and housing, and another approving both zoning categories, each with stipulations. The fate of the development now rests with the Board of Commissioners. STORY 5: Marietta Employees Honored by Mayor and City Manager Marietta Mayor Steve Tumlin and City Manager Bill Bruton honored current and retired city employees at an awards ceremony. Recipients included Tracey Cephas, Shelly Drewry, and Raymone Calhoun, who received the City Manager's Award for Exceptional Service. Firefighter engineer Danny Fischer received the Darrell Dickerson Marietta First Award. Rachel Langelotti was named the 2023 Employee of the Year, and Lt. David Collins received the Supervisor of the Year award. The Rising Star Award went to Leigh Nagy, Andre Maddox, Abigail Solis Reyes, and K-9 Barney. Sherri Rashad, Stephanie Guy, and Lindsey Wiles were recognized for their years of service. We'll be back in a moment Break: DRAKE – INGLES 9 STORY 6: LEAH MCGRATH And now here is Bruce Jenkins' conversation with Leah McGrath from Ingles Markets to discuss reflux diet. STORY 7: LEAH INTERVIEW Break: Henssler :60 Signoff- Thanks again for hanging out with us on today's Marietta Daily Journal podcast. If you enjoy these shows, we encourage you to check out our other offerings, like the Cherokee Tribune Ledger Podcast, the Gwinnett Daily Post, the Community Podcast for Rockdale Newton and Morgan Counties, or the Paulding County News Podcast. Read more about all our stories and get other great content at MDJonline.com. Did you know over 50% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly? Giving you important news about our community and telling great stories are what we do. Make sure you join us for our next episode and be sure to share this podcast on social media with your friends and family. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home Briefing and be sure to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. www.henssler.com www.inglesmarkets.com www.cuofga.org www.drakerealty.com www.esogrepair.com www.elonsalon.com www.jrmmanagement.com www.bgpodcastnetwork.com #NewsPodcast #CurrentEvents #TopHeadlines #BreakingNews #PodcastDiscussion #PodcastNews #InDepthAnalysis #NewsAnalysis #PodcastTrending #WorldNews #LocalNews #GlobalNews #PodcastInsights #NewsBrief #PodcastUpdate #NewsRoundup #WeeklyNews #DailyNews #PodcastInterviews #HotTopics #PodcastOpinions #InvestigativeJournalism #BehindTheHeadlines #PodcastMedia #NewsStories #PodcastReports #JournalismMatters #PodcastPerspectives #NewsCommentary #PodcastListeners #NewsPodcastCommunity #NewsSource #PodcastCuration #WorldAffairs #PodcastUpdates #AudioNews #PodcastJournalism #EmergingStories #NewsFlash #PodcastConversations See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On the version of Hot off the Wire posted Nov. 29 at 7 a.m. CT: RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — International mediators appeared to have made progress Wednesday on extending the truce in Gaza. They are encouraging the territory's Hamas rulers to keep freeing hostages in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and further respite from Israel's air and ground offensive. The deal will otherwise expire within a day. Israel has welcomed the release of dozens of hostages in recent days and says it will maintain the truce if Hamas keeps freeing captives. But its other major goal is the annihilation of the armed group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years and orchestrated the deadly attack on Israel that triggered the war. That seems less and less likely. TOKYO (AP) — A crew member who was recovered from the ocean after a U.S. military Osprey aircraft carrying six people crashed Wednesday off southern Japan has been pronounced dead. Japanese coast guard officials say the cause of the crash and the status of the five others on the aircraft were not immediately known. Initial reports said the aircraft was carrying eight people, but the U.S. military later revised the number to six. The Osprey is a tiltrotor aircraft that can function as a helicopter and a turboprop aircraft. U.S. and Japanese officials say the aircraft belonged to Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo. U.S. Air Force officials at Yokota said they are still confirming information and had no immediate comment. CLEVELAND (AP) — An early blast of cold and snow shut down schools in Cleveland on Tuesday and made driving on heavily traveled Interstate 90 in northern Ohio treacherous. A lake-effect snow warning was issued by the National Weather Service for areas from Cleveland eastward into Erie, Pennsylvania. Just before 11 a.m. Tuesday, the weather service said observers had reported 13 inches or more in Ashtabula County in Ohio