This gigantic facility, which is home to some of the most top-secret military decisions in the world, is known as the Pentagon. It is the largest low-rise office building in the whole world. The majority of people living in the United States are blissfully unaware of the activities that go on within the enigmatic walls of this military headquarters.
Today we’re learning facts about the pentagon,
1. Although it is only 77 feet in height, the Pentagon covers an incredible 6.6 million square feet, and its maze-like passageways stretch for more than 17 miles. Even though it is only 77 feet tall, it takes almost an entire mile to walk around the outside of the building.
It is said that before phones were placed at every workstation, a succession of roller skating messengers were deployed around the building. This massive space still ranks as the second largest office building in the United States. There are urban tales about roller skating messengers. Because of its layout, the Pentagon is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. However, there are relatively few structures that have a pentagon-shaped layout exactly like the Pentagon.
2. The project’s initial plan called for it to be able to fit onto desirable property that was bordered on all five sides. As a result, the architects and designers worked together to devise a one-of-a-kind pentagonal layout for the structure that would make the most of the site’s unusual dimensions.
Each of the five wedges would have several concentric rings of office space that would be linked to each other through corridors, a courtyard would sit at the center of the complex, but after a pitched battle with conservationists who were concerned that the building would block the sweeping vistas of Washington from the cemetery, the plan was scrapped. The current location of the headquarters, which is at the foot of the Virginia side of the 14th street Bridge over the Potomac, was chosen by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the location where the new headquarters should be built. The removal of a slum known as hell’s bottom was a factor in the decision to move the ghetto to the new location, which is comprised of roughly 147 acres taken from the former Washington Hoover Airport and 80 acres taken from Fort Meyer. In the end, the inhabitants had to be removed so that construction of the Pentagon could begin. This was problematic due to the fact that hell’s bottom was an exceptionally low-income region and many of the locals struggled to migrate. Despite the fact that the Pentagon has 23,000 employees and is in desperate need of adequate facilities, the reality remains that there are approximately twice as many restrooms as would ordinarily be required. This was a direct result of the Jim Crow laws that were in effect around the time when the building was constructed, which mandated the separation of sexes in public spaces like bathrooms. Despite the impression that was produced by some post-war Hollywood films that featured white and black troops fighting side by side during World War 2, the United States armed forces did not become desegregated until 1948, according to historian Steve Vogel.
Three years after the conclusion of the war, President Harry Truman signed an executive order mandating equality of treatment for all individuals serving in the armed forces, regardless of race, color, religion, or national origin. Civilian laborers who toiled on the building site of the Pentagon were impacted by both the racial difference that existed in the United States during the wartime era as well as the manpower constraints that were caused by the conflict.
3. As a result of the racial tensions that existed and the pervasive racism that existed among the construction workers, the architect was ultimately compelled to erect a segregated pentagon. There was a time in the history of the United States when the government supported a racial caste system that reached all the way to the top. Although the building is not split by race anymore, the abundance of bathrooms serves as a reminder of the pentagon’s troubled past. The Pentagon is not known for its frugal nature, but it would appear that they have started to cut costs on at least one front. After many years of testing, they have introduced a combat chewing gum in order to help compensate for the more than one hundred million dollars that they spend on dental care for soldiers each and every year. In the beginning, researchers at the United States Army Institute of Surgical Research thought that the peppermint-flavored gum would be useful for soldiers who were sent to difficult environments where there was no running water. However, as the work continued, they saw that there was a greater demand for the product. The goal of the Army would be to issue prescriptions for the gum to high-risk service members. Hail informed them that they would be requested to chew the gum for twenty minutes, three times a day, after each meal. The effort should reduce plaque, and consequently tooth decay. The longer you chew on sugar-free gum, the more saliva is stimulated to flow into your mouth from your salivary glands. The more fully it neutralizes the acids that are contained in plaque, combat gum is also sugar-free like trident, but the army’s formula incorporates a component that is designated ksl-w. This substance is a synthetic sequence of antimicrobial peptides that imitate defenses. An officer explained that the germ-killing compounds that occur naturally in saliva are called peptides. Peptides operate incredibly quickly and can destroy bacteria in as little as five minutes.
4. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 are ingrained in the memories of every single person who calls themselves an American. The catastrophe occurred in close proximity to a number of significant landmarks in the United States, including the Pentagon. The confusion and panic that followed the crash of a passenger jet into the Pentagon early on the morning of September 11 rippled throughout the nation. Even while the act was horrible and all of the casualties on that day were heartbreaking, an investigation of the structural damage indicated that the death toll at the Pentagon might have been much worse if not for several crucial technical decisions made sixty years earlier.
