The Daily Signal - A Soldier-Turned-Senator Honors America’s Heroes in ‘Sacred Duty’

Episode Date: May 14, 2019

Before becoming a U.S. senator, Tom Cotton served his country in Iraq and Afghanistan. He earned a Bronze Star and was elected to Congress from Arkansas in 2012. Two years later, he defeated a two-term Democrat incumbent to become a 37-year-old senator. And now, in a new book called “Sacred Duty: A Soldier’s Tour at Arlington National Cemetery,” Cotton tells the remarkable story of The Old Guard and its important role as the Army’s oldest active-duty infantry unit. After returning from his Iraq deployment, Cotton served at Arlington with the Army’s official ceremonial unit. The experience led him to research The Old Guard’s rich history and write “Sacred Duty.” He spoke to The Daily Signal about the book.We also cover these stories:• Tensions between the U.S. and Iran remain high, but President Trump says it's "fake news" that he's considering sending 120,000 troops to Middle East.• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announces Russia hacked two of its counties during 2016 election, although he stresses no votes were affected.• Rod Rosenstein dismisses James Comey as a "partisan pundit."The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Wednesday, May 15th. I'm Kate Trinco. And I'm Daniel Davis. Tom Cotton represents Arkansas in the U.S. Senate, but years before, he served in the Old Guard. That's the group of Army soldiers tasked with guarding Arlington National Cemetery. He has a unique story to tell about the Old Guard, published in his new book, Sacred Duty. Our executive editor, Rob Bluey, had a chance to talk with Senator Cotton, and today we'll share that interview. By the way, if you're enjoying this podcast, please consider leaving a review or a five-star rating on iTunes and please subscribe. Now on to our top news. As tensions rise, Iran is sending warning signals to the United States. An advisor to the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, tweeted to

President Trump, you wanted a better deal with Iran. Looks like you are going to get a war instead. That's what happens when you listen to the mustache, which is presumably a reference to John Bolton, a national security advisor to Trump who does have a mustache. Meanwhile, the Iran ambassador to the UK told Sky News in an interview that the message to the U.S. was, quote, don't test us. And, quote, while we have renounced any escalation in the region, I would assure you that Iranian armed forces are fully ready for any eventuality in the region. So they should not try to test the determination of Iran to confront any escalation in the region. Well, President Trump on Tuesday, denied a New York Times report that the White House,

was reviewing plans to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East to counter Iran. Here's what he told reporters. I think it's fake news, okay? Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that.

But I think it's just, where was that story? In the New York Times? Well, the New York Times is fake news. Well, the Times reported Monday that acting defense secretary Patrick Shannon, had presented the plan to top national security officials. The plan, according to anonymously cited sources, would be to send up to 120,000 U.S. troops to the region if Iran attacks U.S. forces or continues to accelerate its nuclear program. The plan does not, however, include a land invasion, according to the Times. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, announced that two Florida counties had been affected by Russian hackers on the 2016 election.

via Spectrum Bay 9 News. Here's what DeSantis had to say. I have recently, as many of you know, I think I've recently met with the FBI concerning the election issue mentioned in the Mueller report, which was, I guess, come out a couple weeks ago. And this is for the 2016 election. Two Florida counties experienced intrusion into the supervisor of election networks. There was no manipulation or anything, but there was voter data that was able to be got. Now, that voter data, I think, was public anyways. Nevertheless, those were intrusions. It did not affect any voting or anything like that. So when the FBI will talk about election infrastructure, they include anything that could be in the supervisor of elections.

This was something where they had spearfishing, someone clicked on it, so someone was able to get access to things. nothing that affected the vote count. Well, Attorney General William Barr has tapped a top federal prosecutor to investigate the origins of the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign. USA Today reports that John Durham, the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, has been assisting the Attorney General for several weeks in looking into whether federal prosecutors acted inappropriately in the early stages of that investigation during the 2016 election, particularly as it pertains to surveillance of the Trump campaign. Last month, Barr told a Senate Committee, quote, I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated,

end quote. Durham has a history of busting bad law enforcement officers. He once prosecuted a case in which the CIA destroyed a tape, and he also busted FBI agents in Boston for collaborating with the mafia. Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had some harsh words for his former colleague and FBI director James Comey in remarks made Monday to the Greater Baltimore Committee. the former director seems to be acting as a partisan pundit selling books and earning speaking fees while speculating about the strength of my character and the fate of my immortal soul. I kid you not. That is disappointing. Speculating about souls is not a job for police and prosecutors. Rosenstein was also critical of how Comey handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation,

