# No more Taps at Funerals **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 4, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608 "2012-09-04T02:38:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/21 "2012-09-04T12:21:13Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Does it seem odd a real bugler is unaffordable for a soldier, but policemen and firemen in cities like New York get [a team of bagpipers](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=425982)? (Are the bagpipes only when the man fell in the line of duty?) I don’t know about NYC specifically but the pipers we have for police functions in New Jersey are all volunteers. They play at funerals and also at parades and such. They do it for the free beer they get at events and St Practice day performances and also for the opportunity to wear a skirt in public. > [@scudsucker](#): > > It was one of the first things I learnt to play on a trumpet, when I was 13. > > But - more to the point, why would they need to hire a bugler? For a military vet funeral, does the military not supply a bugler, free of charge? How many buglars do you think are in the military? Taps might be easy to play for a musician but its not easy to play without sounding like shit. In my state the National Guard will provide a small funeral detail for veterans. Sometimes it has to be as small as two people. The bugle is the electronic kind. It automatically starts we held to the lips and turns off if you take it away from the mouth. Most people have no idea its a recording. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/22 "2012-09-04T12:47:38Z")
Maybe they could just play [sad trombone](http://sadtrombone.com/) instead? 🙂 I agree that this is not exactly the end of the world, or even a key step in the decline of American greatness. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/23 "2012-09-04T13:03:16Z")
At my dad’s (WWII vet) funeral (8 years ago) the taps was recorded. But the Navy did send two young sailors something like 150 miles to play that song, salute my dad and to hand us a flag. I’d say the Navy did their part for a guy who hadn’t seen service in something like 60 years. A lot more than I expected anyway. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/24 "2012-09-04T13:06:27Z")
> [@Lucretia](#): > > **aruvqan** , odds are very good there was an mp3 player inside the bugle at your Dad’s funeral, too. It’s pretty standard practice across all military honor guards these days. It’s pretty rare to find an actual bugle player. Is it? Every year when I go to Boy Scout summer camp with my troop, pretty much each day a different kid plays the bugle for the flag ceremony. Granted, most of them are about as good as bugler from F Troop, but they can play. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/25 "2012-09-04T14:49:17Z")
Personally, I would much prefer that we honor our troops by not sending them off to kill for dishonorable and stupid purposes. One Viet Nam was too many. God forgive us, but once the war pervs start banging the drums, we lose our minds. And if I never, ever again hear _Amazing Grace_ played on the goddam! fucking! bagpipes!! it will be too soon. It is said that the Irish gave the Scots the bagpipes over a thousand years ago, and the Scots never caught on. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/26 "2012-09-04T15:42:17Z")
> [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](#): > > Is it? Every year when I go to Boy Scout summer camp with my troop, pretty much each day a different kid plays the bugle for the flag ceremony. Granted, most of them are about as good as bugler from F Troop, but they can play. Is that the quality of player you want a a funeral? Maybe playing Taps on a bugle is easy. Playing it well certainly is not. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/27 "2012-09-04T15:54:15Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Personally, I would much prefer that we honor our troops by not sending them off to kill for dishonorable and stupid purposes. For posting such a controversial opinion in the Pit, you sir, are a braver man than I. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/28 "2012-09-04T16:59:33Z")
> [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](#): > > Is it? Every year when I go to Boy Scout summer camp with my troop, pretty much each day a different kid plays the bugle for the flag ceremony. Granted, most of them are about as good as bugler from F Troop, but they can play. Hey, we go to the same camp! And after the bugler, the cannon goes off and knocks down the homemade guard tower. Back on topic, my father-in-law recently got an honor guard of six at his funeral, and he was only a Sergeant (but his job, I’m not kidding, was playing a tuba in Japan) (after Hiroshima, as part of rehabilitating our reputation). But even more absurd… a fallen soldier gets _ **an mp3 player hidden inside a bugle?** _ Really? That’s another sign that we’ve hit rock bottom as a society… hell, as a species. On the bright side, if we’re at the bottom, maybe it’ll all look like up from now on. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/29 "2012-09-04T17:18:05Z")
Put me down for “who gives a shit?” ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/30 "2012-09-04T17:38:11Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > How about Arlington Cemetery? Real bugler or a tape? I believe it depends on ran, war veteran status and cause of death. My grandfather (Bird Colonel, WWII Korea and Vietnam ribbons) got an Army Minister, 21 Gun and a bugler. He also had the horse drawn caisson march to the grave (note - they have a special casket with a slot for holding ashes if you cremate). He died in his sleep at age 94. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/31 "2012-09-04T18:00:37Z")
