Support Officer

Beyond Whatcom County

Losing a loved one in a plane crash is horrific enough, but Support Officer Community Care volunteer Barbara Skudlarick saw that grief is intensified when the crash is caused by a deliberate act of terror.

Skudlarick spent three weeks in Washington, D.C., last fall assisting victims whose loved ones were killed by the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon.

Shortly after the World Trade Center towers in New York City had been hit by hijacked jets on that dreadful morning one year ago, hijacked American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 plane, crashed into an outer ring of the Pentagon.

Skudlarick, a retired nurse and TWA Flight attendant, is a member of NADAF, the National Air Disaster Alliance Foundation. Alliance members are trained to assist everyone impacted by an air disaster -- from airline employees, crash survivors and family members.

Members of NADAF immediately were put on alert on Sept. 11, 2001. The phone rang early at Barbara and Richard Skudlarick’s Semiahmoo home with a request for her to start lining up family support teams.

Skudlarick recalled that phone systems were jammed, making it difficult to reach people. "I never left my chair."

Skudlarick’s duties didn’t ease up. That same week she was contacted by Holland America Line asking for NADAF support with another calamity, the plane crash in Mexico that had claimed the lives of several University of Washington Husky boosters on a cruise together.

Ironically, NADAF was already scheduled to have its annual meeting in Washington, D.C., just days after the terrorist attacks.

Representatives of NADAF stopped at the Pentagon Family Assistance Center and offered their services. An Army general chaplain asked if they could extend their stays in Washington to help at the center.

True to her character, Skudlarick volunteered. She herself survived a plane crash when she was in college. Other NADAF members have lost loved ones in plane crashes, creating empathy for those they now reach out to help.

Because the Pentagon is located in a densely populated area, the number of witnesses made the impact of the Sept. 11 attack widespread.

"If you can imagine the sounds of those two enormous jet engines coming in at that low altitude ... Everybody stopped," Skudlarick said. Witnesses standing in the Pentagon’s parking lot could actually see the face of the terrorist pilot.

"We had a lot of military people who came and talked with us for hours," Skudlarick said. Many shared terrifying stories of how they had escaped the building by linking hands and hollering, "Come this way," because the smoke was so thick, Skudlarick said.

The survivors’ pain was intensified by the fact that terrorism had caused their suffering.

"These people were raw," Skudlarick said, and there were no established protocols for dealing with such an event. "You have no idea how people are going to behave," she said. Those providing emotional support knew they were breaking new ground.

Skudlarick recalled a man who was wandering around aimlessly with a briefcase. She put her arm around his shoulder and sat him down at a round table with a handful of other NADAF people.

"He talked for hours," Skudlarick said. Both his mother and father had been on board Flight 77 and had already been inurned in an Annapolis chapel. His father was a retired Navy admiral and an American Airlines pilot. The briefcase the man clutched contained family photos and mementos.

The 24-hour Pentagon Family Assistance Center was based in the Sheraton Hotel. An entire floor was devoted to assisting families with everything from first aid to psychological help. This also served as a central location where victims’ families could apply for benefits, such as Social Security.

"There were Kleenex boxes; there were counselors," Skudlarick recalled. Helpers from all types of faith communities were there to provide spiritual comfort. The family of each victim was assigned a military Casualty Assistance Crisis Officer (CACO).

A four-star general gave a daily briefing at 11 a.m. that included an update on the counted remains of those killed, both identified and unidentified. Every Friday the FBI provided an update on the criminal investigation.

During the briefings, CACOs with microphones would stand on either side of the room to field questions from the audience. The general had learned everyone’s name and was able to call on them personally, Skudlarick said. If someone broke down crying, she said, "within one second, a military representative would be by their side."

The general’s "extreme compassion" touched Skudlarick. She recalled watching his impressive people skills by day, "and then I would see him jogging at night."

It became apparent that the families of 9-11 victims on board all four hijacked planes had a need to connect, so NADAF found ways to link them together.

Skudlarick said that in any crisis, "people have a huge need to be connected to each other."

The military’s memorial service Oct. 11 for the Pentagon victims involved a coordination of six hotels, hundreds of buses and thousands of meal vouchers.

"It was the most unbelievable logistical operation I’ve ever seen," Skudlarick said.

"It was a very, very unique experience, one I will never forget," she said.