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Never Forget: The Old Guard Remembers 9/11 (4 Viewers)

Tangmo

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Foundation of The Old Guard
US Army 3rd Infantry Regiment
Never Forget

22 years ago, the Pentagon was struck by American Airlines Flight 77 at approximately 9:37am on 11 September 2001. The plane hit the E Ring at the first deck level between Corridors 4 and 5. The plane's path of destruction ended in the alley between the C Ring and B Ring.

In just a very few hours, The Old Guard (TOG) transitioned from ceremonial duties and deployed to the site in keeping with it's mission of security in the National Capital Region. The duties TOG assumed on that day and in subsequent days included coordination of various multiple agency responses as well as search and recovery operations. The photos here are from that day.




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Lead Element of U.S. Army troops of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment The Old Guard of the Military District of Washington DC are ready to depart Ft. Myer nearby the Pentagon under attack on 9/11.






A troop of the 3rd Infantry Regiment controls Sheridan Drive on Ft. Myer at Col. Joseph B. Conmy Jr. Hall.





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Army troops of Echo Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment The Old Guard arrive at the Pentagon on 9/11 to reinforce its established security perimeter. We see an LT getting information from a DC Firefighter already on the scene.

Three Old Guard companies Charlie, Foxtrot and Golf donned hazmat protection to do search and rescue inside the Pentagon. This later became search and recovery. TOG remained on the scene until Sept. 30th.

3 IR is in the 5th Army which is incorporated into US Northern Command whose strategic mission is the defense of North America. Rotating elements of the 5th Army have been at the Southern Border since 2018. US Northern Command includes the 1st Air Force.
 
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I was just a kid...7 - 8 years old (maybe a bit older) when the first pictures of the Pearl Harbor attack were released to the public. (They were not released immediately.)

They shocked me then...and still shock me now.

But fewer Americans were killed on that December day in 1941...than were killed on 9/11.
 
Air Force National Guard F-16 pilots on 9/11 and now Lieutenant General Marc Sasseville and Colonel Heather Penney, rushed into their disarmed of missiles F-16s on September 11, 2001, knowing that it might be their last mission.

The Air Force was not going to shoot down an American civilian airliner carrying civilians in their everyday lives, no matter. So its two Air NG pilots were sent to intercept American Airlines Flight 93 flying low and its responder not functioning. Yet the US military does not send its members on suicide missions. Not on direct orders anyway.

Sep 9, 2021
103,271 views




Col. Penny: "The US military does not send its members on suicide missions."
Interviewer: "So you had no orders to crash into the plane?"
Penny (long pause): "It was something we decided ourselves. He got the front and I got the tail."

Very soon and on its own Flight 93 went nose down and out of control. Air Traffic Control heard the passengers overcome the terrorist hijackers to crash the plane into a field in Pennsylvania a short distance by air from Washington. US Intel believes Flight 93 was destined for either the WH or the Capitol (the Capitol being the better target).


Selected Comments:

@bobporch

I am familiar with the well documented story of these selfless heroes. An F-16 is not like a car; you don't just turn on the engine and go. Yet that is exactly what they did. They bypassed all the mandated startup procedures, fired up the jets and just went. I have no doubt they would have taken out Flight 93, if not for the selfless heroics of those on board.


@dab8551
That was amazing and makes me feel proud to be an American. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who lost their lives and their families. And our first responders who paid the ultimate price. Their sacrifices helped galvanize our country in a positive direction. May they rest in peace
🙏



@adrunkgorillawithalobotomy353
God bless you two. That's all I can say. God bless you for what you were willing to do. I'm glad you didn't have to do it, but the fact you were ready, willing, and able......I applaud you. I wish you both the best in life.

@jeffreyrulach2478
Respect & gratitude are the only two words i could use for them.

eriscully6088
Who knew until now. Must be 100's of these stories we haven't heard about due to the pain of retelling them. Just Wow & thank you to our Military.
 
