PORTLAND AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Ore. -- Twenty-five years ago Master Sergeant James Lowery was an Airman fresh out of basic training and technical school, working at the Portland Air National Guard Base full-time. On the morning of September 11, 2001, he had just gone to sleep after a night shift. Then his mom woke him up.
“She's like, 'hey, you got to see the TV',” Lowery recalled. “I was watching the TV, and I knew it…I'm going to get a phone call any minute. I swear, it was not 20 minutes later, and I got a phone call that everyone was to report to base.”
Lowery reported to base, and Force Protection Condition (FPCON) Delta was implemented.
“I was pretty fresh (out of training) and it was extremely surreal. Okay, well, like, what do we do now?
Why are we in Delta over here on the west coast?”
FPCON Delta is the highest protection level and is the designation for actions required after an attack has just occurred or is imminent, which restricts military installations to mission required personnel only.
For Airmen like Lowery, life had changed quite quickly with that implementation.
“I don't even remember how many days we worked before we got a day off. I remember sitting out on the flight-line. It was that very next night with our full (mobility) bag on us, flack jacket, helmet, gas mask, night vision goggles inside your bag, walking the line.”
Security Forces Airmen on PANG were not only in charge of securing the base, they were also charged with protecting a unique mission out of Portland: Operation Noble Eagle. Much like a fire station, the base was operating an “alert” mission, where pilots and aircraft maintainers were ready on base at a moment's notice to launch fighter aircraft with live missiles loaded to patrol the Pacific Northwest.
“I remember them firing up. They loaded all the aircraft up with live missiles,” Lowery explained, describing how the wing began performing combat air patrols. “So, every two hours there were planes in the air, circling Oregon, they'd come down and two more would go up.”
For the other mission essential Airmen on base, this was a whole new experience for them as well. Senior Master Sgt. Jeff Reynolds, Weapons Safety manager for the 142nd Wing, says that day opened his eyes.
“It was unprecedented to see such an increase in our security posture. I was already accustomed to working in controlled areas and following strict security procedures, but after 9/11 those procedures, and the people that enforce them, took on a whole new meaning and level of importance.”
As different and uncomfortable as the experience was, Lowrey felt a sense of calm and purpose that day and in the weeks that came.
“I was in Iraq in 2009.
Going on deployment, you know what to expect. You train for it. [For] 9/11, there wasn't training, you didn't get that notice. You got the phone call: 'this happened. America is being attacked'. You come into work, and your only priority is these aircraft because we don't know what's going to happen over here.”
While security forces manning increased, and the number of full time staff on base decreased, a bond and sense of purpose was built for the Airmen who still reported during the high Delta and Charlie protection level times that followed the attacks.
“That was a long time ago. The type of camaraderie that that brought within our unit is probably bigger than I've ever seen, though…when 9/11 happened, we were one gigantic team.
It wasn't just us. It was the wing.”
While the shock of what was happening to the nation did occur to Lowery, the significance of his new role for that day and the coming months did not shake him.
“You just know you have a job to do and a duty to do,” said Lowery. “it's almost like you're numb. You just don't think about it.”
25 years later, Lowery still serves at the Portland Air National Guard Base as a security forces Airman, and some things have never changed since that day. Security internationally had evolved, for civilians and military alike.
“Before 9/11, we were in force protection condition normal…but we knew we would never go back and see it, and we never have.”