November 2008 - Posts
By Stokes Young, Director of multimedia for msnbc.com
(Written Wednesday morning on the Manhattan-bound L and uptown F subway trains)
NEW YORK – I'm on my daily morning commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan just after hearing the news about a "plausible but unsubstantiated" terror threat to New York City subways, issued by federal authorities. And unless I end up staying out late and grabbing a cab, I will be on the subway again tonight. And every day and night in the foreseeable future, just like everybody else I know.
Because of all the things to be afraid of, terror attacks do not – and cannot — top my list. Cigarettes are obviously more dangerous, and riding the NYC subway is not an act of bravery. Longtime Gothamites say it was once, during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, but these days it's a relatively cheap, fast and efficient way to get around.
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| AP |
| A New York police officer walks down stairs toward a subway platform, in midtown New York on Wednesday. |
I think about asking my fellow travelers for their take on the federal warning, but I don't want to break the news about a "plausible but unsubstantiated" threat in this light pre-holiday crowd.
It's a totally normal subway scene – a wonderfully diverse amalgamation of folks reading newspapers and paperbacks, taking mid-morning naps, talking smilingly amongst themselves, typing blog posts on their blackberries. Did the hipster girl across the way just smile at me?
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By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News
WASHINGTON – America honors its veterans one day of the year, on Nov. 11. Spc. John Tilley and his fellow tomb sentinels honor them every day of the year.
Tilley is one of 24 soldiers who guard the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. They are part of the 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), the Army's oldest active infantry unit.
"We are incredibly proud of what we do," he says.
Tilley and the other sentinels guard the tomb every hour of the day, every day of the year.
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| U.S. Army |
| One of the sentinels guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. |
"Since 1937 we've never left our post, and that's in every type of weather you can imagine," he says.
Even when Hurricane Isabel was bearing down on the area, in 2003, the sentinels stood their ground.
"They gave the option to leave our post, and the sentinels honorably declined," Tilley says.
That was the only time the sentinels were given that choice. They live by their Sentinel Creed, which states in part, "My standard will remain perfection."
Honor in the details
That perfection is reflected in the way they guard the Tomb of the Unknowns. They walk exactly 21 steps, pivot, wait 21 seconds and retrace their 21 steps for as long as two hours at a time.
"Twenty-one is the highest honor that you can give to the military – the 21-gun salute," Tilley explains. "Everything we do here is off the count of 21."
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