Free Republic

JUST IN -- Honor guard collapses on live TV (CNN) in front of the casket of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Gov. Scott Walker: It’s ‘Unfathomable’ That Nat’l Guard Member Posted These Photos Online Feb. 19, 2014 10:25am Dave Urbanski Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said it’s an “outrage” that a now-suspended National Guard member posted photos making light of military funerals online. Spc. Terry Harrison was suspended after posting photos making light of military funerals. (Image source: WISN-TV) “To me, it’s just completely unacceptable,’ the Republican governor told WISN-TV in Milwaukee. “It’s an outrage. It’s unfathomable to me that people who are not just service members, but who were picked to be in this highly specialized area, wouldn’t be sensitive enough...

[snip] The Wisconsin National Guard responded Tuesday by announcing that it had suspended the soldier who apparently posted the photograph online from her honor guard duties. The photograph was taken at a guard training facility in Arkansas and included soldiers from other units. The National Guard also was taking steps to protect the soldier after she received death threats. The photograph originally posted on Instagram shows about a dozen soldiers around a casket. Several hug playfully. One flashes a peace sign. Another has his back turned and is pointing off in the distance. The caption reads, "We put the FUN...

One thing most Democrats will never understand is the dedication that our men and women in uniform have for their country. They make fun of people who want to live their lives by a certain code with snide remarks in movies like A Few Good Men. But the fact is, it takes people who are willing to live by the code: Duty, Honor, Country in order to keep our nation free. The brave men of the 3rd Infantry Regiment’s “Old Guard” know a thing or two about this. These disciplined, brave men have stood watch over the Tomb of the...

I hope that the continuing revelations from Arlington National Cemetery ["At Arlington Cemetery, years of problems," front page, July 26] do not lead people to associate the problems with soldiers of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Regiment, popularly known as the Old Guard. This is the unit that, day and night, provides sentry duty at the Tomb of the Unknowns and, with utmost respect, presides over the burials of all Army personnel, veterans and dependents at the cemetery. As a former commander of the Old Guard, I am aware of the care given by Old Guard burial details to each...

WHEN you fly as often as I do you learn to mind your own business as soon as you take your seat. But that wasn’t possible once I saw the military honor guard boarding US Airways’ 1:45 p.m. flight from Boston to Washington earlier this week. I was heading through the gate when I first noticed Senator Ted Kennedy, walking down the concourse and arriving fashionably late, not an uncommon sight on this route. I stepped aside and followed him down the ramp. As we got to the arched entrance of the plane, the members of a Marine honor guard...

As I am sure many of you have seen a group of protesers have been appearing at the services of those who gave the ultimate sacrafice in the Gulf. As an example of their protests the following picture will tell it all. http://patriotguard.org/Portals/0/pgr1.jpg As a result a grassroots organization has been formed with two purposes: http://www.patriotguard.org The following pamplet will give you the full details. http://pokefans.com/PGR/pgrpage.pdf I live in Tulsa and last Thursday the services for SPC Jerry Mills were being held in Ark City, KS. It was an extremely cold morning and I briefly consided riding up but better...

ARLINGTON — They stand vigil beside the nation’s most honored dead – a tribute paid with crack precision, perfect profiles and pressed creases. Every minute of every day since 1937, the elite sentinels of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery have taken turns “walking the mat” beside the marbled crypt of an unidentified casualty of war. The bones inside the tomb represent the thousands of Americans so badly butchered in battles over the centuries that their bodies came home unrecognizable. The unwavering ritual outside the tomb makes good on a nation’s promise to never forget its...

As a military honor guardsman, Patrick Cubbage had a simple message to the families of deceased veterans at graveside services. "God bless you and this family, and God bless the United States of America," he would say as he presented a folded flag to them. Because of that, Cubbage was fired in October from his job at the Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Burlington County, near McGuire Air Force Base. He breached cemetery protocol, his supervisor said, by deviating from the script. "No family member ever objected," Cubbage, 54, a Vietnam combat veteran, retired Philadelphia police...

Friday night, Nov 1, the Golden State Warriors basketball team scheduled a local police departments honor guard to carry the colors before the game. One of the members of the honor guard is a good friend of mine who I've known for 23 years. He's a USMC vet, called to active duty during Desert Storm. His dad is a retired Marine Colonel. In short an all round good guy. The incident is best explained by his letter to a politics newsletter. He lurks on FR, but I don't think he has signed up. "I have been a police officer in...