But also unveiled, at least to me, is the name and job title of an Air Force photographer--U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Louis Briscese, of the Forensic Photography Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner.
This photograph is labeled "Montgomery County, MD firefighters extinguish the flames at the Pentagon. Photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Louis Briscese, of the Forensic Photography Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner (AFIP.)"The title should read "Five anonymous co-conspirators pose for a propaganda shot beside an American flag while they shoot water onto an aviation fuel fire."
This photograph is titled, "Police and EMS equipment in the foreground at the Pentagon. Photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Louis Briscese, of the Forensic Photography Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner (AFIP.)"Its title should read "Another generic shot of unattended fire burning with the foreground blocked. Taken around noon (check out the sun angle on the van.)"
How an army forensic photographer got onto the scene so early is one question. Why such banal images are being used in a medical museum exhibit is another question. Like Sgt. Thomas "Nate" Orme, one must ask when these men were called into duty and whether or not this represents clear evidence of foreknowledge.
_____________________________________
On Edit: October 22, 2016,
Thanks to the comment left to this blog a month ago by a Californian named Kelly, we have a newspaper update sourced from Air Force forensic photographer Tech. Sgt. Louis Briscese. Fifteen years later and the tangled web they wove after first they practiced to deceive, just got more banal and sad. A part of their endless tapestry from hell.
And since comments left to my blog are usually excoriating, I have to thank ex-military members like Kelly for their integrity and common sense. Maybe it will brush off on the Catholic FBI and CIA.
Kelly has left a new comment on your post "Sgt. Louis Briscese: Reservists Called Onto Duty w...":
Hello Steve. I'm not sure if you even check this page any longer, but I found it when I googled Tech. Sgt. Louis Briscese. There is a story about him and some pics he took in my local paper today, out here in California. I don't believe his story. I was in the Air Force, and him "leaving a mandatory dental appointment, grabbing his go bag and heading to the Pentagon DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! THEN HE SAYS HE WAS THERE 3 WEEKS? NO MENTION OF EVER TELLING HIS JOB WHERE HE WAS. THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE. AND A COP TOOK HIM TO THE PENTAGON TO TAKE PICTURES??? NO WAY!
A commenter to Ian Thompson's Daily Republic article left a link to a very good article here:
September 10, 2016, BlacklistedNews.com, 9/11 Anniversary: Government Hid and Destroyed 9/11 Evidence, Archived,
September 11, 2016, Daily Republic [Fairfield, CA] page C1, 9/11 – 15 Years Later: Air Force photographer recorded Pentagon attack's aftermath, by Ian Thompson, Archived,
Air Force forensic photographer Tech. Sgt. Louis Briscese took photos at the Pentagon the day of the 9/11 attacks. (Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic)
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE — Air Force forensic photographer Tech. Sgt. Louis Briscese took one look at the smoke rising from the Pentagon and knew where he had to be that day.
The photographs he started taking within an hour of the Pentagon being struck by a hijacked aircraft on Sept. 11, 2001, recorded one of America's darkest days since World War II.
"No one knew where I was at," Briscese said of taking the initiative to rush from an early morning dental appointment at Andrews Air Force Base to the Pentagon.
A New York City native whose family later moved to New Jersey, Briscese joined the Air Force in August 1984.
He was serving in September 2011 as a forensic photographer with the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner photographing crime scenes, aircraft crashes and autopsies.
The office's personnel had already been involved in the investigations of previous terrorist attacks such as the Kenya bombings and the attack on the USS Cole.
On the morning of Sept. 11, Briscese went to a dentist appointment at Andrews Air Force Base. On the way there, he got a phone call from a colleague saying only something big had happened in New York City and that he was put on standby.
That something big was hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crashing into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center.
"When I walked out of the appointment, I saw people gathered around the TV watching," Briscese said.
He found it difficult to get off Andrews Air Force Base and soon got a call that something was going on at the Pentagon.
"You could see the smoke from Andrews," Briscese said.
The smoke was from where hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the western side of the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., causing one section of the building to collapse and punching through three of the building's five rings.
Briscese realized that the Pentagon was where he should be and managed to get a Maryland State Police escort to Bolling Air Force Base where he grabbed his "go bag" full of photo gear and then took off for the Pentagon.
"The (police) officer and I were the only ones going into DC while the other side of the highway was packed," Briscese said.
