Posted: 8/25/2009 3:15:38 PM EDT
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There was another Tomb Guard thread going recently but it digressed into some kind of bickering, so I though I would post this one under a new one. I meant to post this a couple of months ago but forgot, here goes:
I was in Washington and I made it a point to stop by the Tomb and pay my respects. Something out of the ordinary happened; during the inspection of the Guard that was coming on duty, the very crisply moving rifle struck one of the decorations on either the Sergeant or the Guard (I still haven't figured out which) and knocked the medal portion of the decoration to the ground. I suspect it was the Sergeant's decoration because his decorations are the only ones that appear to be able to hide a missing part. Anyway, I wait until the ceremony is complete and I approach one of the civilians that works in the Tomb area and tell him that there is a decoration on the ground (because I figured it was his job to retrieve it). He said that there would be someone out shortly to recover the item. I decide that I am not moving until I see this. So in about 30 seconds, a soldier in regular greens (short sleeve dress uniform) comes out. This guy is not typical looking, he is 100% squared away, from beret to shoes, this guy is a Tomb Guard including about a 28 inch waist at about 6' 2". The civilian opens the chain to allow this guard in; he tells the civilian to leave the chain open and wait a minute. The Guard stays outside the chain and waits for the patrolling guard to make his normal march until they are both in line of sight of each other. At this point, the soldier in greens gives some sort of hand signal to the active guard. The guard continues his march until he reaches the far end of his march. At this time he crisply marches into a small both adjacent to the tomb (but open) where he quickly inspects himself to determine what might be wrong with his uniform. While he does this, the soldier in green salutes the Tomb, quickly enters, retrieves the decoration, salutes again and departs. Meantime, the soldier in the booth is back on the march. I always wondered what happened out there when something out of the ordinary happened; now I see that these guys do not break decorum for anything. I have seen the video of what happens when someone crosses the chains without permission, it is not pretty, these guys are really on guard. I can only assume that is why the signal was flashed, to make sure that the guard knew who was crossing the chains. These guys are outstanding. As I left, one of the guards was coming back with his lunch wearing BDUs and heading into the quarters. I made sure to thanks him and shake his hand. Anyway, thought you guys might enjoy the story |
| I was not a tomb guard, but I was a member of Continental Color Guard E Co. I will tell you that when a tomb guard gets a brand new shirt it is not white enough. Also, we had a series of steam presses that we could use to press our uniforms. Most guys pressed everything from socks to underwear to their jeans. We had BDUs that were never worn but that we pressed and hung perfectly for inspection. We got up at O dark thirty for PT and then spent six to eight hours practicing drill and ceremony before we did the ceremony. You did not move a finger when you were in a ceremony. They were almost always televised (and the tomb is on closed - circuit). They would watch us and look for movement, and then you would get in trouble if they saw any movement. It was definitely an honor to be picked to serve my entire duty in the Honor Guard, and those guys were the most STRACT soldiers i've ever known. I still have my ceremonial belt and it barely fits around half of me now! |
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Quoted:
I was not a tomb guard, but I was a member of Continental Color Guard E Co. I will tell you that when a tomb guard gets a brand new shirt it is not white enough. Also, we had a series of steam presses that we could use to press our uniforms. Most guys pressed everything from socks to underwear to their jeans. We had BDUs that were never worn but that we pressed and hung perfectly for inspection. We got up at O dark thirty for PT and then spent six to eight hours practicing drill and ceremony before we did the ceremony. You did not move a finger when you were in a ceremony. They were almost always televised (and the tomb is on closed - circuit). They would watch us and look for movement, and then you would get in trouble if they saw any movement. It was definitely an honor to be picked to serve my entire duty in the Honor Guard, and those guys were the most STRACT soldiers i've ever known. I still have my ceremonial belt and it barely fits around half of me now! Thanks for your service! |