Author:
Taxonomy upgrade extras:
On Jeopardy one night, the final question was 'How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?' --- --- All three missed it ---
This is really an awesome sight to watch if you've never had the chance Very fascinating.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
1. How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the tomb of the Unknowns and why?
21 steps. It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute, which is the highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary.
2. How long does he hesitate after his about face to begin his return walk and why?
21 seconds for the same reason as answer number 1
3. Why are his gloves wet?
His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his grip on the rifle.
4. Does he carry his rifle on the same shoulder all the time; and if not, why?
He carries the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After his march across the path, he executes an about face and moves the rifle to the outside shoulder.
5. How often are the guards changed?
Guards are changed every thirty minutes, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.
6. What are the physical traits of the guard limited to?
For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he must be between 5' 10' and 6' 2' tall and his waist size cannot exceed 30", Other requirements of the Guard: They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on or off duty for the rest of their lives. They cannot swear in public for the rest of their lives and cannot disgrace the uniform {by fighting, etc.} or the tomb in any way.
After two years, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only 400 presently worn. The guard must obey these rules for the rest of their lives or give up the wreath pin.
The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt.
There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for duty in front of a full-length mirror.
The first six months of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone, nor watch TV. All off duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. A guard must memorize who they are and where they are interred. Among the notables are:
President Taft,
Joe E. Lewis {the boxer}
Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy of Hollywood fame, (the most decorated soldier of WWII).
Every guard spends five hours a day getting his uniforms ready for guard duty.
ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.
In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was approaching Washington, DC, our US Senate/House took 2 days off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC evening news, it was reported that because of the dangers from the hurricane, the military members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment. They respectfully declined the offer, 'No way, Sir!'
Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be afforded to a serviceperson. The tomb has been patrolled continuously, 24/7, since 1930.
God Bless and keep them.
Comments
Worthy of respect indeed
And a good way to show that respect is to present accurate information and not propagate myths. The following is taken from the official site of the 3d United States Infantry Regiment, 'The Old Guard':
Scott
-- Moliere
Bree
The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
-- Tom Clancy
http://genomorph.tglibrary.com/ (Currently broken)
http://bree-ramsey314.livejournal.com/
Twitter: @genomorph
Thanks Scott
Correcting the myths is very helpful. The guards do an important and difficult job. Many other countries have similar guards, with similar traditions.
Wikipedia provides a history and list of some of them.
Annette
Authority vs. The Internets
I'm often fascinated with the way misinformation gets transmografied into urban legend on teh internetz. Someone makes up some silly rubbish, misinterprets something or repeats some random rumors in written form. Someone else finds it, decides it's fascinating, and mails it to their friends, who mail it to their friends who mail it to, etc., ad nauseum, leading any number of ingenuous sorts along the way to credit it as legitimate and from a legitimate source. (Elsewise, why would their friend be sending it to them?)
Hint: your friend is sending you a chain email because THEY DIDN'T BOTHER TO CHECK THE SOURCE and because they want to believe it's true. Second hint: that doesn't make it true, nor does it prevent you from looking up an authoritative (i.e. original, i.e. official and verified) source for the information.
Google is wonderful. U.S. Government and U.S. Military information is usually available direct from the agencies involved, on websites found on .gov and .mil top-level domains. You can limit searches for U.S. military info to official sources by adding site:mil to your google search. For U.S. government info, site:gov will anchor your search to that domain. Scientific information can usually be sourced from a university (in the U.S., site:edu) or lab doing the research. Every country has their own official government and education domains. You may have to do some research to figure out which is what. Canadian government info is mostly available from gc.ca, for example. Universities in the UK are often found at ac.uk.
If you cannot find an original or authoritative source for information you are sent in an email, you might want to consider not passing it on to anyone, or writing back to the sender and asking them what they've done to verify it. If you can find it, CITE YOUR AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE when you pass it on, include the URL. That will help people decide how much credence the information is worth.
Until further notice, everyone should be a teensy bit skeptical of any information you can't verify for yourself from an authoritative source, especially anything that SHOULD be, logically speaking, easy to look up. And, you should always feel free to question authority, for that matter. A government agency may well be motivated to make things look more to their advantage than they might appear to someone who's totally impartial. But, this is still more authoritative than some talking head who has a conspiracy-theory radio show on pirate shortwave, or Fox News.
Snopes.com is a website that can be a useful tool for debunking or verifying some of the more common urban myths, but in and of themselves, they're not an authority. The best thing about them though, is that when they find some authoritative info, they'll give you the citation and link to it, which can save you some research. But, always check sources yourself, to make sure you understand what you're reading.
EVERYONE is entitled to put forth their own opinions and theories, as long as it's clear that's what they're doing. But, unsourced, unreferenced "fact" that's not verifiable? Give it a miss, take it with a grain of salt, send it to /dev/null (hit "erase/delete"), or base your next short story on it. But, please, please, please, do not pass it along with your imprimature referencing it as "the truth."