and Erie County in Pennsylvania along with 11.6 inches in Lake County, Ohio. A foot or more of snow also had fallen across a largely rural stretch of upstate New York east of Lake Ontario, with one spot recording 23 inches. PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Rosalynn Carter is set to receive her final accolades and farewells in Plains, Georgia. It's the same tiny town where the former first lady was born. There, she and former President Jimmy Carter based his 1976 presidential campaign and returned after their White House years as they became global humanitarians. Rosalynn Carter died Nov. 19. Her funeral Wednesday will be held at Maranatha Baptist Church. The service comes on the last of three days of public tributes. The 99-year-old former president attended a memorial service Tuesday in Atlanta. Rosalynn Carter will be buried in a plot she will one day share with her husband. WASHINGTON (AP) — The global economy, which has proved surprisingly resilient this year, is expected to falter next year under the strain of wars, still-elevated inflation and continued high interest rates. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimated Wednesday that international growth will slow to 2.7% in 2024 from an expected 2.9% pace this year. That would amount to the slowest growth since the pandemic year of 2020. A key factor is that the OECD expects the world's two biggest economies, the United States and China, to decelerate next year. The U.S. economy is forecast to expand just 1.5% in 2024, from 2.4% in 2023, as the Federal Reserve's interest rate increases restrain growth. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs has temporarily stepped down as chairman of his television network Revolt amid multiple sexual abuse allegations against the music mogul. Revolt announced Combs' decision on social media Tuesday. It's not clear when he will return to his media company – which said Combs previously had “no operational or day-to-day role” at the network. Combs declined to comment on the matter. The network has been preparing to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Earlier this month, R&B singer Cassie accused Combs of raping and beating her over the duration of their decadeslong, on-and-off relationship. After Cassie, two more women came forward to accuse him of sexual abuse. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Emirati president-designate for the upcoming United Nations COP28 climate talks has forcefully denied a report alleging his nation planned to use the summit to strike oil and gas deal, a day before the summit was due to being. Sultan al-Jaber, who also leads the massive state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., called the allegations Wednesday from a BBC report “an attempt to undermine the work of the COP28 presidency” before the talks begin Thursday. The report cited what it described as “leaked briefing documents” the broadcaster described as showing the Emirates planned to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 nations. The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. BLUFFTON, S.C. (AP) — Nikki Haley says former President Donald Trump causes too much chaos to be successful in a second White House term. She reiterated her argument about the GOP front-runner at a large town hall Monday in her home state of South Carolina. The former governor and United Nations ambassador drew the largest crowd of her primary campaign so far as she tries to close the gap with Trump just weeks before the Iowa caucuses kick off the Republican nominating calendar. Haley says the time is now right for a new generation in U.S. leadership. Officials at a satellite campus of the University of South Carolina said around 2,500 people gathered for the event. NEW YORK (AP) — It's not just you. Across the U.S., prices at the pump have felt milder in recent months. Gas prices have fallen or remained steady since September 19 — marking about a 70-day trajectory of decline. That's according to Andrew Gross, a spokesperson for motor club AAA. As of Tuesday, the national average for gas prices stood just below $3.25. That's down 25 cents from a month ago and 30 cents less than this time last year. Experts point to recent declines in oil prices and a seasonal dip in demand, which is projected to continue in the coming months. A change in trajectory is always possible of course — particularly if there are shifts in the larger global market. WASHINGTON (AP) — A key Federal Reserve official raised the possibility that the Fed could decide to cut its benchmark interest rate as early as spring if inflation keeps declining steadily. The official, Christopher Waller, cautioned that inflation is still too high and that it's not yet certain if a recent slowdown in price increases can be sustained. But he sounded the most optimistic notes of any Fed official since the central bank launched its aggressive streak of rate hikes. Waller is regarded as a relatively “hawkish" official, meaning that he typically favors higher rates to combat inflation rather than low rates to boost job growth. But he has also become somewhat of a bellwether for the Fed's overall rate-setting committee. American consumers are feeling slightly more confident this month as the all-important holiday shopping season kicks into high gear. