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The 9.11 Pentagon Podcast Project

The 9.11 Pentagon Podcast Project

Written by: Jermaine Williams Imani Scott
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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.© Cabal Ink A Round 1 Solutions Company. All Rights Reserved. Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Flash: Buried in rubble, walls on fire, leg pinned: Flash bowed his head and asked God to show him the way out.

    Flash: Buried in rubble, walls on fire, leg pinned: Flash bowed his head and asked God to show him the way out.
    Sep 29 2026
    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.
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    45 mins
  • Scout - Part II

    Scout - Part II
    Sep 22 2026
    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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    37 mins
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