November 2010

Statement

24 hours a day, seven days a week, on holidays and in all weather, Tomb Guard sentinels keep watch over the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. These soldiers are the best of the U.S. Army in the elite 3rd U.S. Infantry called The Old Guard.

Recently, while visiting Arlington with reporter Tim Carpenter of the Topeka Capital-Journal, I had the privilege of meeting one of these guards on his last day at Arlington. Sentinel Kyle Obrosky, a Topeka native, had just completed four and a half years of duty, (twice the average length of service there) or in his words, "the most honorable thing I'll ever do."

The Tomb of the Unknowns contains the unidentified remains of Americans killed in World War I, World War II and Korea. The unknown from the Vietnam War was recently identified and removed.

Sentinel Obrosky and the 587 other guards who have protected the Tomb since 1925 must endure rigorous training for this coveted duty. A little more than one fifth of volunteers for the ceremonial guard are accepted and a smaller number of these become guards. The training time is dictated by each individual's ability to learn the curriculum. Some soldiers may pass in about six months and training cannot exceed one year.

Anyone who has seen this sacred and solemn ceremony walks away proud of their nation and those who sacrifice for it. Meeting Sentinel Obrosky is this feeling personified. He said, "They are known but to God. We are their friends and family now, it is up to me to take care and honor them. They did not lose their country."

What is even more moving is hearing Sentinel Obrosky tell of his path to becoming a Tomb Guard. It started in Topeka with three veterans at Topeka West High School.

A struggling student, having lost sight of his priorities, he joined the Army Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program (JROTC). Retired Major Chuck Wright, retired 1st Sergeant Don Munn and Stan Wagstaff, a colonel in the Kansas Army National Guard and then principal of Topeka West, served as his mentors and were his inspiration to seek out a career in the Army and turn his life around to take on the challenge of becoming a Sentinel at the Tomb.

It was these three Kansas Veterans that took a young man who probably would not have graduated from high school and molded him into a soldier, but not just any soldier, an elite soldier serving in the nation's most honorable capacity.

As Sentinel Obrosky said, "You can tell the pride of a country by the way they honor their fallen heroes." On this Veterans Day, I want to say thanks to Chuck Wright, Don Munn, Stan Wagstaff and all Veterans who continue to inspire, protect and defend our nation through humble actions.

And thanks to Sentinel Obrosky. I wish him the best of luck as he continues his service with a new intelligence mission at Fort Huachuca, in Arizona.

Each individual veteran and service member's story of sacrifice is unique, but all have the collective threads of honor and service which makes our great nation the symbol of freedom and liberty around the world.

From this Marine, on Veterans Day to all those that have served our country, Semper Fi.

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