Grissom's new base flag pole now in use Published March 20, 2008 By Brig. Gen. Dean Despinoy 434th Air Refueling Wing commander GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind., -- (Editor's note: Three members of the 434th Civil Engineers Squadron had the honor of raising the flag on the new base flag pole for the first time on March 20. The ceremony, attended by a mixture of civilians, reservists, contractors and active members, was held at the intersection of Grissom Avenue, and Boxcar Street. Brig. Gen. Dean Despinoy, 434th Air Refueling Wing commander, addressed the crowd. What follows is a transcription of his speech.) Today we come together to witness and participate in, a tradition that has been woven into the very fabric of military bases, reveille, retreat and taps. Reveille originated in 1812 and was used to muster units or as a means to conduct roll call as well as to signal sentries to end night challenging. Retreat was first used by the French army and dates back to the Crusades. The American Army has used this bugle call since the Revolutionary War. The beautiful melody has come to symbolize the finest qualities of military members everywhere for nearly 900 years. Today, reveille and retreat ceremonies serve a twofold purpose. They signal the beginning and the ending of the official duty day and serve as ceremonies for paying respect to the flag and those who serve it. We are standing in front of a new flag pole. Some may ask why a new pole, we have a perfectly good one in front of lodging. For some time now, many organizations at Grissom have pointed to the flag that is always lit, always visible. They point to the flag in front of lodging and they tell their deploying members, this flag is a beacon for you to find your way home. It is always flying, always bathed in light, and will never come down. Due to this fact, the flag pole at lodging has been designated our ceremonial flag and therefore does not respond to reveille or retreat. A second flag pole, normally near the headquarters, was needed to allow Grissom to perform reveille and retreat. Additionally, according to regulations, approval was sought and granted by the vice commander of Air Force Reserve Command to have a ceremonial flag pole and a base flag pole at Grissom. Today we will use our base flag pole for the first time, and it will be here at the sight of the future base heritage and ceremonial park. The U.S. Military has used flagpoles ever since it's beginning. No one knows what the very first military flagpole was, but historians agree that one of the earliest was the one that the Continental Army raised on Prospect Hill, outside Boston, in August 1775. (Boston was occupied by the British at the time). The pole was 76 feet high, and was made from the mast of a British warship that had been destroyed by American troops the previous May. There are many legends concerning the military flag pole. One of the most enduring actually has many variations. However, at the heart of each legend is the gold ball at the top of the flag pole. The military calls this ball the "truck". The story goes, the base of the flag pole contains a service revolver, the truck or gold ball contains a round of ammunition and a book of matches. The items are there so the base commander, instead of surrendering his base to the enemy, can instead, cut down the flag, burn it to prevent desecration, and commit suicide rather than be taken alive. To stop anyone's fanciful ideas that I plan to go down with the base, I can assure you, our gold ball contains nothing but air with the sole purpose to keep the flag from getting snagged on the top of the pole when the wind blows. Starting today, Grissom will perform reveille at 8 a.m. each morning, with reveille being sounded followed a few seconds later by "To the Colors", at which time the flag will be raised. Each day at 4:30 p.m., retreat will be sounded followed a few seconds later by "The National Anthem", at which time the flag will be lowered. Finally each day at 10 p.m. taps will be played here at Grissom. Taps, also known as "Butterfield's Lullaby" or "Day Is Done", was written by Butterfield at Harrison's Landing, Virginia in July 1862 and replaced "Tattoo" the French bugle call to signal lights out. Today it is commonly played to symbolically signal the end of the day and time to rest. Thanks to the hard work of many people, all members of Grissom will be able to take two minutes, twice each day, to stop and remember. To remember all of the men and women who have given their lives for the freedoms that we so often take for granted; to remember members of this wing who are far from home, performing their duties as Airman, often in harm's way; and To remember the sacrifices of the families and loved ones who stay behind. Although it is impossible to mention every name, I wish to thank, Maj. Rebecca Fox and the 434th Communications Squadron, for insuring that the base emergency notification system can play the music on cue; Senior Master Sgt. Jeff Withrow and the command post controllers for activating the system at 8 a.m., 4:30 p.m., and 10 p.m. daily. Capt Jeffrey O'Toole and Master Sgt. Paul Tomlinson along with the men and women of seasoning flight who have volunteered to perform reveille and retreat on weekdays and on the primary UTA; Maj. Randall Stivers and Senior Master Sgt. Brad Klepinger for their research and coordination as well as the commitment of their AGRs who will perform the ceremony on non duty days and non UTA weekends. Finally, I thank the 434th Civil Engineers Squadron including Tech. Sgt Daniel Sharp, Staff Sgt. Daniel Harshman, Senior Airmen Lynn Htaik and Matthew Crummel as well as many others for sighting and erecting our new base flag pole. Although the primary responsibility for the daily ceremony will rest with seasoning flight and security forces, I invite anyone who wishes to participate in a ceremony, military or civilian, to contact Sergeant Tomlinson of the seasoning flight for trained and assignment to a particular day. It is my hope that it will be a common sight at Grissom to see any member of the Grissom Team, reservist, ART, civilian, or contractor, perform this ceremony. Nothing would better represent our commitment and unity than a military member in uniform with a contactor or civilian employee, in civilian clothes, raising the flag. Today's ceremony will be performed by three of Civil Engineering Squadron's finest, Sergeant Harshman, Airman Crummel, and Airman Htaik. Thank you for your attention and for witnessing our first ceremony. Please stand by for the sounding of reveille.