Briscese pulled up at the still-burning Pentagon and immediately started taking pictures of the attack site, which would soon be declared a crime scene.
"It was a big fire and there was a lot of chaos," Briscese said. "Several times, we evacuated because of planes flying overhead."
It was almost midnight before Briscese finally ran into a couple of pathologists from his office amid the crush of firefighters, rescue workers and military members.
"The Pentagon was still burning throughout the night," Briscese said.
It wasn't until the next day that Briscese was able to enter the Pentagon through an entrance near the crash site to take crime scene photos in the interior.
Briscese was so deeply wrapped up in his work at the Pentagon that it wasn't until he got a little downtime at home that he realized that the World Trade Center had also been attacked.
The main job soon became identification of the bodies of those killed in the attack and Briscese was moved to Dover Air Force Base on the third day, where his work continued nearly nonstop for the next month.
After the third week, Briscese finally started getting some real downtime.
Briscese said he realized that the attacks were just a beginning and there were a lot of changes in store for his office and for the nation as America geared up for its war on terror.
Fifteen years later, Briscese said it is good to know that his photography played a role in the investigation of the attack on the Pentagon and helped the families of those who died get relief with the identification of their loved ones.
"As a team, we performed remarkably," Briscese said of the overwhelming challenge of helping process the scene of the crash and later identifying the victims.
Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or ithompson@dailyrepublic.net. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ithompsondr.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Ian Thompson
Ian Thompson has worked for the Daily Republic longer than he cares to remember. A native of Oregon and a graduate of the University of Oregon, he pines for the motherland still. He covers Vacaville and Travis Air Force Base for the Daily Republic. He is an avid military history buff, wargamer and loves the great outdoors.
________________________________________________________________________________
Discussion | 9 comments
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Time for Truth September 11, 2016 - 9:00 am
Inside job.Fussy September 11, 2016 - 9:02 am
Snow job by TFT.Fires Waiting to Burn September 12, 2016 - 8:32 am
Really? So someone can SPEAK THE TRUTH by calling it an inside job, but I agree and my comment is deleted? Truth hurts that much huh?Fires Waiting to Burn September 12, 2016 - 8:33 am
I agree. PREACH!Fires Waiting to Burn September 12, 2016 - 8:34 am
My I agree comment is for @Time for Truth, since my last one was deleted.Interesting articles, here is one September 11, 2016 - 12:10 pm
September 10, 2016, BlacklistedNews.com, 9/11 Anniversary: Government Hid and Destroyed 9/11 Evidence, Archived,Need all investigations open to the public. September 11, 2016 - 1:09 pm
To remember......Plenty of stuff out there, why do you have to come up with this bs. The more intelligent truthers feel dick set it up, it got out of hand and his and bush's involvement had more to do with the Saudi connections. What was their point? dick Cheney is a profiteering war monger he used bush. Probably meant to interrupt the thing before the hijackings, it got out of control before the govt could react. Look at THE FBI instigated terror attacks that were interrupted by the FBI just before they happened. The gay bar incident in Florida was one that got away from them.Need all investigations open to the public. September 11, 2016 - 1:18 pm
To remember, this sounds like a load of bs, most " truthers"" feel that this was actually an FBI OR CIA entrapment that got out of hand. Like the bar shooting in Orlando, FBI handlers just weren't quick enough there. Cops shot a lot of people though. Look at how many FBI instigated terror plots were tried in the last few years. Agent finds a nut case then the disturbed individual gets tricked into doing something and gets arrested. Cheney is a war profiteer, bush was his dupe.TXPatriot (@noblebutts) September 13, 2016 - 5:23 am
By all accounts, everyone in the building was surprised by a 757 that was flying around for an hour on radar and reported as hijacked?!?!. Something does not add up,______________________________________________________________________________
Dear Mr. Warren,
ReplyDeleteIn response:
The two photos you refer to were part of an exhibit called "Research Matters: 9/11, The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Responds." The exhibit was de-installed some time ago, so the photos are not on display now. Therefore, it is incorrect to say in your January 2008 blog that the museum "has unveiled an exhibit" because you are talking about something that happened several years ago.