The Old Guard Remembers 9/11





Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard", pause for a moment to reflect on their memories of September 11th, 2001. This fateful day remains firmly embedded in the minds of all who have served since that dark day in September.

One of these was SFC James Dean platoon sergeant of the Old Guard Caisson Platoon in this video who was a PFC in the platoon on 9/11.






95,548 views Oct 23, 2019

Eighty years ago, 100-year-old Jack Eaton stood guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He returned to Arlington this week to get an honor of his own.




This pleasant, distinguished and honorable gent goes back to 1938 as a Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, until 1941 when The Infantry Soldier volunteered to fight in WW II. The Tomb Guards Platoon has gone from being assigned to Company 'E' Honor Guard Company of the Old Guard to its own new billets and into HQ Company of the 3rd Infantry Regiment.

There are three reliefs of the Tomb Guards of 24 hours on and 48 hours off. The Tomb Guard duty quarters we see in the video are under the steps and stage of the Amphitheater where observance events are held such as Memorial Day to name but one.






Not Just A Ceremonial Unit

Best Squad Competition | U.S Army 3rd Infantry Regiment | The Old Guard of the Army




The #OldGuard competed in the @MDW "Best Squad Competition", where TOG's 1st Battalion secured the win. The winners compete in the Headquarters, Department of the Army Best Squad Competition. (@usarmy by Sgt. Brandon Muniz)
 
The Old Guard Remembers 9/11

Troops of Company A, 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment Ft. Myer arrived at the nearby Pentagon with the largest garrison flag of the USA flown on military holidays and special events such as the Army birthdate. The Old Guard troops saluted as Firefighters from Arlington County VA closest to the Pentagon and first to respond draped the Stars & Stripes while Pres. Bush personally thanked Old Guard troops on the scene.

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At the site, firefighters were putting out the final embers that were burning in the roof. Then word came that President George W. Bush wanted to see the damage to the Pentagon himself.

No one knows who originally came up with the idea for unfurling the flag to the right of the damaged areas on the building, but Army Maj. Gen. Jim Jackson, then the Military District of Washington commander, made it happen. He sent over to nearby Fort Myer for the largest flag they could find. The U.S. Army Band had a garrison flag – the largest authorized for the military – and sent it over.

During Bush's visit to the impact site, 3rd Infantry Regiment soldiers and Arlington, Virginia, firefighters unveiled the flag and draped it over the side of the building. The Infantry troops stood and saluted. It was a moment that quickened the heart. The United States had been attacked, the Pentagon had been hit, friends were gone, thousands were killed in New York and Pennsylvania, yet the American flag still flew.







President Bush thanks Old Guard Troops for their rapid and comprehensive response to 9/11.

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Troops of the 3rd Infantry Regiment enter the Pentagon on Search & Rescue Mission
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I was looking for a DP thread in which to remember September 11, 2001. I always go to a forum that I posted on, not a political forum, to pay my respects early in the morning of September 11. I was on-line who people who frequented that forum and one about the same topic, when the the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Those are the people with whom I have discussed 9/11 for years, the ones who know my story and whose stories I know.

I am also very much a part of Debate Politics now, however, and I can't imagine failing to post about 9/11 here.

I was looking at a computer screen when someone, a jeweler from Mexico who was also a pilot, said that the first plane we all saw hit the first tower didn't look right. It didn't look like an accident, which is what we all were thinking before the second plane hit. I ran to the television, which I had not been using since we were bringing up our daugher, who was then in elementary school, without TV.

I raced back and forth between the computer which was on one floor and the television which was on another, seeking information. By a huge coincidence, my husband, whose office was on Wall Street, had driven to Massachusetts for a retreat his bank was having in some very secluded spot. I cannot tell you what a rarity that was. Privately held Wall Street banks do not go in for sylvan retreats. He had never before done anything like this. But he wasn't in his office the day of the attacks. Eventually I found out how to get in touch which him, which was not easy, and it turned out that it was I who informed the people-all the people-at the bank retreat about the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Transportation and cell phone service was out. A man from my husband's bank who lived in New Jersey spent the night at our house and borrowed a shirt from my husband. Both the man from my husband's office and my husband wanted to get in to their offices. All the bridges were closed. Their office was not in the World Trade Center, but in a building close to it.

