On 9/11: ‘We Were Trained and Ready’
It’s been 25 years — a quarter century — since two passenger planes crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. No one who was alive and conscious on that clear blue Tuesday morning will ever forget it.
The day, known simply as 9/11, is seared into Gen. Dan Finnegan’s memory. He was a young F-16 pilot, at the beginning of his career, stationed at the Vermont Air National Guard base at Leahy Burlington International Airport.
Finnegan was at the base planning for a mission when he saw the attacks unfold on the news. The Guard quickly armed two F-16s and got the order to take off. They were headed to patrol the skies above Ground Zero; the Green Mountain Boys’ planes were some of the first on the scene.
Finnegan was not part of that initial sortie — his first shift in the air wasn’t until that evening, when he flew over the city in the darkness.
“It was — I don’t know if eerie is the right word,” he said recently in an interview. “Generally, when you fly over New York City, the radio traffic, the airline traffic is substantial. I just remember it being very, very quiet. Very, very solemn. There’s not an airplane in the sky at this point. Everything had been grounded.”
Because no one at the time was certain enemy aircraft or more hijacked planes weren’t on the way, the Air Force made sure that two F-16s were in the skies over Ground Zero 24 hours a day — for 122 days straight. Finnegan flew many, many missions over the site, in planes equipped with live missiles.
He and the other pilots knew it was possible they’d be ordered to fire on a hijacked passenger jet. ”The decision to engage an airliner would not be made on our level,” he explained. “We would just be the ones executing it. And we were trained and ready to do that.”
We know so much about the attacks now — about Osama bin Laden and the hijackers — but the service members responding knew so little at the time. “If something like this could happen, what else could happen?” Finnegan recalled wondering. “Was this one event or the beginning of multiple events? We didn’t really know what was next. That’s what kept you on edge.”
Many Vermonters were grateful for their presence. “We’ve heard over the years, as we’ve engaged with the community, how much people appreciated hearing those aircraft take off in those days after 9/11, when everybody’s wondering what’s happening,” Finnegan said. “They were hearing the Vermont Air Guard take off in the morning, the afternoon, the evening, knowing full well that we were going up there to defend the airspace.”
Like the rest of Vermont’s Green Mountain Boys, Finnegan is still ready to serve, whether that’s here or overseas. For the 25th anniversary of 9/11, he’ll fly over the state in an F-35, in memory of those who lost their lives that day. If you hear jet noise and look up between 1 and 2 p.m., you might catch him and remember why he’s up there.
On the Home Front
Unlike full-time branches of the military, the Vermont Army and Air National Guard are made up of part-time soldiers and airmen who serve one weekend a month and two weeks a year. Depending on the Guard’s current mission, that service can turn into an overseas deployment.
Though members of the Air National Guard recently returned home from an eight-month deployment, many of Vermont’s soldiers and airmen are still deployed overseas. While they’re away, their families — and their employers — make do without them, often without knowing exactly where they are, what they’re doing or when they’re likely to return.
The Guard provides resources to help families cope with these separations. There’s a licensed mental health clinician based at the 158th Fighter Wing, along with a licensed clinical social worker — Trish Soter, the Air National Guard’s director of psychological health. Both are available to soldiers and airmen at all times. “I don’t know of any other jobs where you have free access to therapists that you can speak with while on the clock,” Soter said.
Those therapists offer individual and couples counseling to help members and their families with relationship problems, parenting and occupational stressors. “Relationships are hard, and the military exacerbates that, for sure,” Soter said.
The Guard also maintains an office of family readiness. Tasha Ludovici, who manages the program, said she thinks of her office as the “first stop” for soldiers, airmen and their families, and that goes beyond just assisting with deployments. “They can come to our office, and we can figure out what type of support they need,” she said.
There are also many ways the community can help. Some businesses offer military discounts, for example. Some employers continue to pay Guard members even while they’re away.
But Ludovici said the easiest and most important thing Vermonters can do is check in with Guard families during a deployment to see if they need anything. “If they have children, they’re going from two parents in the house to now technically a single parent and the added stress that that can cause,” she said. Ask yourself: Do they need help with the kids? Do they have pets? Do they need something done around the house?
If you’d like to support Vermont’s Guard families but don’t know how, a new website can help: vtguardsupport.org. The project was spearheaded by Neale Lunderville, president and CEO of Vermont Gas Systems, who is also one of the Vermont Air National Guard’s civilian honorary commanders.
The site will help match families with offers of goods and/or assistance. There’s a way to contribute financially, as well, to help support the troops.
This article appears in September 9 • 2026.
