I love that channel, but never happened across that specific video. Thank you so much for sharing it!
This statement is a bit silly in context. Obviously since you must apply and the unit is staffed, people must be applying.
Based on information on the Tomb of the Unknowns site and other information, only about 20% of those who apply are accepted, and less than 50% of applicants pass the training regimen. So there at least 10 times more applicants than there are positions in the guard, probably more. So it’s clear that the assignment is indeed sought-after by at least some soldiers.
That doesn’t imply that most soldiers would want to do it. It can be something that most soldiers want to avoid, while being something that’s sought-after by the most highly motivated. But it’s clear that there is very high competition for the posts, despite the boring nature of the duty.
I can’t speak specifically to the Tomb guards, but there are a lot of ceremonial honor guards across all branches and pretty much every US military installation large enough to support it. For instance, I was stationed at Youngstown ARS in Northeast Ohio, and the USAF Honor Guard flight there, in addition to supporting all of the droll ceremonies that would take place during a typical drill weekend, were responsible for rendering military honors at any veteran funeral for which they were requested in something like a 250 mile radius. This would typically mean giving up their weekends to drive to remote cemeteries. The typical local honor guard volunteer has a great deal of pride in what they do, and also is looking to beef up their resume for promotions/awards/transfers, in varying quantities. That is, some people are 90% doing it because they love the US Military and it’s customs, and some people are 90% doing it because it’s good for their career, but most people are somewhere in the middle.
In addition to these local honor guards there are also honor guards are all different levels of command that are a full time job. Like the local ones, these full-time volunteers have some combination of pride + career in mind when they sign up, but additionally they might do it because they hate their current job and just want to do something else.
And lastly, there are the service branch level honor guards that would add an element of “I hate being stationed in BFE North Dakota and being stationed in DC sounds a lot better.”
I know representatives from all of those groups from personal interactions, so I think extrapolating from that I can say that the tomb guards probably volunteered based on some combination of pride, career, hating their current job, and hating their current location of assignment. I don’t think anyone would get selected if they didn’t at least believe in what they were doing, but I also don’t think it’s a completely altruistic assignment. A lot of people hate DC but some people love it, and it can be a very stable duty location once you’re there (meaning rather than getting moved every 2-4 years, you can stay in DC for almost an entire career if you’re willing to jump around between assignments). And there are probably some scenarios I’m not thinking of, like people who get medically disqualified from their main job often take jobs like this because they don’t have a lot of options but don’t want to separate.
This link says that only 20 percent of applicants are accepted, and even fewer actually do become Tomb guards in the end. So we can perhaps extrapolate to figure out how many are applying.
Edit: Ninja’d by Colibri.
I would imagine that, for many tomb guards, they like being watched by an admiring audience as much as anyone else. (Nothing wrong with that)
You’re quite welcome. I also enjoy the channel very much but I’m a little dubious about some of the research involved in writing the shows. I generally trust the basic facts as presented but as with any source, take it with a grain (or maybe about 8 lbs of salt) of salt. At best, such internet sources are a starting point for research. They’re not the final word.
In the days before internet the army would send out letters to potential candidates most likely based on ASVAB scores. Along with Special Forces recruitment letters I would get letters informing me I could try for the Old Guard. I guess their database didn’t have all the information otherwise they would know that I was 1 inch shorter than the minimum height.
I’ll preface this by saying that I don’t have direct experience with this honor guard, but I do have some with other Service honor guards.
I’m confident that the answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ There are some Enlisted members that would be all over this. They are really driven by the spit and polish aspect of this duty. There are some Enlisted members that would rather get out of the military than to do this. Some of the second type are the most squared away, hard changing members of the military that I’d really like on my team, and I’d hire first if I owned a company. They would rather be in the fleet or in the field making things happen, in their chosen field.
It reminds me a bit of the Navy Blue Angels. I knew one Officer (a flag aid which is a bit telling) that missed the Blue Angels on the last cut and was in actual tears over it. There’s a guy on my staff right now that was a Top Gun grad and he’d rather cut his arm off than to be in the “Blue Angel dog and pony show.”
You really have to be into that sort of thing to want to do it. So it really depends.
How is it seen as a career move?
If I’ve joined the army and I have a goal of making a career out of it and rising through the ranks, is being an honor guard a good thing to do?