A team of more than 70 AFIP personnel (military, federal employees, and civilian contractors) was assembled, including members of every branch of service, to perform forensic pathology, forensic odontology, forensic anthropology, photographic work, and DNA services to identify victims. AFIP staff was sent to the Dover Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, to the Pentagon crash site, and to Somerset County, Pa. At the AFIP's Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL), more than 45 forensic scientists and support personnel provided critical DNA expertise. Therefore, it is incorrect to say that "Reservists" were "Called Onto Duty" because the AFIP personnel were not reservists. Also, it is incorrect to say they were called "with Foreknowledge" because they received orders to deploy after the 911 attacks.
Tech. Sgt. Briscese is one of several photographers whose photos were displayed in the exhibit. The names and titles of the other photographers are posted on the museum's web site. So, it is incorrect to say this was just "also unveiled."
The photographer you accuse of being part of a conspiracy was part of a team of AFIP personnel who were dispatched to the site. If you check MapQuest, you'll see that it is a short drive from the AFIP, which is headquartered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, to the Pentagon. So, it is incorrect to dispute how he was able to get "onto the scene so early."
You also say "Why such banal images are being used in a medical museum exhibit is another question." The Museum is part of the AFIP. For many years the Museum annually devoted one new exhibit to the work of its parent organization. One year, that new exhbit was "Research Matters: 9/11, The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Responds." The curators of that exhibit made a decision to not use any images of victims who could be identified by surviving family and friends. That seems sensible doesn't it, as opposed to your comment of them being "banal."
And as far as your two photo captions: In the first, how do you know the fire in that spot is chiefly aviation fuel? And even if it is, how do you know the firefighters are using water? In the second photo, how can you see behind the building in front of the fire to know that firefighters aren't there? I have no idea what point you are trying to make regarding your belief that it is noon...
Dear "Anonymous"
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised you took such a tawdry exhibit down. Your web site, which I link to, has it as "running indefinitely," a category somewhere between temporary and permanent, but leaning more toward permanent in my mind.
As to the timeliness of Mr. Briscese's arrival--with the roads shut down, massive traffic jams, and traffic running the wrong way on I-395, it would have been hard to arrive on the scene so quickly. Also, I might think the forensic photographer's work would be taking place inside Walter Reade, medical forensics being different than criminal. Given the hierarchal nature of the military and the failure of leadership the Pentagon attack represents, pray tell, who issued "orders to deploy after the 911 attacks" and at what time?
The only other image accompanying the web posting was a view of an anonymous medical tent in Somerset County. It clearly conveys a medical intent, unlike the absurd, and I repeat, generic, Briscese shots, without impinging on the feelings of families of victims.
You "have no idea what point you are trying to make regarding your belief that it is noon..." because you are superficially blind, as you must remain if you wish to carry water for the official government conspiracy theory. Learn to stare more deeply into photographs and I think you'll uncover my sundial.
This was a minor effort on my part after a long period of writer's block (actually, delving deeply into the Pentagon miasma is so painful and depleting I needed to mentally redeploy.) That my little effort resulted in such a rapid response can only mean Karen Hughes is back on the scene, and constitutes a marvelous feather in my cap.
This is my only point of surrebuttal:
I had never heard of the National Museum of Health and Medicine before my visit to the web site, which lasted some time. I found the section on Walt Whitman to be so extremely moving, to the point I was crying copiously, and so completely unfamiliar to me, that I would rank it as one of my top museum-going experiences of the last few years. That should make any curator extremely proud.
By way of comparison, the 9-11 exhibit is beneath my contempt. Like the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress's 9-11 efforts, you all should be deeply, deeply ashamed of yourselves.
That such a thoughtful response as yours comes from an anonymous source also speaks to our integrity.
To the States
ReplyDeleteTo the States or any one of them, or any city of the States,
Resist much, obey little,
Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved,
Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth, ever afterward resumes its liberty.
- Walt Whitman
Here is a recent email exchange I had with a Sgt. Nate Orme--a true Reservist, whose "deployment" is also at issue:
ReplyDelete----- Original Message -----
From: Army Writer
To: smwelch@optonline.net
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 4:22 AM
Subject: pentagon commentary by sgt. orme
Hi Steve,
Just did a search on my name and found your commmentary on my commentary. Really amazing how you interpret it. I'm out of the Reserve now, but I can tell you, the Army is not nearly organized enough to pull off what you give it credit for--as in the grand design conspiracies that you see.
I wrote this article purely on my own and then submitted it. If I didn't write it, no one would have. I only submitted it to one outlet, the Army News Service. It's public domain material, so anyone can use it or edit it as far as I know, just as you have. That kind of undermines a lot of your premise, doesn't it?
