Life As A Security Guard In The Pentagon

The view from a prescreening booth outside the Pentagon where a gunman opened fire on police officers and then was shot and killed. Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

A Quiet Evening, Waiting for the Next Angry Man -- New York Times

A couple of weeks ago, the chief of the little-known police force at the Pentagon warned some of his officers to be vigilant for an “active shooter” — the breath-catching term for an armed individual who appears from nowhere and attacks, with no interest in survival.

It just seemed to the chief, Richard Keevill, that these kinds of troubling incidents were increasing. The Army doctor who opened fire at Fort Hood. The man who flew a plane into the Internal Revenue Service offices in Austin. The professor who killed three colleagues in Alabama because she had been denied tenure.

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My Comment: A long time (1988-1993) I took on an evening job as a security guard to earn extra money. My hours were from 4:00 PM to midnight, Monday to Friday. But what made this job special was the building that I was responsible for .... it was the UN's International Civil Aviation Building (ICAO) in Montreal.

Housing hundreds of international diplomats and scores of diplomatic offices, it never dawn on me that my job could in anyway be construed as dangerous .... I was just a young man trying to earn some extra money. I was almost always alone at the front desk, screening workers and visitors who may pass by to look at the artwork in the building. I was unarmed, and I enjoyed the responsibility that I had and the people that I was meeting.

It all changed when the first Gulf War broke out, and Saddam Hussein labeled all UN installations around the world as legitimate targets. My job was no longer safe, and I was no longer alone at my post .... I always had heavily armed RCMP officers that were positioned not far away. A few years later my job was replaced by the RCMP, and I became aware at that moment in time that the world had now changed and that security and protection must now be handled by the professionals.

Fortunately for the Pentagon, a few weeks ago those professionals acted courageously to protect the ones that they had vowed to protect. Kudos and commendations to these brave men who did their duty and fulfilled their responsibilities completely.