Бывший пилот ВМС США, чей офис оказался под обломками самолета при терактах 11 сентября, рассказывает о силе единства нации

Rick Martier spent his upbringing in the Lowcountry, attending Hanahan High School and then the University of South Carolina. Though he has a family history of military service, that is not what initially inspired him to join the Navy. While in college, he met a member of the Navy ROTC who was on scholarship. Martier, who had joined a fraternity, needed $100 to pay his dues. The Navy ROTC member intrigued Martier, who was impressed by the crisp white uniform he wore. Martier learned that he received $111 a month as an incentive for being in the ROTC program. Martier immediately went to the Navy recruiting office on campus to sign up. When a naval captain asked him the reason he wanted to join, Martier told him the truth. “I was like, ‘Sir, I need 100 bucks a month,” he recalled. Martier graduated on Dec. 20, 1986, receiving a distinguished graduate award, and was commissioned the next day. He selected aviation right after finishing ROTC. He attended flight school in Pensacola, Florida, and trained in the specific aircraft he would be flying, a process that took a year and a half before he earned his wings. Martier’s first aircraft in the Navy was an E-2C Hawkeye, flying deployments to Panama for narcotics operations. His deployments often alternated between sea and shore missions. Then one day, he received orders to go to Washington, D.C. to handle aircraft requirements, similar to business development. Martier’s office was at the Pentagon. In 2001, the building was undergoing structural and interior renovations. Martier had moved into the D wing of the Pentagon, on the third deck, when American Airlines flight 77, a Boeing 757, crashed into the E wing. “The airplane flew underneath us,” Martier said. Martier has vivid memories of that day, seeing fireballs go up and witnessing a colleague give first aid to a woman who had sustained a head injury. Confused about what had just happened, he said, people evacuated the Pentagon in a calm and orderly manner. “The amount of discipline I observed was phenomenal,” he said. Once outside, Martier realized he had left his bag with all of his personal belongings. The only thing he had on him was his Pentagon badge. With the train system down, he began to walk to his home in Maryland. After his family did not hear from him for most of the day, Martier’s showed up at their door at 5 p.m. and had an emotional reunion with his family. Martier said he had to rely on his military training to get through the immediate aftermath. It was not lost on him that people had died while serving orders at a desk job in the Pentagon, on shore duty, in what was supposed to be one of the most secure places in the country. “For the longest time, I struggled [the] most with ‘why not me’ instead of, you know, ‘why me,’” he said, holding back tears. After some time, Martier was moved to Omaha, Nebraska with his wife and two sons. There, his sons were able to finish high school and pursue their dreams. Martier ended up retiring from the Navy after 21 years of service. Of all the lessons learned after Sept. 11, Martier said the most important is remembering the unity and strength people across the United States felt after the attacks. He encourages people who remember that tragic day to teach future generations about the strong sense of community and national pride that rose up. “We are much stronger, and much better together,” he said. Martier relocated back to the Lowcountry in 2013 with his wife to help his sister care for their mother, who was battling cancer. Upon his return, he found a community to help him heal old wounds from Sept. 11. He currently works as a business growth manager for Joint Tactics and Technologies, a government contractor, headquartered in California with an office location in Charleston.