The 9.11 Pentagon Podcast Project

Jermaine Williams, Imani Scott
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Documentary

The Pentagon Project Podcast recounts the personal story of the events during and after 9/11. This podcast recounts the events and moments of the people working at the Pentagon on that day. Retelling the feelings and emotions and personal trauma of one of the most tragic attacks in American History. 

  1. 2d ago

    Smiley: September 11 really took me; it really broke my heart.

    Years before September 11, Smiley had served as a soldier in the U.S. Army, but since the mid-1980s she worked as a civilian in an administrative capacity at the Pentagon. Initially, she declined to participate in the study, feeling that talking to me would prompt too many disturbing memories. According to her, "September 11 really took me; it really broke my heart." But later, after being encouraged by her friends who’d met with me and allowing her to think about participating in my study, she decided that "talking about it might help." On the morning of September l 1, Smiley told me she had run for her life after hearing this "loud boom." She said she ran and kept running until she reached her truck, and then she went to the grocery store. She said: "I got in my truck and ended up at Shoppers Food Warehouse. I don't know how I got there. All I could think of was buying something to cook dinner for my husband." She told me that for many days after the attack she would cry uncontrollably. She also said she had trouble sleeping and eating; she described it as being: "anxious, depressed and fearful." After receiving psychotherapy and being placed on medication, Smiley returned to work. But she told me she was still haunted by reminders of that morning. According to her, "You come off the Metro, and you’ve got to be searched before you can come in [into the Pentagon]. You come in, and you see guys with machine guns on the top of the steps; it gets harder and harder every day to come into this building."

  2. 2d ago

    Shortcake: I was digging in the ground searching for shelter.

    Shortcake is a civilian who works as a secretary in the Pentagon; she has worked there for over 15 years. When she recalled the morning of September 11, she remembered three things: the overwhelming beauty of the day that tempted her to stay home instead of going into work; an unexplainable but intense "funny feeling" that “something” was wrong, and the "big boom" that shook her office and forced her to run for her life. Despite her “funny feeling”/apprehension at the start of her morning, Shortcake decided she would go into the office that day. But once she got there, she told me that she shared her anxiety with others. According to her, "I told them, whatever y’all do, carry your purses everywhere you go today. They were like, 'yeah, whatever."' Because Shortcake was already a little edgy, when she heard the "big boom," she said she immediately grabbed her purse and headed for the door. She was determined to leave, despite reassurances from others in her office that it was "just construction noise." She was so agitated that she responded to their comments with a series of expletives, concluding with, "This office is not on the side of the construction." She recalled being nervous, afraid, and in shock. And she recalled praying: "Oh God, just let me see outside. Just get me outside." When she made it to the Courtyard, Shortcake heard warnings of a second plane attack, and this only heightened her anxiety as she told me she started digging. She said, "I was digging in the ground searching for shelter.” It was only after being encouraged by her co-workers to "calm down" and then seeing one of her best friends who appeared to be in a deep state of shock that she was able to regain her composure. Shortcake made frequent references to her challenges as a single parent to assure her children that, moving forward, she would be “safe” at work. But she admitted that in her heart, she felt that since September 11 her feelings of safety at the Pentagon had been betrayed.

  3. 5d ago

    Jannel: 'I shouldn't have to come to work to die'

    Jannel is a civilian who works in an administrative capacity in the Pentagon. She was in the middle of a distribution run and talking with a co-worker when the building shook, and she was nearly knocked to her knees, but for the help of the co-worker. As the hallways darkened, the co-worker grabbed Jannel by her hand and said, "We've got to get out of here; God is with us." Crying, nervous, and shaken, Jannel ran along with her co-worker, struggling to keep up with his pace. Once in the Courtyard, she saw another co-worker, who told her they needed to pray, so they began praying. When Jannel looked up, she saw people who were bleeding and injured. But she also saw people entering and exiting the building and carrying body bags. Admittedly, Jannel said she had difficulty grasping all that was going on around her. She told me she started crying out: "Oh my God, somebody died. Please God, get me out of this place." Jannel told me that initially, she was completely aware that she was panicking, and didn’t feel like she could control her emotions as she considered: "I didn't know what was going on with me." Eventually, a co-worker comforted Jannel and reassured her that she was safe. But it would be months later, following intensive counseling and medication, before Jannel would really feel any semblance of safety. In addition to "crying spells," she told me she would have panic attacks at the mere sight of an airplane. She said, “Even today, I feel as though I shouldn't have to come to work to die. I don't really feel safe in this place, and I would love to feel safe here."

