Military Appreciation Day

[chattanoogamocs]

Since this is Veteran's Day weekend, I am sure a number of schools have Military Appreciation Day, I am particularly proud of what Chattanooga does...

First, we have an active Alum, 4-star Gen. BB Bell (retired) who has helped revive the ROTC program at UTC (which used to be a big part of the University when it was a private school).

*Today, any active or retired military personnel were admitted for free (if they showed ID).
*They had a number of military vehicles on display outside the stadium.
*They fired a cannon after TDs (7 of them :)) that was so loud it literally made the windows shake in the sky boxes (awesome!)
*All of UTC's coaches and most of the AD staff wore camo pants (and some even wore boots). The Chancellor wore a complete set of fatigues and even fired the cannon.
*all the normal school pennants and flags were removed from the stadium and replaced with the Stars and Stripes, along with red, white and blue bunting at the bottom of the stands.

*Gen Bell got a B1 Stealth Bomber (from South Dakota) to do a flyover before the game (amazing)

*at half time, honor guards from all 5 service branches displayed their colors and flags while the marching band played the official song of each branch.
*a large flag was displayed on the field by reserve members.

*there was a 21 gun salute.

*a bugler played taps.

*a local bagpipe group played amazing grace.

As the grandson of Marine who was wounded in action at Okinawa (he was shot twice while trying to remove wounded members of his company from the battlefield), it was hard not to shed a tear at this patriotic display.

I was just wondering what other schools do like this. I know we played the Citadel last year during Veteran's Day weekend and many of them made a point to say how much they liked and appreciated what Chattanooga did.

[Redhawk2010]

Southeast Missouri hosted Military Appreciation Day a few weeks ago. They had a few military vehicles inside of the stadium, but I'm not sure the fans could really get to them? They had an old jeep there as well with a group of older veterans during pre-game at least. Our band plays a patriotic song (not God Bless America) along with the National Anthem each week anyway. I'm sure the military personnel were admitted free. And then in between the 3rd and 4th quarters, they brought a group of National Guard soldiers out onto the field and they took a ceremonial oath. Let me tell you the place got SILENT... was weird how quiet it got...

[chattanoogamocs]

Here are a couple of images...
(Images courtesy of GoMocs.com, re-used with permission)

http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics32/640/VN/VNBTZMCIVYWBBVK.20101114015910.jpg

http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics32/640/WU/WUDOXDZDRDPOGXV.20101114020024.jpg

http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics32/640/IY/IYLHBYEVFBJTCVN.20101114020847.jpg
(Chancellor Roger Brown in fatigues)

http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics32/640/GQ/GQPPVPVORXLNZSQ.20101114020926.jpg
(the Col. who flew the plane is the brother of a former Mocs football player)

http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics32/640/AC/ACIYPATGWATQWBO.20101114021004.jpg

[chattanoogamocs]

Southeast Missouri hosted Military Appreciation Day a few weeks ago. They had a few military vehicles inside of the stadium, but I'm not sure the fans could really get to them? They had an old jeep there as well with a group of older veterans during pre-game at least. Our band plays a patriotic song (not God Bless America) along with the National Anthem each week anyway. I'm sure the military personnel were admitted free. And then in between the 3rd and 4th quarters, they brought a group of National Guard soldiers out onto the field and they took a ceremonial oath. Let me tell you the place got SILENT... was weird how quiet it got...

It is ironic that you mention how quiet it was. When they played the marching songs, every clapped, some sang...but during the 21-gun salute, taps and amazing grace...it was so quiet that people down in the stands could here the person in the press box reading the halftime stats (his job, obviously) on the internal pa...that is two stories up and through a pane of 1/2" glass. That, my friends, is quiet.

I won't lie, I get choked up every time they play taps and amazing grace (hell, I'm choked up now just thinking about it)

[Redhawk2010]

Well I'll tell you.. everybody stopped. The coaches quit talking, the officials all stopped, everybody. Being in between quarters obviously both teams are trying to prepare for the quarter, get water, etc. The officials are trying to move the chains and get set up, etc. They all stopped which was just weird.. Definitely cool.

[BlueHenSinfonian]

UD did service appreciation day back in September. Apparently there was a C-130 flyover for the game (I would have thought they would have wrangled some C-5s from Dover AFB, but those were likely busy shipping stuff to Iraq/Afghanistan)

[Redhawk2010]

One thing with the fly-overs is they often have to come from far away. I remember several years ago the school I went to held a Veterans' Day thing shortly after 9/11 and it included a fly-over. They flew in from a base out of Texas-- we're located in Southern Illinois about 25 minutes away from Scott Air Force Base. I believe it has something to do with training and expenses related to just getting the aircraft in the air?

