Reply #87: So glad you brought up JOHN YATES. [View All]

As for the hair on the survivors, here, see for yourself.
Let's start with this article.

(CBS) Even though 125 people were killed in the Pentagon on Sept.11, there was something miraculous about that day. The plane obliterated the first and part of the second floor, but the third, fourth and fifth floors remained suspended in midair for 35 minutes. Hundreds of people escaped. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/11/28/60II/main319383.shtml



WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2001
CBS) Badly burned in the terrorist attack at the Pentagon, John Yates turned horrifying injuries into a dramatic recovery. And only now is he ready to talk about what happened to him September 11th.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/11/01/archive/main316704.shtml



“As I got to the door, there stood John Yates,” said Grant. “He looked as if he had been blown out of a cannon ball. His clothes were all tattered. He was looking around as if he was looking for someone.”
Yates wasn’t aware of his surroundings because he had been blown 25-30 feet from where he was standing. “I couldn’t see. The air was almost unbreathable because it was so hot and there was so much smoke. Everything I touched burned me.”
Yates was blinded by smoke, and he had lost his glasses. He couldn’t see more than a foot in front of him, yet he led the escape from the conference room.
<snip>
(MY DAD USED TO DO THAT ALL THE TIME, TAKE OFF HIS GLASSES AND FORGET WHERE HE'D PUT THEM.)
<snip>
"I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know which way to go next,” said Yates. “Suddenly, I heard a voice that said, ‘Go out to the DMPM door. It’s clear down there.’”
To this day, he doesn’t know whose voice hollered that guidance. He can only assume it was his guardian angel.
“I just started crawling toward this voice six to eight inches off the floor trying to breathe,” he added. He traveled the width and length of the room toward the fourth corridor, CRAWLING OVER THE FUSILAGE OF THE AIRCRAFT.
http://www.riley.army.mil/newspaper/Specials/911/index2.htm

THE FUSILAGE,
PEOPLE,
HE CRAWLED OVER THE FUSILAGE OF THE AIRCRAFT.



A Boeing 757-200 airliner, laden with jet fuel, throttle open wide, had torn into the building's ``new wedge.''
Security officer John Yates was picked up and hurled 30 feet. Sgt. Maj. Tony Rose, punched into a ceiling column, watched as the glass in the C Ring windows spidered into tiny cubes.
The sound erupted a heartbeat later, a monstrous boom and crunch like a thousand file cabinets toppling at once. To demographer Betty Maxfield, the room seemed to freeze, intact, for a moment, then in slow motion the computers clicked off and the lights failed and a fireball rolled through the cubicle farm like a wave, with bulbous head and tapered tail, and as it passed, everything around it burst into flames. Cabinets overturned, partitions exploded, ceiling tiles burned and danced and fell with their metal frames. The air boiled.
<snip>
(BUT HE STILL HAS HAIR)
<snip>
John Yates came to his senses to find that his death was at hand. He could not breathe. He could not see. The room was ablaze around him. The metal furniture jumbled all about was hot enough to raise blisters. He heard screams. He wasn't sure that some weren't his.
His glasses remained on his face. They were smeared with something -- unburned jet fuel, which Yates mistook for blood. He carefully took them off, folded them, and slipped them into his shirt pocket, then stumbled toward the big room's interior.
<snip>
(SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT THE GLASSES?)
<snip>
By this time, Marilyn Wills had crawled from the conference room, Lois Stevens clinging to her belt. She'd seen the fire's glow beneath the door to the E Ring hall, had turned away from it, and had run into someone in the dark -- Maj. Regina M. Grant, who'd been with them at the meeting. They'd pushed into the cubicle farm to find a large form looming overhead. ``Who is that?'' Wills yelled.
``John Yates,'' the figure answered. HE WAS STANDING UPRIGHT IN THE SMOKE. ``Get up,'' he said, ``and come with me.''
``No!'' Wills screamed. ``The smoke's too thick!'' Yates strode off, Grant following at a crawl, Wills and Stevens trailing behind.
http://www.hamptonroads.com/pilotonline/special/911/pentagon2.html

TIME OUT, PEOPLE.
LET'S HAVE A REALITY CHECK.

Every member of your family should know exactly what he or she is expected to do in the event of a fire. This can be accomplished by holding family fire drills.
The first thing to learn is that no one should jump up out of bed and stand up when the alarm sounds. Instead, all family members should learn to crawl out of bed onto the floor. In the early stages of a fire, the TOXIC AND SUPER-HEATED FIRE GASES LIE IN LAYERS NEAR THE CEILING. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO STAY BELEOW THESE GASES. There have been many cases where it appears that victims slept through the build-up of deadly gases ONLY TO DIE WHEN THEY STOOD UP and inhaled them.
http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d000001-d000100/d000048/d000048.html

Woodrowfan, please check the credentials of this website and tell us if they are up to your exacting standards.
Tell us if these facts apply to ALL human beings or only those who operate OUTSIDE US military installations.

