- 3 months ago
To become a sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, Army soldiers must endure a six-to-nine-month training program that 90% of trainees do not complete.
The sentinels say they’re constantly chasing a standard of perfection. No one feels that more than 19-year-old Pvt. Joshua Beckman, a tomb guard training be a sentinel. We met Beckman as he rigorously prepared for the uniform inspection test, one of five tests the trainees must pass to attain the coveted Tomb Guard Identification Badge. With only 735 issued since 1958, it’s the second-rarest badge awarded by the Army behind the Army Astronaut Badge.
Chief video correspondent Graham Flanagan spent two days with the soldiers who guard the Tomb to find out what it takes to join the elite unit that prides itself on perfection.
The sentinels say they’re constantly chasing a standard of perfection. No one feels that more than 19-year-old Pvt. Joshua Beckman, a tomb guard training be a sentinel. We met Beckman as he rigorously prepared for the uniform inspection test, one of five tests the trainees must pass to attain the coveted Tomb Guard Identification Badge. With only 735 issued since 1958, it’s the second-rarest badge awarded by the Army behind the Army Astronaut Badge.
Chief video correspondent Graham Flanagan spent two days with the soldiers who guard the Tomb to find out what it takes to join the elite unit that prides itself on perfection.
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TechTranscript
00:00this is the tomb of the unknown soldier
00:17guarded 24 hours a day 365 days a year
00:23it's one of the most exclusive assignments in the army and one of the most difficult to attain
00:3219 year old private joshua beckman is about to take the uniform inspection test
00:40it's one of five tests he must pass to earn the coveted tomb guard identification badge
00:47and officially become a sentinel only 735 tomb guard badges have ever been awarded
00:54making it the second rarest badge in the army behind the army astronaut badge
00:59the active sentinels inspect every detail of beckman's uniform using a micrometer measuring
01:07down to the 64th of an inch passing the test will move private beckman one step closer to becoming
01:15a sentinel if he fails he could be reassigned away from the tomb
01:24every year about four million people visit arlington national cemetery near washington dc
01:31every day they pay their respects at the tomb of the unknown soldier
01:36there is this weird feeling that you get when you get out there you have this feeling of bliss that's
01:41kind of hard to describe you know only a select few get to actually feel that
01:47the tomb honors unidentified american service members who died in combat
01:53for in death as in life an american needs no name to make him great dedicated in 1921
02:01the tomb contains the unidentifiable remains of three american soldiers killed in combat during world war
02:081921 world war ii and the korean war
02:15tomb guards watch the tomb in all weather conditions extreme cold heat and rain
02:26ladies and gentlemen may i have your attention please
02:30i am sergeant johnston of the third infantry regiment united states army guard of honor
02:43toe of the unknown soldier the ceremony sergeant kaylee johnston is the only woman currently serving as a
02:52sentinel at the tomb and one of only eight women to ever earn the badge present oh what is that like
03:01uh it's an experience i don't feel any different uh any different than the guys that are here uh and
03:06that do the job but it's definitely a realization when people are like wow only eight and then i kind
03:11of take a step back and i'm like yeah wow i i don't realize such an impact that i have on like young
03:16women and stuff in the military or just civilians that come here and see so ready hey
03:26was it hard to get to that sentinel role it was yeah it was very hard there was times i
03:30didn't think i would make it or if i didn't have it in me but yeah i definitely like pinch
03:34myself every day that i'm here so how does it feel that that's up there i made it so it's a huge
03:39honor to be a part of this board i mean the other soldiers that i've met throughout you know
03:43throughout training all the old tomb guards have come down and talk to us about everything
03:47it's it's absolutely amazing i can't wait to come down in the future with my children and show them
03:52the board before they become sentinels soldiers train for six to nine months with a 90 percent
04:01attrition rate those accepted are allowed to guard the tomb on a temporary basis while they train and
04:08test to become sentinels in the tests tomb guards are evaluated on their performance guarding the tomb
04:15an exhaustive amount of tomb knowledge when did the unknowns receive the purple heart
04:207 august 1976 and their uniforms it all happens here inside the tomb guard quarters
04:31where private beckman is preparing for his uniform test to be graded by sergeant johnston so seeing
04:38that i just i know what he's going through so i do think about that when i'm grading him but i don't
04:43i don't miss that feeling i don't miss the the nerves the nerves of the day they never go away never
04:51tomb guards in training start the day with a weapons strength test simulating the ways they'll hold
04:58the nearly 12 pound rifle while guarding the tomb a lot of the reason we do the weapon strength is
05:03because even if you go to the gym all the time it's it's awkward you could lift 100 pounds in the
05:07gym and and not be able to hold the rifle at the prop release or so the weapon strength really does
05:12build that endurance and the weird little small muscles that keep the the rifle centered
