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.

Article continues here.

Link to video of the event (CBS News).

1 comment

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[–] 3 points 16 hours ago

Cue Curb Your Enthusiasm music

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  • 34 comments in c/news@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 59 points 17 hours ago (1 child)

    Much respect for that man doing his job regardless of who was violating the rules.

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  • [–] 54 points 19 hours ago

    You're goddamn right. I remember watching a couple videos of visitors recording at the Tomb years ago, and there were just a couple people whispering a little too loud and the sentinel went off on them.

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  • [–] 52 points 18 hours ago (6 children)

    I wouldn't fuck with the Sentinels. they're far from push overs, and they take it seriously. (As they should.)

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  • [–] 18 points 17 hours ago (5 children)

    I've never thought much of the military or whatever, but I watched a documentary on them, how they are picked, what they do, etc. and, yeah, you are 100% correct.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 hours ago (2 children)
  • [–] 3 points 2 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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  • [–] 43 points 18 hours ago

    Fucking disgrace.

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  • [–] 27 points 17 hours ago

    This is what happens when you put a man in charge of an organization he neither likes nor respects

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  • [–] 24 points 15 hours ago* (11 children)

    I've also been yelled at by the Sentinels at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for violating decorum.

    In my defense, I was 12 at the time.

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  • [–] [S] 24 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (6 children)

    Further in your defense, you were not the acting Secretary of Defense, at the time.

    But yeah lol, I've been at Buckingham Palace as a kid, and can remember some other girl in our tourist group standing in the path of the guards and smiling like an idiot.

    They march to a stop, simultaneously stomp their feet down and reshoulder their rifles, and scream "MAKE WAY FOR THE GRENADIER GUARD!"

    She peed herself and ran away crying lol.

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  • [–] 5 points 12 hours ago (5 children)
  • [–] 12 points 12 hours ago (4 children)

    Yeah, oftentimes they don’t even slow down. They just knee/shoulder-check you out of the way while yelling.

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  • [–] 17 points 17 hours ago (1 child)

    Such a "warrior" you fucking drunken disgrace.

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  • [–] 16 points 18 hours ago

    Clownfuck subhuman disgrace.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

    Rear echelon mother fucker

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  • [+] -21 points 15 hours ago (5 children)

    Just the sort of bootlicking bullshit yanks seem to care about.

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  • [–] 9 points 14 hours ago (3 children)

    I think the closest comparison to the UK are the Royal Guards with their funny hats. I've seen similar videos of those palace guards doing the exact same thing as this soldier.

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  • [–] 4 points 11 hours ago

    It's simple respect for those who have lost their lives. You don't have to agree with the system that caused it to recognise the sacrifice that others have made and show a bit of respect for the dead. It's a universal concept that is shared by people who aren't arseholes.

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  • 3 comments in c/usa@lemmy.ml view that post
    [–] 4 points 13 hours ago (1 child)
  • [–] 1 point 23 minutes ago

    i identify so much w this meme since most of my cousins and i did something similar at my grandfather's funeral.

    i did it because i knew that he never bothered to make amends for the neglectful alcoholism he exhibited to my mother and her older siblings and i know that most of my cousins did it because we all descend from a class low enough not to understand proper decorum in such situations.

    either way, it was pleasing to see that my grandfather's second wife and adopted daughter HATED the fuck out of us for ostracizing him from the family for his behavior and that they literally had to pay a lot of money to watch us desecrate the memorial.

    i can only hope that my own passing is so dramatic and completely unnoticeable to me. lol

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  • [–] 1 point 18 hours ago