September 11 attacks

An F-16, the type of aircraft used by Lt. Col. Sasseville in response to the September 11 attacks

On September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 was hijacked by four members of al-Qaeda as part of the September 11 attacks. The hijackers breached the aircraft's cockpit and overpowered the flight crew approximately 46 minutes after takeoff. Ziad Jarrah, a trained pilot, then took control of the aircraft and diverted it back toward the east coast of the United States in the direction of Washington, D.C. The hijackers' target was either the United States Capitol or the White House.^[4]

That morning Major Daniel Caine, supervisor of flying with the 113th Wing of the D.C. Air National Guard, received a call that the Secret Service wanted fighter jets launched over Washington, D.C. Lieutenant Colonel Marc Sasseville called Brigadier General David Wherley, the commander of the 113th Wing, to get permission to use their "war-reserve missiles".

N591UA taxiing on September 8, 2001, three days before it was hijacked

The four pilots who were available for the mission, who received authorization to get airborne in their fighter jets, were Sasseville, Lieutenant Heather Penney, Captain Brandon Rasmussen, and Major Daniel Caine.^[5]

The mission was to find United Airlines Flight 93 and destroy it, however they could. Since the fighter jets were absent of missiles and packed only with dummy ammunition from a recent training mission, there was only one way to do it and that was by ramming the aircraft. Sasseville flew his aircraft alongside the aircraft of Penney. They agreed that he would take out the cockpit and that she would take the tail. Later, Sasseville explained: "We don't train to bring down airliners. If you just hit the engine, it could still glide and you could guide it to a target."^[5]

The fighter jets passed over the ravaged Pentagon building; however, it was not until hours later that they would find out that United 93 had already gone down in a field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 44 people aboard including the 4 hijackers.^[5] The 9/11 Commission later determined that United 93 crashed at least 35 minutes before Sasseville and Penney took off, and likely would have reached Washington at least 15 minutes before they were airborne.^[6]

Post 9/11

In 2003, Sasseville was deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom and participated in major combat operations as Commander of the 410th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron.^[3]

Sasseville returned to the United States and served as the Commander of the 121st Fighter Squadron, 113th Wing. In 2004 he attended the Air War College and took a course in correspondence. He continued as Commander of the 121st Fighter Squadron until April 21, 2005, when he was promoted to the rank of colonel and named Commander of the 113th Operations Group. During this time period he attended the Advanced Joint PME (RC), Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia and in 2007, the Reserve Component National Security Course at the National Defense University in Arlington, Virginia From 2008 to 2010, Sasseville served as Vice Commander of the 113th Wing. He took the Joint Task Force Commander's Course at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado in 2009. Upon completion of the course, he was assigned as Deputy Director for Readiness in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense Reserve Affairs in the Pentagon.^[3]

Commander of the 113th Wing

Emblem of the 113th Wing

On August 3, 2012, Sasseville was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and named the Commander of the 113th Wing, District of Columbia Air National Guard, Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.^[3] In this capacity he was responsible for more than 1200 personnel in support of both the F-16 (Air Combat Command) fighter and the C-38 and C-40 VIP airlift (Air Mobility Command) aircraft missions. He was also in charge of the Aerospace Control Alert Detachment, which is responsible for the air defense of the United States Capital.^[7]