My husband's office was full of ash. He got into it within a couple of days after the attack, sneaking by National Guard troops.

The city was deserted for many months afterwards. My husband and I went in for a weekend to support the economy. The actors at a Broadway play came out and thanked the audience for company. No one was using the cabs. No one was eating in the restaurants. Every business was delighted we were there.

These are just a few of my memories of that time. No parents of children at my daughter's school were lost. It took some time to be sure of this, however, because many parents did commute to New York and there was no transportation or communication.
 
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For anyone interested, I started a general thread for 9/11 here:

 
Getting 100% of the commercial planes flying after the attack was a monumental task given there was no procedure for such an operation.
 
This video is of the 9/11 memorial ceremony at the Pentagon on Sept. 11 this week. It shows the draping of the garrison flag of the USA that was draped on Sept. 11, 2001. The flag from Ft. Myer, which is draped from its precise location of 2001 is preserved in the National Archives.

A District of Columbia police officer sings the national anthem solo, ie, without music or accompaniment. At the conclusion we see Army Gen. Mark Anthony Milley chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Adm. Christopher Grady who is vice chairman and would assume Milley's position on an acting basis on Oct. 1st -- while continuing to be vice chairman.








31,409 views | Sep 11, 2008

The 184 people who perished from the September 11th attack on the Pentagon were remembered with a memorial dedication.

The senior bugler SFC of the Army Band at neighboring Ft. Myer plays taps. The Old Guard troops on military funerals duty in Arlington National Cemetery always informally rated the bugler at an interment. This splendid and magnificent bugler gets our highest rating here from a vet of many military honors funerals, ie, "brings tears."







The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial

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The National Pentagon 9/11 Memorial is situated at the site of the crash attack by the civilian airliner hijacked by foreign terrorist attackers. Joint Service Guards of Honor stand at each "wall" of the 184 Americans killed in the 2001 attack during the memorial ceremony Sept. 11, 2023. The Joint Service Honor Guards are of the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard.




The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Display Suite Inside The Reconstructed Section of the Pentagon

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An Old Guard Soldier tour guide leads a group of visitors through the display pointing out its various aspects to include the lives of the 184 workers killed, the attack itself, the immediate response.....to the death of Osama bin Ladin and Zawahiri by American Special Forces.



An Old Guard Young Sergeant Speaks About 9/11

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Then SGT Gregory "Erick" Reed of The Old Guard, Ft. Myer, Military District of Washington DC.

Honor Guard Soldier recalls actions at 9/11 Pentagon attack​

“At that moment, I heard someone in 2nd Platoon by the [Ft. Myer] water tower yell "PLANE!" I didn't see it, but I heard it… We heard the high-pitched whine of the airplane. I was thinking White House, or even the Capitol,” said Sgt. (Pfc. then but Sgt. (ret.) now) Gregory "Erick" Reed, of the esteemed 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard).

In a fleeting moment, Reed’s fears are answered.

The close proximity of the sound of the jet, the subsequent explosion and reverberation were closer than the White House or Capitol, leaving only one more symbol of American Power as the target, the Pentagon.


 
Two former guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery who are now in their 80s share their experience with us. Each of 'em were Tomb Guards in the 1950s, as selected members of the 3rd Infantry Regiment The Old Guard in the Military District of Washington.

They present their unique Tomb Guard Badge with its unique serial number on the backside awarded to each Old Guard Soldier who qualifies for the distinct duty.

The Tomb Guard Badge and the Regiment Honor Guard Tab are among the few select, rigorous and elite designations of the Army.





