Power of the Pentagon - Arlington's Biggest Office

 

Few people from the United States or beyond have not heard of the Pentagon: the headquarters of the USA Department of Defense, situated in Arlington, Virginia. The Pentagon's massive size has earned it the title of one of the world's largest buildings, housing about 23,000 military and civilian employees, and around 3000 non-defense personnel. It has five sides (hence the name), five floors and five ring corridors, boulderpentagon which give it a total of 17.5 miles worth of walkways. The centre courtyard has an area of 5 acres and is the world's largest military "no-hat, no salute" zone - a place where military personnel are forbidden to salute or wear hats that could allow anyone watching to denote their rank.

During the late 1960s, the Pentagon came under fire from protesters who were against the Vietnam War. On October 21st, 1967, approximately 35,000 anti-war protestors, organised by the 'National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam' gathered for a demonstration at the Defense Department where they confronted some 2500 armed soldiers.

A few years later, in 1972, American radicals known as the Western Underground Organisation, successfully planted and exploded a bomb in a Pentagon toilet, in retaliation to the Nixon Administration's attacks on Hanoi during the final stages of the Vietnam War. The most recent attack on the Pentagon came on the ill-fated 9/11 attack, when the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the west side of the Pentagon, killing everyone on board as well as over a hundred people within the building itself.

Since 9/11, tours of the Pentagon have been only available on a pre-arranged basis to groups of five or more people who must be from some form of educational institution, such as a college ,boulderpentagon government agency, church, Boy or Girl Scout troupe, or military unit. If you fall outside these definitions, it is possible to join a general public tour, but requests must be made though either a state representative's office or an embassy at least three weeks in advance and no earlier than three months prior. All tours are free, but are available through reservation only.

The tours are conducted by military men and women volunteers who lead visitors on a tour route of approximately one and a half miles in length, which takes about 90 minutes and covers 20 items of interest, including the mission of the Department of Defense, each of its branches of service, and a number of displays that explain the importance of the building and the work which goes on inside.