By Major General Richard Comer, USAF retired, USAFA 1973
STARRS Ambassador
Well, it happened that I was airborne when 9/11 occurred. I was going to visit Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, traveling from HQ USAF Special Operations Command (AFSOC) in Florida. As the Vice Commander of AFSOC, I needed to attend to some coordination with Space Command.
I was a passenger on a Delta Airlines flight from Ft Walton Beach/Eglin AFB to Atlanta. We took off at 8 AM Central time on a supposed one hour flight. We were put into a holding pattern outside the Atlanta airport and stayed in it for about 90 very frustrating minutes.
The pilots told us only that there were problems in the airspace all along the east coast. The cause was not disclosed to us passengers, and the thinking was that some air traffic control snafu was to blame.
We landed and taxied from one concourse to another looking for a place where we could park. It was the most unusual thing that ground control didn’t seem to know what slots were taken and which were open. Parking took an additional hour.
When I finally got off the aircraft, Atlanta airport was not normal. The hallways were nearly empty.
Still, I had an aircraft to catch and we had parked right next to the escalator down to the plane train below ground. I went directly down to get to the B concourse. The shuttle was empty, completely empty.
When I came up into the B concourse, the TGI Fridays TV had a crowd watching. I walked over and asked what was going on and was told the Twin Towers in New York had fallen due to a terrorist attack.
All flights were cancelled. There were no rental cars left. I finally got a ride from the Atlanta police up to Dobbins AFB. They had a car take me to Montgomery, Alabama where we met a car from Hurlburt to take me back home.
We arrived at 11 PM. Within the next month we sent 85 percent of AFSOC aircraft to the Middle East.
STARRS Ambassador Maj. Gen. Richard L. Comer spent 32 years on active duty, 17 of which were in Special Operations. He flew Air Force helicopters, seeing combat in Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, the Balkans, and in Operation Just Cause.
He commanded at squadron, group, and wing level in Air Force Special Ops and also had a tour as the Deputy Commanding General of JSOC. He was the vice commander of AFSOC for more than two years, which included the initial Afghan campaign after 9/11.
He served as Director of Plans and Policy for the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. as well as serving as the first J5, Director of Policy and Planning, for U.S. NORTHCOM at Peterson AFB, Colorado, when it was created a year later.
He finished his career as the Director of the Coalition Coordination Center at CENTCOM, Headquarters U.S. Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, FL,
General Comer, raised in Gastonia, N.C., received his commission upon graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1973. He completed undergraduate helicopter training in 1974, and has served as a pilot, instructor pilot, flight examiner, operations officer and squadron commander.
General Comer is a command pilot with more than 3,400 flying hours and retired in 2005.
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