Farrar’s post-military work has centered on fitness and veteran support. He co-founded Soldierfit, a fitness company built around military-inspired workouts, and founded Platoon 22 in 2014 to raise awareness of veteran suicide and provide crisis support, according to NFM Lending and FranchiseWire.
Platoon 22 later partnered with Goodwill Industries of Monocacy Valley on a $2 million campaign for a Veterans Services Center in Frederick, Maryland. The planned center was described as providing job training, counseling and transitional assistance, according to Eagle Rise Speakers. Soldierfit’s history, reported by FranchiseWire, said the company was marking its 19th anniversary.
The Pentagon assignment
Before that work, Farrar was a sergeant in the Army’s 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard. The unit is associated with ceremonial duties at Arlington National Cemetery but also serves as the National Capital Region’s active-duty quick-reaction force during emergencies, according to the Fillmore County Journal.
Farrar was 21 on Sept. 11, 2001, and his unit was sent toward the Pentagon after American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building. In an anniversary interview, WJLA reported that he was among roughly 150 service members who entered the wreckage to search for victims. Farrar identified Donald D. Simmons as the first victim he found and carried from the site.
Remembering Simmons
The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial identifies Simmons as a 58-year-old victim who was born and raised in Illinois and had served in the Army from 1964 to 1966. The memorial biography says he met his wife, Peggy, while stationed at Fort Myer and describes him as a fisherman, inventor and artist, according to the Pentagon Memorial.
WJLA reported that Farrar later learned more about Simmons and his family after meeting one of Simmons’ former colleagues at Arlington National Cemetery. The same interview described Farrar’s enduring anger over an attack that killed people who were traveling or going to work, as well as his belief that the country’s immediate post-attack unity did not last.
A lasting aftermath
Farrar later volunteered for a combat tour in Iraq. After returning to civilian life, he experienced severe post-traumatic stress, homelessness and a suicide attempt, according to FranchiseWire. His experience informed the fitness and nonprofit work that followed, including Platoon 22’s focus on veteran suicide awareness and crisis support.
The national veteran-support context
National data underscores the scale of the issues addressed by Farrar’s nonprofit work. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 6,398 Veterans died by suicide in 2023, 44 fewer than in 2022; 61% were not receiving VA health care in the last year of their lives. The supplied national data does not establish how Maryland’s veteran suicide rate compares with the national rate or identify Maryland-specific official crisis services. Veteran homelessness is also tracked nationally. The VA Homeless Programs reported that the January 2025 Point-in-Time count found 32,495 Veterans experiencing homelessness, including 18,977 who were sheltered and 13,518 who were unsheltered. Those figures provide national context but do not show how veteran homelessness changed specifically in Maryland or the Washington region.
The Pentagon attack killed 184 people: 125 military and civilian personnel in the building and 59 passengers and crew members aboard Flight 77, according to Military.com. Farrar’s account is therefore connected to two parts of the 9/11 aftermath: the recovery of a Pentagon victim and his later efforts to support veterans facing crises.