The Society Of The Honor Guard has the Tomb Guard ID Badge (only) that is worn on the uniform of the guards. The Society of the Honor Guard is a unique and chartered organization authorized by the Department of the Army of former Tomb Guards and NCO commanders of the relief and platoon officers over the years. The Society is hosted at Ft. Myer where an annual reunion is held.

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3rd Infantry Regiment Honor Guard Tab as worn with the shoulder patch insignia of the US Army Military District of Washington 2-Star Command.

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Continuously and since the Revolutionary War The Old Guard maintains its certification as a deployable infantry regiment of the US Army.

US Army Soldiers of 3rd Infantry Regiment Return Home From Iraq Deployment​


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US Army Soldiers from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, disembark from a plane upon their return after a 12-month deployment in Iraq at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on August 28, 2010. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM



Military families welcome their loved ones home in Col. Joseph "Bart" Conmy Jr. Memorial Hall, Ft. Myer, Military District of Washington DC.

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All at separate times post 9/11, the 3rd Inf. Rgt. companies Bravo and Delta of 1st Battalion also deployed to the ME to include the Horn of Africa. In Vietnam before them, the 3 IR 2nd Battalion deployed as part of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade. Then there's the storied 2nd Battalion of the 3 IR.

Stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington since 2001, the 2nd Battalion, 3d US Infantry Regiment, serves as one of three infantry battalions of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 7th Infantry Division. It served as part of the first deployment of a Stryker brigade combat team in 2003. It then served a 15-month deployment in 2006–2007. It deployed to Iraq again in 2009 and Afghanistan in 2011. From 1966 to 1970, the 2nd Battalion had been part of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade and 23d Infantry Division in Vietnam. (3rd BN is inactive.)


Although The Old Guard primarily functions in a ceremonial role, it is an infantry unit and thus required to meet standards for certification in its combat role. The unit also trains for its support role to civil authorities in a wide range of scenarios and for deployments in support of overseas contingency operations. On order, The Old Guard conducts defense operations in support of civil authorities in the National Capital Region and deploys elements in support of overseas contingency operations.
 
This is a video that focuses on Charlie Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment The Old Guard in Vietnam during the War. While the entire battalion was in The Nam, assigned to the 199th Light Infantry Brigade of the 23rd Infantry Division, this video focuses on Charlie Company only.

As I'd mentioned in scrolling, 3 IR TOG is in the Military District of Washington DC. It is part of the Joint Task Force of the National Capital Region, meaning all services primary role is security. In Army terms, the 3 IR extends as part of the 5th Army of the US Northern Command whose strategic mission is the defense of North America, to include the 1st Air Force.


The video is wall to wall music of the 1960s and '70s as its audio, to include Jefferson Starship, Jim Morrison, Joe Cocker, Beatles of course among many other popular music groups that capture the time for anyone who lived it.

Charlie Company | 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment​

The Old Guard | Vietnam War "Redcatchers"​

199th Light Infantry Brigade | 23rd Infantry Division​





References to 2/3 are Army talk meaning the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment. 199 LIB is to the Light Infantry Brigade. "Light" means you can carry your weapons and equipment which means you are quick, agile, effective and more stealthy than a convoy of vehicles. Light also means you can arrive quickly onto a target by helos to include advantageously. In other words you're not armored or artillery, mortars being another weapon of light infantry.

Selected Comments:

*My uncle was in CO D, 2/3 199 LIB 68-69, thank you all for your service! I remember seeing the 199th combat patch on senior NCOs when I in the Army 74-2001.

*Great video!

*My dad (Michigan) was in the 199th 2/3 from Jan to May 1968 was severely wounded in Cholon district of Saigon and lucky enough to return home to his family. He spoke very highly of his pals in his unit. I only wish I knew more about them (names) so I could let them know he passed just a few weeks ago and we had his funeral yesterday with full honors. God bless to all. Now that he is gone I'm on a mission to learn more about his time there.