  4. 5d ago

    Martin: We didn't think terrorism; that was foreign to us

    A soldier in the U.S. Army, Martin was at work in an area that had no access to a television or radio when the World Trade Center attacks occurred, so he and his co-workers learned of the event when pictures started being posted to the Internet. "We were shocked," he said. "We didn't think terrorism; that was foreign to us." Martin was standing near the filing cabinet in his office when he felt what he describes as a "shock wave" to the building. Like many others, Martin presumed the tremor was related to an explosion from the construction being done to renovate the building. "It wasn't until we stepped into the 5th corridor that we saw the smoke and debris. He recalls people scrambling and running; he told me that his immediate instinct was to evacuate, recalling: “I was numb." When he got into the Courtyard, Martin says he felt “A weighted numbness,” as he noticed “A woman who was burned, frantic, and distressed.” But he told me he didn't go to help her, and that decision to be a bystander instead of helping her still haunts him, to this day. In his words, Martin told me: "It still bothers me that I didn't take an active role to help her right then. Fortunately, someone else did." Instead of focusing on helping others, Martin told me he was focused on trying to reach his wife, “But the cells were jammed,” he said, “And my cell phone wasn't working.” Consequently, he decided to hitchhike home—still feeling an overwhelming need to speak with his wife. He told me that when he finally did get through to her, "She was distraught,” and thought he had been killed. Today, Martin says that he could have better controlled his emotions: "Because of the numbness and looking back, I think, well, I should have gone to the Lord in prayer immediately. But I didn't because I was numb."

  5. Oct 3

    George: All I thought about on that day was getting back to my daughter

    Before working in the Pentagon, George had been a U.S. Marine. On the day of the attack, he was working in an administrative capacity for the U.S. government and was seated at his desk when he heard the explosion. Since he had just become aware of the attack on the World Trade Center, he said that upon hearing the explosion at the Pentagon he immediately thought, "Aw man, they hit us too." The force of the wind first slammed George into his desk, then onto the floor; eventually, George was smothered in debris. He told me, "I thought I was dead and I made my peace [with God]." Then, he says he heard his co-workers crying out, and one was screaming that she was on fire. But according to George, in those moments the only person he thought of was his two- year-old daughter and how sad she would be if no one were there to pick her up from Daycare that afternoon. With thoughts of his daughter at the forefront of his mind, he began fighting his way through the debris and then jumping over desks and cubicles. Even though he continued to slip and fall, he says he kept getting up and found his way through the debris with a co-worker closely behind. Once in the Courtyard, George told me he borrowed money (his belongings were still in his office) and made his way to the Metro, where he sat on the train -- bloodied and covered in ash, with the sole mission of getting to his daughter. Along the way, he would hitchhike from a stranger who drove him to his daughter's Daycare center. It wasn't until George made it there and held his daughter in his arms that he noticed the blood, felt the pain, and realized he was injured.

  6. Sep 29

    Flash: Buried in rubble, walls on fire, leg pinned: Flash bowed his head and asked God to show him the way out.

    On September 11, 2001, Flash was an officer in the U.S. Air Force; he had worked in the Pentagon for nearly 10 years. Just before the attack on the Pentagon, he and his co- workers had gathered in an office to watch television footage of the plane attacks on the World Trade Center. It was during these moments when, according to Flash, "I felt the need to stand up, leave the office and go to my desk." He told me he was on his way to his office when the room exploded, and he was lifted off the ground only to be buried under a pile of rubble. As he struggled to remove his leg pinned under fallen debris, Flash called out to others in his office; there was no response. He told me the walls were on fire, he could barely breathe, and couldn't move his leg. So, he said that’s when he called out to God. In his words, Flash says, "I bowed my head, and I said a little prayer, 'Lord, help me get my leg loose and show me the way out.’ And that’s when he began working on his leg, until it popped loose."' In the moments that followed, Flash -- who was presumed dead by a co-worker since the co-worker's last vision was of him being "swept away in a ball of fire," -- would crawl the floor and climb over debris to emerge from the building. He was bloodied, and he was wounded, but in his words, "I just kept moving; I knew I didn't have much time in there." After reaching the Courtyard, Flash volunteered to help carry stretchers until he was escorted to a triage area to have his own wounds examined. He also told me of a woman, a soldier whom he saw on the ground cuddling a baby. He said he wanted to help her, but she held that baby tight and wouldn’t let anyone near. Flash told me that all of the people who were killed in his office that morning were those whom he had left in the room watching the televised events of the World Trade Center attacks. As a result, Flash noted that on that morning he had stood “at the line between life and death," and he ended up being on the side he needed to survive.