As for the factual content, I merely repeated what an FBI spokesman told a group of us, as we walked through the damage. No one was thinking conspiracy, so such questions as, why wasn't there another hole from the second engine, never were contemplated. Frankly, it still doesn't seem conspiratorial. A million things could have blocked the other engine from making a "twin" hole in the wall. As for the hole being made from the nose cone, which I've heard before, that just seems ridiculous, since the nose would have to pass through several thick walls intact first to get to this interior wall. Impossible.
As for the patriotism in the commentary, you can blame my family, or the Founding Fathers for that, because it certainly wasn't my commander or anyone else. It is clearly titled a commentary, so it is just my opinion, where not being strictly factual. As for the facts, please be more specific when you state there are "flamboyant lies."
I may not agree with your conclusions, but I'll risk life and limb to protect your and my right to state ours, however loony they may be.
Cordially,
Nate Orme
Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 01:48:55 -0500
From: smwelch@optonline.net
Subject: Re: pentagon commentary by sgt. orme
To: armywriter@hotmail.com
Dear Nate (Or is it Thomas? See: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/355796414_7b06065c74_o.gif for photo # 4675 taken by a Sgt Thomas Orme on Sept. 11th, 2001.)
Well, that's as good a place to start a response to you as any. Were you at the Pentagon on 9-11-01? As a reserve officer, when were you "called up" to duty? You say you've left the reserves, but I see you're still inside the beltway. (68.106.110.147 Alexandria Virginia.)
My premise is not undermined by any of the points in your email. I have three versions of what you call your gratuitous, self-motivated "submission." The first datelined Sept 26, 2001 is the "extended" version, titled Commentary: Remember the honored dead at Pentagon crash site. Then, Commentary: Remember those fallen at Pentagon, dated October 12, 2001, (re?)posted at La Prensa San Diego; and lastly, the same title (with an addition of "the" article before "Pentagon," in the commander's column of Soundoff! the Fort Meade community organ. My point gives weight to the suppressed paragraphs which have nothing to do with you and everything to do with the editor (the later commentaries could reasonably have been reduced for space considerations, but that option is no longer available to you as an excuse since I came up with it before you did!)
As to the facts, you absolve yourself ("I merely repeated what an FBI spokesman told a group of us,") while holding my feet to the fire ("As for the facts, please be more specific when you state there are 'flamboyant lies.' ") My use of the word lies does not hold up under examination and I have changed my blog to read adjectives in order to be fair to you. I do note one error of fact--it is not the "inside wall of the second ring of the Pentagon" where a hole was punched, but the third, and this holds true if you're counting in from E or out from A.
To continue our argument over the punch out hole, nose cone is still the official version, uncorrected from the earliest press conferences. (Well, check out my blog at http://stevenwarran.blogspot.com/2007/10/le-pntgon-blogmonde.html where I quote from the Defense Studies' 2007 softbound book Pentagon 9/11, which holds the exterior renovations as responsible...
"The blast-proof windows didn't explode into deadly shards, and ballistic cloth in the walls did its job protecting employees from brick fragments. But all the force that was being absorbed by these reinforcements had to go somewhere, and it did, blowing a hole in a wall of one of the building's interior alleys."
...as though that poured-concrete, fire-proof building acted as a diaphragm membrane. This is simply beneath our contempt.
(And nose cone it must remain if we want the downed lamp poles to line up. Other poles, like the untouched VDOT pole nearby, leave no room for error.)
Thank you very much Mr. Orme for offering your life and limb to protect my rights to freedom of speech. Given the tone of your email, as distinct from the tone of your commentary, I can't really believe that you emotionally believe what you first wrote is true, otherwise you'd be cleaning my clock for the disrespect I show to your dead comrades. It's not my place to put words in your mouth but I must read between the lines here.
A funny thing happened when I was writing my blog about you. (I know I posted about this somewhere online already but I can't find the reference now.) As I was writing, and I can't remember if I was working in Word or Blogger, when I got to the part about ...
"I want to change the mood. The remaining information is on a different plane, consisting as it does of the names of two senior FBI agents in charge at the Pentagon for this action."