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 102 from 99.1 in October. Analysts were expecting a reading of 101. The October reading was revised down from an original reading of 102.6. The index measuring Americans short-term expectations for income, business and job market rose to 77.8 in November from 72.7 in October. It was the third straight reading below 80 for future expectations, which historically signals a recession within a year. NEW YORK (AP) — Sports Illustrated is the latest media company damaged by being less than forthcoming about who or what is writing its stories at the dawn of the artificial intelligence age. The website Futurism reported that the once-grand magazine used articles with “authors” who apparently don't exist, with photos generated by AI. The magazine denied claims that some articles themselves were AI-assisted, but has cut ties with a vendor it hired to produce the articles. The Gannett newspaper chain and the tech website CNET each had unsuccessful experiments with AI this past year and had kept readers in the dark about what they were doing. College football's four unbeaten majors top the College Football Playoff rankings, the NBA's in-season tournament has its elite eight, college basketball's top-ranked team wins again, and a win for the Wild's new coach in his debut. —The Associated Press About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This edition features stories on Airmen providing relief to Georgia, Airmen providing medical support in Peru and Yokota Air Base residents winning Olympic tickets. Hosted by Tech. Sgt. Lee Hoover.
This edition features stories on the Chiefs Forum, the Air Force sponsoring funny cars and Airmen on Yokota Air Base training for deployments. Hosted by Master Sgt. Angie Sarchet.
This edition features stories on an Iraqi air force graduation, medical imagery and a football game on Yokota Air Base.
This edition features stories on an Air Force Week event at a museum in Omaha, Neb., Airmen and their families getting assistance from the U.S. Embassy in Turkey and a sexual assault awareness program on Yokota Air Base. Hosted by Tech. Sgt. Lee Hoover.
This edition features stories on Gen. Kevin Chilton returning to his high school to speak to the children, the CV-22 completing deployment and snowboarding at Yokota Air Base. Hosted by Staff Sgt. Jason Armstrong
This edition features stories on an Air Force exercise physiologist, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu being taught on an Yokota Air Base and TV characters visiting military children.Hosted by Master Sgt. Angie Sarchet.
This edition features stories on Global Strike Command, transfer of Airmen's medical records to Veterans Affairs and a mass casualty exercise at Yokota Air Base, Japan. Hosted by Tech. Sgt. Lee Hoover.
This edition features stories about a recent mission testing systems in the Globemaster III aircraft, increasing the usage of unmanned aircraft systems in the upcoming years, deployed Airmen practicing urban combat skills in close quarter battle drills, security forces Airmen at Yokota Air Base, Japan working with Japanese nationals to defend the base and the Hollywood Knights performing to support the troops. Hosted by Tech Sgt. Lee Hoover.
This edition features stories on a Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) course, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Yokota Air Base, the four dimensions of wellness, the First Term Airman's Center on McConnell Air Force Base and the use of acupuncture for treating pain. Hosted by Senior Airman Robbie Arp.
This edition includes stories about an F-22 crash, the C-130 re-supply mission in the Horn of Africa, medical & dental personnel assisting people in Thailand who don't have readily accessible health care, Aviano Air Base's Ecological Day clean-up effort, a joint multi-national concert at Yokota Air Base featuring Airmen, students, & musicians from Yokota & the local community, an Airmen who helped the USAFE Cross Country team win the 2009 Armed Forces Cross Country Championship. Hosted by Senior Airman Robbie Arp.
