Learning Joy

I received this e-mail about the soldiers who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I found it interesting, and checked it out on snopes. com (if you click here, you’ll go right to the snopes story) I’ve tried to omit redundencies by including snopes’ corrections with the original story. The corrections are in italics. 🙂

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

This is a somewhat true but incomplete statement. The guard does not execute an about-face, and there is more involved in the procedure than is described here. As another site describes the process, the guard performs his movements according to the following patten:
The sentinel marches 21 steps across the black mat, past the final resting places of the Unknown Soldiers of World War I, World War II, Korea, and the crypt of the Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War.
With a crisp turn, the sentinel turns 90 degrees (not about-face) to face east for 21 seconds.
The sentinel then turns a sharp 90 degrees again to face north for 21 seconds. A crisp “shoulder-arms” movement places the rifle on the shoulder nearest the visitors to signify that the sentinel stands between the tomb and any threat.
After the moment, the sentinel paces 21 steps north, turns and repeats the process.

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.

A crisp “shoulder-arms” movement places the rifle on the shoulder nearest the visitors to signify that the sentinel stands between the tomb and any threat.

5. How often are the guards changed?

Guards are changed every thirty minutes, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.

From 1926 through 1937, the Tomb was guarded only during daylight hours. Ever since 1937, the Tomb has been continuously guarded 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Tomb guards are changed every thirty minutes between 8 AM and 7 PM during the period from early Spring to early Autumn (April 1 through September 30), and every hour between 8 AM to 5 PM the rest of the year. At all other times (i.e., while the cemetery is closed), the guard is changed every two hours.

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.

Even the Old Guard doesn’t regulate the off-duty lives of its members so stringently! Sentinels at the Tomb do not have to commit to serving there for any fixed period of time, and the average tour of duty is only about half the two year period claimed here. Like most servicemen, Tomb guards may live either on-base (at nearby Fort Myer) or off-base in housing of their choosing. There are no restrictions on guards’ off-duty drinking.

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 Tomb Guard Identification Badge, first awarded in 1957, is a honor for which a guard qualifies by “flawlessly performing his duty for several months” and passing a test, not something simply handed out to everyone who serves for a given period of time:
Once the sentinel has completed his or her training, he or she is examined formally for proficiency in performing the duties and in knowledge of ANC. He or she must first pass a written examination of 100 questions about ANC and then be evaluated on proficiency in keeping watch at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Upon successful completion, the soldier is awarded a temporary Tomb Guard’s Badge at a ceremony presided over by the company commander. The Badge is one of the Army’s higher honors and can be taken away from the soldier if he or she does not continue to maintain the highest military standards. The 500th Tomb Guard Identification Badge was awarded in early 2002, and the total number of recipients is now about 525. The award is, as its name states, a badge worn on the pocket of a uniform jacket, not a pin worn in the lapel. Although the claim that guards “cannot swear in public for the rest of their lives” is fallacious, there is some truth to the notion that the Tomb Guard Identification Badge can be taken away, even after the recipient has left the service. According to Old Guard Public Affairs:
The Tomb Guard Identification Badge is one of the least awarded badges in the Army, second only to the Astronaut Badge. Since the sentinels are held to such a high standard, if they ever do anything that is deemed behavior unbecoming a Tomb Guard or brings dishonor upon the Tomb, their badges may be revoked, even after [the sentinels] have left active duty military service. As of early 2002, there had been nine revocations of the Tomb Guard Identification Badge.

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 FAQ at www.tombguard.org also addresses this topic:
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 shoes are standard issue military dress shoes. They are built up so the sole and heel are equal in height. This allows the Sentinel to stand so that his back is straight and perpendicular to the ground. A side effect of this is that the Sentinel can “roll” on the outside of the build up as he walks down the mat. This allows him to move in a fluid fashion. If he does this correctly, his hat and bayonet will appear to not “bob” up and down with each step. It gives him a more formal and smooth look to his walk, rather than a “marching” appearance. The soles have a steel tip on the toe and a “horseshoe” steel plate on the heel. This prevents wear on the sole and allows the Sentinel to move smoothly during his movements when he turns to face the Tomb and then back down the mat.

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.