...someone, or thing, literally took control of my cursor and wildly began typing on my screen 666666666666666666666666666 6 6 666666666666 666666666666666666666666 666666666 6 in agitated random patterns. I can only assume I was being monitored in real time by the FBI, as I don't think I was meant to be treated to an interactive display, but I triggered it.
A part of me dreads a future where I am arrested and imprisoned under Jane Harman's Violent Homegrown Radicalization and Potential Thoughtcrime Lonewolf Act of 2007. The fact that I haven't been so far makes me think there may be some division within the FBI as to my loony "grand design" theories. I hope at least that you will appreciate that I act out of affection and devotion to the constitution of the United States of America, to the best of my ability to interpretate it and current events. In return, I very much appreciate the position you and other present and former military personal are in, working within the system. Being outside that system allows me to act and speak as I do, but nonetheless, it takes great courage on my part to do so.
Best Regards,
Steven Welch
----- Original Message -----
From: Army Writer
To: steven welch
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 5:57 PM
Subject: RE: pentagon commentary by sgt. orme
Steve,
Sorry for the slow response, I check this email occasionally, but it is not my working email, and I didn't hear back soon so I forgot to check it again.
First, I'll clear up a few things. I was an enlisted Reservist, not an officer, meaning I worked for a living (old joke). That is obvious from the Sgt. in front of my name. Yes, I still live near DC, which is why I was called up to cover the Pentagon attack. I was in a local unit. I was assuming you understand the nature of the Reserves, but maybe this is not the case. One is not stationed someplace. Soldiers go to a local unit headquartered near their home, as I did. My unit commander worked in the Pentagon in Public Affairs as a civilian, and still is a Reserve officer as far as I know.
Not sure why you used disparaging adjectives for why I submitted a commentary. What is self-motivating about it? Army public affairs print journalist soldiers often have a certain amount of leeway on what they can write about. I could have choosen to write the commentary, or write another article on, say, the volunteers helping to feed the workers searching throught the rubble. I chose to write a commentary.
You may indeed know more about the official version submitted about the Pentagon attack. I did my story and moved on. A conspiracy involving a missile in a self-mutilating attack by the government itself seemed and still seems far beyond reality. Why not an alien attack? If you consider quoting an official spokesman as "absolving" myself, that's fine, because it is just a disparaging way of stating I did my job correctly.
My "tone" has nothing to do with the facts, but tones do seem to influence people, often more than the facts. It is a sign of a lost argument by those who continue to criticize someone's tone, after all other criticisms have been allayed.
I started writing this before I finished your email, so I'll tell you, some of what you write I agree with wholeheartedly. Other parts are just nuts, like the FBI causing the string of 6's while you were typing. I'm glad you care for the Constitution though.
I have not read your blog beyond this article. I may, but really I'm quite aware of the left's paranoia about the government. Is that what your blog is mostly about? Why is the left so intimidated by Muslim fanatics, that they are so mute on criticising them? Fear of beheadings? Easier to call Mormons racist?
I'm not a big fan of the way the war has been handled. A trillion dollars could have rebuilt all of Latin America. Instead, we wasted it on people that ideologically will always hate us, barring some miracle or upending of the mullah order there. I wonder why we even consider any country that punishes or kills "apostates" a friend, as we do with Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. These countries are as toxic as Nazi Germany was, yet we treat them like a patient with a problem, rather than accept that that is who they are by choice. It is patronizing, and eventually suicidal. We may be metasizing into the enemy via Islamic immigration and oil money influence and bribery. So there is my "paranoia." I think I have a better argument than someone who believes the United States is about to become a fascist state bent on taking over the world. Can you really disagree?
By the way, that photo was not one I took. My unit arrived after the flames were out, around 9/13. Yes, my first name is Thomas, but I go by my middle name, Nate. La Prensa San Diego, a private entity, is free to reprint DoD articles, if attributed correctly, but probably that is difficult to enforce everywhere. I would only consider DoD material from official sources as untampered.
-Nate Orme
Nate-- I'll be totally upfront with you. I consider you a co-conspirator after the fact. All of your writing is remarkably dishonest--in tone, as well as in fact. It will be the job of a grand jury to determine when you were on the scene and what photos you took. I'm assuming that I got the Thomas Orme photograph off some military or government site, and I bet officialdom is pretty good at covering up their tracks, but not that good. Remember, it is the cover-up, not the crime that will be the conspiracy's undoing. I'm just glad I got the fact of your name--Thomas "Nate" Orme--out.