This edition features stories on a new mental health clinic in Bagram Air Base, a missing aircraft crew's Rosette Ceremony, a strategic alignment and deployment conference and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Yokota Air Base. Hosted by Senior Airman Robbie Arp.
This edition features stories on the permanent location of the newly formed Global Strike Command, the Air Force's continued and diversified use of the F-16 Fighter jet, a website that is assisting Airmen with their finances by offering multiple on-line banking services, constant improvements on Unmanned Aerial Systems taking place at Edwards Air Force Base, the importance of a blood drive recently held at Yokota Air Base, Japan, and an Air Force officer survey that could lead to revisions of the Air Force officer qualifying test. Hosted by Tech Sgt. Lee Hoover.
This edition features stories on an F-16 crash during a training mission at the Utah Test and Training Range, at Hill Air Force Base, Utah; Iraqi army Generals visiting Langley Air Force Base as part of the growing partnership of U.S. and Iraqi forces, a memorial dedicated to an Airman, who, after serving the Air Force for twenty-one years, was mortally wounded in the line of duty as a Tuscon, Arizona, police officer, the problem vehicles abandoned at Yokota Air Base, Japan after Airman permanently change duty stations, new standardized physical training standard instituted throughout Pacific Air Force, the control tower at Lajes Field, Azores, that allows pilots to communicate with ground personnel as they cross the Atlantic Ocean, and the back-up system at Andrews Air Base. Hosted by Master Sgt. Shawn Sprayberry.
This edition features a stories about pararescuemen supporting the Space Shuttle Atlantis by standing by in case they needed to rescue shuttle crew members, Airmen who ensure mail is received and delivered in Southwest Asia, a Women's Health Clinic in Germany that focuses on women's health on a daily basis, an anti-drunk driving program at Yokota Air Base in Japan, and air traffic controllers in Hawaii that help protect the island's skies. Hosted by Senior Airman Robbie Arp.
This edition features stories on humanitarian aid to Pakistani refugees, the CSAF visits Yokota Air Base, the larges American World War 2 cemetery in Europe, weather bloggers taking a ride in an Air Force WC-130J aircraft and an averted terrorist attack. Hosted by Senior Airman Robbie Arp.
This edition features Airmen at Camp Bucca, Iraq, relinquishing their mission of detainee visitation operations to their Army counterparts, Airman participating in the annual Japanese Tanabata festival, a shoe drive held by Airmen at Yokota Air Base donating their extra shoes to Djibouti, Africa, a deployed Arizona Air National Guardsman volunteering his time to teach a mixed martial-arts class, Airmen deployed to Joint Base Balad in Iraq enjoying a new dining facility (DFAC), exercise Combined Endeavor, an interoperability communications exercise that will happen in Bosnia-Herzegovina and involve thirty-nine nations. Hosted by Staff Sgt. Chris Decker.
This edition features stories on the Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force (CMSAF), James A. Roy, touring the world to get to know Airman, a 14-year old Iraqi boy surviving a blast he suffered recently because of the care he received at the Air Force theater hospital in Balad, the flight crew at Yokota Air Base going through a refresher in Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) land survival training, kids from a local orphanage taking a tour of some of the aircraft on Yokota Air Base, and the ISR agency recognizing two pilots who helped pioneer the agencies motto “Freedom Through Vigilance”. Hosted by Senior Airman Brad Sisson.
This edition features stories on the Afghan Army National Air Corps (AANAC) receiving new Russian MI-17 helicopters, the Air Force increasing awareness of combatives training and the certification program at Maxwell Air Force Base, troops in the Wounded Warrior program at Hickam Air Force Base getting a visit from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight champion, B.J. Penn, a Writing Workshop at Yokota Air Base aimed at improving children's writing skills. Hosted by Senior Airman Brad Sisson.
This edition features stories on the U.S. Joint Space Operation Center (USJSPOC) receiving the Omaha Trophy for excellent unit performance, Senator Lindsey Graham serving as a reserve Judge Advocate Officer (JAG) in Afghanistan, Yokota Air Base's Annual Friendship Festival, a U.S. Airman crew chief who decided to leave the Air Force to become a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. Hosted by Tech Sgt. Chris Decker.
