Dedicated to your job?

[Bagsohaks]

Subject: Guarding The 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 not?

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 {fighting} 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} and Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, {the most decorated soldier of WWII} of Hollywood fame.

Every guard spends five hours a day getting his uniforms ready for guard duty.

I don't know if you saw this in the news but it really impressed me. Funny, our US Senate/House took 2 days off as they couldn't work because of the expected storm.

On the ABC evening news, it was reported tonight that, because of the dangers from Hurricane Isabelle approaching Washington DC, 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.

We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.


ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD,
AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM


God Bless them.

My Sister sent me this information, thought some folks here would enjoy it as well.

[Grantref]

This common bit of email-lore is actually a mix of truth and fiction. I've noted the parts that are incorrect.

All information is reverently stolen from Snopes.com.

Originally posted by Bagsohaks
Subject: Guarding The 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.

He does not perform an about-face, but a more complicated action. See site linked to above.

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 not?

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.

Not true. The guards can live on the nearby Fort Myer military base or in off-base housing, tours of duty at the Tomb may be of any length, and off-duty drinking is not restricted.

They cannot swear in public for the rest of their lives and cannot disgrace the uniform {fighting} 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.

Also incorrect. It's not a pin, it's a badge, it's not given automatically after 2 years but instead after taking a test and serving for several months, and while it can be taken away for 'conduct unbecoming', simply swearing in public does not meet this standard.

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} and Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, {the most decorated soldier of WWII} of Hollywood fame.

Every guard spends five hours a day getting his uniforms ready for guard duty.

In the words of the Snopes.com page, someone seems to have confused the Tomb Guards with a monastery. Although the training for this position is rigorous and demanding, leaving little time for off-duty recreation, the guards may do whatever they wish during their off-duty time. Incidentally, the boxer buried in the cemetery is named Joe Lewis, not Joe E. Lewis.

I don't know if you saw this in the news but it really impressed me. Funny, our US Senate/House took 2 days off as they couldn't work because of the expected storm.

On the ABC evening news, it was reported tonight that, because of the dangers from Hurricane Isabelle approaching Washington DC, 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.

We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.


ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD,
AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM


God Bless them.

My Sister sent me this information, thought some folks here would enjoy it as well.

The rest of this is not quoted on the Snopes.com site so I'm not sure if it is accurate or not. It sounds plausible, however.

[Raeghin]

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that most of those inspirational emails, while retaining some fact, also have a bit of urban legend and exaggeration. What drives me crazy is that several lines were quoted for being less than accurate….like you took a lot of time to break this apart, when really, the original email conveyed the point it meant to. If you looked on “snopes” you can STILL see the level of commitment and pride that these soldiers have for that particular job. If you have ever seen the actual Tomb itself you would know how poignant these soldiers' dedication it really is. Maybe if you had ever spent time serving this country and understanding what that Tomb is about that it would not be so important to pick this one apart?

I really appreciate the time you took, super sleuth, to uncover anything that might be less than accurate with this particular e-forward but I think I will stick with the inspiration of the original. Maybe the time could be better spent uncovering the mystery of the macabre and disturbing urban legend e-forwards instad of picking apart beautiful and patriotic forwards, such as this.

[Gesslar]

while i admire your conviction and of course the dedication of these people who guard said tomb, it remains an important issue that people understand and admire things that are actually happening. the sentiment doesn't change since clearly there is a great feeling of patriotism and duty in performing as a guard for this monument. as a continual victim of hearsay, urban legend and complete inaccuracies, i maintain that the level of understanding must be upheld to properly acknowledge people's work. that the "legend" contains positive lore probably makes it easier to let your position continue as it is, i question if there were negative bits of lore, whether you would be as steadfast in your position.

as it stands, for me, they are doing something admirable and certainly something i do not envision that i would be able to do, and for that i believe they are commendable.

[Raeghin]

It is a commendable job that they do, and just a small way that the active soldiers can get the chance to show the pomp and circumstance of a formal tribute to our fallen. With most e-forwards like that, I don’t even bother to read them, they get deleted. Every now and then there is a good one, or story that touches a nerve. I just really question the motive of breaking down something inspirational, 100% factual or not. I realize that there are those who simply just want the facts, not the sentiment, to each his own. 99% of the time that’s all I want is facts too. I didn’t need to know whether these soldiers could ever swear again or not. To me this was not an important detail, nor where they slept.

I think it is also pretty neat that he was interested enough in the topic to research more on it. All too often, however, I sense that the desire to prove or disprove overrides the intent of the message. Hence, my ‘ugh’.