September 28, 2011
I retired from 30 years of service in the Marine Corps in June 2005. Upon my retirement, I accepted employment as a consultant and worked at the Pentagon. My office was located on the 1st floor, between the 4th and 5th corridors, D ring. This location was in the path of the aircraft that crashed there on 9/11, and I was always troubled that so many good people died there four years earlier. In all of those days since, I still have in my mind the smell of smoke and fumes from that day.

I have lost 10 friends killed in the line of duty since hostilities began in Iraq and Afghanistan, and participated in 7 funerals with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, presenting our national flag to next of kin. And, we are still at war. This is so sad.

– Col. Jeff Douglass, USMC (Ret.)