Unseen support

I had a unique opportunity to tour the Pentagon today, where we walked (according to my steps tracker) 9,414 steps all around the building, just getting a small taste of what it's like there. From the outside, it's a large building -- but I'll confess, driving past it over a hundred times, I've never been particularly impressed by it. On the inside, however, there are approximately 17.5 miles of corridors, which provide about 6.5 MILLION square feet of office space for around 24,000 military and civilian personnel who work there.

What!??

We walked for hours.

Even more impressive than the size of the building, it struck me that every employee in that building  -- military and civilian -- has sworn an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." In other words, each person working in that building is devoted to keeping our country strong and safe. 

We rarely hear this side of the story. 

News and media networks feed off of drama and fear, centered on the current administration and players on the Hill. What they don't cover is the solid base of continuous, often unseen support that does not change every 4 years. We met today with a powerhouse woman in higher leadership who has worked in the Pentagon for 36 years. She was hired when Ronald Regan was President. The steadiness and confidence in the system that she expressed was the most news-worthy thing I've seen all year.

She shared how, with every administration, teams in the Pentagon meet with elected/appointed officials to explain why they've been doing things the way they've been doing them, providing context around the very complex decisions and structures, and then allowing the officials to take the information and strategically determine their desired course of action. With this steady supply of context and expertise, our country has been able to continuously move forward. And it won't stop. 

This is not meant to be a political piece. This is simply an ordinary citizen's observation of a confidence-building experience, seeing just a glimpse of the depth of support our country truly has. I've never felt more patriotic than I did walking those (many!) corridors. God bless America, and God bless the countless unseen public servants supporting Her.