You call disparaging the neutral adjectives I use to describe what you called your motivation for writing the narrative-rich commentary. What was your motivation for writing the "fire wrought destruction in two directions" paragraph, which was taken out after a first publication. Why can't I find a link to that version anymore? I have no background in physics, do you? Do you know how ridiculous that whole "airplane tipped at an angle" explanation sounds now given subsequent revelations? You say a million things could have stopped a second airplane engine. Really? Give me two. When you write "Why not an alien attack?" I simply dismiss you as an asshole beneath my contempt.
I didn't say the FBI caused the string of six's across my screen. I said I was writing about the FBI when it happened, and it did happen, even if that sounds "nuts" to you. I believe Christo-fascists and Zionists have taken over my beloved country, causing our military to murder one million innocents in two of the poorest countries on the planet as we lust for oil and wealth, while you're "not a big fan of the way the war has been handled." OMFG
You may want to read my blog. It is about evidence I've uncovered that clearly and unmistakably leads me to believe our own military undertook the Pentagon attack. I also believe our own forces beheaded Nicholas Berg at Abu Gharib. This is probably going to be more than your head can handle so you may want to concentrate on covering your ass. As was said after the collapse of Nazi Germany, following orders will be no excuse for "working" enlisted Reservists like yourself. Coming clean is your, and our, only salvation.
I assume salvation is an ultimate goal of yours?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Steve. I'm not sure if you even check this page any longer, but I found it when I googled Tech. Sgt. Louis Briscese. There is a story about him and some pics he took in my local paper today, out here in California. I don't believe his story. I was in the Air Force, and him "leaving a mandatory dental appointment, grabbing his go bag and heading to the Pentagon DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! THEN HE SAYS HE WAS THERE 3 WEEKS? NO MENTION OF EVER TELLING HIS JOB WHERE HE WAS. THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE. AND A COP TOOK HIM TO THE PENTAGON TO TAKE PICTURES??? NO WAY! He states he was Active Duty Air Force, not reserve, and he was at a dental appointment at Andrews AFB, where he was stationed, when he received a call from a friend saying something had happened in NYC.“No one knew where I was at,” Briscese said of taking the initiative to rush from an early morning dental appointment at Andrews Air Force Base to the Pentagon.A New York City native whose family later moved to New Jersey, Briscese joined the Air Force in August 1984." “When I walked out of the appointment, I saw people gathered around the TV watching,” Briscese said.He found it difficult to get off Andrews Air Force Base and soon got a call that something was going on at the Pentagon.“You could see the smoke from Andrews,” Briscese said.Briscese realized that the Pentagon was where he should be and managed to get a Maryland State Police escort to Bolling Air Force Base where he grabbed his “go bag” full of photo gear and then took off for the Pentagon.“The (police) officer and I were the only ones going into DC while the other side of the highway was packed,” Briscese said.Briscese pulled up at the still-burning Pentagon and immediately started taking pictures of the attack site, which would soon be declared a crime scene.“It was a big fire and there was a lot of chaos,” Briscese said. “Several times, we evacuated because of planes flying overhead.”It was almost midnight before Briscese finally ran into a couple of pathologists from his office amid the crush of firefighters, rescue workers and military members.“The Pentagon was still burning throughout the night,” Briscese said.It wasn’t until the next day that Briscesc was able to enter the Pentagon through an entrance near the crash site to take crime scene photos in the interior.Briscese was so deeply wrapped up in his work at the Pentagon that it wasn’t until he got a little downtime at home that he realized that the World Trade Center had also been attacked.The main job soon became identification of the bodies of those killed in the attack and Briscese was moved to Dover Air Force Base on the third day, where his work continued nearly nonstop for the next month.After the third week, Briscese finally started getting some real downtime. Briscese said he realized that the attacks were just a beginning and there were a lot of changes in store for his office and for the nation as America geared up for its war on terror.Fifteen years later, Briscese said it is good to know that his photography played a role in the investigation of the attack on the Pentagon and helped the families of those who died get relief with the identification of their loved ones.“As a team, we performed remarkably,” Briscese said of the overwhelming challenge of helping process the scene of the crash and later identifying the victims.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailyrepublic.com/news/fairfield/911-15-years-later-air-force-photographer-recorded-pentagon-attacks-aftermath/
Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or ithompson@dailyrepublic.net. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ithompsondr.