*Great footage and tunes , crazy to think our fathers were once this young I highly recommend the book Days of Valor by Captain (ret) Robert L. Tonsetic. It’s about the bloodiest 6 months of the War in 1968.


*I miss my dear friend that I attended school with and also grew up with. He used to walk to our home to sit in the swing with my sister. In memory of my friend/brother PFC Benny Charles Jackson. Born March 20, 1949, died from sniper fire on Oct 20th 1969 in Hua Nghia Province, South Vietnam. He was with Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 199th Infantry Brigade, USARV Vietnam. Rest in peace my Brother.


*Just watched with my father...this is his people...he had smiles..remembered names of some...recognozied many...remembers sleeping in some of those places and the dusty truck drive and bathing in the rivers...lol...I think we even saw "gracie" the groups dog in one shot...my father is David...from michigan, doing awesome and can probably run circles around me at a young 76 yrs of age...this was nice to listen to him talk about it some..thank you


*Remember these tunes when I was 11-12 yrs. old! Had an uncle kia mid-3/1968 , tail end of TET, NAMS Central Highlands near Pleiku, 10 days B-4 my 11th bday.


*I was in the 198th Light Infantry Brigade from October 1968 to October 1969. At least you guys in the 199th didn't have to walk up and down all those mountains.

*Had a family friend in that company

*My brother was C Co. 1st plt. 68-69, from 3 day stand down to back in the bush with pictures of Fsb. Elvira

*god bless all nam "grunts"!!

*Welcome Home Redcatchers!
 
My old roommate was in the Old Guard when he was infantry before reclassing into MI.
That's cool. You're the first DP member I've come across who's known someone who was in TOG of the Army. Indeed, my entire life when a clueless civilian found out I was a vet and might ask me about my time in they had no clue when I said TOG. No surprise of course.

Years later I got hired as a faculty officer at a secondary school military academy where they knew well of TOG and it was a big plus for me getting hired, promoted, advanced -- became department chairman in fact and in no time at all. I could do no wrong. Nor did I try ha. Same as in TOG.

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas was in The Old Guard as XO 1LT of Delta Company which is TOG Rapid Reaction Force that was first to the Pentagon on 9/11 -- which of course was before Cotton's time in TOG. LT Cotton sandwiched his year in TOG with being in Iraq before, then after. Back in Iraq again he made captain company commander.

I'm a donor to TOG Foundation and a member of The Old Guard Association TOGA open to all former members. TOGA is supported by the regiment HQ at Ft. Myer and has an annual reunion there. At one reunion a member addressing us said, "The Old Guard is the best job you'll ever have." Everything stopped and went quiet completely. It's something nobody had ever through about. I'm still thinking in fact. :unsure:


 
This is another blast from the past video of the 3 IR TOG -- from 1962. It's The Big Picture production which was a half hour Saturday morning TV show on CBS produced by the Dept of the Army for public consumption. And shhhh, for recruitment although the WW II draft was still in effect of course.

I watched it through middle school and high school, being in Army Junior ROTC during my high school years. Yeah, my watching this through middle school made me check the box in 8th grade for HS JROTC, for sure.

Indeed though, my father and many of my uncles were in WW II -- and my mother worked on the notorious torpedo firing mechanisms at the Naval base in Newport RI which was HQ of the Atlantic Fleet destroyer force that escorted convoys to England. While my father was a Marine -- so I always had to be squared away -- almost all my uncles were Army, Infantry. In the whole family only my brat kid brother went Navy without telling me.


3rd Infantry Regiment | The Old Guard of the Army | Military District of Washington DC

Prelude To Taps Review | The Old Guard Story | Ft. Leslie J. McNair HQ MDW

Original Drill Team | Original Fife & Drum Corps | Muskets in Motion | Official Army Band Dress Whites





The feature begins with the Army Band in their dress whites sounding attention, sounding Adjutant's Call which commands the troops to march in to The Old Guard March. The band plays To The Colors salute to the flag. Post the colors as the narrator states how the 3 IR got its nick The Old Guard during the Mexican American War.

