The few, the proud, the ... untrusted?

[bulldog75]

In 1995 I was one of the Soldiers that participated in the End of the War in the Pacific ceremony in Hawaii.  All rifles had bolts removed and the officers had their M9s zip tied in the barrels. This was when another left politician was in office.

[lhprop1]

Tell many in your local VFW or American Legion yours or mine and you will be buying beers to end the fight you started 

I'm guessing by your statement that you speak from personal experience.   

[jnevis]

When we moved back out here a friend of the wife's came down and we went to Arlington for Memorial Day.  As W was leaving they started the salute.  We were downhill and Gayle mentioned they were saluting the President.  The youngest was scared and aske "Why are they shooting AT the President??!!"

[MikeBjerum]

I'm guessing by your statement that you speak from personal experience.   

I am, and another experience has to do with a funeral pall:

The only item you can place on an American Flag is a Religious Pall.  Try covering the flag with a pall in a church sometime.  However, I enjoy pointing out that between this point of recognized (officially) flag etiquette and the Pledge as currently approved that we are a nation under God.  There are many churches that are as bad as the freedom from religion organization when it comes to relationships between the church and government.

Many funeral directors will avoid this situation, but as an educator I make sure our Pastors understand, and I explain to the families how it will go.  If anybody questions I show them the code and explain.  We get a bad name for "selling" people on things, but I always stress that the majority of my job is nothing more than educating and letting you choose.

[tombogan03884]

If I remember correctly the only time the military flies anything higher than the National Colors is on Sunday's when the "religious service pennant" ( It's been over 30 years, I forget the technical name for it ) is at the top of the flag pole and the color's beneath it.

Getting back on topic, this is why Obama want's to strengthen DHS, he knows that his gaggle of communists and Muslims can not depend on actual Patriotic sort of people who would enlist in the military.

[Sponsor]

[Tyler Durden]

Frost wrote this as the OP:

...
Wondering if this may be an inauguration policy of long standing that transcends administrations, Gun Rights Examiner made a cursory search and found something even more curious. In the 2009 Inaugural Parade, the United States Navy marched with rifles that had not been so disabled (see 1:24 into that video plus the final slide)....

Bear with me for a second folks as I do a little story telling...

I was at the Air Force Academy from 1990 to 1994.  For Basic Cadet Training we were issued M1 Garands.  After BCT, we turned those rifles back in.  Then maybe a month before Recognition we were again issued M1 Garand rifles.  All of them had been de-milled by having a steel rod welded inside the chamber area.  There were a few incidents of cadets committing suicide with them back in the 60's or 70's, so that's why they all had those rods welded inside them.  Otherwise the whole exterior of the gun remained the same and functioned normally.

I went back in 2004 for my 10 year class reunion.  IIRC, all of the cadets were issued M14s.  I didn't look closely, but I ASSumed they were all de-milled as well using the same process.  The other sister service academies send a select few of their cadets or midshipman to USAFA the fall semester of their junior years.  I did get a pretty good look at the squids's uniforms.

So from the pics I have seen elsewhere of these navy personnel marching with rifles, their uniforms look consistent with midshipman exchange cadets I had seen.

So, yes, I think those were Annapolis midshipman who were marching with M14's that had been de-milled the same way as my M1 Garand.

In other words, much ado about nothing.

a mountain out of a molehill.

[tombogan03884]

I was all set to go off on Tyler for that "ridiculous" comment about them being "Navy Cadets".
But I went back and looked at the picture.
1 No rank insignia on any of them
2 No red piping on the Uniforms
3 No red stripe on the legs of ANY of them so no Sgt's or above
4 No USMC emblems on the covers.
5, It may be the angle of the photo but the rifles appear not to all be at the same angle.
My conclusion is that those are not Marines although the uniform is similar to the Marine dress Blues.

[Tyler Durden]

Plus, with Annapolis being kinda close to DC, you got 4,000 midshipman "window dressing" at your disposal to spruce up any military like parade.  The squids would probably appreciate a trip into D.C. just to break up the monotony of USNA life.

[jnevis]

I can't see the pics at work, but all the pics I can find of USNA Middies with rifles they are carrying M14s with the bolts in place, just no mags.

[Frosty]

I was all set to go off on Tyler for that "ridiculous" comment about them being "Navy Cadets".
But I went back and looked at the picture.
1 No rank insignia on any of them
2 No red piping on the Uniforms
3 No red stripe on the legs of ANY of them so no Sgt's or above
4 No USMC emblems on the covers.
5, It may be the angle of the photo but the rifles appear not to all be at the same angle.
My conclusion is that those are not Marines although the uniform is similar to the Marine dress Blues.

Click on the link http://wp.me/p1zsyr-4Dw , when the post pops up click on the header under the pic, a distant pic of the parade shows up, click on the slide show that shows at bottom of this pic. 3 pics in you will see a Devil Dog at the back of the group - he has blood strips - Cpl or higher, the 2nd pic you can see the EGA insignia on their covers, if you look close at the3rd pic in the slide show you can also see the EGA.