Recommended reading

[w7sar]

If you're an IC, a plans chief, an ops chief -- or any member of an IC staff, the following two books make excellent reading.  We're often conditioned for local one-person IC staffing, yet the possibility exists to participate in a large-scale event.  The first two books offer insights to Sept. 11 from an operational perspective.  I found them both fascinating. 

The first is "Firefight: Inside the battle to save the Pentagon on 9/11" by Patrick Creed and Rick Newman.  Published by Presidio Press, these two give a great read on what happened and why.  It answered many questions I had as news reports said operations were on hold pending another inbound aircraft, etc.  They detail the fire response (one author is a volunteer firefighter) and address such issues as CISM and fatigue and just dealing with huge events from an individual perspective.  What did they consider in making mega decisions?  What factors caused delays?  What information (or lack) was available for the IC?  What was done first? Second? 

It was great to see how the on-scene folks dealt with ICS, civilians, media, volunteers, different department politics, etc.  It gave me good insight as to what to expect on a large-scale, politically charged event in today's world.

(Read this one first.)

The second book is "Touching History" by Lynn Spencer.  She is an airline pilot and has collected material from military, FAA, and commercial pilots from 9/11.  Imagine yourself in the FAA command center with bits and pieces of information coming from varied sources.  She tells stories that NEVER made the media about other potential events.  She relates stories from military pilots, command centers, commercial pilots, etc.  I could NOT put this book down.  From an aviation perspective and from a command/control perspective it's a thriller.  And it's all fact.

Can you imagine being in the FAA's ops center and having not one, but two and then three and four aircraft in distress -- not fitting the standard hijacking profile?  How do you deal with it?  Who gets to share information?  How long does it take to get high-level politicians involved?  It's all most relevant and critical to emergency response.  What led up to the "every aircraft out of the air" decision?

You want to read this book second because it answers a LOT of questions about air traffic and military ops that were raised in the Firefight book.  The two together are invaluable for folks who may contemplate involvement in political events of national significance.  These books explain the behind-the-scene politics and decisions.

The third book: "The Unthinkable: Who survives when disaster strikes -- and why" was written by Amanda Ripley.  She a writer for Time magazine and has done extensive research on disasters and preparedness and mental ability to deal with them.  Have you ever wondered why someone died of exposure when they survived the crash?  Or why some people react calmly in a crisis and others just stand as if in a trance?  She addresses a great body of research and uses some modern events (like the World Trade Center survivors) to explain.  If you're involved in CISM or operations, this book gives good insights to human behavior.   She discusses why some people remain behind when mandatory evacuations are ordered for hurricanes (very timely).  She talks with survivors and families of deceased to give additional perspective. 

The latter book is compelling, but not a page-turner.  It's more of an educational book and you need to read it a little more slowly to digest and retain the concepts.  There are about a dozen or more mini-classes one could use for staff training and behavior discussions (i.e. safety folk). 

Enjoy

Jerry Wellman, W7SAR
Utah Wing