First off, before I speak about the content, I like most of the production quality here. The draw of this piece is the underexposed voices of those victims in the Pentagon phase of the terrorist attack, and hearing what that morning was like and how they are dealing wtih it. That said, in listening to this piece, notably produced before the Iraq started about seven months later, the voices contained within give me a bit of the shivers, partly because the multiple Christian voices here remind me of many people with views that I don't agree with. While that is painful, it's always interesting to hear the other perspective. The piece ends on kind of a rah-rah U.S.A. note, which I don't care for either, but this piece is driven by the voices of the people who were there, and these were the people who were there. Overall a good flow and production, featuring compelling voices, albeit voices that I'm not entirely comfortable with.

Usually I take notes when I’m listening to review. I took very few notes while hearing this powerful oral history because I did not want to move, not even a little bit. The producer wisely chooses to let the voices carry the piece with very little support. Other than intermittent piano music and the narrator’s occasional naming of those speaking, we hear only the voices of a group of Pentagon survivors and some of their family members. The material is simply but effectively organized. The layers of voice carry you along like a river, from the moments prior to the attack, through the attack, through escaping the building, to recovering from injuries and from the experience itself, up to how people look at life some months later. Family members talk about their version of that day, about finding their loved ones in the hospital, about the effects on their shared lives. I don’t want to share any more of the specifics. This beautifully edited piece deserves to be heard with open ears. It is an obvious choice for the anniversary, but in fact always timely. Our soldiers are killing and being killed, our country inflicting damage, and for a change freshly knowing what is to be hit on our own soil. This work provides a strong reminder of what being at war means to those under attack, as well as a reminder of oral history’s effectiveness, and of the power of radio.