The Pentagon — Attraction in Washington

The Pentagon was designed by American architect George Bergstrom  (1876–1955), and built by general contractor John McShain  of Philadelphia. Ground was broken for construction on September 11, 1941, and the building was dedicated on January 15, 1943. General Brehon Somervell  provided the major motive power behind the project; Colonel Leslie Groves  was responsible for overseeing the project for the U.S. Army.

The Pentagon is one of the world's largest office buildings, with about 6,500,000 sq ft (600,000 m2), of which 3,700,000 sq ft (340,000 m2) are used as offices.Approximately 23,000 military  and civilian  employeeand about 3,000 non-defense support personnel work in the Pentagon. It has five sides, five floors above ground, two basement levels, and five ring corridors per floor with a total of 17.5 mi (28.2 km) of corridors. The Pentagon includes a five-acre (20,000 m2) central plaza, which is shaped like a pentagon and informally known as "ground zero," a nickname originating during the Cold War  on the presumption that it would be targeted by the Soviet Union  at the outbreak of nuclear war.

On September 11,2001, exactly 60 years after the building's construction began, American Airlines Flight 77  was hijacked  and flown into the western side of the building, killing 189 people (59 victims and the five perpetrators on board the airliner, as well as 125 victims in the building), according to the official report.It was the first significant foreign attack on Washington's governmental facilities since the city was burned  by the British during the War of 1812 .The Pentagon has over 20 of its own fast food operations, including Subway, McDonald's, Duckin' donuts, Panda Express, Starbucks  and Sbarrow, among others.A multi branded  KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Well  restaurant opened in 2003, when renovations to the food court were completed.Food services are managed by the Navy Exchange. The Center Courtyard Cafe reopened in the spring of 2008, replacing the "Ground Zero Cafe" snack bar that was previously there.

The Pentagon Athletic Center (PAC), a fitness centre  for military and civilian staff, opened in 2004 adjacent to the north side of the Pentagon, replacing the Pentagon Officers Athletic Club (POAC) which had operated for 55 years in a structure between Route 110 and the parade grounds. Each year, the Pentagon grounds are a major focus for hosting the Marine Corps Marathon  and the Army Ten-miler  running events.

There is a Meditation  and Prayer  Room in the Pentagon, which was dedicated on December 14, 1970, by Secretary of Defense melvin Laird. On September 11, 2002 the Pentagon Memorial Chapel was dedicated.

In conjunction with the 1976 American Bicentennial, the Pentagon began offering guided tours to the general public. Tours were suspended after the September 11, 2001 attacks, but are currently available to the general public with reservations 14–90...

If you people would just close the border to the united States China might just see the point ,give American citizens a thirty day period to get back to the States and shut down the borders, change the American currency, and make the American money worthless all over the world, except here,but what the hell do I know,it costs millions to print new money ,but the government should have had new money in stock the whole time as a contingency plan, peace is are profession,when we think of war let us think of are children,they could have put up watch towers every so many miles the Mexican border is open desert would have been cheaper than a wall,Mr,president in the words of Ronald Reagan tare that wall down,put up towers with sniper's, it's not like the CIA can't feed the drug addiction of America,what would it be like if no one died,it would be great,until we run out of food and resources, all the resources of the world is owned so what chance do we really have,the funny thing is,a lot of people might think we are going to space,but we came hear from space ,Mars is a waste land and NASA is a waste of time unless NASA built a ship to haul a hundred thousand at a time into space to another planet,a foot soldier in the military does not realize that it is a punishment ,Almighty God does not really have to have foot soldiers in this day or any other, people who sit at computers live happier lives ,besides if we devalue are own money we can break out the gold dollars and return America to coinage,and it really makes me wonder,why don't they put a circle wall around the Pentagon,some people might think it's cruel to put sniper's at the border,we try not to let Mexico's crime spill into the US,if we are a truly free country why have a government computer choose what life we live,some people would rather die from drugs then war,yet we can't use all drugs ,but other people can decide weather we die from nuclear weapons in war,sanctions on North Korea never worked because it's China pulling the strings ,it's the game of life,but why die from war when we can ride it out in style.if you look at it from a perspective ,logic dictates that we the people kinda used other poor countries for years to live good and have good cheap stuff,so maybe,America has a lot of resources, and it's technology that is going to help us survive, we could irradiate are drinking water instead of using chemicals ,ect ,but we have to take the ego,and greed out of the reason why we stand...

visited here once, very vivid memory The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase The Pentagon is often used as a metonym for the Department of Defense and its leadership. Located in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., the building was designed by American architect George Bergstrom and built by contractor John McShain. Ground was broken on 11 September 1941, and the building was dedicated on 15 January 1943. General Brehon Somervell provided the major impetus to gain Congressional approval for the project; Colonel Leslie Groves was responsible for overseeing the project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which supervised it. The Pentagon is the world's largest office building, with about 6.5 million square feet (150 acres; 60 ha) of floor space, of which 3.7 million square feet (85 acres; 34 ha) are used as offices. Some 23,000 military and civilian employees, and another 3,000 non-defense support personnel, work in the Pentagon. It has five sides, five floors above ground, two basement levels, and five ring corridors per floor with a total of 17.5 mi (28.2 km)[7] of corridors. The central five-acre (2.0 ha) pentagonal plaza is nicknamed "ground zero" on the presumption that it would be a prime target in a nuclear war. In 2001, the Pentagon was damaged during the September 11 attacks. Five al-Qaeda hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the western side of the building, killing themselves and 184 others: 59 on the airplane and 125 in the Pentagon. It was the first significant foreign attack on Washington's governmental facilities since the city was burned by the British during the War of 1812. Following the attacks, the western side of the building was repaired, with a small indoor memorial and chapel added at the point of impact. An outdoor memorial dedicated to the Pentagon victims of 9/11...