Vic Socotra

9 September 2008

“Anniversary of 9/11 Attacks Marked by Memories, Sadness and Progress”

Rendering of the Pentagon Memorial to the Victims of the 9/11 Attack

Writing from the past about the future is always a trick, particularly if the words will not appear until the future is past. It requires the ability to have a sort of out-of-body experience, much like working on the out-years of a five year budget cycle.

Maybe my career prepared me for this eventuality, or maybe I have just become unhinged in time. Either is fine with me. The anniversary of that awful day is tomorrow, the one that unhinged all of us, and which will float forever in an amber orb of the finest na tural Fall day I remember.

Or maybe it is the contrast alone between what the senses were telling us that made the meteorology so remarkable.

I look at the Pentagon when I fill up the Hubrismobile at the Quarters K Navy Exchange. The vantage point is exactly like the rendering of the memorial, except that the building has been healed c ompletely. This week marks another phase of that healing.

They are going to dedicate the memorial park on the west flank of the vast concrete building, and there are a lot of people here for the occasion.

I had to write about tomorrow as if it were the past, since it will not see the light of day for several weeks. I said:

“The sadness that accompanies the return of life to the nation’s capital at the end of the summer will always be with us as we recall the memories of the seven Naval Intelligence Professionals who perished in the attack on the Pentagon seven years ago.

The family of CDR Dan Shanower came to Washington to pay tribute to his sacr ifice, and for all those who died on that day which began with the physical beauty of the fall season, and which so rapidly transitioned into such horror and sadness.

Ceremonies marked the solemn events at the Office of Naval Intelligence at Suitland, Maryland, and at the dedication of the awe-inspiring monument on the west lawn of the Pentagon.

The memory of our martyrs is also being remembered elsewhere.

Construction nears Completion on “The Vince”

A shipmate recently reported on how construction is going on construction of the new JICCENT intelligence facility at McDill AFB in Tampa, Florida. The structure’s official name is the “LCDR Otis Vincent Tolbert Joint Intelligence Operations Center,” but to those who know and honor the memory of our fallen comrade, it is already known as “The Vince.”

In life, Vince Tolbert was a star fullback and defensive end on a championship football team at Cal State Fresno. He was an equally hard-charging standout in Naval Intelligence, where his shipmates appreciated his dedication and mastery of the mission. The son of a pioneering Navy attack pilot, he was a loving husband to Shari, and doting father to his children: Amanda, Brittany, and Anthony.

The exterior of The Vince is nearly complete and the placement of Vince's name on the entrance is a milestone that everyone has awaitedwith great anticipation.

Completion and occupancy of The Vince is scheduled for spring/summer 2009. Our thoughts remain with Shari and their children. Anthony was a toddler when his father died. He is eight years old this year.

The memory of Vince the man, his father, will be perpetuated by The Vince, the building."

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