A Tomb guard’s behavior is not so stringently regulated that he is prohibited from speaking to anyone for a full six months (someone seems to have confused the Old Guard with a monastery!), and guards may do whatever they want (including watching TV) during their off-duty hours. But since any soldier wishing to become a sentinel must undergo rigorous training, including several hours a day of marching, rifle drill and uniform preparation, and every tomb sentinel is expected to be completely versed in the history of both the tomb and of Arlington National Cemetery (including knowing how to find the graves of all the prominent person buried in the cemetery), they don’t necessarily have a lot of free time to devote to recreational activities.

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.

Joe Louis (aka “The Brown Bomber”), Heavyweight Champion of the World between 1937 and 1949, is the boxer interred at Arlington National Cemetery. (Joe E. Lewis, the comedian, is buried in New Jersey.) Although Joe Louis served in the Army during World War II, he did not meet the technical requirements for burial at Arlington; he is interred there because President Reagan waived the requirements when Louis died in 1981.

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

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 (1937).

Today Jonathan wrote a short story.
His assignment was as follows:
Write me a story about a train ride. Use these words in your story –
forest
fun
conductor
crossing
cow
family
railroad

Here is his story ~

One day my family was having fun in the forest. Then a train came. The conductor came out and said, “Do you want a ride?”
So we said “yes.”
So we went on the train. We went past a cow and thrug (through) a railroad crossing. Then we came home.
The end.

We did help him on the quotations & punctuation of the question. Other than that, the story is his. :o) We think he did a great job!!

Nicholas has learned a new phrase.
Last night I bought some relish to go with the hot dogs. I wanted the kids to try it, because I always have them at least taste something before they can declare they don’t like it. I like relish, so I thought they might too.
I should preface the next bit – the boys like to read Jef’s “Calvin & Hobbes” comic books. In one of those books, Calvin’s mom tells him she’s making monkey heads. Calvin’s dad goes on and on about how gross and disgusting they are, and how HE won’t eat them, etc. I thought that was actually a good idea, because Calvin then ate the monkey heads, which were actually stuffed green peppers.
So back to my kids … now, they are pretty smart, and after having read “Calvin & Hobbes” they certainly won’t be falling for any monkey head schemes. But, I had to give it a try with the relish. So I told them it looked like boogers. They all laughed.
Nicholas said, “Eeewww! Dat is disgusting!!” He actually got out the disgusting intelligibly. It was SO funny!!!
Now he’s saying it more. This morning he told me his wet pull-up was disgusting. He’s very cute. 🙂

Since it has been two weeks since Tina & I started counting calories, I thought I would post my results. My daily limit on calorie intake is 1800.

May 16 ~ 1650
May 17 ~ 1520 (exercised)
May 18 ~ 1687.5
May 19 ~ 1070
May 20 ~ 1680
May 21 ~ 1725
May 22 ~ 1689
May 23 ~ 1747.5
May 24 ~ 1802
May 25 ~ 1200
May 26 ~ 1375.25 (exercised)
May 27 ~ 1775.5
May 28 ~ 1465
May 29 ~ 1810
May 30 ~ 1696
I am pretty sure Tina is doing better on consistently exercising. I am going to work on that more these next two weeks. 🙂

Today is Memorial Day. I learned today that if one has a flagpole in one’s yard, on Memorial Day you keep it at half-staff until noon, then raise it to full staff. This is to honor both those who died and those who didn’t. Isn’t it cool that we live in such a country where our military is voluntary, and our freedoms are protected? I’ve wondered how it must’ve felt to live under Sadaam’s regime. You wouldn’t be able to trust the military because they weren’t there to protect you, they were there to enforce Sadaam’s rules/laws/ideas. That must have been scary.
We never really think of how protected we are. How nice it is to live in a country where you are relatively safe. We aren’t required to join the military. So there isn’t any fear of that your growing up years. We are so free that we have fights over who gets to be in the military & who gets to go out on the front lines. Amazing.

