WASHINGTON – A U.S. Army sentinel guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier scolded Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and his senior advisers for not being respectful after some members in the group laughed while posing for pictures in front of the memorial.

"All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all time," the sentinel yelled, prompting Hegseth and other members of the group to turn around as they were walking away from the memorial. The incident, which was captured by television cameras, took place after a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

In addition to Hegseth, the group admonished by the sentinel included his chief of staff Ricky Buria, deputy chief of staff Patrick Weaver, senior adviser Tami Radabaugh and Hegseth's wife, Jennifer Hegseth. It was not clear which members of the group were laughing.

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Link to video of the event (CBS News).

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[–] 3 points 3 hours ago*

They're selected for looking like the ideal soldier, obsessing over their uniforms and gear, memorizing trivia and ritualized announcements, proving they're fit enough and single-minded enough to precision march back and forth for hours on end, regardless of conditions.

Everything they do is about symbolizing and portraying the look of being a "warrior," which Hegseth has been fixated on in a very cringe way. While I understand they're also very competent soldiers, they're picked for the optics, to serve as a symbol. They even leave the rank insignia off their uniforms when doing the Sentinel thing because they're not really supposed to be one soldier, they're supposed to represent all military personnel guarding the legacy of the war dead, who are in turn symbolized in their entirety by the three unknowns (used to be four, but they did DNA testing on the Vietnam vet).

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