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As I watched the
coverage of the ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda, I wondered what it would be
like to be there.
What would it feel like to walk by that casket? How would it feel to stand in line with all
the other Americans that were there to pay their respects to President
Reagan?
I watched it on my TV, on the phone with a friend of mine, and the event was an overwhelming moment that I will never forget.
Now, think about this. Not only being there, but actually being
a part of
the ceremony itself. I mean, someone charged with watching over President
Reagan's
casket. Could you imagine that?
Well, Lcpl. Kyle Taylor was there and doing just that. He did this at the age of 18! Can you believe that? Well, I guess you can, him being a Marine. But, wow! It blows my mind. Hoorah!
Enough from me though. Here is what Kyle had to say about the whole experience. We will skip the intros and just go......
T - Why did you join the marines?
K - Its something I've always wanted to
do. I could never see myself doing anything else. I always wanted to do
this. I figured if someone had to do this, I might as well step up and do
it.
Man, talk about actually being one of THE FEW, how were you chosen to be one of the Marines who would watch over President Regan's casket?
In boot camp. You have to be infantry. They screen
you and they look at your ability as far a mentally and physically. They look
at your conduct and stuff like that. And you have to be a certain height.
And it is also by the the looks of you.
Did you have to go through any special training to do it?
Yes, it is called Guard of Honor training. Usually I do everything by myself. Marines do everything by their selves and they do their own drills. Then when something like this happens we all come together. We have what is called a joint service. So now we have to do everything different and we have to have practices and everybody has to learn it and be able to do it all together.
I watched hours and hours of the coverage. You guys could have been statues as far as I could tell. How in the world did you do that?
It is all about mentality. Marines are disciplined, and know not to move.
What was your schedule?
30 minutes on and an hour and a half off.
What did you do on down times?
Press uniforms. Uniform press
How long did you do this?
For as long as he was there. Wednesday till Friday. 3 days.
Wow! You must have been exhausted after that.
Yes, sir. I was.
When you first went out, what was on your mind?
At first it was - is his body really right here? There was a rumor going around that it wasn't. And then all the pictures and I'm thinking, ask yourself - am I moving, am I doing anything wrong right now. Things like that.
Did you notice people walking by?
Yes. Mostly because there were people walking right in front of you. Some were in suits, and you would notice what they were wearing. Some were tourist. You see a lot of different people. A lot of collage groups all dressed up. A lot of families. That was a good thing about it. Everybody was dressed as themselves. You didn't have to be all dressed up. There were people in shorts and tanks tops. What ever they wanted to wear. It was very informal.
Did it cross your mind that the world was watching you? Did you think about that at all.
I knew they had it on CSPAN But, the minute you go out there you really don't think about the whole world watching you. You think, for the most part, about the people who are watching you there. The people who are walking through the Capitol Rotunda. You notice the cameras going back and forth. More or less you look at what is going on inside the rotunda. We are not only standing there to protect the casket, we are also standing there for something called "guard" incase someone does decide to jump over the line and do something stupid.
What do you think about now, looking back at the whole event?
It was a good experience. The first night I was there, when I went out, it was kind of dark and I noticed, as you stand there, you can see your shadow portraying over the casket. That was a humbling thing.
You are a statue standing over the casket of the president. That was something.
I bet it was.
To shovel Kyle an email click HERE
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