WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 18, 2001) - Sgt. 1st Class Ronnie L. Corbitt thought the boom he heard sounded a little different than the normal volley he often hears as the Old Guard practices with its muskets on Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. Corbitt, noncommissioned officer-in- charge at the chaplain's office for Arlington National Cemetery, stepped outside his living quarters to see smoke rising from the Pentagon. He had just seen the news about the attacks in New York. He guessed correctly that the Pentagon had just been attacked. "We received the call immediately after the incident. At that time we were notified by the chaplain's office to start a roster of chaplain's assistants to assist the chaplains here," said Corbitt. "My initial reaction was to be upset, then I thought about the people in the Pentagon. Lt. Col. Carl A. Pfeiffer, the chaplain for the 1st Basic Combat Training Brigade in Fort Jackson, S.C., was in Crystal City near the Pentagon, here on temporary duty working on a special project with the Army chief of chaplains. "We had to evacuate our building. When we got to the street we saw smoke coming from the Pentagon. We went over and immediately began helping out. The fire was humongous and there was wreckage everywhere," said Pfeiffer. "Firefighters and medics were already there. We'd help lift stretchers with people suffering from smoke inhalation into trucks that took them over to the initial triage area under a bridge." Chaplains and assistants came, together from throughout the military and quickly set up a chaplain operations center by the following day of the attack. Chaplains were divided into teams to care for the different needs of the rescuers and the victims. The comfort team listened to family as well as rescuers stunned and grieved by their personal tragedies. The mortuary team worked alongside the mortuary affairs specialists, providing prayer when victims were taken from the rubble and solemnly carried out. 'We are here to give dignity and respect for those that died in the defense of their country. We attempt to provide a profound witness effect for all around. We can say it is really sacred work," said Pfeiffer. "I'm here as a Catholic to do confession and counseling." Family members of victims were brought to the Pentagon to view the site from an area close by and lay memorial items to their loved ones. "Part of the reason to allow victims to come to the Pentagon is when they see the building there is a sense of closure," said Pfeiffer. "It helps them to accept the full dimensions of the tragedy that occurred. We are there for them to deal with their feelings of grief " Corbitt said the chaplain assistant's mission is to maintain the operation center to ensure communication, publicize religious services and talk to soldiers. Assistants may sit and talk with soldiers and refer them to chaplains if they have deep religious issues, because that is their expertise, Corbitt said. "If a soldier wants a confession, I will locate a priest for them," Corbitt said. "One of the Tennessee rescue squads wanted a mass and a Protestant service. We set both services up to take care their needs," he said. "Just working with the other branches, the professionalism -- how we all came together as a functioning unit - was great," Corbitt said. Pfeiffer echoed the sentiment, noting how the assistants were an invaluable asset to maintaining the communication and order that allowed the chaplains to tend to their main duties. Back to Dispatch October 2001 Table of Contents Back to Dispatch List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by HMGS Mid-South This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com