Thank you, servicemen & women, all of you who have laid down your own agendas to serve America! Whether you are a life-long military person, or a national guard person, thank you for protecting me, my freedom and the American way of life. I salute you!! (not that that means much of anything … but you all do deserve the honor, respect & support of all Americans)

Today is cool and overcast. Jef is studying, Nicholas is napping (hopefully), the boys are playing Nintendo, and I am blogging, chatting & surfing the net. We’re pretty boring. We don’t like crowds a whole lot, so we tend not to go out to things on holidays. The only holiday we really go out and do stuff on is the Fourth of July. We have been going down to Ruston Way for four years now. So we know the kind of crowds and are prepared for it. 🙂 We tend to shy away from crowds at new things. 🙂
We are still waiting and hoping and trying to rest in God, to see what He does concerning Jef’s job and our future.

What are your thoughts on Memorial Day? What do you think of our military system? Do you feel safe in America? I am so glad President Bush is our president again. He makes me feel safe. I haven’t felt safe like that since Ronald Reagan was in office. 🙂

Over the past two days, I’ve seen two movies that left me empty.
When we were at the library the other day, Jef found “Tuck Everlasting”, a movie starring Alexis Bledel (Rory from “Gilmore Girls”). I’ve wanted to see that movie for a while now. It was ok, but that was it. The Tuck family had drunk from a spring and were everlasting – no bullets, disease or old age could overtake them. Winnie (A.B. character) stumbles into their world unknowingly. There were some cryptic comments made, but nothing ever came of them. Things such as Winnie’s being there was the best thing to happen in that house for 80 years. That made me think they knew she was coming or there was some hope in her being there. None of this occurred. The movie moved on, and Winnie & Jesse (the youngest son) fell in love, or so it seemed. The Tucks had to leave or be found out, though. Just as they were leaving, Jesse tells Winnie to drink from the spring & he’ll come back for her when it is safe.
Winnie goes home to a Grandma who is dying. She thinks about drinking, sits by the spring, plays in the water, but never drinks. The narrator of the story says that Winnie decided to have adventures, but they would be ones of her own choosing. The last scene of the movie shows the town in the present. Jesse comes back, and finds Winnie’s grave/headstone where the old spring used to be. It says she was a devoted wife & mother. The narrator says, “Tuck told Winnie not to be afraid of death, but to be afraid of the unlived life. Winnie chose to live life.” (or something along those lines)
The movie was just such a disappointment. I guess what they were trying to say was that you have to live life to the fullest, because there isn’t anything else. I agree that our day-to-day lives should be faced with vigor. We cannot undo the past & we have no control of the future. We do have today, however. But there is more than just this life – there is a whole other realm of existence. I guess it gets to me when I see the hopelessness in movies because I know they don’t have to be hopeless. Jesus is our Hope. He makes everything better, more worthwhile. 🙂
So then, today, we get two movies in the mail. “6 Degrees of Separation” and “A Streetcar Named Desire”. We watched the first one while we ate lunch. It, too, is a dumb, existentialist-type movie. I totally didn’t get it. And there was unnecessary language, and stupid scenes – scenes that were just gross. Will Smith did a good job of acting, but that is about the only redemptive quality this movie had. Throughout the film, there is a double-sided painting referred to – on one side it has no structure, on the other geometric designs that present a structured whole. The characters joke about it by flipping it back & forth & saying “chaos”, “control”. At the end of the movie, Will Smith’s character whispers “(the painting) was painted on both sides.” Jef & I didn’t understand that. We didn’t get the movie, it was too existential. Or maybe it was just nebulous. 😉

Baby DuCom has left the hospital, with his mommy & daddy, of course, carrying with him a name! (I thought it might take them a bit to decide on a name, but it didn’t!)
………………………………………..
His name is Eugene Maxamillian DuCom. Max. Good name. I really liked Max in “Gilmore Girls”, and thought Lorelai should have married him, or at least given him more of a chance than she did. Maybe our Max will grow up to be an English Lit. teacher, too. Now that would be cool!!! 🙂

Welcome to the world, little Max! We love you!!

