'Be prepared' credo gains new import after 9/11

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Suzanne Hogan, of Potomac Falls, is no stranger to disasters. As an Army brat in West Germany in 1972, her high school class was captivated for days watching televised reports of the terrorist attack during the Olympic Games in Munich. As a congressional aide to Rep. J.C. Watts Jr. in April 1995, she worked with families after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.

Two years ago, Mrs. Hogan, now an Army wife, was stuck in rush-hour traffic on Key Bridge when hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, where her husband, Lt. Col. Michael Hogan, worked in the office of congressional legislative liaison.

"That was my third bout with terrorism," Mrs. Hogan said yesterday. "I didn't know where my husband was for hours, but he survived, and that was the gift God gave back to me, and I am so grateful to have him."

"It's been a hard day," she said, fighting back the tears that filled the eyes of many Americans as they, too, remembered so many lives lost and forever changed after those fateful, fearful hours of September 11. She had expected to better control her emotions on the second anniversary of the Pentagon attack.

She thought of friends who had lost their lives in the attack, particularly one retired veteran, a mentor, who was the last soldier airlifted out of Vietnam.

"9/11 has many meanings to many people, and I always try to keep in mind that every day somebody has a 9/11 when someone they love doesn't come home," she said as she headed home "to hug my child." If anyone knows the value of being prepared for the worst, it's Mrs. Hogan.

No wonder her job as chief communications officer for the American Red Cross National Capital Chapter, which sponsors the "Together We Prepare" campaign, is a natural fit.

After the September 11 strikes heightened awareness about the likelihood of terrorist attacks within the country's borders, the nationwide Red Cross initiated a public service effort to make the country safer by challenging individuals to do five simple yet practical things: make a plan, build a kit, get trained, volunteer and give blood. The last item is a little tricky as the Red Cross was criticized for disposing of many blood donations two years ago.

Mrs. Hogan reiterated the agency's explanation: While there was an unusually large influx of blood donors, there were more fatalities than injuries. Though blood has a certain shelf life, plasma and other parts of blood can be stored for later use.