WEBVTT

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my name is Colonel Todd Key . I'm the

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senior advisor to the Deputy Minister

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of Strategy and Policy , the Minister

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of Interior . Mhm .

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Yeah , yeah .

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When I got to the pentagon , I was

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going by your regular business and I

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was planning to do travel on the next

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day and so as I was preparing the DTs

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paperwork and so forth , we've heard

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that a plane had crashed into the first

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tower um all this , you know ,

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obviously immediately went to go look

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for a T . V . So we could see what was

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going on . And as we watched , I think

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everyone pretty much realized that it

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was probably an act of terrorism . The

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buildings shook and as I'm sitting

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there , my desk

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had a window that looked to the D ring ,

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which is the second ring in and as I

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felt the building shake , I looked up

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and I saw a bunch of debris coming

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toward the window and you know that

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things just aren't right . I mean the

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first thought that came to my mind was

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that there was a bomb had blown up

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outside the pentagon or inside the

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pentagon . Once I got out and I got up

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on top where I could see things , I saw

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this huge plume of smoke coming out of

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the pentagon and I realized that was

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the path that was right by the road

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where my wife would drive by . And then

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I got that real you know

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that that feeling that something had

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happened to her because the timing was

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just was right . And so that

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dynamic changed and my dynamic was now

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this isn't about me and about people ,

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the military , it's about now my wife

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in my family and that was different .

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Somebody came riding their bicycle by

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saying another plane is coming ,

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another plane is coming . And that was

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the plan that ultimately crashed in

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pennsylvania . As I

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turn around to hear that person yelling ,

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you know , another plane was coming ,

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You hear this loud rumbling and that's

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when the wall of the pentagon collapsed .

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As as you see that it's sort of , you

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know , you're not really sure what to

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make of it . I mean this is think your

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world is changing right in front of you .

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I finally got up to up to Fort Myer and

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I got to a phone where my wife should

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be or should have been working . And

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that that really concerned me because

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she wasn't there . And so I um , I

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said , has anybody seen my wife kelly ?

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And they said yes kelly went down to

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the army community Center to help stand

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up the emergency response cell that

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they do and here's her number . So I

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was able , because cell phones weren't

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working , I was able to pick up the

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phone and call her , found out that she

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was okay . And I was greatly relieved

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as I um as we exchanged

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greetings again in love , just know

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that she's alive . I asked her what had

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happened , what did she know ? And she

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said a plane hit the pentagon and I

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said , I don't how does a plane hit the

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pentagon ? It's not . She said well I

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saw the plane and I said what are you

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talking about ? She said I saw the

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plane , the plane flew over Fort Myer

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very , very low and very , very fast .

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I got a hold of uh the guy , one of the

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guys who was driving a front end loader

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and I said can you take me back down to

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the pentagon ? He said sure . I said

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you know what happened ? He said , yeah .

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I said well what do you know ? He says

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they fell down . I said what do you

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mean ? He said , he said the building

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they fell down . I said

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you talked about the World Trade Center .

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He goes , yeah they both fell down .

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First order of business was again

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accountability . And as I began gaining

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accountability . There were two people

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that were missing out of the Out of the

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G three and one of them wasn't Pat

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Tennis , it was

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the secretary and the Xo to the person

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that I was reporting accountability to .

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So you know you're telling him that the

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two people that work directly for you

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are dead potentate shows up

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about an hour later and he liked me .

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We smelled the smoke and we smelled

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just like that . So where were you try

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to take the day off or something and

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he's no , I thought I was out helping

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get people evacuated and his actions

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that they earned in the soldier's medal

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for bravery um , and risking his life

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to save others . And he's a he's a

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great american . I don't think I would

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have known the Afghans had an opera

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been for 9:11 . That might sound a

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little strange . But these are good

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people . They They weren't 9

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11 , Al Qaeda and the Taliban were 9 11 .

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These people were taken advantage of

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Because of 30 years of war and

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devastation of the education system and

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their economy . I would have not met

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these wonderful people . Had it not

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been for 9 11 , it sounds sounds a

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little McCobb . But at the same time ,

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out of that tragedy , there are some

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amazing friendships that have been made

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over here that would have never been

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made because of that , that price is

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too high to pay . But at the same time

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that price was paid . So I think making

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the most of this opportunity is

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important