Stricter security new normal at MacDill after 9/11

James Ledbetter was on a mission out of MacDill Air Force Base to fly Gen. Pete Pace, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, down to Bogota, Columbia.

As he was taking off for the flight back to Tampa, the communications officer came into the cockpit with an urgent message.

"He came up and told us we got word that an airplane crashed into a building in New York," said Ledbetter.

It was Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, 2001. For Ledbetter and everyone else at MacDill, the world would never be the same.

"We were not sure what was going on," said Ledbetter. "We were looking at each other in the cockpit. Unfortunately, planes crash all of the time; why would he be getting that word?''

It quickly became evident, said Ledbetter, "there was a terrorist attack going on.''

Flying back was like "something out of Steven Spielberg movie," he said. "There were no planes in the air. There was silence on the radio. It was truly like we were the last people on earth."

The next day, Ledbetter returned to MacDill. The changes, he said, were evident even before getting on base.

"On the first day I was back, I was coming down Bayshore and waiting for an hour and 30 minutes, pretty much every day, the first week after it happened," he said. "It was ugly...There was so much chaos and turmoil. Stories were out that that there were bad guys around, who had evil intentions and were going to do some covert operations against the military, especially since SOCOM and CENTCOM were here. So that was in the back of everybody's mind here."

Tighter security is the new normal, according to the 6th Air Mobility Wing.

Before the events of 9/11, all you needed to get on base was a sticker, said Fred Fallman, 6th Mission Support Group Deputy Commander.

"Now, we check the ID card for all personnel driving/entering the base," Fallman said. "We also randomly select vehicles inbound and outbound to search. Military base personnel have probably always had a higher level of security than most civilian activities, but after 9/11 the base as a whole has stepped up its situational awareness."

Security was not the only thing to change at MacDill. The pace of operations has increased at U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command and the 6th Air Mobility Wing, MacDill's host unit.

Before 9/11, U.S. Central Command - which oversees military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and 18 other countries in the Middle East and Southwest Asia - "was a sleepy little command headquarters," said Wallace Dees, a Centcom civilian employee. In the days and weeks following the attacks, Centcom was elevated to war-time footing as military professionals were brought in from around the globe.

The headquarters operation, said Maj. T.G. Taylor, went from about 1,000 on the day of the attacks to about 5,000 now.

"Since 9/11, the operational tempo at Centcom has increased greatly," Taylor said.

The new tempo is visible around the world and at MacDill. Since 9/11, for instance, Centcom has seen the creation of a "coalition village" – home for military officials from the 65 nations who have partnered with the U.S. There have been major construction projects as well, including the new Joint Intelligence Operations Center and the new Centcom headquarters building, a four-story structure that will come on line in October.

U.S. Special Operations Command, created to "synchronize planning of global operations against terrorist networks," according to its global mission statement, has also become a much busier place.

The raid that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden was just one of thousands carried out by special forces troops.

A month after the 9/11 attacks, a congressional report noted that special operations forces "are expected to play an important role in U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and possibly elsewhere as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. military campaign against terrorists."

While command officials do not like to talk about their missions, budget numbers show how much Special Operations Command's role in the military has increased.

The command's annual budget has jumped more than 400 percent, from $2.3 billion in 2001 to $9.8 billion this year, according to Socom officials. Overall, the command's percentage of the entire military budget doubled, from 0.7 percent to 1.5 percent.

Socom's active duty, Reserve, Guard and civilian personnel also increased from 45,600 in 2001 to about 61,000, according to the command, and the average number of deployed personnel has jumped four-fold from nearly 3,000 before the attacks to 13,000 now.

The 6th Air Mobility Wing has also seen a dramatic increase in operational tempo and deployments as well.

"Prior to 9/11 we had an aggressive ops tempo supporting Operations Northern and Southern Watch after the first Gulf War," said Fallman.

The number of Air Force personnel at the base who deployed went from about 10 percent before 9/11 to 20 percent after, said Fallman. So did the length of deployment, from about three months on average to six. In addition, the time between deployments dropped even more sharply, from 20 months for some career fields to six months.

But perhaps the biggest change since 9/11 has been the effect on the families of those who serve.

"More is being asked of each individual," said Dave Cresswell, 6th Air Mobility Wing Chief of Exercises and Inspections. "This does, however, come at a cost - time away from family, missed birthdays and holidays. It's always been that way, only not as frequent."