We have an account with Audible.com This allows us to have one audio book a month (to keep forever, or so they say) and one subscription a month (to something like the NY Post or Wall Street Journal). One of the books we got is Emma, by Jane Austen.
I wasn’t sure how I would like listening to a book. I often have a hard time listening to the radio or news, just because I can’t be doing other things, if I really want to listen/pay attention. When I read a book, though, I am usually lost to the world. 🙂
Jane Austen has been a favorite author of mine since I was in high school. Mansfield Park was the first of her books I read. Perhaps this was the beginning of my love of Brittish humor. 🙂 I loved that book. I read Sense & Sensibility after that, and then Northanger Abbey. Now, I haven’t read Northanger Abbey in eons, but it was by far my favorite of Austen’s books. I loved the heroine – she was nutty, but I felt like I understood her. I read Pride & Prejudice, and liked that one second best. With Emma on audio book, Persuasion stands as the only book among Austen’s writings I have left to read. I have even read one or two of Austen’s novels that are listed as juvenille writings (because they were written when she was younger).
Jef & I went to see “Emma” the movie when it came out, way long ago, in 1996. I fell in love with that movie. It was the first one of Austen’s novels I felt had been justly portrayed on screen (“Sense & Sensibility” was horrid, or so I thought, in that they did not really stick to the book, or present the era of that time well). I felt the movie drew you in, and the lifestyles & era were presented very well. I had not yet read the book, though, so I tried to remind myself the movie could have been just as horribly unjust as “Sense & Sensibility” was.
This brings us, rather roundabout, to present. I thought the audio book would be good, if I could do dishes while listening. Suprisingly, I found I could. Listening to Emma made the chore of dishes even more tolerable. I am now almost completely through the second part (it came in three parts, since the book is 15+ hours [on audio book], or 432 pages long [mass-market paperback]), and I just love this book!!
Jane Austen rocks. A large part of this book is conversations. Her ability in this area is amazing. Emma was the fourth book she wrote, and the last published before her death (Persuasion & Northanger Abbey were published posthumously). I find the conversations amazing. Austen can say so much in mere conversations that you can clearly see the characters expressions & undersand their intent. It is amazing. I understand a lot more of what is said in the conversations, knowing the end of the book already. But then, most books by Austen should be read more than once.
All that to say, Jane Austen rocks. She is an amazing writer. 🙂

Ok, if I’m gonna do this blog thing, I’m going to have to become more original! I cannot, for the life of me, think up titles for these things!! I go to blog, see “title” and freeze. Nothing comes to mind. :p
Matt & Sarah had their baby! Baby DuCom weighed in at 6#, 12 oz., and is 20″ long! I think he looks awfully sweet & can’t wait to hug him! Matt said he’s pretty mellow, hasn’t been crying a lot or anything. Hopefully we will get to go visit them in a couple weeks. 🙂 Yay!!! I love babies!!!
On a housekeeping note, it has come to my attention that posting a comment is not as easy as I thought. Apparently Blogger has their member identity set up as the default. So, when you go to post a comment, click on “other” or “anonymous”. You can always sign your name within your comment, so I will know who you are. 🙂
Jef is working on this whole starting up a computer/network business. He’s been brushing up on some skills, reading some more books and getting ready. One of the things that would be really, really nice to have is a Fluke meter. He’s entered to win one on Fluke.com (Fluke is the brand name – wouldn’t it be great if there was a meter so you could know if circumstances in your life were flukes or not?!). Please pray that he wins it. The meter costs $1700 with tax. It would probably qualify for free shipping with Amazon.com. 😀
Everyone is kinda sick-y here. Jef is home with a headaches, stomach ache and sore throat, Jonathan, Daniel & Nicholas all have sniffly noses, and I have a headache & sore throat. 🙁
Guess that is all my news for today. I am getting ready to call the Y to see if they will give us any financial assistance.
We are hoping that Jef will be able to get unemployment. He’s heard that the pay cut would cause him to bring home about half of what he makes now. Pay like that is certainly not worth driving to Seattle every day, paying for gas & car repairs. So we will see what happens. He’d like to get unemployment and then start up his own business. 🙂
Ok ~ so I called the Y … (drumroll, please)
We’ve been approved at 50%!!!! We have until July 18, to decide. The first month would cost us $113.25, and then it would be $57/mo. after that!! 🙂 God is good!! That is actually less than I was planning to spend to join Pure Fitness. That gym was $22/mo., and for $38/mo. the kids could come to the playhouse while I exercised. All in all, I thought that Pure Fitness ended up being about $68/mo., which didn’t include ANY classes for the kids. 🙂

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