Soldiers guarding the Tomb if the Unknown Soldier

[leftyladyfrommo]

Stand on guard throughout the storm. The cemetery is closed but the guards never leave until they are relieved.

Snow swirling all around them, red-faced from the cold and yet they stand guard.

[Wilms]

1. .

[Half-Century Man]

2. Duty

They get it. Service in spite of personal hardship.

[lpbk2713]

3. I remember hearing once ...

when a hurricane was passing through the area the sentries on duty were given permission to leave their posts but they would not leave their fallen comrades.

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. It's amazing. nt

[tazkcmo]

5. Just another day.

War doesn't take a snow day and neither do our soldiers, sailors, marines and air persons. Actually, air person's do.

[PersonNumber503602]

6. Military traditions like that always amaze and weird me out at the same time.

I was on youtube a ways back watching ceremonial videos from all over the world.

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. This is nice.

With all the awfulness we deal with each day it's nice to see something this honorable.

I wonder how many unknown soldiers thete have been?

[meaculpa2011]

8. My Dad had frostbite at the...

Battle of the Bulge.

When his unit was ready to move he said goodbye to the medic, laced up his boots and drove his tank to Bastogne.

He said he wasn't going complain about "cold feet" when there were men having arms and legs amputated.

At the Brooklyn VA he met another WWII vet last week from the 8th Armour Division who had a foot amputated from frostbite at Bastogne.

He was 19 and my Dad was 22 at the time.

I have to get to his house this morning and shovel the snow. If I don't get there before he wakes up he'll be outside shoveling.

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. Wow. That's a wonderful story.

Be careful out there.

[meaculpa2011]

10. Thanks. It's pretty bad out there.

I just dropped my son off at work. All the people at the supermarket are at their posts.

The overnight crew got the place re-stocked. They look exhausted.

Sanitation, utilities, transit, law enforcement, food service, gas stations... these are the people that keep the world going and we take them for granted.

I'll have a cup of coffee and head into Queens.

Thank Heaven for snow blowers... but I'd still rather be in Florida.

I'm keeping an eye on the water, but it looks like the high tide won't be so bad this morning.

[monmouth4]

11. Let me tell you about Florida to make you feel better. It's very cold, raining off and on. Lousey

[meaculpa2011]

13. Doesn't make me feel any better. n/t

[LiberalElite]

12. My uncle was a paratrooper in the Battle of the Bulge -

he returned but I think he got PTSD and pretty much drank himself into an early grave. I didn't know how bad that battle was until I watched the Weather Channel's "When Weather Made History." It was horrific. War is Hell.

[meaculpa2011]

14. The paratroopers in the 101st Airborne really caught hell. My father had PTSD also...

before there was any recognition of the condition.

My grandmother told me that when he came back he did nothing but sit in his room and drink. That lasted for nearly six months.

He met my mother in 1946 and that apparently snapped him out of it, although his condition probably was not as severe as many others. When I was a kid all of the fathers in the neighborhood were war vets.

My first little league coach was an amputee with a prosthetic leg. He pitched batting practice, hit fly balls during outfield practice and showed us how to field grounders.

When I take my Dad to the VA there are fewer and fewer WWII vets each week.

[LiberalElite]

15. I guess my uncle was worse off -

I have one photo of my uncle in uniform posing with his parents, all macho. He got married, joned the FDNY and then - just dropped out. No one talked about it - I found letters in a closet stating he went AWOL from the Fire Dept. and also owed a landlord rent.
Every year for about 15 years we received several W-2s from various diners. He was a short order cook and dishwasher the rest of his life. He used our address as his own but only showed up sporadically. God knows where he really lived.

[leftyladyfrommo]

16. How sad. How awful for him.

And wars just go on and off and on.

I saw an article where archeologists found the site of a slaughter from 10,000 years ago.

We never change.

[Brickbat]

17. Tomb Guard Wishes Asshole Photographer Would Go Away So He Could Get Out Of This Damn Storm

http://www.duffelblog.com/2016/01/tomb-guard-arlington-snow/

ARLINGTON CEMETERY — A soldier standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns really wishes that asshole taking photos of him as snow and wind pummel his face would go the fuck away so he could get back inside, sources confirmed today.

“Look around. No one is here. I could walk 21 steps inside that door over there and be drinking hot cocoa,” said Pfc. Brandon Chelley, a soldier assigned to “The Old Guard” of the 3rd Infantry Regiment. “But no, he just keeps taking snapshots of me getting creamed on by the Almighty.”

Since April 6, 1948, Tomb Sentinels have stood guard for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — regardless of weather. During inclement weather, they are allowed to stand duty from a covered enclosure known as “the box.”

Unfortunately, Chelley says ‘Dipshit The Picture Boy’ is really ruining that possibility: “Can you imagine the ass-chewing I’d get if I’m photographed off the mat?”

[Major Nikon]

18. Just in case anyone doesn't know, this is satire

U.S. Air Force Sells A-10s to ISIS

http://www.duffelblog.com/2016/01/u-s-air-force-sells-a-10s-to-isis/

[Brickbat]

20. "Just in case."

[B Calm]

19. if?