MORE FUN PENTAGON FACTS
- The floors of the Pentagon are numbered from 1 to 5, and each ring is lettered from A to E (A on the inside).
- Because of the steel shortage during World War II, the floors of the Pentagon are connected by huge concrete ramps.
- If you take a guided tour of the Pentagon, you will see big stately wood-paneled corridors. Most of the Pentagon is yellowing and rusting, and not all that stately.
- The basement of the Pentagon is larger than the Pentagon itself.
- The basement has also been altered so many times that it had to be re-surveyed during a recent renovation.
- Several large portions of the Pentagon catacombs were built with large amounts of asbestos. Rather than remove it, the Department of Defense elected to brick the areas over, sealing them off until the building was renovated in the mid 1990's.
- According to many reports (none of them official), the Pentagon is connected to other key sites in Washington, DC by a network of underground tunnels large enough to accommodate golf cart traffic.
- The Pentagon site was originally earmarked for an expansion of Arlington National Cemetery.
- While the construction of the Pentagon was being debated in Congress, many congressmen argued that its massive size would no longer be necessary after the war.
- Over 1,000 architects worked feverishly in a nearby hangar to supply over 14,000 artisans with blueprints.
- All Pentagon employees are given a smoke mask to use in the event of a terrorist attack.
- The building has its own federal police force, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency. Before September 11, 2001, security was supplied by military police, and would rotate from branch to branch each week.
Sources:
http://web.archive.org/web/20020203182258/www.lajes.af.mil/history/pages/pentagon.htm
http://www.dtic.mil/ref/html/Welcome/general.html
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/The_Pentagon.html
http://www.io.com/~sjohn/frood2.htm
http://www.pobonline.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,2338,74568,00.html