Classified

When I was 19, I had a girlfriend whose mother really likes to travel and see new things, as long as it was cheap. She got US Government clearances and tickets to go for a tour of the Pentagon in Washington DC. The Pentagon is the headquarters for the Department of Defense with the United States military, and it is a highly classified and extremely cool building. There is a mall right next to it in Arlington Virginia called The Pentagon mall, where you can buy some souvenirs if you were one of the unfortunate ones who was not able to go on your tour of the Pentagon. Or, of course, you could go buy stuff after your tour, which is what we did.

Upon entering the building, all firearms must be checked, and verifying information must be presented to the heavily armed security officers. Upon arrival in the main part of the building, we see a massive staircase and some of the largest bathrooms I've ever seen as well. And trust me, I've seen a lot of bathrooms (shameless travel disclosure). We are invited into a waiting room, where we waited for our tour guide to take us on a tour of the portion of the facility that is accessible to civilians.

Our tour guide introduced himself as a sergeant with the United States Marines who was taking a break from active duty to lead guided tours of the Pentagon. He asked all of us where we are from, with only a surprisingly few amount of the people saying they are from the United States. Half of the tour group came from England and the Netherlands. One couple came from Germany, and another from Japan. And all of them came simply because they wanted to learn a little bit about the inner workings of our government and defense policy.

The most impressive thing about the tour, aside from seeing the different military and defense exhibits and displays themselves, would probably have to be the fact that our tour guide led the entire tour backwards. That's right, he was back stepping the entire time while talking to us, only changing directions at the very end of the tour when it was over. While walking backwards, he gave us a lot of history lessons about the Pentagon, where it started, and how it got to where it is today.

Towards the middle of the tour, we got to the section that was destroyed and rebuilt during the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001. We were asked to sign a guestbook that laid under a wall full of purple hearts, each hard to commit commemorate a fallen citizen. It was a very sobering moment. We admired the topiary that existed in the refurbished Courtyard for a moment or two, and then continued on with the rest of the tour, next going to the naval Wing to learn about their ships and boats.

On the last half of the tour, there was actually a display About the Boy Scouts of America America and their involvement with the Pentagon. We then saw some employees speeding around downstairs, complete with healthy meals obtained from the Central Cafe of the Pentagon. These meals usually included Arby's, Starbucks, and McDonalds. Even in the most locked down building in the United States, there is a deficit of healthy food choices.

A Much younger me at the pentagon. I was holding the wrong wrist, though.

At the end of the tour, we got to stand next to our tour guide and his assistant, noticing that like most military pictures, neither of them was smiling. We looked around, took a few more pictures, got some souvenirs, and called it quits for a day. I wish I could tell you more about what goes on in the lower levels of the Pentagon, but just as for the rest of us, that information is classified.