Army Veteran Inside Pentagon on 9/11 Reflects on Experience 25 Years Later

John Tibbets heard a noise but thought nothing of it.

Tibbetts, 65, from Tifton, Ga., is a U.S. Army veteran who was at the Pentagon as the crisis unfolded. He worked as a plans officer and joint operations division chief in the Army Staff division in the Pentagon, having previously served in combat as a tank company commander during Operation Desert Storm.

“What we heard in our office—on the adjacent wedge to where the attack took place—was what I have always characterized as a dumpster being set down outside your house,” Tibbetts told the Georgia-based Tifton Gazette. “That’s about as much noise as it was; it wasn’t unusual to hear noises because the construction had been going on for two years.”

Tibberts told the Tifton Gazette that when he learned that there had been a terrorist attack, he said his office sent civilian workers home prior to meeting with crisis teams to prepare a response to the emergency.

Almost 25 years ago, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the western face of the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. Sept. 11, 2001, killing 184 people—125 inside the building and 59 aboard the aircraft.

The Day of the Attack

In what was the nation’s deadliest terrorist attack in its history, hijackers also flew planes into the World Trade Center in New York City. Another plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after its passengers fought back. Overall, 3,000 people died in all the attacks.

Sept. 11 turned into a near-constant 12 hours of operations for individuals like Tibbetts, who said he first went home in the evening but returned to the Pentagon at 3 a.m. to continue his duties.

It was when he first left the building that he realized the scale of the disaster.

“That was the first time that I had any real understanding of what part of the building had been hit—that was really kind of unclear during the day, in all the confusion,” Tibbetts said. “I could see it from the highway, as I was leaving the Pentagon parking lot. I could see the confusion and commotion that was going on as they were still trying to extinguish the fire, do the search and rescue.”

After 9/11, Tibbetts remained in the Army for three more years. He transferred overseas to serve as a plans officer managing U.S. military operations in Turkey.

Then, he became a member of NATO’s International Security Task Force during the U.S.’s war with Afghanistan.

He told the Tifton Gazette that 9/11 influenced his career decisions.

After he left the military, he became a teacher and eventually won a Teacher of the Year award for the state of Georgia in 2018.