[chattanoogamocs]

We were talking about the expense of flying (it was a 2,000 mile round trip...and assume the gas milage on B1's isn't great)...but we were told that it was booked months in advance, so it was worked into the flight schedule as a training trip.

What really amazes me is that they are so precise that they can show up literally to within a second or two of when they are supposed to be there.

I got to go up on top of the skyboxes, so we could see it coming way off the horizon from about 10 miles out...not a bit of noise until it was right over the stadium and then BOOM! ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR.

We have had jets from Atlanta before...but a Bomber...Awesome.

[MarchingMountaineer]

One thing with the fly-overs is they often have to come from far away. I remember several years ago the school I went to held a Veterans' Day thing shortly after 9/11 and it included a fly-over. They flew in from a base out of Texas-- we're located in Southern Illinois about 25 minutes away from Scott Air Force Base. I believe it has something to do with training and expenses related to just getting the aircraft in the air?

Right. The crews need to get their minimum hours to stay qualified (trained). So if you're going to fly, might as well get your money's worth out of it. A lot of these flyovers are by Reservists doing monthly drills during the weekend and need their flight time, so no short hops, unless there are fighters involved, in which case they usually fly from far away and have to fly back afterward, giving them the necessary flight time.

As a Soldier, I appreciate what UTC did. They obviously put some forethought into the day and didn't just throw something together. The pictures are great. Thanks for posting them, chattanoogamocs.

[BlueHenSinfonian]

One thing with the fly-overs is they often have to come from far away. I remember several years ago the school I went to held a Veterans' Day thing shortly after 9/11 and it included a fly-over. They flew in from a base out of Texas-- we're located in Southern Illinois about 25 minutes away from Scott Air Force Base. I believe it has something to do with training and expenses related to just getting the aircraft in the air?

According to the press release the plane was from the New Castle Air Reservist base, which is maybe two minutes away from the stadium by air, but I suppose it could have been returning back to the base from somewhere further away.

[JSU02]

B-1Bs are cool. Aren't they based out of Abilene? I figured y'all woulda just got one from Tullahoma. Our fly-over was from Missouri I think...

[chattanoogamocs]

Right. The crews need to get their minimum hours to stay qualified (trained). So if you're going to fly, might as well get your money's worth out of it. A lot of these flyovers are by Reservists doing monthly drills during the weekend and need their flight time, so no short hops, unless there are fighters involved, in which case they usually fly from far away and have to fly back afterward, giving them the necessary flight time.

As a Soldier, I appreciate what UTC did. They obviously put some forethought into the day and didn't just throw something together. The pictures are great. Thanks for posting them, chattanoogamocs.

I wish there were more pics of halftime...it is very well done (and they seem to add al little more to the day every year). Are you stationed in South Korea? I believe his last post before retiring was the head of the combined forces command for South Korea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burwell_B._Bell_III

This day had more meaning to me than past one's...grandfather had a large hand in my upbringing and while he was a decorated Marine, he was never a gung ho, kill em all, type of person. Except for his Marine Corps flag he proudly flies outside, you would never know he served. After WWII he never even shot a weapon again. He has never spoken much of his war experiences in the Pacific, which I always took to mean that they weren't very good (he has bullet scares on his chest and abdomen)

Unfortunately, he only has a few months left to live (cancer) and he didn't not want to leave his home (he was an engineer and he literally built it himself). So my mother and I have been taking turns staying spending the night with him to make sure he is not left alone. Spending so much time together...and knowing he doesn't have much time left...out of nowhere he has just started telling me all about his WWII experiences.

Some of it is funny, some of it is cool...most of it is horrifying. But I don't think I have ever been closer to him than I am now because I finally know what he went through...and after all the carnage he saw it amazes me 1) that he is so kind, soft spoken and gentle, and 2) that he harbors no ill will towards the Japanese (although he did joke that to this day, he only buys American cars).

He fought in Okinawa and was wounded in the battle to take Urasoe Mura Escarpment. He was shot on the right side of his abdomen (through and through) and after receiving basic treatment in the field, he went back to help retrieve more badly injured Marines, after his 3rd trip out, he was shot in the chest (puncturing a lung). That was enough to have him sent to a hospital ship and by the time he was fulled healed, the fighting was over.

Sorry, I apologize for getting so off topic...the game had me thinking about this all afternoon and this just kinda came rushing out. It's almost playoff football time, I don't want to ruin it with depressing stories! My grandfather doesn't like negative talk, so he would probably be mad at me for talking about it anyway :)

So, in tribute to my grandfather.... GO GOLDEN EAGLES! (Tenn Tech, class of 1949)

[chattanoogamocs]

B-1Bs are cool. Aren't they based out of Abilene? I figured y'all woulda just got one from Tullahoma. Our fly-over was from Missouri I think...

They said it came from South Dakota, so I assume Ellsworth?