Pub. 1 Issue 3

15 D uring a 37-year period between 1958 and 1995, the U.S. government built and maintained a large bunker under the famous and luxurious Green- brier Resort inWest Virginia. e Bunker, which still exists today, is about the size of a WalMart, has concrete walls that are three feet thick, and occupies 112,544 square feet. It was completed in 1961. Forsythe Associ- ates, which consisted of government employ- ees, was ostensibly hired for audio/visual support services but was actually in charge of making sure e Bunker was always ready. To meet that goal, they updated its equip- ment changed lters, updated pharmaceu- ticals, and made sure there was a six-month supply of fresh food for more than 30 years. What were they preparing for? President Eisenhower chose the spot because he was afraid there might be a nuclear war. e presidents who followed him supported the idea for the same reason. at may sound bizarre today, but at the time the U.S. had a whole industry for constructing fallout shelters. On September 15, 1961, in fact, Life magazine even had a letter from President Kennedy on the subject. He told citizens about the National Fallout Shelter Survey andMarking Program. Most fallout shelters that were put into place and stocked with food were inadequate and would have done little to provide anyone with serious protection; by 1971, the federal government decided to stop giving food to fallout shelters, and later on it stopped keep- ing track of howmany there were. e Bunker, however, was in a di erent category. It was a four-hour drive away from Washington, D.C. and was designed so that part of the design looked like a conference facility. It also had a 7,000-foot landing strip nearby. e air intake systemwas designed to lter out radiation. During the time e Bunker was active, in fact, thousands of peo- ple used e Bunker’s exhibit hall without realizing its larger purpose. Car companies and the West Virginia Medical Association all met there. e Bunker had the following features: • A cafeteria • A communications area with audio record- ing booths and a television production area • A door designed to withstand a 25-ton blast that could be opened by applying 50 lbs. of pressure • A laboratory • Amedical clinic with 12 hospital beds and rooms for dental and medical operations • A pharmacy • A power plant with puri cation equipment • An entrance to the main building, and three entrances that opened onto the grounds of the resort • An intensive care unit • Decontamination chambers • Eighteen dormitories with assigned beds for more than 1,100 people • Meeting rooms that included space for the House, the Senate, a governor’s hall, and the Mountaineer Room • ree diesel fuel storage tanks for 14,000 gallons of diesel fuel • ree water storage tanks for 25,000 gallons of water Few people knew about e Bunker. Even Bob Conte, who has been the o cial historian of the Greenbrier Resort since 1978, had no idea at rst that it was there. e resort gave him access to photos of kings, presidents, and prime ministers, many of themon the veranda drinking mint juleps, and it gave himmany records and documents. No one told him that there was a reinforced bunker just yards away from the o ce where he worked every day. e secret was made public on May 31, 1992 by e Washington Post, and the U.S. government immediately started decom- missioning it, although the lease agreement did not end until 1995. (It is still being used as a secure data storage facility.) Today, the resort o ers daily Bunker tours to anyone who is interested. For more information about the tours, visit www.greenbrier.com/ Activities/Bunker-Tours. e most interesting part of the story is this: the U.S. still has a secret home for Congress. We just don’t know where it is now located. The Bunker e employees of VADA Bene ts & Insurance come to work each and every day to ensure that we have you covered. We take pride in providing sound advice to all of our clients. Our job is not done until you have Peace of Mind that you and your employees are receiving the best bene ts and top-notch service available. BENEFITS DONE BETTER https://vadabenefits.com/

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