Forums / Off Topic / Funneral

When I was in Ft Riley, one of our NCOs, who was a big civil war buff, actually found the grave of a Union soldier who had been posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, but because of the situation, a ceremony was never conducted. We actually went out as a funeral detail and I had the honor of standing over his grave in Class A uniform, folding a flag and got to see the MoH presented to his grave marker. Hell, that was probably early 2001, about 137 or so years after this guy died, and Taps still got to me. It does every time.

to a Veteran,good show,they are never foregotten,and that "Taps" gets me everytime.

Now one question for you. Since you are a SCV how does it feel to keep Losing again and again and again? LOL

Imagine, if you will, being the bugler at over 400 Military Funeral Honors ceremonies for WW II, Korean War, Viet Nam War, Gulf War and Present Middle Eastern conflict US honorable service veterans. I do not describe this because I want you to think I am a hero--but only to tell you that when Taps "gets to you", it reminds you that you are human---it reminds you to thank the Almighty for people such as this, and it reminds you that their service and sacrifices for this country cannot be allowed to be wasted.

I can tell you that as I sound Taps for all of these brothers and sisters-in-arms, it is very difficult not to allow it to get to me. I must continually remind myself that this is the highest honor I can personally bestow, and it must be done perfectly. Sometimes, however, it "gets to me" too.

we had a field trip to the Breaks Interstate Park to watch a Civil War battle re-enactment. It was awesome because we got to participate in an "Raid" that is based on true events. Though we were given sticks as guns. Oh my I had a good time that day. They had smoke ball fireworks to make it look like a full battle was going on. A radio played cannon shots and some of the re-enactors had replica black powder rifles but they were set up for blanks or something. It was very fun. There was a small battle in the Breaks Park back then know as the Flat Woods. At least that was the story my grandma was told when she was a kid. There is a cemetary where my grandma's second husband is buried that has several confederate soldiers. So much history can be found all around. Ya just got to know where to look.

Oh and CW PM for ya.

I guess the school had something to do with what they used. Im not sure. However it was fun for a kid in the 5th grade at the time. Ive never been to a full reenactment like say in gettysburg but I hope to see one one day.

check your yahoo mail

That's awesome!

On my last deployment, we lost a soldier to a VBIED strike and when he was pronounced dead at the hospital, the company had a "gaggle" formation in a gym. I shared a trailer with the soldier's squad leader, so I knew going there that he was dead, and when the platoon leader told our platoon, he started to get teary eyed. I was thinking "You need to dry that shit up, LT" and I thought he was going to lose it, but he composed himself very well and made it through the announcement. The first one we lost in OIF 1, that night, people who barely knew the guy were hugging each other and crying like a bunch of little girls. made me sick. We still had missions to do, patrols to send out, and people were acting like a bunch of fuckin high school girls about it. LLE, you're doing it right when you play Taps for our fallen warriors. It's a mission, you accomplish that to standard, then go around a corner or get home and let it out if need be. I've cried once in front of my soldiers, and that was nothing more than a massive adrenaline dump and everyone knew and understood it. I will never be caught by my soldiers crying out of sadness.