by Jack Lee
In the Army any major Change of Command involves a lot of ceremony and long standing traditions or rituals. When it involves the retirement of a General [and a Change of Command] the event is very special. This is what took place over the weekend in Sacramento. Retiring was Brigadier General Emory “Jack” Hagan, a career Marine Officer who has spent his last 3 years in an Army uniform at the California National Guard Joint Forces Headquarters.
This was one of those rare event where I was privilaged to attend and it was especially meaninful because my own retirement is fast approaching. But, this story isn’t so much about Gen. Hagan as it is military tradition and the comradery that is unique to military service.
Civilians get such a distorted idea of what life in the military is like with people yelling at you and doing pushup till you drop. “Pass that rifle around your head Pvt. Pyle, not your head around the rifle!” (Full Metal Jacket). We’ve all heard those horror stories, but the reality today is something altogether different. So, if you have never been in the military you might find this an interesting if not enlightening story. If you have served, hopefully it will bring back some good memories.
The weekend drill began normally, I left Chico at 0430 in the morning for a 93 mile drive to our Sacramento headquarters (HHD) where I serve as the company 1st Sergeant (1SG). The uniform of the day was ACU’s, this is the new army digital pattern. At exactly 0645 hours I took the sign-in sheet to the MP desk in the foray for our soldiers to log, incidentally this is where we’ve erected a memorial to our fallen Guard comrades, some from our headquarters unit. The Memorial was paid for by the Warrant Officers Association and donations from the community, so if you want to review a tribute to a lot heroes, stop in, we’re at 9800 Goethe Rd., Rancho Cordova.
0715 hours: My platoon sergeants start directing soldiers to the formation area and at 0730 hours I’m standing in front of the company, barking out a series of commands, “Company dress right… dress! – “Front… Ranks!” – “Stand at… Ease!” So began our day…
Rehearsal for the Change of Command began at 11:00 and this included many staff officers from Southern Command and of course all of our Northern Command from headquarters. The Company Commander (aka XO) gave us a quick 5 minute rundown on the CoC order of events and then for about the next two hours I was either saluting, standing at attention or at parade rest. The later is a killer for me, being a large and because for us older soldiers we just don’t stretch like we once did! But, this paid off when we began the ceremony. We looked good and everything went down like clockwork.
I’ve never helped in a change of command at this level before, but then again I’ve never worked out of the Office of the Adjutant General before either. So it was all new. I ‘ve been at HHD since September of 07.
One of the more interesting, if not challenging parts, while serving at the Joint Forces is working side by side with a variety of different commanders from the Air Force, Army and Marines. Outside the Pentagon, you can’t get much more diverse than we are! For instance I’ve worked for two former Army Officers, One Air Force and two former Marine Officers in the past 16 months. This makes the job of 1st…challenging at times and I’ll let it go at that before I say anything that will get me in trouble! lol Seriously, we all got along because the mission came first and everything else was a distant second.
1115 hours: Members from our unit are transporting items from HHD to the Marriotts ballroom and helping to set up our special equipment, sound systems, flags, etc. It’s all coming together pretty fast and when I arrived I entered a room crowed with Generals, Colonels, Lt. Colonels and on down plus friends and families of the honor parties. The room was a little noisy and it sort of reminded me of a class reunion, except for all the uniforms. It took a salty old Sergeant Major to bring some order and get everyone ready for show time.
It began by piping in the Commanders and followed by the invocation. Yes, prayer at military ceremonies is one of those expected traditions and I don’t think this is going to change anytime soon.
The traditional passing of the Colors was the most moving symbolic gesture because it formalized the end one of command and begining of another. The CoC ceremony lasted about an hour. I’m sure to the casual observer it just appeared we do this all the time! In truth this is only the 2nd such ceremony I’ve been part of in 30 years and there was a lot of planning that went into it.
The next related event was a “Dining In” and this was also full of tradition and ritual. A “Dinning In” is only for the military, civilians and that even includes family, do not attend this event, it just for the Commander and former Commanders and their soldiers. We streamed into the ball room quietly in single file and stood at attention behind our chair. The head table was filled with Staff Officers. 90% of those present were in the dress blues or mess dress which reminded me of what a military ball circa 1800’s must have looked like.
Every award, ribbon or medal ever authorized by our military in the past 50 years was on display on somebodies chest. The racks of ribbons worn above the left breast pocket often disappeared under their lapels. Those ribbons representing many decades of service to our country. From badges to cumber buns, Marines to Army, it was all there and I’ve never seen so many people representing so much authority in my life. From the perspective a blue colar 1st Sergeant, I felt more like the fly on the wall than a participant, I was there, but in a sense I felt almost invisible, if you know what I mean….probably most NCO’s can relate to this! lol
The President of the Mess (the General) and his honored guests arrived; the usual greetings and verbal exchanges were made between the President, his two Vice Presidents and the guests. Then in a loud booming voice, the Vice asked, “Mr. President, may your guests be seated?” “Yes, Mr. Vice, – seat the tables!” was the order and we all sat, but we did not engage in any conversation until the toasts were given to fallen comrades, to the President, to the Army, to the Marines, to the Navy, to the Air force… for about 5 minutes we were up and down like a Jack in the Boxes. Fortunately, with all those toast we were just using our water glasses, or at least mine was!