although he did indicate that he feels sympathy for Comey on how his firing was handled. Well, Senator Bernie Sanders took full advantage of a Fox News Town Hall event last month, but Senator Elizabeth Warren, not so much. On Tuesday, she rejected an invitation to appear on a televised Fox News Town Hall event accusing the network of selling hate for profit. She lashed out at Fox in a series of tweets, saying, quote, Fox News is a hate for profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists. It's designed to turn us against each other risking life and death consequences

to provide cover for the corruption that's rotting our government and hollowing out our middle class, end quote. Next up, we'll feature Rob's interview with Senator Tom Codden about his military service. Do you have an opinion that you'd like to share? Leave us a voicemail at 202-608-6205 or email us at letters at daily signal.com. Yours could be featured on the Daily Signal podcast. We're joined at the Daily Signal by Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. He's the author of the new book, Sacred Duty, a soldiers tour at Arlington National Cemetery. And I must note, Senator, a former Heritage Foundation intern and the recipient of our Distinguished Intern Alumni Award. Welcome to the program. Thanks very much for having me on to

talk about sacred duty. You served in the United States Army as an infantry officer and spent nearly five years on active duty. You also were with the old guard at Arlington. National Cemetery. Can you tell us about your new book, Sacred Duty, and the inspiration behind it? Sacred Duty tells the story of the Old Guard of Arlington. I have found in my time in public life that Arlington holds a very special place in the hearts of our fellow citizens. When Arkansas come to see me in Washington, they usually stay for a few days and go to all the normal tourist destinations. When I ask them what their favorite destination is, almost always they answer Arlington. Likewise, when I travel around the country and I'm introduced, the questions I get most

about my own background is my time at Arlington National Cemetery. Yet the young soldiers who honor our fallen heroes, who guard the tomb of the unknown soldier, who present the face of the army to the world at large public ceremonies have never had their story told. So this book is the story of the old guard and what they have done for our nation all the way back to 1784 and what they do today in Arlington National Cemetery. This is your first book and it seems like most politicians usually write an autobiography or a policy book. Why did you choose? to do something different. Because I wanted to write an interesting book.

I have lots of time and lots of opportunities talk about my ideas and to talk about myself. The Old Guard has never had its story told in a full book-length format, and they deserve to have that story told. And it's a very long and rich story, so it needs book-length treatment, not just an interview or a magazine article

on Memorial Day or on Veterans Day. And I could tell from the interest that Americans had in the cemetery and in Arlington, that their story would resonate, that the story, how they strive for perfection, how they hold themselves to the standard of the highest excellence for every single funeral, even if there's no one attending the funeral, to honor their fallen comrades was a story that would resonate with Americans of all stripes. Now, you wrote this book while serving as a U.S. senator, which I imagine had its demands. But at the same time, you were able to do some really great research that went into,

telling the story. What was it like to go back? Not only you had personal experience, but there were some things you said that you didn't have the opportunity to experience. So what was it like to go back to recreate some of those moments and tell them those stories in the book? Sacred Duty tells the story of the old guard. It's not my story. I have a very small part in the more than 200-year story of the old guard. It was an important time at the cemetery in 2007 and 2008 when we're laying to rest so many fallen heroes from Iraq and Afghanistan. But I go all the way back to 1784. I did a lot of archival research at the Library of Congress and the National Archives and the Center for Military History. But I also went back to the cemetery and went back to Fort Meyer,

the home of the Old Guard adjacent to the cemetery to interview dozens of soldiers to tell their story or observe funerals. I spent many nights at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The platoon there is on duty around the clock, so they're always available for interviews. In my official capacity, I observed many events that ended up in the book, like the state funeral for George H. W. Bush, the first state funeral in 12 years for the old guard and its sister services, or at the White House South Lawn for the arrival ceremony for the state visit of the French president, Emmanuel Macron. So the book goes behind the scenes and tells the story of how these soldiers spend hours and hours

to rehearse their craft to practice specific sequences for these funerals and these ceremonies to spend hours getting their uniform ready, all of which they do, not just for stuffy formalities or for fussiness, but because those sacrifices in some small way help capture the sacrifice of the fallen heroes that they honor every single day in Arlington. That perfection truly is amazing as you detail in the book. How did the old guard get its name? That's an old story from the history of the regiment. As I said, it's older than our constitution itself going back to 1784.