REALITY CHECK OVER.



``Who is that?'' Wills yelled.
``John Yates,'' the figure answered. He was standing upright in the smoke. ``Get up,'' he said, ``and come with me.''
``No!'' Wills screamed. ``The smoke's too thick!'' Yates strode off,(AND LEFT THEM) Grant following at a crawl, Wills and Stevens trailing behind.
<snip>
AND HE DID NOT HAVE HIS GLASSES ON TO PROTECT HIS EYEBROW OR EYELASH HAIR.
<snip>
Now he crawled headfirst into a wall and knew that he had reached the hallway linking the big room to the Fourth Corridor. As he moved away from the cubicle farm he felt the cool water of sprinklers on his back, and could make out dim shapes in the lightening smoke. The door to the corridor had been blown off its hinges. He turned into the thoroughfare, collapsed, lay on the floor for what might have been 10 seconds, might have been several minutes. Then he STOOD UP and walked down the corridor toward the building's middle.
Lt. Col. Victor Correa appeared in the smoke. Are you all right? he asked. Yates replied that no, he wasn't. His body was smoking, and he radiated heat: Correa could feel it from three feet away.
<snip>
John Yates lay on his back in the Pentagon's center courtyard, staring at the sky. It was bright blue, an almost mockingly cheerful shade, except where a heavy black smear drifted eastward from the fires burning in the new wedge. The sunshine was uncomfortably warm against his skin.
He could see he was hurt. Burned skin hung off his hands. His left thumb looked as if it had exploded; the nail appeared to be barely attached to the digit's swollen tip. His skin was stark white; he'd later learn that bystanders wondered why he was wearing surgical gloves.
Just how badly he was injured began to sink in when he overheard a doctor speaking with the medic cutting his clothes away. ``He's the first to go,'' the doctor said. ``He needs to get out of here, now.''
Even so, Yates was calm. The courtyard's quiet was welcome respite from the insanity inside. When rescuers sat a woman he knew on the grass beside him, and she couldn't stop coughing, he leaned toward her and told her: ``Hang in there. You'll be all right.''
http://www.hamptonroads.com/pilotonline/special/911/pentagon2.html

TIME OUT, PEOPLE.
LET'S HAVE ANOTHER REALITY CHECK.

Fire is HOT!
Heat is more threatening than flames.
A fire's heat alone can kill. Room temperatures in a fire can be 100 degrees at floor level and rise to 600 degrees at eye level. INHALING THIS SUPERHOT AIR WILL SCORCH YOUR LUNGS. This heat can melt clothes to your skin. In five minutes a room can get so hot that everything in it ignites at once: this is called flashover.
Fire is DARK!
Fire isn't bright, it's pitch black.
Fire starts bright, but quickly produces black smoke and complete darkness. If you wake up to a fire you may be blinded, disoriented and UNABLE TO FIND YOUR WAY AROUND THE HOME YOU'VE LIVED IN FOR YEARS.
Fire is DEADLY!
Smoke and toxic gases kill more people than flames do.
Fire uses up the oxygen you need and produces smoke and poisonous gases that kill. BREATHING EVEN SMALL AMOUNTS amounts of smoke and toxic gases can make you drowsy, disoriented and short of breath. The odorless, colorless fumes CAN LULL YOU INTO A DEEP SLEEP before the flames reach your door. YOU MAY NOT WAKE UP IN TIME TO ESCAPE.
Fire Safety Tips
In the event of a fire, remember time is the biggest enemy and EVERY SECOND COUNTS!
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/public/factsheets/thisis.shtm

RH, darling,
would you mind taking the trouble to ascertain the credibility of this website?
Is this the ype of thing that happens EVERYWHERE where combustible materials are to be found?
Or is this type of chemical reaction expressly forbidden within the confines of US military intallations?

Perhaps then you will be able to tell us just how it is that the lungs of a certain John Yates were still functioning well enough for him to be able reassure some helpess coughing female.
We are going to ignore the "fact" that his body radiated so much heat that it could be readily detected from a distance of three feet in the middle of a raging blaze.
We are also going to ignore the non-stick fusilage that he crawled over and the fact that metal conducts heat. We are going to ignore the fact that aircraft firesare notorious for having far more than the usual amount of toxins and the fact that he would have had no recourse but to breathe them in.
We are going to leave all these, and other troubleing matters asise (such as that Petrovich and his computer)and we are only going to talk about the HAIR.

AND NOW,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
THE MOMENT OF HIRSUTE YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR,
ALLOW ME TO PRESENT,
THE HAIR OF JOHN YATES.