This edition features stories on the Air Force kicking off the new Fit Family program, the most recent success of the Airborne Laser Test Bed (ALTB) program, an Air National Guard Fighter Wing participating in the International Aero Expo in Marrakech, Morocco, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) coming to Yokota Air Base to survey possible winter storms, Senior Airmen from the Airman Leadership School at Portugal helping build a camp for the children throughout the island, and information on what Airmen are doing in Afghanistan on the new 30-day blog assembled by members of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) there. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Alina Richard.
This edition features stories on the body of Air Force Maj. Kenneth Bourland recently being recovered from the rubble of a Port-au-Prince hotel, the 898th Munitions Squadron's decertification, U.S. Airmen taking an opportunity to display Air Force aircraft and capabilities, as well as strengthening partnerships with our military counterparts during the 2010 Aero Expo in Morocco, Airmen from Misawa Air Base participating in a base-wide exercise to prepare them and be trained for combat situations and the stress and chaos that follows, and a Yokota Air Base joint concert where U.S. and local Japanese groups performed together, helping strengthen cultural ties there. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Alina Richard.
This edition features stories on the Nuclear Capable Bomb Force transferring from Air Combat Command (ACC) to Global Strike Command (GSC), air craft detailers, the fiscal year 2011 (FY 2011) budget plan, members of the Royal Australian Air Force and Army celebrating Australia Day in an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, Airman at Yokota Air Base participating in the new Warrior Run program. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Alina Richard.
This edition features stories on the Department of Defense announcing the establishment of the National Security Personnel Systems Transition Office, Homestead Air Reserve Base becoming a staging area for air crews to bring earthquake victims from Haiti to the U.S. since the recent massive earthquake there, the Air Force flying intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions in support of Operation Unified Response in Haiti, the duties of Aviano Air Base explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) technicians while at home station, American and Japanese runners competing in the annual half-marathon Frostbite Run at Yokota Air Base, 65th Air Base Wing partnering with a Portuguese Air Base to repair a sixty-year old road, and an Air Force Captain who made an unusual transition into the pilot's seat through a new pilot exchange program between the U.S. and France. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Alina Richard.
This edition features stories on Airmen hoping to make the U.S. Olympic bobsledding team, Airmen at Yokota Air Base celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life and his legacy, Aviano Air Base's Key Spouse program, the 633rd Air Base Wing taking over as the Installation Host Wing for Langley Air Force Base, and Airmen preparing Kwangju Air Base for the population increase during exercise Max Thunder. Hosted by Senior Airman Brad Sisson.
This edition features stories on a Christmas concert, holiday depression, Christmas caroling on Yokota Air Base, Avatar 3-D and holiday door decorating. Hosted by Senior Airman Brad Sisson.
This edition features stories on the RQ-4 Global Hawk air craft reaching a major milestone; Toyota's announcing a worldwide recall of its 2010 Prius model, Operation Iraqi Freedom being rebranded Operation New Dawn this fall, coinciding with the U.S. draw down of troops there, Airmen and their families enjoying a traditional German holiday, which signals the end of the carnival season and the beginning of Lent, a unique multi-national annual flight-training exercise conducted at the Canary Islands, High School basketball players stationed on installations around the Pacific participating in the annual Far East Tournament at Misawa Air Base to crown a champion, and a new consolidated band of Airmen from Alaska and Yokota Air Base preparing for a tour in Japan. Hosted by Tech Sgt. Chris Decker.
This edition features stories on the State Department issuing a travel alert to U.S. citizens in response to potential terrorism in Europe, the Air Force Chief of Staff (AFCOS) Gen. Norton Schwartz, receiving the Patriot Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society on Oct. 2 in Charleston, South Carolina, Airmen from Yokota Air Base traveling to Bangladesh to share air tactics, techniques, and build relations with the Bangladesh Air Force during exercise Cope South 2010, and C-17s from various bases participating in a formation flight test at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Alina Richard.
