An elite Navy Ceremonial Guard Drill Team performed with precision, tossing bayoneted rifles in the air and executing exacting choreographed movements during Navy Week in Wichita Falls.
They gave local residents a look at the solemn duties they often perform to pay tribute to fallen sailors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., and at other events, according to Navy officials.
“The guard’s primary mission is to carry out and render honors for fallen sailors at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as the presidential state funerals,” Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Rosenbaugh, a boatswain’s mate from Littletown, Colorado, said Wednesday.
Members from the drill team’s platoon, which has about 45 sailors, perform at four to five funerals a day at Arlington National Cemetery, Rosenbaugh said.
Drill team members also perform at a variety of events such as national holidays, ceremonies for change of command or ship commissioning and retirements, Navy officials said.
Rosenbaugh, petty officer in charge during performances, and five other drill team members traveled to Wichita Falls to perform routines requiring strict discipline and professionalism during Navy Week:
They were among over 60 sailors who landed in Wichita Falls for Navy Week ending Saturday. The outreach program educates landlocked communities such as Wichita Falls about the sea service.
As a whole, the Navy Ceremonial Guard has about 225 members in four specialty platoons at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Rosenbaugh said. The other three platoons are casket bearers, firing party and color guard.
Drill team sailors use a standard 1903 Springfield rifle with a 10-inch fixed bayonet during their routines, Navy officials said on the Ceremonial Guard’s website.
“Members of the Drill Team are experts in the art of close order drill, coordination, and timing,” officials said in the website.
Their motto is “Blood, sweat and bones of steel,” Navy officials said. Drill team members put in long hours of practice and follow a naval tradition of performing four-man and nine-man routines.
And they do it wearing a white ceremonial uniform with leggings, a kerchief and a specially folded “cover,” Rosenbaugh said. The Ceremonial Guard is authorized to wear their white hat — or cover — with the brim folded down.
It creates a neat line, jutting out to circle the crown of the hat with military precision.
Trish Choate is the executive editor for the Wichita Falls Times Record News, San Angelo Standard-Times and Abilene Reporter-News. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Read her recent work here. Her X handle is @Trishapedia.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: A solemn duty: Navy Ceremonial Guard Drill Team performs in Wichita Falls
Reporting by Trish Choate, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
