Arggggggggg....

[DK666]

Being a veteran this one hurts.....


Pentagon Taps Robobugle For Funerals
Real Buglers Still Will Be Used When Available

POSTED: 12:14 p.m. EDT September 4, 2003

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has approved the use of a push-button bugle that plays a digital recording of "Taps" for military funerals.

The Defense Department worked with private industry to come up with the device, as one solution to a chronic shortage of musicians for military funerals.

The Pentagon says the $500 instrument is a more dignified alternative to playing a recorded song on a boom box.

It doesn't take any musical aptitude to play the device. A member of the honor guard simply presses a button. There's a five-second delay to give the guard time to raise the instrument to his lips as if he's really playing it.

"It provides a dignified visual of a bugler playing 'Taps,' something families tell us they want," said John M. Molino, a deputy assistant secretary of defense on a Web site that sells the device.

A real bugler still will be used when available.


http://www.ceremonialbugle.com/

[Mari333]

1. The soldiers are fodder, why should the BFEE care

about them? they havent so far..
this wont be reported, nor will the Veterans cuts, or the wounded, and no pics of the body bags or caskets..the newsmediawhores are all too interested in fluff and stuff..
the US Public should be outraged.

[Cronus Protagonist]

6. Why spend money on cheap labor funerals?

Click Here To See Fair & Balanced Buttons, Stickers & Magnets!>

[MuseRider]

2. Just another one

of us musicians out of work. Hell, the ballets use recorded music, why not the service?

[hang a left]

3. now taps has been contracted out

[CBGLuthier]

4. That is so damn

WRONG!!!!!

I wonder is there really a shortage of musicians or is there a surplus of funerals.

Now they just need a robo-chaplain and they can really save some money.

[KoKo]

5. A shortage of military bugelers? What did we do during Viet Nam?

How was the "shortage' handled then....when there were more funerals?

I agree.........don't like this.....and I'm not military..... Soldiers deserve better than a push button recording.

[Fleshdancer]

7. Sad, isn't it?

My father endured 3 tours of Vietnam, recieved 2 bronze stars and 3 purple hearts. He was an officer by the time he retired from the Army and when he passed, TAPS was playing on a boom box behind the nearest tree.

Was I angry? Yes, but I don't know if my anger was more due to the fact that when he was dying of a rare form of lung cancer, my mother had to fight to get the military insurance to cover the costs.

Meanwhile, the nearest VFW in my town just shut down. No money.

Each passing day, I am convinced that the current administration isn't Republican. Republicans, for all their faults, don't admire treating our soldiers and our Vets like this. bush&Co is ruled by greed. No ethics, no political philosophy. Just money and power. I don't know what's worse...the fact that they have hijacked the RNC, or the fact that the RNC let them.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

8. Damn! Is EVERYTHING in the US fake?

Fake noses, fake boobs, fake presidents (although these last two seem to be interchangable), and now fake buglers?

What next? Fake elections?

[ComerPerro]

9. Surely you aren't missing how perfectly fitting this is

""It provides a dignified visual of a bugler playing 'Taps,' something families tell us they want," said John M. Molino, a deputy assistant secretary of defense on a Web site that sells the device."

This is the ultimate symbol for the Bush Administration.

After all, they provide a (not very) dignified visual of a President who is a strong leader and has the nation's best interests at heart, something voters tell us they want.

The man standing there is not playing the bugle. And the man in the White House is not really leading the country or concerned about the nation. But, unless you were sure, you would never know the difference.

[rock]

10. a more dignified alternative

No, it isn't. This is an outright lie. It is demeaning and degrading.

[Drifter]

11. Why don't they STOP getting our boys KILLED in the first place.

This is unbelievable.

Cheers
Drifter

[TrogL]

12. Taps isn't that difficult to play

It only goes to a high G. A first-year player can attempt it.

[bigtree]

13. Christ

What the hell good are these pentagon leaders to the Soldiers?

"TAPS is the most beautiful bugle call. Played slowly and softly, it has a smooth, tender and touching character. The bugle call was written during the Peninsula Campaign of the Civil War by General Butterfield, with an assist from his bugler, Oliver W. Norton, in 1862.

"TAPS" went on from its origin as an alternative to "Lights Out" to become not only a signal that day was done, but also to say good-bye to a fallen comrade.

"TAPS" is customarily played at funerals at Arlington national Cemetery as well as at ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknowns there.

Its composer is buried in the Post Cemetery at the United States Military Academy at West Point (even though he did not graduate from the Academy).

more: http://www.west-point.org/taps/Taps.html



"Fading light dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar drawing nigh -- Falls the night.

"Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

"Then good night, peaceful night,
Till the light of the dawn shineth bright,
God is near, do not fear -- Friend, good night."