This edition features stories on an aviation training relocation at Chitose Air Base, Japan, Yokota Airmen participating in the Samurai Surge exercise where every available aircraft on the ramp was launched simultaneously, military spouses from around Europe attending the chapel conference to build spiritual fitness, the Senior NCO Academy at Maxwell Air Force Base seeking instructors to train senior NCO's, a Security Forces joint training exercise between U.S. Airmen and Japanese National Police at Yokota Air Base, and U.S. Airmen training Afghan Airmen on cargo sling load operations. Hosted by Senior Airman Brad Sisson.
This edition features stories on Joint Base Balad's Combined En Route Radar Approach Control (C-RAP facility's vital role in air and ground flight communications, five Airmen from the 65th Security Forces Squadron undergoing preparatory training for an upcoming deployment to Mali, Africa, on Vice President Joe Biden visiting service members stationed at Camp Victory, Iraq, to thank them for their service, the 39th Air Base Wing Host Nation Advisor at Incirlik Air Base, a new restaurant opening in Yokota Air Base's Officers Club in honor of the club's head waiter and his many years of dedicated service, and the Air Force adopting stricter physical fitness standards during the past year and one Airmen's healthy living program. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Alina Richard.
This edition features stories on President Barack Obama signing legislation to improve the Post 9-11 G.I. Bill on Jan. 4, postal service shipping restrictions, Airmen practicing air drops at Andersen Air Base, changes to the new Air Force fitness program testing standards, and wash rack Airmen at Yokota Air Base maintaining the C-130's in service there. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Alina Richard.
This edition features stories on Gen. Walter L. Sharp introducing a new policy prioritizing what positions qualify for command sponsorship for family members of service members stationed in South Korea, a recent Occupational Readiness Exercise (ORE) at Yokota Air Base, a group of volunteers at Aviano Air Base spreading holiday cheer by baking sweet treats for service members during the holidays, Americans bonding with the local Japanese community at Misawa Air Base by competing in a culinary competition, a Christmas tree lighting ceremony and other holiday-related festivities at Yokota Air Base, Shaw Air Force Base's School Liaison Officer, and how he helps military families understand educational requirements during transition. Hosted by Senior Airman Brad Sisson.
This edition features stories on the Air Force testing an alternative fuel for aircraft, a change of command ceremony held on Yokota Air Base, Japan, ervice members and their families running with locals for Seoul, Korea during a marathon event and Airmen helping with a MATV vehicle surge. Hosted by Senior Airman Brad Sisson
This edition features stories on 15 Airmen from across the country participating in the Special Tactics community Tim Davis Memorial Walk to honor the Special Tactics Airmen who lost their lives in support of Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, the U.S. Air Force having two competitors participating in this year's Ironman competition, a Hispanic Heritage Children's Night sponsored by the Incirlik Air Base library, students from Kadena Elementary school in Okinawa gathering outside for a demonstration on fire safety from the Kadena Fire Department, and service members at Yokota Air Base conducting FOD walks weekly to keep the flight lines clean and serviceable. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Alina Richard.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Tokyo today in the last leg of her tour of Asian nations. Before departing South Korea, the San Francisco Democrat visited the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.She was seen near the Joint Security Area visitor center where she posed for photographs with US soldiers stationed in South Korea. Following talks with South Korean leaders, Speaker Pelosi flew to Yokota Air Base outside Tokyo where she was welcomed by US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel. Meanwhile, communist China threw a temper tantrum today by firing rockets over Taiwan, some of them landing in Japan's exclusive economic zone. Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 8/4/22.It's the Final Day! The day when Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. You can order the second edition of Rick's book, Final Day! https://rickwiles.com/final-day
In this episode, we highlight A1C Mallory Simmons (Yokota AB, Japan) as she has taken Yokota Air Base by storm and has been doing great things in the office and around the community in such a short amount of time.