Gen Dan Caine has recalled how his 9/11 experience began with an order to scramble fighter jets from Andrews Air Force Base as the United States came under attack.
Caine, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was serving as chief of Weapons and Tactics for the 121st Fighter Squadron in Maryland when a young staff member interrupted a scheduling meeting to report that a plane had struck the World Trade Centre’s North Tower.
He and his colleagues watched live television as a second aircraft hit the South Tower at 9.03am.
“I knew right away that our nation was under attack, and we began to move right into action immediately,” Caine told Norah O’Donnell.
He said there was “no doubt” the country was at war. Orders were issued to move weapons, including air-to-air missiles, while smoke from the Pentagon could be seen on the horizon.
The squadron was then instructed by the White House “to get airborne to scramble to defend” Washington DC. Caine said the rules of engagement were “very liberal” as aircraft were sent to intercept United Flight 93, which hijackers intended to fly into a federal building in the capital.
Responsibility for the mission fell to the wing, commanded by Brig Gen Dave Wherley. Caine said Wherley told him: “Look, Dan, I don’t know what you’re going to have to do out there, but I know you’re going to do the right thing. I trust you.”
Some aircraft took off so quickly they had not been fitted with missiles. Lt Col Mark Sasseville and his wingman, Heather Penney, were among the pilots in those planes and later said they had intended to ram their aircraft into the hijacked airliner if necessary.
Caine’s jet was armed with live missiles. He said he understood that he might have to shoot down a commercial aircraft after all planes were ordered out of the airspace over Washington, with any aircraft that disobeyed warned it would be shot down immediately.
“I remember thinking, ‘Wait a minute, that’s me that’s going to do the shooting here,’” he said. “Dear God, please don’t let me screw this up.”
United Flight 93 ultimately crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers stormed the cockpit, preventing it from reaching its intended target. Caine did not have to fire, and Washington DC was not directly hit.
He praised the passengers for fighting back, saying: “We take an oath in the military to protect and defend the United States of America. They got on an airliner, and yet they were the first ones that fought back in those dark, dark moments on September 11.”
Caine also paid tribute to the emergency workers who responded to the attacks, saying the willingness to confront danger for others was what made the country great.
“I don’t think I understood what it means to serve this country until September 11,” he said. “The examples that the American people got on that day of courage, tenacity, grit, patriotism, remain a gift in many ways for me 25 years later.”