05:15that kind of works out well yeah they need to see the test so okay so you're going to be the star of
05:24the next business insider video and i need to get a failure
05:32we gotta be perfect i mean standard is perfection down here of course nothing can be tangibly perfect
05:38but you can get it as close as you can back in the tomb guard quarters it's rare to see a guard
05:45doing anything besides working on his or her uniform and the components that go with it
05:51well arts and crafts down here
05:55did you have much experience with alterations and steaming i did not i learned how to
06:01sew a blouse here i learned how to press a blouse here um usually i had my mom do that stuff for me
06:07what does your mom think about all your new skills uh she is happy that she doesn't have to help me with
06:13uh ironing my clothes i can kind of do it on my own now so
06:22i'm shining my shoes so we have patent leather shoes down here we'll put coats and coats of
06:28polish on our shoes um to get this nice finish that you see it takes a lot of practice too to learn
06:35because when you come down here you don't know like you might have some practices of uh shining shoes
06:41with like a microfiber and then just forget all of that when you come down here at what stage are
06:47these shoes um where you're going to be they they need some work trying to get them a little bit better
06:52to try to go out later this afternoon every day that you go outside it'll destroy the polish so
06:58especially in the heat the the sun will cook the oils so you just have to constantly keep up with your
07:04with your shoes i use kiwi for my build coats and then uh sapphire black for for my shine coats
07:13cheaters these are here and uh you hear us click our heels
07:19it's just two pieces of metal screwed in and then we have the same on the bottom too so uh before before
07:26i'll go out i'll color these with sharpie so it's it's black and on the bottom we kind of roll on the
07:31outside of our our foot so we got that smooth walk and you should just be gliding across if you watch
07:37somebody's head while they're walking across the plaza it should just be floating across in a straight
07:42line that standard of perfection is always a few steps ahead of us and we're constantly chasing that
07:48the tomb guards work in shifts changing every 30 minutes during warmer months
07:54and every hour the rest of the year bells i'll see you out there in the tomb guard quarters
08:01it's a constant rotation of guards going out and coming in
08:09on the plaza the tomb guard marches 21 steps down a black mat stopping to face east for 21 seconds the
08:18guard then marches 21 steps to the other end 21 represents the significance of the 21 gun salute
08:26a distinguished military honor how hard is it hitting that exact spot and making it 21 steps it's
08:32actually pretty hard you don't realize the big steps that you have to take especially if you're
08:36shorter so we call hitting blocks outside when you're walking down the mat it should be what we call
08:40three blocks so the single block one step uh the bigger blocks two steps so really striding it out to
08:45hit those blocks outside private beckman isn't on the schedule today he's about 12 hours away from
08:53his uniform inspection test the color's not going to change it's the chest that's going to change
08:58with more than 100 possible deficiencies or gigs that can be counted against them it's one of the
09:04most difficult tests the trainees must face i'm sure that'd be fine testing criteria wise it's all
09:10dependent on the greater a greater could say oh this looks good another greater could say oh this
09:15looks like crap like this sucks so right here i'd say it's it's fairly money and then you gotta
09:21measure it from this side right here this edge you gotta measure it to the gold again and i'm getting
09:2915 ticks yeah i've had this checked like six times by just like six different sentinels so this is
09:35hoping this is going to be right on the money because the standard is perfection yes sir all the time
09:42nothing nothing nothing but perfection and then anything less than is is you can't have it any
09:49trainee who doesn't meet the standard or doesn't actively try to meet the standard kick him to the
09:55curb sentinels in training are held to high standards but even more so are the sentinels themselves the
10:03tomb guard badge can be revoked which happens if it's determined a sentinel has dishonored the badge with
10:09their conduct during or after their army service which can occur after a criminal conviction
10:18is the weapon ever loaded in the context of guarding the tomb i can't disclose that sorry that's uh
10:26something that we we like to keep under wraps uh just for i don't know the security purposes behind
10:32it because we don't want anyone thinking that they can come on the plaza and do whatever they want
10:36because they cannot we will not let them yeah i have to these are too big for me so tomb guards
10:41wear sunglasses but not just to protect their eyes we have the sunglasses so we we can look around
10:47with our eyes as well even though our head is straightforward so i'm looking around with my eyes
10:51at that time just making sure i don't see anybody looking like they want to jump through chains and
10:54rails or no one's being loud or disturbing the piece our cameras did not capture any incidents
11:02but many clips online like this one show tomb guards admonishing visitors who break the rules
11:08remain behind the chains and rails
11:12why did you join the army when i was i was a baby he's probably a great parent and advice but i was
11:16a baby my dad used to watch phantom brothers while he was feeding me so i grew up with uh the 101st airborne
