Last night was a tough one, up to 20,000 people were there in attendance. Tap dancing around generals and congressional leaders is always fun when you have a job to do. One Marine LTG caw me holding a plastice cup and asked me, "Is it time for beer yet?". My reply was, "No sir, job hasn't ended yet and real men don't drink beer". His aide's mouth hit the floor and the Marine CSM standing next to him (never ask an airborne soldier about beer), he chuckled at my reply. It is a deeply stirring event, even the hardest of hearts turn to puddy at the sound of taps and roll call. I think the most feeling when the Pipe and Drum Corps played, to this day I love bag pipes (made me go home and watch "Brave Heart" just to hear them play.
One thing I did learn last night was that the Navy has a wierd way of posting colors. Everywhere, I have been we always render honors to the colors no matter if other services are posting as well and time did not matter. The head Navy guy simply said, "post the colors and march off", we asked about rendering the honor and the reply was "no". Being the Oldest of all the branches, we did what was appropriate no matter what he wanted us to do (you got it, we rendered the honors and the Marines did too the other services did not). For those, who are civilian reading this, honors is saluting Old Glory.
At the completion of the ceremony we all hung around a little bit talking to the retirees and listening to what they had to say. I was approached by numerous nice ladies(who were about twice my age) who engaged into conversation and in mid sentence they ask if I am married (red flags go up). There is only one reason for this, looking to take care of daughter or some relative they have (grandma hook-up). I politely tell them that no, I am divorced and quickly change the subject. Only two suceeded to tell me that they had a daughter who was single, a nice polite reply that I am soon moving to Kansas stopped that.
Only one thing that really disturbed me last night, a joker thought he could wear Army Dress Greens and get away with it. I do not think he realized that we no longer wear the wool ones anymore and they are polyester now. It was a dead giveaway, I asked him where his DUI's were and what unit he belonged too. He knew he was caught, eyes got big and began to stutter. He told me that he only spent 2 years in the Army, not even a Vet. So, I let him know how I felt about how he used his old uniform to get into VIP seating and that some veteran who paid his time had to stand during the ceremony. I neither have the time nor the patience to deal with someone perpetuating something they are not. Granted he served, but gave him no right to be where a veteran should be.