Later on, when somebody in the Pentagon is deciding who gets a promotion to Colonel and command of a brigade, are they going to say “Wow, this guy was part of the honor guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He’s command material.”? Or are they going to say “This guy was part of the honor guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. So he can handle the ceremonial stuff. That’s nice. But this other guy has combat experience. He’s a much better choice for a command.”?
Not directly. But it looks good on any award and/or decoration packages that a junior enlisted person might be competing for. And then those awards and decs, if attained, will look good on other awards packages and special duty assignment applications that a mid-level enlisted person might be putting in for. And maybe that special duty assignment will look really good in front of the E-7 board. Etc etc.
It’s not that people on the E-7 board are looking directly at what someone did 12 years prior as an E-2, but things you can do to stand out have follow-on effects and create opportunities at various stages of your career that other people might not have.
No tomb guards are being promoted to colonel. They are enlisted. The officer slots above them are good slots. Officers will move on within a couple of years so their time in the unit will be just one data point in their career. It’s not an either/or thing. You can serve in a combat unit and be a tomb guard. Being a tomb guard is one assignment it’s not a career. As per their FAQ the average tour at the tomb is 18 months but there is no set time.
It’s the same question, Little Nemo, as why we encourage athletics and activities for high schoolers. Does Ernst and Young care about your JV basketball experience? No, but maybe that’s the deciding factor between two kids applying a specific accounting program.
I don’t know how valued this is within the Army to know how big a positive it is. I’m sure there are worse tours to take, career wise. There are better as well.
I don’t think this is apt comparison. In high school, my athletic endeavors didn’t preclude me from taking any academic course. And extra-curricular activities were just that - extra.
If one takes a tour at the Tomb, her (she?) by definition isn’t taking a hard tour in their choose career path, so there is cost. That cost may be worth it, but there is an opportunity cost.
Not really. We are only talking 18 months to 2 years for most. For junior enlisted it won’t mean much for their future career but the badge will look impressive in their record. For NCOs and field grade officers their OERs and NCOERs (yearly evaluations) will have the same thing their peers do, leading troops. There is plenty of time to have a well rounded career in your field.
One theory I heard as a career killer at the captain level is being pushed into training commands. You only get the chance at a few true command slots and if you have to spend your time as a captain teaching or supervising students it hurts you. A captain in the Old Guard is commanding troops.
I know jack about military badges, but this piqued my interest and it turns out that the “Military Horseman Identification Badge” is currently the rarest, pushing the Astronaut and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier badges down to 2nd and 3rd rarest for now. It came into existence only in 2017 and so I presume it will lose its top spot over time, even though on a quick read it sounds like they won’t be passing a lot of them out. Wikipedia links: mention in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier article; Military Horseman Badge article.
If we’re going to count new badges, then the rarest military badge would be the Expert Soldier Badge. I think there are only about six people wearing it. I think the fairest assessment of rarity would be to divide the number of recipients by the number of years the badge has been active.
I was under the belief (sorry no cite) that these guards did not carry live ammunition and that their post was largely ceremonial.
Sure, if you defy the guard and continue to trespass you will be detained and then hauled off to jail by the local police instead of being shot.
But yeah, your point stands that those guys are intimidating. If I accidentally trespassed I would probably deposit the contents of my colon into my pants before I could even voluntarily get back behind the chains and rails as instructed.
And I’m sure (alas, no cite) that I’ve heard they do carry live ammunition in a belt pouch. Their weapons are not loaded during a normal shift but that can change at times of heightened alert. Naturally a well trained soldier can load the weapon and chamber a round in much less time than you might think. What it would actually take to make them do that? Well, the army is coy about that and I’m in no hurry to find out personally. Actually pulling the trigger on a live round, even as a warning shot, would be nearly unthinkable.
We had some of these guys (well, not specifically those guys but same idea) at my dad’s funeral. Was really great to have them there.
That’s sort of my point. Even if someone strolls across the plaza and starts spray painting graffiti on the Tomb, the guard is not going to shoot the person. So to have live ammunition in a rifle seems to be a bad idea.
I’m sure that person will be restrained in a fashion that will be very unpleasant and be held for the police to transport them to jail where their sentence will be much higher than for a regular spray painting, but my point is that the whole pomp and ceremony of the guard at the Tomb is just that: ceremony.
Here is one such video: Tomb of the Unknown Soldier TRESPASSED, YELLING & FAINTING Compilation
I wonder if there is anywhere else in the US treated with such reverence?