11:23and i was looking at those guys and i was like man that's cool i was first day of in processing into
11:28our battalion they let us know like hey the tube platoon sergeant's going to come up here and he's
11:33going to ask if anyone here is interested i was the only one who raised my hand and he brought me
11:37down and showed me quarters here's private begman he's six three and that assistant sergeant in the
11:42guard was like yeah it sounded good we'll we'll take him like the six foot three beckman most of the
11:48tomb guards we encountered are also tall and that's by design is there a height requirement uh there is
11:55a high requirement sir it's five ten for males and then five nine females it gives a good image
11:59for the u.s army shows that we have fit and disciplined soldiers do you guys have like a
12:03sentinel or two guard basketball team we don't but we should we should probably get on that
12:13the next morning it's time for beckman's uniform test got some sleep last night which was nice
12:19how much probably not enough you'll get your entire ensemble of uniform items you have to put it
12:28all together in a way that keeps its integrity you just stand there for however long just having the
12:34sentinels judge every little thing on your uniform and they will find every little thing like i thought
12:38i was getting a little detail no no these people are nuts what is that this sir yeah this is our fat men's
12:46belt uh we don't wear traditional belts we wear this to in place the belt and provide back support
12:56now i'm gonna be here for the next hour no moving did you have coffee or anything i wish
13:03all right tell me if it starts burning your arm complete the flat mount pains only in the mind
13:11cringe
13:14all right then you're going to be taking uniform test for test two are you ready
13:21sure feel okay i feel like yeah i'm gonna pass out right now i will like
13:31the inspection is scheduled to last about 40 minutes
13:34the sentinels take note of any perceived deficiencies or gigs that might be counted against him
13:48like when your vision gets all cloudy it was getting that it was like if i
14:17don't take a seat i'm gonna i'm gonna drop and then i face plant into a table and that would not be
14:24very tomb guard of me
14:33we're talking amongst like just sentinels wondering if we should finish his test um due to him not being
14:38able to stand that long so that's another requirement is that he should be able to to meet that stand
14:43um so yeah what happened oh he just is feeling lightheaded feeling a little dizzy that's a major
14:50game we're probably gonna cancel the test at this time yeah and then he'll be able to test again at
14:54a later date but i mean it's it's probably safe for him to go out the door later today and that's part
14:57of the testing requirements and then let alone just he didn't stand i mean that's one of the major
15:02things give the standard attention for that time so he's he's a major you get his time
15:14all right um unfortunately we're not gonna be able to continue testing you uh not an easy decision
15:21because we want you to take tests too but with you feeling the way you're feeling we can't send
15:26you out the door confidently and not being able to finish the whole stand of the uniform test we know
15:31it's a long time but you know it's it's just the way it is everyone has to do it everyone has to
15:35go through it um if i were to uh uh i don't know what that makes never mind you're good you'll be you'll
15:44be taking tests too again soon eventually just relax we're just looking out for you make sure you drink
15:51drink water drink water how much time did he have left to stay at attention i'm not gonna lie he
16:07probably only had probably yeah not even five minutes i was almost done hey hey how you doing
16:19it's it's my fault i'll own it uh i didn't i should have taken more time for myself this four day and
16:27and eaten and done more to prepare my body not just focus entirely on the uniform but uh
16:36no failure happens this place failure is very common so being able to being able to
16:42uh reanalyze it come back in it next next test with fresh sense of of things i need to do is
16:50it's gonna be we're gonna be good we're gonna have we're gonna have a good test so sergeant told me
16:57that you only had about five minutes left of standing at attention definitely valiant failing
17:06sucks it's not something that anybody says they like doing or that they enjoy but i'd rather i'd rather
17:17fail at the beginning and know what i failed at and then come at it better than let's say i already get
17:24it the entire way through the day get everything done and then fail
17:31after failing the uniform inspection beckman will not walk as a tomb guard for the rest of the day
17:41forward
17:46instead performing duties like moving a chain to allow the guards to enter and exit the plaza
17:54so
18:04very unfortunate but like i said we'll take it we'll learn from it we'll get better
18:08i'll get the gigs from my uniform today and then we'll use that to make sure my stuff's perfect next
18:14time
18:2040 days later beckman got his second chance this time he passed
18:31he's back on the plaza guarding the tomb
18:34and his journey toward officially becoming a sentinel continues
18:50okay so somebody asked has anybody ever had a
18:55a bird poop on them before yes i have actually had a bird poop on me it actually hit me in the back
19:02it was super embarrassing i just wanted to finish the walk i wanted it to not ruin my uniform so i was
19:07hoping that it would come out it did thank thank goodness i mean it's just kind of a testament to
19:12not letting anything phase us outside so
19:14so
19:22you
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