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We now have a video link to share from the 9/11 remembrance ceremony that Executive Committee Members of APCO International conducted at the Arlington County Emergency Communications Center (near the Pentagon) as referenced in VA Chapter President Steve Souder's message below and in my 9/11 posting to the APCO Open Forum.
Click on the link below to view the ceremony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbeNOyzxXCY
Let us never forget!
- Mark

9-11 was a day I'll "Never Forget" and will always remember.
Steve Souder, Director, Fairfax County, Virginia Department of Public Safety Communications
On September 11, 2011 I was the Administrator of the Arlington County, Virginia 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Center (ECC). The Pentagon is located less then a mile from the 9-1-1 center. I was in the center preparing to leave to attend a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington that would recognize 9-1-1 Day; which is what 9-11 was called prior to 9-11. Watching TV and seeing what had occurred in New York City my immediate thoughts, and those of my call taker's, dispatcher's and supervisor's, were for the people in the World Trade Center, the firefighters and police officers... on and responding to the scene AND to our 9-1-1 colleagues in New York, who we instinctively knew were handling the most challenging 9-1-1 calls they had ever received and communicating with units that were in great peril. When the second plane struck the South/#2 Tower all doubt was lifted that the first plane strike was an accident. My thoughts then turned to ... might the Pentagon be the next building targeted?..... and 34 minutes later - at 0937... it was. 9-11 changed the world as we knew it and removed 9-1-1 Day from the calendar. However, it established 9-1-1 personnel as the "First of the First Responders" and "most unsung of the unsung heroes". Ten years and 3,652 days have passed; there hasn't been a day that I haven't thought, for at least a few minutes, about 9-11. Today (9-11-11)...I felt compelled to go to the Pentagon at sunrise, before the crowds and media arrived, to reflect, as I have for the past 10 years. After that I went to the Arlington County ECC to thank the personnel that were working 10 years ago for the outstanding job they had done. The APCO Executive Committee; Greg Riddle, Terry Hall, and Dick Mirgon were there to pay their respects as well. Bill Carrow was unable to attend because of a commitment in Delaware. For me, as tragic as 9-11 was, I consider it a humble and personal privilege too have had the opportunity to work with so many good personnel on such a historic day, doing what we were trained and committed to do...help save lives. On 9-11 almost 2,800 lives were lost and since then more then 7,000 military personnel have lost their lives. Remember them all and God Bless America.
Steve Souder, Virginia Chapter APCO, LIFE member
Steve Souder, Director
Fairfax County, Virginia
Department of 9-1-1 / Public Safety Communications
Office......571-350-1701
Fax.......703-631-2789
Mobile.....571-641-7028
Pager......703-213-6049
E-mail.....steve.souder@fairfaxcounty.gov
Website.....fairfaxcounty.gov/911

Fairfax County 9-1-1, always there, always ready.24/7/365

Hi Lindsey - On September 11th, 2001 I was working at my 9-1-1 dispatch job (in the heart of Ohio) on what I thought was just another typical day. At that time, we had no TV or radio in the dispatch center because the director at that time felt it was not a necessity. The way I heard about the first incident was when the secretary came running in and said she heard on her radio that a plane had hit one of the world trade center towers. At that time, I'm embarrassed to say, I knew nothing of the world trade center towers - only vaguely remembered that a car bomb had gone off in one of them previously. Well, the secretary always tended to be overly dramatic about things, so I really just thought that she was blowing things out of proportion. When she came in a little later and said that a second plane hit the second tower, I started to grasp the reality of the situation and the devastation that was unfolding. I remember the feelings that were starting to form in me, thinking about all of the potential victims, and also what the New York 9-1-1 dispatchers must be going through. I remember feeling helpless and small and somewhat thankful (and guilty) that I lived in an area that was low as a potential target. I then heard about the plane that went down in Pennsylvania (all this relayed through the secretary as it came across her radio) and wondered what else was going to happen. Somehow I managed to get through the rest of work day and went straight home and turned on the TV and started watching what had happened that day and could then really see the overwhelming devastation.
My heart, prayers and thoughts went out to the victims and survivors that day and still do to this day. AND my heart, prayers and thoughts went out to the 9-1-1 dispatchers and call-takers that had to work that terrible day and take all of those 9-1-1 calls and handle them the best they could when I'm sure there was no one left to send and no more resources left but yet they still somehow needed to keep the sadness and anger out of their voices and keep taking those incoming calls and try to be re-assuring to those while knowing that the outlook was grim. I cannot even describe or truly know how that must have been for them. That is an aspect of that day that is not often talked about.
This is the first that I have put any of this in writing and I thank you for the opportunity!

The morning of 9/11/2001, I was at work at APCO headquarters in Daytona Beach. I heard a co-worker say that her husband had called, telling her that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I assumed it was a little biplane with tourists.
The internet ground to a screeching halt as we, and everyone else in America, attempted to search the internet to find out what had happened. We had been in the new APCO building for less than a year. The cost to run cable television to, what at the time, was a remote, wooded area, had been exorbitant, so we did not had to run “bunny ears” and aluminum foil to an old television set that had been dug out of storage and moved to our large conference room. All of APCO staff was gathered around a static-filled television screen as we watched the second plane crash, and eventually watched the towers collapse. When word of a plane crashing at the Pentagon was released, I was afraid the entire nation was being attacked.
I left the office and went straight to the elementary school to pick up my children. At home, we were glued to the television. I remember my six-year old daughter asking, “Mommy, is this a movie or is this real.”
It was real.

