Friday Mornings at the Pentagon

[Jo McDonald]

                    Friday Mornings at the Pentagon
   
                              By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY
                                     McClatchy Newspapers
   
   Over the last 12 months, 1,042 soldiers, Marines, sailors and
Air Force personnel have given their lives in the terrible duty that is
war.  Thousands more have come home on stretchers, horribly wounded and
facing months or years in military hospitals.
   
   This week, I'm turning my space over to a good friend and former
roommate, Army Lt. Col. Robert Bateman, who recently completed a
yearlong tour of duty in Iraq and is now back at the Pentagon.
   
   Here's Lt. Col. Bateman's account of a little-known ceremony
that fills the halls of the Army corridor of the Pentagon with cheers,
applause and many tears every Friday morning.  It first appeared on May
17 on the Weblog of media critic and pundit Eric Alterman at the Media
Matters for America Website.
   
   "It is 110 yards from the "E" ring to the "A" ring of the
Pentagon. This section of the Pentagon is newly renovated; the floors
shine, the hallway is broad, and the lighting is bright.  At this
instant the entire length of the corridor is packed with officers, a few
sergeants and some civilians, all crammed tightly three and four deep
against the walls.  There are thousands here.
   
   This hallway, more than any other, is the `Army' hallway.  The
G3 offices line one side, G2 the other, G8 is around the corner.  All
Army.  Moderate conversations flow in a low buzz.  Friends who may not
have seen each other for a few weeks, or a few years, spot each other,
cross the way and renew.
   
   Everyone shifts to ensure an open path remains down the center.
The air conditioning system was not designed for this press of bodies in
this area.
   
   The temperature is rising already.  Nobody cares.  "10:36 hours:
The clapping starts at the E-Ring.  That is the outermost of the five
rings of the Pentagon and it is closest to the entrance to the building.
This clapping is low, sustained, hearty.  It is applause with a deep
emotion behind it as it moves forward in a wave down the length of the
hallway.
   
   "A steady rolling wave of sound it is, moving at the pace of the
soldier in the wheelchair who marks the forward edge with his presence.
He is the first. He is missing the greater part of one leg, and some of
his wounds are still suppurating.  By his age I expect that he is a
private, or perhaps a private first class.
   
   "Captains, majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels meet his
gaze and nod as they applaud, soldier to soldier.  Three years ago when
I described one of these events, those lining the hallways were somewhat
different.  The applause a little wilder, perhaps in private guilt for
not having shared in the burden ... yet.
   
   "Now almost everyone lining the hallway is, like the man in the
wheelchair, also a combat veteran.  This steadies the applause, but I
think deepens the sentiment.  We have all been there now.  The soldier's
chair is pushed by, I believe, a full colonel.
   
   "Behind him, and stretching the length from Rings E to A, come
more of his peers, each private, corporal, or sergeant assisted as need
be by a field grade officer.
   
   "11:00 hours: Twenty-four minutes of steady applause.  My hands
hurt, and I laugh to myself at how stupid that sounds in my own head.
My hands hurt.  Please!  Shut up and clap.  For twenty-four minutes,
soldier after soldier has come down this hallway - 20, 25, 30...
Fifty-three legs come with them, and perhaps only 52 hands or arms, but
down this hall came 30 solid hearts.
   
   They pass down this corridor of officers and applause, and then
meet for a private lunch, at which they are the guests of honor, hosted
by the generals. Some are wheeled along..  Some insist upon getting out
of their chairs, to march as best they can with their chin held up, down
this hallway, through this most unique audience.  Some are catching
handshakes and smiling like a politician at a Fourth of July parade.
More than a couple of them seem amazed and are smiling shyly.
   
   "There are families with them as well: the 18-year-old war-bride
pushing her 19-year-old husband's wheelchair and not quite understanding
why her husband is so affected by this, the boy she grew up with, now a
man, who had never shed a tear is crying; the older immigrant Latino
parents who have, perhaps more than their wounded mid-20s son, an
appreciation for the emotion given on their son's behalf.  No man in
that hallway, walking or clapping, is ashamed by the silent tears on
more than a few cheeks.  An Airborne Ranger wipes his eyes only to
better see.  A couple of the officers in this crowd have themselves been
a part of this parade in the past.
   
   These are our men, broken in body they may be, but they are our
brothers, and we welcome them home.   This parade has gone on, every
single Friday, all year long, for more than four years.
   
   "Did you know that?  The media haven't yet told the story."

[Warph]

Great post, Jo... believe it or not, the Washington Post did a decent story on the "Parade" a couple of years back... problem was it was buried on page 40 something and never really got to see the light of day.

[frawin]

Jo, a great post, GOD BLESS OUR MILITARY, past present and future. Being a father, it is painful for me to see what our men and women in the military are going thru, I hurt for their families.