So this guy learns how to play the bagpipes in high school, and gets pretty good at it, but ultimately falls out of practice and hangs them up. In his early 30’s he’s a single cube monkey, and he decides to take up the bagpipes again. He gets decent and volunteers to play funerals, some of which take him to ancient family plots in the mountains surrounding town. On one such excursion, he gets hopelessly lost. His garmin is no help, he’s beyond late, and he just wants to find his way out and go home. Suddenly he sees a cabin and a few construction workers standing around a hole. He figures “well, I missed the service, but I’m here, so why not? I play and then ask these guys how to get to the highway.” He jumps out of his car and pulls his pipes out of the trunk and plays a few tunes. The construction workers look puzzled, but take off their hats and stand reverently as the sun goes down. When the man is done he asks for directions, gets in his car, and drives away. One construction worker turns to another and says “well I’ll be damned if this isn’t the strangest septic tank installation _I’ve_ ever done!” But anyway, when my grandfather passed a few years ago they played a recording. The local VFW did the 21-gun and flag folding and we gave them a donation. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/32 "2012-09-04T18:26:27Z")
> [@digs](#): > > But even more absurd… a fallen soldier gets _ **an mp3 player hidden inside a bugle?** _ Really? That’s another sign that we’ve hit rock bottom as a society… hell, as a species. Believe it or not, Army musicians are not at the top of the priority list for recruiting. Major commands have bands for events. There are certainly not enough to cover every funeral of every veteran in all 50 states. As for the fake bugle, the one that is used by our guys could fool anyone. It looks and sounds real. In a ceremony it looks a lot better than pushing a button. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Put me down for “who gives a shit?” Good for you. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/33 "2012-09-04T18:39:47Z")
To clarify, I don’t understand why the OP is bitching a shitstorm about not having live buglers. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have state funerals or anything. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/34 "2012-09-04T19:48:49Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Personally, I would much prefer that we honor our troops by not sending them off to kill for dishonorable and stupid purposes. One Viet Nam was too many. God forgive us, but once the war pervs start banging the drums, we lose our minds. > > And if I never, ever again hear _Amazing Grace_ played on the goddam! fucking! bagpipes!! it will be too soon. > > It is said that the Irish gave the Scots the bagpipes over a thousand years ago, and the Scots never caught on. My dad died last year, a couple days before Halloween. The local Scottish Highlander/Shriner group (which he was a long time participating member of) volunteered (meaning without pay) to stand honor guard over his ashes at the wake, and play Amazing Grace at his tombside later on. I appreciated their contribution. I humbly disagree with yours, here, today. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/35 "2012-09-04T19:56:39Z")
My apologies. I didn’t realise I still had feelings of loss. I thought I buried those. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/36 "2012-09-04T20:51:24Z")
If this is part of a budget restructuring, hopefully the diverted funds will go to pay for sufficiently armoured vehicles and whatnot. That way the defense department save even more in funeral costs in the long run. Not that I want the buglers to lose their jobs, but I’m sure they could play returning home jigs or something? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/37 "2012-09-05T00:20:31Z")
At our local National Cemetery, as late as '09 at least one regular old eligible veteran (a Korea vet who did his two years and out, not a pensioned career soldier) didn’t even get a _whole_ recording of “Taps”. It sounded like a multiple-generation copy, too. And never mind an actual graveside ceremony - the ceremony was conducted at one of various strategically located designated spaces. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/38 "2012-09-05T00:24:17Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Bagpipers in NYC are a pest. An invasive species brought over by some immigrants in the 1840’s that somehow were not turned back at Ellis Island. > > A large part of the cities budget is spent trying to keep the population under control. It is my opinion that bagpipers sound exactly like mimes being electrocuted. > [@mlees](#): > > I appreciated their contribution. I humbly disagree with yours, here, today. > [@mlees](#): > > My apologies. > > I didn’t realise I still had feelings of loss. I thought I buried those. You don’t have to apologize; this is the Pit. (I’m genuinely sorry for your loss, and I felt the same way about a real bugler playing _Taps_ at my dad’s graveside.[/emotion]) For those of you claiming that military funds could be better used to armor cats or feed starving colonels than to honor military dead, I haven’t seen anybody clamoring for defense funds to pay for buglers. The OP mentioned that the **State of NY** (emphasis mine) had ceased to pay for this minor service, so snap out of it and swear at each other for the right reason, or maybe go shake your fists at NY veterans’ service groups for not volunteering a few hours a week to play a simple tune on a bugle for a fallen comrade. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/39 "2012-09-05T00:43:17Z")
Buglers, schmuglers. You know they were desperate to cut corners once they started sending out seven guys to shoot three times instead of 21 guys to shoot once! ---
**Author:** ![Bouncer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@Bouncer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bouncer)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/40 "2012-09-05T03:13:40Z")
> [@Lucretia](#): > > **aruvqan** , odds are very good there was an mp3 player inside the bugle at your Dad’s funeral, too. It’s pretty standard practice across all military honor guards these days. It’s pretty rare to find an actual bugle player. Arlington National Cemetery uses actual buglers. To see a full colonel or above burial is something. Escort platoon, a colors team, a band, a caisson section and a caparisoned horse. If the family wishes for bagpipes (to play Amazing Grace or some other selection), there are people who offer to provide that service, though it is not part of the official burial. The state or gov’t should find a way to pay for the bugler. It’s simply paying back a debt owed by the nation to the service member, and their families. It’s a sign of respect. It fundamentally is the same reason we pay for National Cemeteries like Arlington in the first place. Regards, -Bouncer- [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608.md?page=3)