  7. Sep 24

    Diane: A worried phone call, an unanswered callback, and a daughter on her knees in the street.

    Even though Diane does not work in the Pentagon (she works for a law firm within walking distance of the Pentagon), the building that she worked in was one of those ordered evacuated that morning following the September 11 attack. Diane's mother worked in the Pentagon, and she was one of the 189 who were killed that morning. Moments before the attack, Diane had been sitting at her desk when she received a phone call from her mother, a Secretary at the Pentagon. According to Diane, her mother was upset as she told her about two airplanes that had crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. She recalled that she tried to reassure her mother, who expressed concern about the people trapped in the World Trade Center’s towers. But instead of feeling comforted, she said her mother grew more anxious and told Diane she had "to go" and hung up without saying goodbye. Diane recalled, "I was concerned. My mother has never hung up the phone on me.” So, she called her mom back, but remembers the phone going unanswered as it, “just rang and rang." That was when one of Diane's co-workers entered her office shouting, "Everybody get out! Get out now!" As Diane exited the building, she began to smell the fumes of burning oil from the attack on the Pentagon, and her supervisor told her that the Pentagon had "been hit." Diane says she was standing in the middle of the street when she dropped to her knees and began screaming, "My mom. My mom!" She said, "That's when it clicked ... something had happened to her."

  8. Sep 22

    Scout - Part II

    Before becoming a military analyst for the U.S. government, Scout was an officer in the U.S. Army. After learning of the attacks on the World Trade Center, he called his wife, and then he and his co-workers began discussing whether or not the Pentagon may be a target. It was during hese talks that Scout recalled hearing the high-pitched scream of jet engines followed by "an indescribable crashing sound." Immediately, he said he shouted for his co-workers to "Dive! Take cover! Stay down!" After making it out of the building, one of the first sensations Scout recalled was fear. "The fear was palpable," he said. But instead of leaving, Scout and a co-worker decided to climb a fence and go back into the building to help those who were trapped inside. He recalled that, "One of the renovation guys was fumbling with a big ring of keys [to unlock the gate at the fence]. You know, it was almost comical. I got frustrated.” Eventually, his co-worker helped him climb the chain-link fence to the “other side” so that he could help others. That morning, after having successfully exited the burning building, Scout would make two entries into the building to help others. He did this amid falling debris, smoke, and fire, along with what he called “an ad hoc team of strangers.” He told me: "I was on a mission; the mission was to help. The only thing I thought about was, 'there's got to be somebody here that I can help.'" Later, covered in soot and down to his T-shirt – which he had torn to make masks to shield himself and others from the smoke- he volunteered for the Litter team. He recalled being taunted with thoughts of his family and wondering if he was “doing the right thing” by risking his life for others instead of going home to his family. But he says, "I know if I had left, I would have felt a traitor to everything that I ever said was important. It would be impossible for me to speak with any sense of conviction about anything. I made the right decision... had I left, I would have been haunted. And September 11 would have been even harder for me to deal with. In a moment of sad levity, Scout joked about how his experience on September 11 had given him a newfound love for Flashlights; he said: "Because of the darkness that I had been in, I went out and bought a flashlight that night ... one of those big police flashlights. I slept with it. I went to dinner with it. I felt like I was a soldier on the battlefield, and like having a rifle, I didn't want to be anywhere without my flashlight."

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
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About

The Pentagon Project Podcast recounts the personal story of the events during and after 9/11. This podcast recounts the events and moments of the people working at the Pentagon on that day. Retelling the feelings and emotions and personal trauma of one of the most tragic attacks in American History. 

Information

  • Creator
    Jermaine Williams, Imani Scott
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    15
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Cabal Ink A Round 1 Solutions Company. All Rights Reserved.
  • Show Website
    The 9.11 Pentagon Podcast Project

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