On September 11, 2001, Alan worked in an administrative capacity for the U.S. government. Although his office was not stationed at the Pentagon, he was slated to be there for a meeting that September morning. In the immediate hours and days following the September 11 attack, Alan worked as a liaison between the families of its civilian victims and the U.S. government. Beyond interfacing with the families, Alan's job also included finding out "which body parts [of the missing] were there ... making sure that every piece of flesh was examined. Alan said his role was to "keep the families straight ... keep them from going off the deep end”. It wasn’t until many months after September 11 that Alan realized he was struggling with his own “deep end”.