A soldier guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier issued a verbal reprimand to a group of advisers and staffers with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth following a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
Video shows Hegseth taking photos on the empty steps in front of the tomb with his wife, Jennifer, chief of staff Ricky Buria, deputy chief of staff Patrick Weaver and senior adviser Tami Radabaugh.
As the group broke from taking photos, a loud laugh could be heard, and the soldier guarding the tomb shouted that “all visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times.”
I’m genuinely elated at this headline.
Simultaneously, I’m deeply concerned for the career trajectory of some random soldier who takes his (to be clear, extraordinarily solemn) duty seriously enough to tell a SecDef this fucking emotionally fragile to effectively fuck off. Despite the fact that it is very literally his explicit duty to do precisely that, regardless of whether it’s a tourist or the president.
Jeez, even the people left on Xitter are excoriating him (Nitter link). Also, is that a woodland camo tie, flag belt buckle, and a god-damn zip-up fleece under his suit jacket? I’m no fashion maven, but WTAF?
The guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier are well known for this. There’s videos of them yelling at people all over YouTube anyone wanted to see.
Their entire job is to maintain the peaceful and respectful atmosphere in the cemetery, no matter who it may be disrupting that.
The real story here is that the Secretary of the god-gamned Military and his entourage don’t know that and had to be reminded to mind their manners at arguably the most important US military memorial in the world. That the headline is putting the focus not on the transgression, but on the soldier who called it out is disingenuous.
Good man.
Kegsbreath will probably try to have him court martialed.
The hero that the unknown soldier deserves
The official response is a weak-ass statement praising the sentinel but absolutely avoiding any mention of why the guy had to speak at all.
I also sort of expect this. But that would be a PR nightmare. Which is why it will likely happen…
Based and respect the actual people that literally fought for people’s freedoms pilled.
What happens next would be a test of the armed forces leadership. If the guard stays, it means at least one person in the chain of command have a spine. Otherwise the entire US armed forces leadership have become spineless.
And especially so on Armistice Day.
Lazy antagonist writing.
Wat