Thank you for posting this blog Lindsey. On September 11, 2011, I was at a Illinois APCO meeting and training session at Commonwealth Edison's dispatch center outside of Chicago. As we were driving there and listening to the radio, we couldn't help but wonder if the DJ had a sick sense of humor. Upon arriving at the secured communications facility, we learned of the horrific events unfolding. While preparing for the meeting in their conference room, the utility company activated their EOC, locked down the building and escorted us out. It was a very shocking experience to see a bunch of public safety dispatchers, directors and sworn police officers being removed from a building. The drive home was silent as we passed by the Chicago skyline wondering if we would also be targeted.

Hi Lindsey - I'm happy to share my comment. On that fateful day I was at the Police Academy attending the Police Legal Update (at the time I was the Support Services Captain in Brookfield Ct). I remember there was an Attorney from the Juvenile Court at the podium when suddenly cell phones and pagers started "chirping" - in the auditorium were rank personnel including a lot of Connecticut State Troopers. We watched as people looked at their messages and suddenly they all started leaving. Withn 10 minutes we were told to break and be back in 10 minutes.
When we returned a screen had been put up and the events in New York were being shown. We were told what was happening and that the class was being cancelled - we were all told to report back to our departments. I remember driving back to Brookfield and I called my mom just to tell her I loved her.
Time stood still for all of us that day - when I got back to the office everyone was watching the events in stunned silence - the fire departments were mobilizing to see if they could help and it was all the Chief's could do to keep them until they were really needed. We did what had to be done that day - some with heavy hearts as we lost people from our area.
Ten years later I have started a new position doing again something I love - I have made it a practice on every September 11th to do a special tone test/message to our first responders and this year will be no different except there will be a special presentation at one of the Fire Departments (Sandy Hook Volunteer) and they have invited me to stand in the ranks of Fire / Ems and Police to represent Communications personnel and the service they provided during those tragic events. I hope my presence will serve to honor all Emergency Communications personnel across the country.

Hi Lindsey, I was working part-time managing a home-based business for my (then) husband and was on my way to drop our 4 year-old son off at daycare in far north Fort Worth, Texas. The drive included a female radio personality reporting the unbelievable scenes she was witnessing on her internet connection at the radio station. I began processing my "options" for the day, not knowing what other events might unfold in potential strategic locations around the U.S. I continued on to the daycare determined not to let these things change the normal course of daily duties for me or my children (two older children were in middle school). Fear was what the hijackers wanted, and I was not going to let evil strangers dictate how I lived my life.
The next two days were filled with working at home, glancing at the television coverage constantly, and realizing I needed to be doing more in life for others than being a stay-at-home mom/home-business owner. Needless to say, the events of 9/11 made me take a hard look at my personal life and prompted me to seek out a career in Public Safety and take a leap of Faith in becomming a single parent with a somewhat unstable income. I began applying at any law enforcement organization within a fifty mile radius in which I would be able to utilize my office skills and learn as much as I could about being a beneficial servant to my community. I landed in a Dispatch position at a small municipal police department northeast of Fort Worth. It was the best new beginning I could have asked for.
Ten years later, I am (happily) divorced and managing a Communications Center in a constantly-growing rural municipality in north Texas. I am saddened by the rememberance of the terrible events of that day and the days that followed, but I embrace the many opportunities and things we have learned as a nation in the years since. I hope anyone reading this can also look past the negative memories of that day and find a few happenings in the last ten years that reflect a changed perception of life and, most of all, a positive and encouraging outlook for our nation's future. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to reflect.

Hi Lindsey, I'm glad to share my comments with you. I was working for APCO then, as Director of 9-1-1 Programs and Comm Center operations, and was in Washington DC for a joint APCO/NENA press conference. We were releasing the results of the NENA 9-1-1 Report Card to the Nation and we were on the top floor of the Senate Hart Building. I had with me APCO's 1st VP, NENA Board officers and staff, plus we had several congressional representatives and senators participating. The event was being covered by the national news media and we had a congressional hearing scheduled for that afternoon. As our event was underway we noticed pagers alerting the national media reps to some other event and they would fold up their cameras and leave. Then the staffs of the congressmen began to come in, whisper in their ear, and they would leave. Someone finally told us what was taking place and we were to vacate the building immediately, using the stairs rather than the elevators. We left the building in haste as we learned there was another flight unaccounted for, last seen over Pennsylvania and reportedly headed for Capitol Hill or the Whitehouse. Once leaving the building we were in a massive traffic jam as we tried to get to our hotel which was one block from the Whtlehouse. From our hotel room we could see the Pentagon burning across the Potomac River. We contacted Steve Souder, Comm Center Manager for Arlington Police Communications to see if he needed assistance with the event, but he had things well under control (or as much as could be expected.) The scene in Washington changed from a scene of total chaos in the morning to eerie desertion of the streets by nightfall. After dark we joined a candlelight march to the Whitehouse for a spontanteous vigil there. For the next two days we watched as fighter jets flew sorties overhead, protecting the Whitehouse, and snipers walked the ridgeline of the rooftops. By the end of the week transportation began to slowly open up and we were able to get the APCO and NENA officers, along with others in our group, into transportation out of town. I was then able to rent a car and drive home to Daytona Beach, where I drove directly into the path of a Tropical Storm. Needless to say we received no TV or print coverage of four press conference and the congressional hearing was cancelled.