Laconia veteran remembers experience on Barksdale Air Force Base on 9/11

The twin towers had already fallen when Air Force One touched down on Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, Louisiana, taking Glenn “Powder” Carlson by surprise while simultaneously spurring him into action.

His current mission was about to change, a domino effect jump-started at 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, after Islamic hijackers piloted a plane into the north tower of New York City's World Trade Center.

“We landed back at Barksdale on the 8th of September, and we all knew that we were coming back from an exercise to go into an exercise,” said Carlson, a resident of Laconia, explaining how he had just completed a Red Flag exercise in advanced aerial combat training. He was working in operations at the time. “You’re changing a mindset, going from a conventional to a more strategic and nuclear environment.”

Suddenly, on the morning of Sept. 11, planes were being used as giant guided missiles on some of New York’s most prominent landmarks, and Air Force bases around the nation were on high alert.

Barksdale was one of those bases, since its B-52 planes were taxied in an elephant walk, a formation of tightly knit planes, on the tarmac, waiting to start the next mission.

But that exercise fell to the wayside as the south tower was hit. The horn on base was sounded, planes were rearranged and President George W. Bush arrived on base, which had communications systems to ensure he had contact with the proper military commanders in the event of an ongoing national emergency.

The day’s rapidly unfolding events were a turning point in Carlson’s military career, and now, on the 24th anniversary commemorating the 9/11 attacks where thousands of Americans died, he's sharing his experience, educating Granite Staters on just how much the military landscape changed that day.

“Just knowing that somebody had done something nasty, we were ready to respond. We wanted to respond,” Carlson, 63, said. “That horrendous day, there was this unification sort of that you haven’t seen since World War II, in my opinion. You’ve got to remember and mourn those who perished. As a nation, we survived.”

Operation Enduring Freedom

An island in the middle of the Indian Ocean would suddenly become a temporary home for Carlson, one he’d been familiar with during his time serving in Operation Desert Shield.

Diego Garcia, strategically positioned to avoid another potential Pearl Harbor-like attack, would be his new duty station following the 9/11 attacks as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Launched on Oct. 7, 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom intended to dismantle al-Qaeda and remove the Taliban from power.

So it was time to settle in, and make Diego Garcia home.

“We were ready, and we wanted to use Enduring Freedom’s initial name, 'Infinite Justice,'” Carlson said. “So our tent city that we built at Diego was called Camp Justice.”

Camp Justice, full of tent-like living arrangements, would become the base’s well-known moniker, and Operation Enduring Freedom Air Force missions largely originated from the base.

A coin was designed by members of the mission, a Sept. 11, 2001 commendation on one side, and a design representing Diego Garcia with two “twin” palm trees on the other. Carlson brought this coin with him to The Laconia Daily Sun, demonstrating the tender aspects of war.

Leading up to his departure for Diego Garcia, Carlson and his squadron members assembled deployment kits while waiting to hear word.

That word eventually came.

“I was on the advanced team that flew out on a KC-10 tanker from Barksdale all the way to Diego Garcia, to help set up the base for the B-1s, B-52s, and we also serviced B-2s,” he said.

While living on the island, Carlson and his fellow service members fought bravely for their country, unifying in ways like never before.

“You’ve got to reflect on what we lost,” he said. “As a military person, you want to be able to go at that point and defend, and you want to pay back those responsible.”

Post-retirement

Carlson retired from the U.S. Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 2007, after more than 23 years of service. He served as a B-52 electronic warfare officer, instructor, evaluator, flight tester and numerous wing and staff positions.

Carlson's military career included deployment for operations Desert Shield and Enduring Freedom, and for Pacific Deterrence during the War in Iraq. He also served as an instructor, research adviser, and course director at Air Command and Staff College.

Recently, he presented at the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire in Londonderry, recounting his experience from a point of view not often heard.

“I had donated some things to the Aviation Museum in the past, and so had more stuff to donate. I was talking with them and they got talking about how they were looking for [speakers], and I said, ‘Well have you ever had anybody talk about 9/11 from an Air Force crew perspective of what happened that day?’”

They hadn’t, so he shared a slide presentation with over 100 people in the audience. He shared the same presentation with The Sun, tears springing to his eyes as it came to an end.

Today, Carlson is active in the community in a myriad of ways.

It began with his interest in the Wolfeboro Regatta hosted each year by the New Hampshire Boat Museum. An avid boater himself and boat captain for Daleys Adventure Boat Tours in Laconia, he knew he wanted to get involved.

“I coordinate the picket boats and safety boats,” he said.

He also serves as an active member of the Association of Old Crows, an electromagnetic warfare educational association of which he’s fond. Finally, you can find Carlson volunteering at the NH Boat Museum as a board trustee.

His time in the military focusing on electronic warfare is near and dear to his heart.

“As an air crew, we get to go fly, and that’s a wonderful thing. But it’s the guys on the ground that enable us to do that. The crew chiefs, the maintainers, the logisticians, the weapons guys, the weapons builders, the loaders, the fuelers ... we didn’t get to do anything without them.”