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Tomb of Unknown Soldier - Guards remain despite hurricane

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The American Spirit exemplified in action; hurricane or not.

This was during Sandy

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I have two image URLs here, but only the first is showing.
 
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I knew a Tomb Guard when he joined our unit at Ft. Bragg. I was fucking with him saying that I could get him to break his position of attention. So after he readied himself, I started flicking his eyelash with my finger. It never batted.

After getting selected for Tomb Guard (an arduous process in itself) your tour is 24 hours. I think each 'walk' is 45 minutes and then you're relieved and enter the building to ready your uniform for the next 'walk'. I heard that there is a steam press for your uniforms right in the building. All of 3rd Infantry Regiment is considered the Honor Guard but few of them are selected for Tomb Guard. The companies have different duties such as Revolution era formations, Arlington National Cemetery, and another that I forget. They still have their required training on top of their ceremonial duties as the Old Guard is still an active duty infantry regiment.

When I was a young Private I had a yellow jacket crawl over my eyelash in formation while I was at the position of parade rest. That was 23 years ago and I still remember how it felt. My eyelash quivered but I didn't move my body.

Edit: Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that the Old Guard doesn't wear the new polyester service unform. Their coats and trousers are wool to present a better appearance. Thus the bottom of the trousers puff up a little when they soak the rain in. I can't see it in the pic but I bet if he took his overcoat off you'd see the difference in the dry and wet portion of the trousers.
 
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SandEagle said:
fake

http://mashable.com/2012/10/29/viral-soldier-pic-debunked/

i don't understand why they guard 24/7? is someone going to steal the tomb? did the federal reserve hide the real gold bars there? what? what? throw me a bone here...
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There is someone there 24/7 but they stop the Tomb Guards after the Cemetery closes. Then they remain within the Cemetery to do other duties. I think that they're responsible to relight the 'Eternal Flame' of JFK's grave whenever it goes out. It does go out and they just use whatever lighter is on hand, usually a Bic.
 
A quote from another forum:
I was Old Guard back in the day. In the 90's, the Sentinels used to wear BDUs at night, but did the walk the same as they would during the day. This was the only time new guys got to actually guard the Tomb- they had to earn a walk during the day. It would be usually about 6 months before a new guy would be on regular daytime rotation.

The only time I remember them going to "tactical overwatch" of the Tomb when they rolled out concertina wire and went to hats and bats was when the homos threatened to come into the cemetery and spraypaint pink triangles on the gravestones. This was shortly before DADT was presented.

I have a hard time imagining them doing the walk in ACUs and boots you can't shine, but knowing them they probably have figured out a way to starch and crease those things. I'd guess at night now they probably do it in some kind of modified uniform like "Ceremonial Class Bs" which we had to be in a lot. Before that we actually had a "Ceremonial PT" uniform, which was the old Army grey sweats with white gloves, corframs, and the saucer cap to practice flag folding and firing parties and such.
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I was there May 1984, Reagen gave a speech in the Amphitheater next to the tomb. I don't remember anything about seeing the President. What I do remember is walking thru the cemetery, looking at the endless rows of white tombstones. When we finally made it to the tomb, I broke down in tears after reading the inscription. It was a very moving experience.
 
SandEagle said:
i don't understand why they guard 24/7? is someone going to steal the tomb? did the federal reserve hide the real gold bars there? what? what? throw me a bone here...
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Do you go out of your way to be an asshole in real life or is it just a passive-aggressive thing you do when you're anonymous on the internet?
 
ichy said:
Do you go out of your way to be an asshole in real life or is it just a passive-aggressive thing you do when you're anonymous on the internet?
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uh, i never heard of the T.O.T.U.S before, until now. questions are questions for a purpose. that is why i asked. how can you think im an a&&hole? i've been nice to everyone here, never called any names. unlike the little boy above who thinks its ok to call me that. God will judge you little boy.
 
SandEagle said:
uh, i never heard of the T.O.T.U.S before, until now. questions are questions for a purpose. that is why i asked. how can you think im an a&&hole? i've been nice to everyone here, never called any names. unlike the little boy above who thinks its ok to call me that. God will judge you little boy.
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Don't you mean Allah? 😛
 
SandEagle said:
uh, i never heard of the T.O.T.U.S before, until now. questions are questions for a purpose. that is why i asked. how can you think im an a&&hole? i've been nice to everyone here, never called any names. unlike the little boy above who thinks its ok to call me that. God will judge you little boy.
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You try to be nice but then demonstrate being a fool in common sense.
 
Saw a documentary on the guard a few years back, might have been Nat Geo or History channel. They mentioned previous hurricanes that came right through DC. The guard actually resisted recommendations to seek better shelter, but did agree to stay somewhere nearby, as long as they still had line of sight to the tomb itself.
 
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