The Department of Defense has added a virtual tour, with a slideshow introduction, of the Pentagon that can be found on the DefenseLINK Internet site at
http://www.defenselink.mil.
The new virtual tour allows anyone with a computer capable of viewing streaming video to visit any or all of the 12 ceremonial corridors in the Pentagon. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Ken Bacon said, "You can view the entire tour, which runs about 24 minutes, or you can watch any one of the segments, such as our 'Hall of Heroes' where every Medal of Honor recipient is honored. Our building tour program hosts about 120,000 visitors a year. Now, with the virtual tour, many hundreds of thousands more people will be able to see the Pentagon without having to make a personal trip here."
The virtual tour includes a brief introduction and end of tour segment, all narrated by Pentagon tour guides. The guides are military personnel assigned to their Services' ceremonial units and who serve on temporary duty for up to one year at the Pentagon.
The "DoD 101" slideshow provides the history of the military Services and describes how they perform their roles and missions. The slides also depict interesting facts about military operations and the people who work for the Department.
Free actual tours of the Pentagon are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Additional information on the tour program is available on the DefenseLINK web site.