As Gen. Winfield Scott marched on Mexico City he sent the 3 IR forward as his advance force to the city. 3 IR killed so many Mexican soldiers that when it arrived it was out of ammo. The colonel ordered a bloody bayonet charge that seized the heights over Mexico City. With Scott's main force advancing it forced the surrender of Mexico to the United States. An appreciative Gen. Scott designated the 3 IR to lead the victory parade of his Army into Mexico City. As the 3 IR approached the review platform Gen. Scott turned to his general officer staff and said, "Gentlemen, take off your hats, here comes the Old Guard." It stuck.

Muskets in Motion which is seen in the video frame was always a favorite of mine although I never had anything to do with it while it lasted after I got there. TOG stopped doing the splendid Muskets in Motion while I was there as being too World War II and not Cold War enough. It was done by A company led by Capt. Shaeffer we see in the vid. We always chuckled about Capt. Schaeffer who retired as a LTC, because he never walked anyplace -- he marched ha. Because Capt. Shaeffer marched everywhere he went everyone called him the Mechanical Man ha.

SFC "Pete" Holder founded the Army Drill Team. It was his baby for 12 years till he retired a MSG. He created many moves drill teams still use today. His is the original march through the gauntlet of spinning rifles with bayonets fixed. I look at Pete in this and LMAO at his baby face ha.

The pass in review is classic Old Guard perfection executed at 140 paces per minute to The Old Guard March by the Official Army Band. It doesn't get any better than this among the ceremonial services in Washington or anywhere on the globe. It just doesn't get any better than this.

As with the Army Band, the Fife & Drum Corps has the musician MOS. HOWEVER, given the FDC is assigned to the 3rd Infantry Regiment, each member of the Corps needs -- as the final step to membership in the Corps -- to successfully complete Army Basic Combat Training. So on 9/11 members of FDC got into their battle rattle, ie, combat gear, with the rest of the Regiment. All of the Regiment except for FDC have the Infantry MOS. There is no ceremonial MOS in the US armed forces.
 
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I overlooked pointing out the Tomb Guard at the conclusion of the "Prelude To Taps" feature in The Big Picture production of The Old Guard by the Department of the Army, 1962.

The Tomb Guard at the conclusion was Spec. 4 Richard Azzario who is since retired from his civilian career at the Pentagon in a Maryland suburb of Washington and a member of The Old Guard Association TOGA as am I a member. Each he and I separately were volunteers into the Army during the draft.

Spec. 4 Azzario was at that point in the development of the Tomb Guards considered the number 2 Guard of 'em all for his positive impact in the Tomb Guard Platoon of its three reliefs. Which is how and why Azzario was presented in the program.

In November 1963 Azzario was doing Tomb Guard duty during the state funeral of Pres. Kennedy in Arlington National Cemetery. He was doing duty when the Air Force missing man formation flew over the cemetery along with Air Force One that flew over and that Spec. 4 Azzario could see. He said later he had a difficult time with it but performed his duties as usual.

After his time in TOG as a Tomb Guard Azzario graduated college on the GI Bill, majoring in nuclear physics at Princeton. Then on to Yale Law School. He took up a career as a civilian at the Pentagon where he quickly became an expert in the laws of nuclear war and non proliferation, earning up to $160K annually. Richard Azzario Esq. is yet another Old Guard story.
 
@Tangmo, I do not follow this thread all the time, but whenever I visit it and start to read, I am fascinated. Thank you for keeping up such a wonderful and detailed record of this unit. Every time I visit I learn something new about military language, too, and then promptly forget it. The good news is that when I hear that information a second time, I will remember it. I am a slow learner, but I get there with enough repetition. :)

Thank you for your service.
 
