The Pentagon, A Monumental Symbol of Military Command

1400 Defense Pentagon, Arlington, VA 20301

This pentagon-shaped building

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Introduction

The Pentagon is located in the Arlington district southwest of Washington, D.C., along the Potomac River. It is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense and the highest command of the US military. The building is a regular pentagon, covering an area of 2.359 million square meters, 22 meters high, with 5 floors, a total building area of 608,000 square meters, and a usable area of approximately 344,000 square meters. The building was completed on April 15, 1943, and opened in May of the same year, costing $87 million and can accommodate 23,000 employees (including military and civilian personnel) to work here. The building has complete internal facilities, including 4,200 clocks, 691 drinking fountains, 284 toilets, 16,250 lights, and various service facilities such as restaurants, shops, post offices, banks, and bookstores. There are 4 large parking lots outside the building, which can accommodate approximately 10,000 cars. The total length of the corridors in the building is 28 kilometers, the length of telephone lines is at least 160,000 kilometers, at least 200,000 telephone calls enter and leave every day, and receive more than 1.2 million letters a day.