John Yates displays some of the burns he suffered over 38 percent of his body, in a snapshot taken during his hospital stay.
http://www.hamptonroads.com/pilotonline/special/911/pentagon4.html

Please open another window.
Examine the photo and this post side by side.
Allow me to refresh you memory.
RH posted this:

"McNair immediately veered that way. The wounded man was shirtless, HIS SKIN WAS BLACKENED, HIS HAIR BURNED OFF, HIS SCALP A PATCHWORK OF RAW MEAT AND SOOT. He looked nothing like the John Yates whom McNair knew, but the colonel bent down to offer a word of encouragement, made eye contact through his own smudged and scorched glasses, reached for the man's hand."
http://www.hamptonroads.com/pilotonline/special/911/pentagon3b.html

Please recall this statement.
He could see he was hurt. BURNED SKIN HUNG OFF HIS HANDS. His left thumb looked as if it had exploded; the nail appeared to be barely attached to the digit's swollen tip. His skin was stark white; he'd later learn that bystanders wondered why he was wearing surgical gloves.
http://www.hamptonroads.com/pilotonline/special/911/pentagon3b.html

RH,
could you hazard a guess as to WHY McNair reached for the man's hand?
RH, do you see ANY sign of "a patchwork or raw meat and soot" having EVER been present?
Show me. RH, show me.

I see hair.
Lots of hair.
John Yates STILL has hair on his head.
John Yates STILL has his eyebrows.
John Yates STILL has his eyelashes.
John Yates STILL has a wicked beard.

And if they had not painted that red stuff, we would probably all be able to clearly see if
John Yates STILL has hair on his forearms.

Where are the nurses?
Why is he NOT on a drip? Burn victims are notorious for catching infections in their open and weakened state.
Why does that room resemble the janitor's closet?
How come ONLY his arms appear burned?

What about the knees he used for crawling? He NEVER complains about those and there is NO record of them having been treated.
And why only superficial first degree burns that can be treated at home? The surgical gloves led us to believe that the burns were deeper and that considerable inflamation would result which brings us back to the drip.

Why does the area of burn end so abruptly?
How long is supposed to hold up his arms?
What happens when he tires and has to put them down on that unsterile sheet?
How come the new skin is developing as if he were never burned?
What the heck do you think pressure gloves are used for, huh?

Does that left thumb look exploded to you?

Does that face look burned to you?
No?
Then why is he wearing that face thing later on?
And how come his compression gloves end at the wrist in that picture when in this one the injuries clearly extend almost to the elbow?

Shouldn't he at least have gotten a hot foot, what with all the striding around that our Mr. Nomex did?

People,
it is really SAD to see the manner in which our heroes are treated once they enter Veteran's Hospitals.
I've seen better facilities at the local animal shelter and they KILL the majority of their patients legally and intentionally.
Sheesh.

You wanna know about
Burns and Wound Management?
Then take a look at this site, guys.
Careful, it has some pictures of people with REAL BURNS and they are not as photogenic as the Pentagon 77 crowd.
The photos are in black and white so most of you can stand to see them and you have NO IDEA of the trouble I went to find some REAL pictures that would not turn your stomach.

Remember that radiating heat thing?
Well, I've decided I can't just let it go after all.
Look closely at that second paragraph.

Few life events compare with the immediate and long-term effects of a burn injury. Initial effects include marked pain and anxiety and, with large burns, extreme metabolic changes. Patients with permanent scars are emotionally affected for life8 and are the victims of subtle discrimination on many levels.

Definition of Thermal Burns
Humans are warm-blooded creatures who rigorously maintain their body temperature in a narrow range between 95oF and 105oF. Core temperatures outside this range are poorly tolerated and have adverse effects on the subject. Although patients have survived with a measured core temperature below 65oF under extreme circumstances,31 elevations of the core temperature above 110oF are rapidly fatal.40
http://www.regionshospital.com/Regions/Menu/0,1640,4822,00.html


Some fire that was, couldn't burn hair worth a damn.
I can lose an eyebrow at the backyard grill easily.
But then again, I am not a Penta-hero and I cling to 20th Century science.

John Yates, a civilian employee at the Pentagon, spent TWO MONTHS in the hospital recovering from burns.
"The trip was wonderful," Yates said. "We had been through the one year anniversary. Everyday that goes by helps you to heal. It was good to get away from it all after the anniversary. I WENT HOME THE FRIDAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING . We're totally enjoying these holidays. My physical recovery is progressing. Emotional, it's going to take longer."
Yates' wife Ellen talked about the trip.
"It was very helpful being with all the other people," she said. "Meeting young Navy wives who lost their husbands made me realize how lucky I was to still have my husband."
http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/7_48/local_news/20605-1.html

No Kidding, Ellen.
It's nothing short of a miracle.