Alas I've recovered some videos of Rick Azzario the premier Tomb Guard we see in the Big Picture production of Prelude To Taps of the 3rd Infantry Regiment The Old Guard of the Army, from which Tomb Guards are selected.

The first video includes Azzario at 76 (now 79 same as me) talking about the sacred duty and meaning of being Tomb Guard that made him such a splendid example to all Tomb Guards of his time, and of his legend since. Indeed, Azzario's commitment as a Tomb Guard forever best defines the nature and character of the Tomb Guard.

Guard: 'Sacred duty' of Tomb of the Unknown Solider will change you forever​





This link is to the video with the print news story in which Azzario is the central figure, enduring as he is as an exemplary Tomb Guard during his time and since, and always.

https://www.wtvr.com/i-have-a-story/guards-tomb-of-the-unknown-solider-arlington-national-cemetery



"I was there from March of 1963 to April of 1965,” former Tomb Guard Richard Azzaro said. “This is a process that is calculated to have zero failure. The function we have been chosen to do and the trust placed in our hands we cannot fail.”
 
Western military march music is derived from classical music and Ludwig von Beethoven was an early leader at it and includes several composers well known in history. Known as Romanticists or Nationalists, the composers who used symphonic music to create modern military music included Schubert, Chopin, Verdi, Dvorak, Mendelssohn among others.

Composed by Beethoven during his Romantic period, (General) Yorck's Marsch in this video -- at the venerated Berlin Benderblock -- is a masterpiece of bold and dramatic martial music. Assertive stuff for sure. The German torchlight parade btw extends deep into Prussian history and even deeper into Germanic history.

After opening mildly and simply with fifes and drums the march erupts into staccato instrument volleys, explosive energy, a commanding beat and marching pace. The hard driving music commands the marchers exact strides, their precise body mechanics and unified rhythms. While Yorck's March is the signature march of the Bundeswehr Watch Battalion (Guard) we see here, it's long been one of the most important reference points in modern Western martial music composition.




American march music has added its opening flaring call to get our undivided attention -- and to wake up the long up standing troops who like horses can sleep standing up through long ceremonies and speeches. ;)

Thanks to "America's March King" Marine Col. John Phillips Sousa the American military march has three parts. The first part is strong and attention getting, memorable to many. Then comes a milder and easier pace and tone second part which in comparison often suggests the classical style.

The third part is to repeat the first part. Repetition, repetition, repetition is integral to American and then Western march music of the modern era. Indeed, Sousa developed this from Yorck's March. In contrast, authoritarian military march compositions pound, blast and blare relentlessly all the way through, as we can experience anytime from Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, NK and so on and so on....


Russian WW II Victory Day Celebration Red Square




So yes, the Russian martial music is hard driving and unrelenting from the first note to the last. Hard pounding and forceful -- maniacal. Also in the vid limo convertible is General Valeerie Gerasimov chief of the General Staff and the Ukraine war stable genius who's likely killed half the troops we see. Gerasimov himself took shrapnel in the legs at the chaotic Russian front early on in Ukraine as US military intel with Ukraine artillery tried to blow him away. His nephew 2-star general bought the farm the week before.
 
@Tangmo, I appreciate your posting this marching music, but I cannot appreciate the music itself. I played it thinking perhaps that there would be bagpipes and the kind of music played at the funerals of First Responders.

I wound up agreeing with the dictum, "Military justice is to justice what military music is to music."

I did learn something from your posting, however: the differences in the marching music of different countries. So thank you for posting. :)
 
@Tangmo, I appreciate your posting this marching music, but I cannot appreciate the music itself. I played it thinking perhaps that there would be bagpipes and the kind of music played at the funerals of First Responders.

I wound up agreeing with the dictum, "Military justice is to justice what military music is to music."

I did learn something from your posting, however: the differences in the marching music of different countries. So thank you for posting. :)
Yeah ha, I first came across that insight in ROTC decades ago. I've always liked the truism that it is and it's a good truism. You're definitely onto it :giggle: which is yet another reason I like reading your posts and interacting.

