9/11

[maple_leaf_eh]

My job was in the response mapping section at work. We all finished up our jobs, and stood by for new work. Nothing came. I suggested we needed to do something - anything, like start a map of airports in Canada. The chain did not see things my way. Oh well. It might have been helpful in later days.

Later in the day, one of the staff officers showed up with a disk of images he wanted plotted 'for the US embassy downtown'. Right away, boss. I opened the disk and loaded glossy photopaper in the plotters. For about an hour I plotted no classification stated high resolution oblique satellite shots of downtown Manhattan. The bird was slicking away from the target, and the camera was slewed backwards. The detail was incredible, and I won't say anything more than that. The photopaper takes a little time for the ink to set, so the sheets had to sit uncovered on the floor. I ended up with a mosaic of a dozen square yards of shots. The staff officer came back, we bundled everything up, and he disappeared. I like to think that I informed the US Ambassador and the Embassy that day. Friends help friends.