The front page of today’s Burlington Free Press asked gubernatorial candidates Peter Shumlin and Brian Dubie to describe, in their own words, the “hardest decision you’ve ever had to make.”
Shumlin, the Democratic state Senate leader, says it was the choice over whether to get into politics or remain a private businessman.
Dubie writes that his toughest choice came on September 11, 2001, while serving double duty as a commercial pilot for American Airlines and as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserves.
Dubie was en route to Boston’s Logan Airport, he writes, when he learned a friend and colleague, Capt. John Ogonowski, was in the cockpit of American Airlines Flight 11, which was hijacked and crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Dubie was asked by the airline to serve as “casualty notification” to his friend’s wife and three young daughters.
As an Air Force officer, Dubie writes, he was also part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency team “responsible for airlifting rescue workers and supplies to disaster sites.” While he was with his friend’s family, Dubie writes, his supervisor called, “ordering me to FEMA headquarters immediately.”
So what did Dubie do? In his own words:
It raised a dilemma: respond to my nation’s call to duty or continue serving the family of a friend at a time of tremendous need. I informed my commander that I was where I needed to be. I knew that was the right decision. I was grateful my commander supported it.
Did Dubie disobey a direct order? On 9/11, of all days? I’m no military expert, but it certainly reads like that. I guess I always thought that when you’re in the military, an “order” is, you know, an order. Maybe it was another misstatement?
Dubie certainly demonstrated intense compassion and loyalty by staying with his friend’s family. It seems like highlighting this on the front page of Vermont’s largest newspaper would open a candidate to questions he’d rather not get into — and not just by “alternative” news outlets like Seven Days.
In the Freeps piece, Dubie goes on to explain that he later connected with his FEMA team.
Later that day I reported to the FEMA Regional Center in Massachusetts. As soon as communications were reestablished at FEMA Operations Center in New York, I went there.
Dubie describes how he personally got badly needed radios into the hands of emergency workers at Ground Zero — with just a touch of Jack Bauer “ends-justify-the-means” rule-breaking bravado:
It was my responsibility to coordinate military airlift and ground transportation for urban search and rescue teams, and specialized support equipment. To ensure that rescue workers at ground zero were able to communicate, a Motorola factory in Fort Lauderdale preprogrammed 2000 radios, but were told to wait for the proper authority before we could act. With a choice of waiting for approval or bucking the chain of command, I decided to act. I called the aircraft commander of the Florida Air Guard, gave him my Social Security number and said, “I take full responsibility, just get those radios to the people in need right now.” We got the radios to rescue personnel working the wreckage of the Twin Towers. The director of New York Emergency Management later said the timely delivery of those radios was one of the most critical tools rescue workers at ground zero had in their effort to save lives.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2010.
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Andy,I have admired your “fringe” interviews, esp. the one with Dumbbell Steele, because when the wingnuts don’t answer your questions, you don’t give up. I like a journalist with brains and good interrogation skills. It’s rare to find them. Esp. in combination. And doubly esp. in Vermont.But this??? C’mon. This is baaaaaaad.Anything to slam Dubie?
There isn’t an “issue.” There was a decent story on both candidates by the Free Press, that’s what provides an insight into Dubie’s character, and Shumlin’s as well. This blog post is a desperate attempt to find something in that article on which Dubie can be attacked; it’s a headline based on a demonstrably false premise, so there’s literally nothing to debate.This does accomplish one thing, though – erases any lingering questions about 7D’s bias. No point in even pretending to have any objectivity after publishing something like this.
But at least people know about the issue now and can debate it. I think the whole thing makes Dubie a more interesting character and more nuanced person that we otherwise might have thought. If you want to know what Shumlin might have done in the same situation, the press should ask him. That’s their job.
Please.I’m a regular reader and like this column. However, this “story” is such a stretch, that to me it’s a ding in the credibility of the columnist.
The answer to the pernicious headline, “Did Dubie Disobey an Order on 9/11?”, is obviously no. This is a non-story looking for an audience that simply doesn’t exist. Move on.
I ain’t a fan of Dubious, but yeah, this one seems a stretch.
One does have to wonder how this story would have been spun if Peter Shumlin had been in Brian Dubie’s place…perhaps a more favorable account of a “…man who bucked the system for what is right and gets things done, no matter what the consequences. He didn’t follow the rules, because the rules weren’t right, not on that horrible day. Shumlin quickly realized that compassion was what was needed at that moment; a time for action was soon to come, and when it did, he again took the reins, and delivered much-needed equipment when his commanders had repeatedly tried their best to block his tireless efforts to save lives…” Blah, blah, blah.
…which could also be interpreted as “we had a discussion about it, and the order was revised/retracted.” Mostly because that’s what he says happened.You admit you’re no military expert, so why didn’t you ask one if a direct order is considered “disobeyed” if the superior officer modifies the order before the conversation is even finished? Because it wouldn’t have allowed you to write a completely unsupported Dubie hit piece, perhaps?
Jimmy, I didn’t miss that part at all. But you’ll notice that comes after Dubie says, in his own words (not mine), that he was “ordered” to report for duty at FEMA “immediately.” And he doesn’t say he “asked” FEMA for permission to come later. He “told” him he wasn’t coming immediately.
“I was grateful my commander supported it.”I guess you missed that part.It’s amazing how shameless you guys are in acting as a propaganda arm for the D/P’s.