Revelations

Every so often I have one of those moments when it sort of hits me where I am and what I am doing with my life and how honored I am to be serving my country.  I experience one such moment a few days ago, late in the afternoon on Friday.

Picture this for me, if you will.  More than 100 soldiers of varying sizes, shapes, ages, and job descriptions conducting PT, which this particular day consists mostly of three or four different games of Football or Ultimate Frisbee spread across a large field.  Everyone is involved, and being that these are soldiers we are talking about, there is a certain amount of competitiveness and seriousness that goes along with these games.  It’s loud, boisterous, and a bit like organized chaos if we’re being honest, because everyone seems to be doing their own thing.  Then a few clear notes sound over a nearby sound system, and suddenly, without an order or a word of command everyone on the field stops and complete silence falls over the field.  I wish I had a video I could show you.  Think of field day during elementary school, with all the kids outside playing and yelling and having a good old time, and in one moment it all stops and there is silence and stillness.  Balls and frisbees land unnoticed, and each of the 100+ soldiers on the field come to attention, all facing towards one corner of the field.  Retreat begins to play over the speaker system, and the soldiers stand still and silently, waiting expectantly as they look towards the American Flag waving proudly from the top of the flag pole at the corner of the field.  The music continues and the flag begins to lower while the soldiers salute. It lasts only a few minutes, then the flag is down and the final strains of music play and salutes are dropped, and the games are continued.

Now, the thing is that this happens EVERY SINGLE DAY.  Every day (three times a day actually) they play the same music (depending on the time) at the same time and the flag gets lowered and if you are outside you stop what you are doing, even if you are driving.  But for some reason, even after six months of experiencing this, for some reason this particular Friday evening stuck out to me.  Maybe it’s because of the amount of activity that was taking place around me when colors was played, or the fact that we could actually see the flag being lowered which isn’t always the case.  For whatever reason, it hit me as I stood there in the silence how really proud I am of our flag and this country and of being able to serve in the U.S. Army.