Retired Texas Air National Guard Pilot Recalls Protecting Air Force One on 9/11

Retired Air Force Col. Rolando Aguilar, a former Texas Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot, remembers the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, a day off that turned into a scramble to intercept an inbound aircraft he didn’t yet know was Air Force One.

Woken by his unit’s crew chiefs with news that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, the young airman scrambled to get ready as the alarm sounded for battle stations.

He ran for his jet and was strapped in when his wing commander gave the order to intercept an aircraft with “one of our former members” aboard.

Aguilar didn’t understand what that meant until he was airborne and caught his first look at the unmistakable blue-and-white distinctive color scheme of Air Force One.

With the Federal Aviation Administration grounding every other aircraft in the country, Aguilar and his fellow Houston-based guardsmen, flying for the same squadron a young George W. Bush once flew with, escorted the president’s plane toward Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, carrying authorization to fire on any aircraft that failed to respond.

The mission, Aguilar said, was executed flawlessly.

Twenty-five years later, he calls it a legacy his unit can be proud of.

“The National Guard stepped up,” Aguilar said. “We had a role in a real important day in history.”

By Air Force 2nd Lt. Vincent Pfeifferling, Texas Military Department, Pentagon