Moments later Mr. Vice announced, “Mr. President, the grog has arrived! Mr. President, may we have your permission to set up the grog sir!” Yes, Mr. Vice, by all means, set up the grog, came the reply. This is an old tradition in the British Navy that has been acarried over to USMC and since our boss was a former Marine Col. this was staged in his honor. Then in comes several soldiers carrying a full size toilet (new from the box), several boxes of booze, a wood table and a WWII helmet?
Each item played a symbolic role in the presenting of the grog. The Major from HHD and his assistant stepped forward to give an explanation of what each item represented as he also dumped generous amounts of rum into the steel helmet. He poured what he said was coffee, then salt and ice into the helmet bowl, then he worked on the toilet bowl. Even more ingredients went into the toilet along with some dry ice and this made it look like downright dangerous. Then it was ready!
I wasnt sure what was going to happen, but I was somewhat relieved when the Grog Officer said, “Mr. Vice, Officers lead by example and I believe Mr. President should partake of the grog!” Mr. Vice repeated, “Mr. President, the Major has stated Officers lead by example!” Mr. Vice, the President orders his trusted aide to test the grog to make sure it is of sufficient quality and strength as to be worthy of consumption!” A nervous and somewhat reluctant, young 1st Lt. stepped forward amid a lot of chuckles from the other guests and dipped a canteen ladle into the helmet. He downed his glass, which was then inverted over his head to prove he drank it all.
The challenge was then returned to General who stepped forward. The General invited his guest, BG General Wade, the Adjutant for the California National Guard, to also set an example for his soldiers and he did without hesitation. And this sort of set the stage for things to follow. You should know there was 3rd non-alcholic grog bowl available without prejudice.
Our Sergeant Major stands up and says, “Mr. Vice, I’m the General’s right hand man and it is my duty to follow my General wherever he goes and therefore in good conscience I must also partake of the grog and may I add that I am stunned, stunned, that none of our NCO’s have stepped forward to follow their General and drink from the grog!” I thought, “Oh great, (in terms of rank) I’m next in line right after the Sergeant Major….and the rules prevent me from leaving room, I have no where to run!!! So, before the CSM finishes his challenge I stood up, “Mr. Vice be advised, technically the CSM did not finish his challenge to the NCO’s before I was on my feet to follow my leaders, therefore we are 100% behind them! I request permission from the President to partake of the grog!” Of course the President gave his permission and I stepped forward, saluted the President and then dipped the big aluminum ladle into the ugly looking contents and poured myself a full glass which I drank and then inverted the empty glass over my head. (Turned out the “coffee “that was dumped in was just coke and the “salt” was about an ounce of sugar, it wasn’t too bad!) But, it was one stiff drink…it made the bar drink I had been nursing taste like tap water.
And so it went, with challenges flying until most of us had a shot of grog!
The Command Sergeant Major that got me to drink stood up again, “Mr. Vice, may I address the President on a point of order?” Mr. President, the Sergeant Major has requested to address the President!, said the Vice. Yes, Mr. Vice, he may, what is your point of order CSM? “Mr. President a serious breach of etiquette has occurred!” And what is that CSM? “Mr. President the CSM is your right hand man and he has not been seated at the head table with your honored guests! I believe the President should either pay a fine of one dollar or take another a trip to the grog table.” You are correct CSM in your point of order and therfore I shall fine the Officer who made up the seating order to drink from the grog or pay the fine! This is the way it went all evening; a combination roast and good natured fun.
At the conclusion Gen. Hagan received the California Medal and then there was a surprise award, General Wade of the California National Guard authorized the “Distinguished Unit” citation for our headquarters company which has been active for the last 3 years assisting in deployments for over 16,000 soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan and for our ongoing Soldier Readiness Program where we instructed many of the deploying soldiers on a variety of combat skills, including weapons and combat life saver courses.
Right after the Dining In, I noticed one of the honor guards, I’ll just call him, “SGT T” was taking down some of the decorations. He is an outstanding soldier and he had recently been twice scheduled to take his “in person” promotion board, but unfortunately he was also twice dispatched to to other assignments and missed his boards which are usually held only twice a year. We had been trying to get him boarded for months and he was extremely deserving of the promotion, so I got this wild idea! We had plenty of senior personnel available and I was previously appointed President of the Board, so I had the authority to convene a board and I did… right then and there. I grabbed the surprised sergeant, recruited a Major, a Master Sergeant and a Sergeant Major (he also just arrived from the Marine Corps) and in five minutes the board was convened in a quiet corner of the near empty ball room and there it went down.
It was a tough board too, we pulled no punches and after it was over we dismissed the sergeant and took a vote. He passed! I caught up with Sgt. T in the lobby and by coincidence our commander was also there. They were both advised Sgt. T had passed his in person board and met the strict standards to be promoted to Staff Sergeant (E-6 pay grade). Well, this is definitely not the way the military normally works, but then again necessity is often the inspiration for remedy. We do what we can – when we can, to complete the mission.
From my perspective, this was just about the perfect end of a good, but ver long day, I know our new Staff Sergeant felt that way!