It wasn't unusual for Col. Janet Horton to take her work home with her. As the first woman appointed a Division or Corps chaplain and the first woman promoted to colonel in the Army Chaplain Corps, Horton, a Christian Scientist, was assigned to the Pentagon. She often spent her evening commute on D.C.'s Metro praying.
"In our church it is a duty to pray for the world," she said. At home later on the night of Sept. 10, 2001, a feeling of unease crept over her while watching as an ominous thunderstorm gathered in intensity. The urge to continue her prayer was so overwhelming that she whispered to God, "I don't understand what it is you want." She heard God's answer: Pray about a gathering of malice.
"I didn't get to sleep until 1 or 2 a.m., and only by assuring myself that, whatever happened, I would be prepared," Horton said. But no one, including Col. Horton, was prepared for what would happen the next day -- Sept. 11, 2001.
Col. Horton was at the Pentagon that morning when American Airlines Flight 77 hit the building.
As commander of Chaplain Intelligence and Security, Horton is an expert on Divine Command Morality, a theory based on the Abraham tradition thought to spawn extremist views of religion. She would go on to brief the Department of Defense and other intelligence agencies on Muslim issues pertaining to the conflict in the Middle East subsequent to the 9/11 attacks.
In 2004, Horton retired from active duty and has combined her personal 9/11 experience with her expertise in world religion to lecture on the terrorist mindset. She will be in Traverse City to offer the talk, "A Divining Event of Love: What Happened at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001," from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at Unity Church, 3600 Five Mile Road.
Horton was at the Pentagon dental clinic when she learned the country was under attack. "We saw CNN monitors in the hallways and in the clinic. When the second plane hit New York we all said terrorism," she said. Minutes later she felt the impact as Flight 77 plowed through to the C ring of the Pentagon that Horton described as a series of nested buildings.
Along with many others Horton was evacuated to the Potomac side of the Pentagon where fire and medical response teams were forming. Two chaplains along with Horton begged to go back in making the case that victims would need pastoral care.
"We were praying with the victims -- reciting the 23rd Psalm. It was so surreal to get to the passage, 'He maketh me to lie down in green pastures' as firemen set the casualties down in the large, grassy center courtyard," she said. "No one said they didn't want to pray."
Horton saw countless acts of courage amid the tragedy. "Standing in the middle of this, I felt -- here was an event that Osama Bin Laden planned to be an event of hatred, yet what you saw in terms of how people responded with a sense of unity -- it was the opposite of what it was meant to be," she said.
In her 28 years as an Army chaplain, Horton can't remember a day when she was prouder to be an American. Like many other Americans, that day changed her life.
"I think I'm more obedient at praying for the world on a daily basis," she said. ''I also learned that fear is a selfish emotion. I look differently at that now. I don't feel that sense of fear in a difficult situation, because we can't be in a situation that God can't help us through."
Chaplain (Col.) (Ret.) Janet Yarlott Horton will share the pulpit with her sister-in-law Rev. Crystal Yarlott during the 10:30 a.m. service this Sunday at Unity Church. Her 7 p.m. Friday lecture is free and open to the public. An offering will be taken. For details, call the church, 938-9587.
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