So by the time of the Mexican War in 1846 and 1847, the regiment was already 60 years old and had a pretty distinguished history in the Northwest Indian War and the War of 1812 and out on the frontier of the settlement. But in the final days of the Mexican War in 1847, after Mexico City fell, there was a victory parade into Mexico City. And that campaign had been led by General Winfield Scott, the longest serving general in American history to this day. And he had fought alongside the Old Guard in the War of 1812 as a young general up in the Niagara Falls area. So I suspect that General Scott wanted to honor his old comrades in arms and a regiment with whom he had a long and distinguished history. So he put the Third Infantry Regiment, which is still the Old Guard's official designation today, at the head of the victory parade in the Mexico City. And as the parade marched by General Scott and his staff, he turned around and said, gentlemen, take your hats off to the Old Guard of the Army. And ever since, since 1847, they've been

known as the Old Guard. You tell the story in the book when you were serving overseas. You came back to the United States, and you did have a part serving with the Old Guard. What does it take to become a member of the Old Guard? And how did you end up with this unit? Well, the standards are very high, and almost everyone there is by a volunteer. For the young privates, which make up the bulk of the Old Guard as they do for any infantry regiment at Fort Benning, Goldguard has a recruiter and after screening for all the basic requirements, like height and weight, physical fitness, very high test scores for general intelligence, ensuring there's no criminal record or other kind of character issues. They ask for volunteers who want to perform this sacred duty at

Arlington, and they get a handful of takers. For officers like myself and for sergeants, we would have to apply. We would typically have to have performed the job for which we are applying in a highly proficient fashion. Now for me personally, I can tell you that's not quite the way it worked out. Back in 2006, 2007, the army was strained by two wars, and the old guard, like most regiments, was pretty short on officers. But unlike most regiments, sergeants can't fill in for officers. If the Army manuals call for an officer to be on the marks in front of a platoon of troops in the cemetery or in the parade field, it has to be an officer. So the old guard just chose six officers from the 101st airborne as it happened.

And I remember calling from Iraq once I got orders there and asking why this happened since I had not applied. And they said, well, we're short on officers. And we searched through all the basic criteria, height, weight, physical fitness, ranger qualified, airborne qualified, which are requirements for officers. And we picked six. And I said, well, there must be a couple hundred of us, right, that fit those criteria. And they said, yeah, at least that much. And at that point, I thought maybe it was because I had been such a superior performer with my platoon in Iraq.

I said, well, how did you narrow down the big pool to just six of us? And I was told that they'd just rank order them by height and pick the six tallest ones. And sure enough, about three or four months later, there we were six officers, captains and lieutenants with a screaming eagle, 101st airborne patches on our right shoulder to designate our combat service with the 101st airborne. And one was six seven and I'm six five. And the other four were six three. Wow. Well, and for our listeners, there are some great photos in the book, including one of you in uniform serving. So, encourage them to pick it up and check that out because I think it really gives a perspective of the care and attention to detail as you talk about. What does it like to perform a funeral at Arlington? And is there a particularly memorable experience that you've witnessed? Every funeral in Arlington is different, even though the Old Guard performs up to 20 a day, sometimes more than a hundred in a week, not least because for that family, it is that once in a lifetime moment. And that's a lifetime in the making. But the cemetery section,

have different terrain, some are very flat, some are hilly. You don't know if it's going to be rainy or sunny until usually the day of. We perform funerals in all conditions. So every funeral is somewhat different, but we approach every funeral with the same commitment to excellence, striving for perfection. When we don't achieve perfection, we always do corrective training and self-assessment afterwards as well because we want to send that family off with that last perfect image of honor. We also want to remind all of our young soldiers who are at the regiment performing those funerals that this is exactly how their army will care for them if something happens to them.

So it starts very early in the morning before dawn most months of the year when we'd go out into the cemetery and do a recon at gravesites to identify those small differences and changes to ensure that there weren't low-hanging trees that would interfere with the carrying of the color guard into the fields or that there weren't holes next to the gravesite the casket team to be aware of. We'd get on site at least 30 minutes before the funeral. We'd do a talk-through rehearsal. We'd do a quick uniform inspection. Everything was rehearsed down to the smallest detail exactly because we wanted to make sure that we paid perfect honor to our fallen heroes. There are a lot of funerals.

I probably performed four or five hundred funerals in my 16 months there. One that stands down in particular, as I writes, at much greater detail in sacred duty, is the funeral for Easy 4-0. a Black Hawk helicopter that was shot down in Iraq in January of 2007 with 12 soldiers on board. The Army was able to identify remains for the individual soldiers for individual burials, but there were enough commingled remains that they had a group burial in Section 60. And I was a part of that very large funeral, the largest one anyone could remember at the Old Guard with hundreds and hundreds of mourners, many four-star generals, and many senior government officials as well.

It was such an unusual funeral and had such a high profile that probably more than any other single funeral stood out in my mind. We're talking to Senator Tom Cotton about his new book called Sacred Duty. Senator, those of us like myself or Rachel who live in the Washington, D.C. area, I mean, we have this treasure right here with us Arlington National Cemetery. You write about the history of Arlington and its relation and connections to George Washington and Robert E. Lee. Can you share a little bit with our listeners about why it is such a significant and meaningful place? The land that became Arlington seems, if I could borrow from Toakville, destined to become our national cemetery by a secret design of Providence. Many Americans, most of those who have visited the cemetery, know about its connection to Robert E. Lee and Mary Custis Lee. Mary Custisley inherited that land from her father. Robert E. Lee was a steward of it.