And yeah too, Yorckian March (in English) being a Beethoven masterpiece of martial music is an A personality music piece of masculine traits and characteristics. Its virtuous strength and clearly strident and assertive power for instance makes the insecure Trump look like the weak, undisciplined and disorganized, scatterbrained, anti military draft dodger cry baby Trump in fact is.

Indeed, it can be argued the unusual cultural value absent in the USA of suicide due to miserable failure acts as a factor in natural selection wherever the trait may exist. If only eh. :unsure:
 
I played it thinking perhaps that there would be bagpipes and the kind of music played at the funerals of First Responders.

:)
Ask and ye shall receive.

This is both stark and soft yet awesome, in a single word.

Amazing Grace | United Pipers for Peace | Centennial Observance​

The Armistice |1918 - 2018 | Amiens Cathedral | Somme France​

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United Pipers for Peace was a gathering of around 400 bagpipers from across the globe to commemorate the centenary of the armistice of the First World War. In a remembrance observance in Amiens Cathedral, Emma Brown sang Amazing Grace, followed by Pipe Major Tom Jamieson and the massed bands led by Drum Major Derek Dean.


Thoughts?


In the 1916 Allied offensive in the Somme in World War I, British and French forces launched a frontal attack against an entrenched German Army north of the Somme River in France. By the time it was abandoned, the Allies had advanced only 5 mi (8 km). The staggering losses included 650,000 German casualties, 420,000 British, and 195,000 French. The battle became a metaphor for futile and indiscriminate slaughter. In the Second Battle of the Somme in 1918 the Germans attacked in strength until USA forces arrived to stop the steadily advancing offensive. The German defeat in the Somme finalized their ultimate defeat only months after.
 
September 11 was a day burnt in the national consciousness. This and Jan 6, 2021, terrible images.
 
In all, the airplane took eight-tenths of a second to fully penetrate 310 feet (94 m) into the three outermost of the building's five rings and unleashed a fireball that rose 200 feet (61 m) above the building. Later, on Sept. 13th flames erupted from a hot spot in the evening. Search and rescue crews to include two companies of The Old Guard in rotation were evacuated after the fire flared up delaying the search for the flight data recorder of the hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11.


Soldiers from A Company, 3rd Infantry Regiment – “The Old Guard” -- lowered and folded the giant garrison flag from the West side of the Pentagon, where it had hung beside the impact site of the 9/11 terrorist attack, on Oct. 11, 2001. The 20x36 foot flag was ceremonially retired soon afterward. DoD photo by Jim Garamone
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It was a team of Soldiers of A Company who brought the garrison flag to the Pentagon on 9/11. Today, the flag’s condition is as it was when it was retired. Never cleaned it is still soot-stained and has a small rip in one area. The flag resides in the care of the Army’s Center of Military History and serves as a revered symbol of American pride, ideals and resolve in the face of adversity. (Alpha company doubles their duties in the precise replica uniform, manual of arms and drill, and the marching manual of Gen. Washington's Blue Coats Personal Guard.)





ARLINGTON, VA - SEPTEMBER 11, 2008: Members of the Joint Services Honor Guard stand after unveiling pews during the dedication of the Pentagon Memorial September 11. President Bush dedicated the memorial, made up of 184 memorials, each dedicated to an individual victim killed at the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Department of Defense's headquarters on September 11, 2001 (Photo by Joshua Roberts-Pool/Getty Images)

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Family members grieve during ceremonies dedicating the new Pentagon Memorial at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, September 11, 2008. Thousands gathered to dedicate the first September 11 memorial, observing a moment of silence at the instant when an airliner slammed into the Pentagon, killing 184 Pentagon personnel. A sailor rang a bell for each of the victims of the attack on the Pentagon, which followed strikes by airliners commandeered by Al-Qaeda suicide squads on the World Trade Center in New York. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. AFP PHOTO/Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

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