5. Construction on the Pentagon began not long before the outbreak of the Second World War. Because steel was in short supply during this time period, reinforced concrete was used in the construction of the Pentagon. A material that would eventually limit the effects of the explosion that took place on September 11; furthermore, thinking that the pentagon would need to store heavy caches of records for the long haul, the U.S. army corps of engineers built in excess strength and structural redundancies that would end up saving hundreds or potentially thousands of lives on September 11; these were built in because they believed the pentagon would need to store heavy caches of records for the long haul. Because it is the headquarters for the Department of Defense, the Pentagon is home to numerous weapons that are at the cutting edge of military technology. Despite the fact that the events were deeply traumatic for the employees of the Pentagon, a large number of them were able to live to see another day thanks to the fortunate renovations. Among the weapons that are rumoured to be in production at the Pentagon are directed energy weapons that function like lasers and can disintegrate objects from miles away; long-range acoustic devices Due to the sensitive nature of this programme, a representative from Lockheed Martin stated that the business will be unable to participate in any interviews that are conducted for it. Many people believe that if a foreign power were to attack the United States, these hypersonic missiles would be able to successfully defend the country and defeat them. In addition to that, they have created something that has been dubbed a “ninja bomb,” which is capable of dropping 100 pounds of blades on a target from a distance, and they also have rocket balls. The Pentagon’s rocket balls are the most recent secret weapon to be made public. The concept behind rocket balls is that you take a hollow sphere with a hole in it that is made of rubberized rocket fuel. When lit, the rocket balls get very hot inside and eject a high temperature exhaust through the hull. After that, the rocket ball propels itself in every direction, bouncing off of hardened walls and breaking through doors into whatever else is in its path.
6. The months of June through October of 1999 saw the execution of one of the most remarkable operations in the annals of the history of hacking. The Department of Defense of the United States of America uncovered a number of incursions into the school systems of commercial corporations, as well as into its own school systems, and even into NASA’s school systems. The most intriguing aspect of this whole situation is the fact that these unauthorized entries were made by a young man who was just 15 years old and a native of Miami. Jonathan James who operated under the pseudonym of comrade is considered one of the greatest hackers in history thanks to his great ability to access private systems between June 29th and 30th Jonathan managed to break NASA security and access 13 computers from which he stole software and information worth 1.7 million dollars which caused the agency to shut down their systems for 21 days, an action that would cost them 41,000 in repairs and losses. Anyone who thought the Pentagon had an extremely high level of security was proven wrong when it was breached by a teenager. In the end, he became the first minor hacker to be condemned to prison, and he served his time there during the first half of his 16th year on earth.
7. Vietnam was the first U.S. war to receive broad opposition, and young people in particular felt strongly against the conflict and did everything they could to make their feelings known. In 1967, a group of hippies attempted to levitate the Pentagon to determine how many hippies would be required to encircle the 6.5 million square feet of military office space, a ludicrous approach to convey their dissatisfaction. One of the organizers, Abby Hoffman, and a buddy walked in a circle around the structure, taking turns holding hands and counting body lengths. “Everyone knows that a five-sided figure is evil,” Hoffman said.
They plastered leaflets on car windscreens in the parking lot before being arrested for littering by pentagon security. When interrogated by a general service administrator, the two men revealed their plan to levitate the pentagon 300 feet into the air by forming a circle, enchanting Aramaic exorcism rights, causing it to erupt in a fiery orange glow and a resonant vibration until all evil emissions vanished
8. What did the government keep hidden in the “pentagon papers”? The people at large found their antics amusing, but they were never able to successfully perform the exorcism they had planned. The pentagon is notorious for hiding information on any and all aspects of the United States government. The Pentagon Papers, formally titled History of United States Decision-Making in Vietnam, 1945-1968, were leaked in a vast trove in 2005. They detail the causes and progression of the Vietnam War. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, who had begun to have moral qualms about the war in Vietnam, commissioned them in June 1967. The New York Times Co. v. United States was a landmark Supreme Court decision on issues of press freedom and censorship that included them. authorities showed up after a month of publication of documents containing details of massive U.S. and British electronic surveillance programs designed to collect personal data in order to spy on terrorists and ordinary citizens.
The leaks undermined the credibility of the Pentagon’s efforts over the past few decades by revealing widespread violations of citizens’ and noncitizens’ constitutional rights by the government. The public’s trust in the Pentagon has eroded in recent years as its name has become synonymous with torture, wasteful spending, and the unauthorized surveillance of American individuals.
9. The United States Department of State building in Washington, DC, was severely damaged by an explosion on January 29, 1975. There were no casualties, however the significant damage impacted 20 policemen across 3 floors. The Weather Underground, a student group, claimed responsibility for both explosives, one of which was detected and successfully detonated hours later at a military induction centre in Oakland, California. The Weather Underground was a small violent branch of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), whose name came from a phrase in a Bob Dylan song.
10. Forming during the unrest of the Sixties, this group has been contentious ever since. The phrase “you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows” by Bob Dylan from the song “subterranean homesick blues” inspired the name of the phenomenon. Pentagon funding for Hollywood films with favorable pentagon portrayals has been called “soft propaganda” by some. The Pentagon has established a Liaison Office for the Entertainment Industry since 1948, as is well documented. The CIA took a similar stance in 1996; both agencies negotiated for favorable portrayals in exchange for access to sensitive sites and pieces of technology, like aircraft carriers. The United States military not only supplied all of the weaponry and equipment used in the film Black Hawk Down, but also provided ranger training for the actors. Despite widespread sentiment that the military should have no place in the film industry, the Pentagon’s work in Hollywood has done wonders for the service’s public profile.