• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

McGuire reservists helping national efforts

09/18/01 - MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. (AFPN) -- About 180 Air Force reservists here volunteered to go on duty while countless others worked in their civilian jobs as firefighters, police officers and medical people supporting rescue and recovery efforts in New York City following the terrorist attacks Sept. 11.

The reservists worked on base here in a variety of capacities. They included aerial port specialists unloading Federal Emergency Management Agency equipment and services people working at base lodging and the dining hall. A dozen port mortuary specialists traveled to Dover Air Force Basr, Del., to help identify and process remains from the terrorist attack on the Pentagon.

"When the second plane hit (the World Trade Center), I told my boss I was heading for the base," said Master Sgt. Kevin Northington, a reservist with the 514th Air Mobility Wing's 35th Aerial Port Squadron here. "She told me to just do what I needed to do and to keep her abreast."

Northington said people in his unit called at all hours to volunteer for Reserve duty.

"It was pride that got me to volunteer," he said. "The mood here is upbeat."

Another reservist here, Senior Master Sgt. Dean Roberts, is a detective for the New York City Police Department. He was supposed to be on Reserve duty for crowd control during a weekend air show, but that was canceled in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Instead, he joined other security forces people as they provided heightened force protection at the base.

"I can't say I'm glad to be here because of the circumstance, but this is what I was trained to do," Roberts said. "I've spent 21 years in the military and I'm ready to do what's needed."

About 90 miles north of the base, more than 100 reservists and National Guard people went to work as state and city police and firefighters. They joined thousands of rescue and recovery workers at the site of the collapsed World Trade Center towers.

One of the reservists, Tech. Sgt. Nick Marshisello, went to New York City with the Clifton Fire Department from New Jersey to search for survivors.

"It's horrible," said Marchisello, whose Reserve job is as a fireman with the 514th Civil Engineering Squadron here. "It's like walking into hell."

During the first few days after the terrorist attacks, most of Air Force Reserve Command's airlift support of Operation Noble Eagle came here.

Reserve C-5 Galaxy and C-141 Starlifter aircrews from Lackland AFB, Texas; March Air Reserve Base, Calif.; Westover ARB, Mass.; and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, transported more than 200 people and 200,000 pounds of cargo to the base.

Since then, the Reserve's support shifted to recovery efforts at the Pentagon and subsequent port mortuary work.

A Reserve C-17 Globemaster III crew from McChord AFB, Wash., flew 62 FEMA people and more than 25 tons of cargo to Andrews AFB, Md., to continue search and recovery efforts at the Pentagon.

At Dover, 185 unit reservists and two individual mobilization augmentees reported to the port mortuary by Sept. 14 to begin identifying and processing remains from the Pentagon terrorist attack. (Courtesy of AFRC News Service)