By Via This Ain’t Hell comes this picture of at least one government worker who didn’t get the day off in the Washington, DC metro area yesterday:
If you haven’t seen the Old Guard perform their duties before at Arlington National Cemetery, they are quite impressive.
12:52 pm on February 12th, 2010 1
The 'old guard' are often expressed as anyone who hasn't fought in a previous war. I suspect most now in the military are 'old guard'.
4:04 pm on February 12th, 2010 2
I was station at Fort Myer from 88-90. I was issued 4 sets of dress blues and wore them all the time. I had taps on my shoes and had inspections during formation that ultimantly led to a trip upstairs to fix a gig or two before another formation to check corrections to the uniform. We were called toy soldiers, everyone was above 6 feet tall an slender and we were taught to walk like a robot. The 3rd U.S. Infantry Old Guard goes out no matter what the weather, it is bordering on insane…
4:06 am on February 15th, 2010 3
Last time I processed into Korea, my temporary roomie had just come from that unit.
He said he loved it.
Too bad he was such a perfect "model" looking soldier.
Straight to the J.S.A. for him!
9:27 am on February 15th, 2010 4
I bet he enjoyed that as well. Would be hard to compete with soldiers as sharp as he presented himself. Bet the Norks took notice as well. Would be somewhat unsettling to watch people like your roomie and know that was what they were up against.
10:05 am on February 18th, 2010 5
I served with the Honor Guard company from 97-01. Those 51 months were the most humbling of my life. I was in the marching platoon and only did a couple of funerals the whole time I was there. The dignity and respect the Soldiers of The Old Guard present is without comparison. It gives me solitude to know TOG will be the last ones to carry me and lay me to rest.
While with TOG, I found many Soldiers that NEVER said "thats good enough"
The USA is fortunate to have TOG.
However, I liked it better when we rouged our brass. There is peace and reflection when rouging medals and buttons and a sword. But those days are gone as they went to annodized brass in late 2000. Though some still wanted to rouge their brass, TOG would not allow them to wear it because it looked so different.