He was offered command of a Union Army in April of 1861. He declined it on the spot, and then he resigned his commission, and then he left Arlington never to return. Mary Custisly left a few weeks later at his urging. The Union Army occupied that land on May 24, 1861, and the Army has held it ever since. And that's because anyone who's been to Arlington knows it occupies the commanding heights above Washington, and Confederate artillery could have ranged much of Washington if the Union Army didn't occupy it. But the history goes back even farther than Robert E. Lee. Arlington origins

are deeply connected to George Washington and the father of our country. His adopted son, Martha's only surviving son by her first marriage before she was widowed at an early age, wanted to be closer to his parents and want to be closer to Mount Vernon. So there's correspondence from George Washington when he was at Valley Forge in the winter of 1778 to his son about how to go about buying that land and cultivating it into a successful farm. Unfortunately, that adopted son died from a fever contracted at the triumphant Battle of Yorktown in 1781. Another tragedy that visited Martha and George's life. He left a six-month-old heir, and Martha and George adopted that son too,

Martha's grandson and George Washington's adopted son and raised him at Mount Vernon, raised him in Philadelphia during President Washington's eight years, eight years as president in our capital there. And then he inherited his father's land in 1802. And from that point forward, he really dedicated his life and dedicated Arlington to becoming a kind of a public memorial for George Washington. That big mansion you see up on top of the hill, which is where Mary and Robert lived for so many winters during his military service, was built as a kind of homage to Mount Vernon. he went deep into debt all his life to obtain Washington memorabilia and relics from Mount Vernon or his time in the Revolutionary War as time as president. He would throw open that house and that land to the public to come celebrate George Washington,

in particular on Washington's birthday. Robert E. Lee lived through all these things. Robert E. Lee left for his first command in Texas carrying one of George Washington's sabers, which was given to him by his father-in-law who had been George Washington's adopted. son. And that's why I say that Arlington really is sacred ground. It seems like it was destined from the beginning to become our national cemetery, a place that rose from the ashes of the Civil War to symbolize unity and reconciliation after that most terrible time in our nation's history. In the book, you write about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and how it is one of the most

famous destinations for tourists. And something that really stood out to me was how you mentioned that the Tomb Guards, they're very aware that many Americans will only see the change. with the guard probably once in their lifetime. So what does it take, what does it go into all of the guards do to strive for perfection in all they do to get the ceremony down perfectly for the thousands of Americans that come to see this? As the Tomb Platoon's operating manual notes the very outset that this is the most prominent guard post in the entire United States of America. I mean there are thousands of military guard posts all around the country. In a certain way, this is simply another posted guard. But they understand that this is a unique guard post, that more than

four million Americans come through the gates of Arlington every year, and the vast majority of them will walk up that hill to see a changing of the guard every half hour in the summer, every hour in the winter. And while they guard the tomb to honor the unknowns, they also keep in mind what Joe DiMaggio said whenever he was asked why he played so hard every single day, even in the dog days of August when the Yankees were far ahead, is that someone there, at this changing the guard is seeing us for the very first time, and that is the only time they will ever see us. That's one reason why the tomb platoon is so unique. It takes sometimes nine to 12 months to earn one's tomb badge. The attrition rate for tomb guards is approaching 90% because the

standards are so high, and they spend so much time, put so much effort every single night into getting their uniforms back in presentable condition, striving for that perfect standard. perfect image of honor for the next day. And as one tomb guard told me, as I describe in greater detail and sacred duty, what is it to have to spend an overnighter getting your shoes shined again or getting your scabbard shined again, getting your uniform repressed and not being able to sleep for a night? What kind of sacrifice is that compared to these three unknown soldier sacrifice? They didn't just give up their lives. They gave up their very identity in the defense of our nation. It's just incredible. I had the opportunity last year to bring my two boys.

to Arlington National Cemetery to see the changing in the guard. At the end of the day, it was, they do something, I think, slightly different for the last changing there. And just powerful for them, even though they're both under 10 at the time. You know, in the book, you talk about how even in the midst of national disasters, like 9-11, the old guards still perform funerals scheduled at Arlington, which is something that maybe Americans don't really know that these things take place. Can you share with us about the tradition and why it's so important to carry forward and do this? If you have a funeral scheduled at Arlington for your loved one, that funeral will occur, period.

No questions asked. And nothing ever interferes with a funeral. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. Not even 9-11. For those who haven't been to Arlington or haven't been down in the southeastern corner of Arlington, which is the most active section of the cemetery, it's only about 200 yards away from the Pentagon. The western facade of the Pentagon, which is where American Airlines flight 77, smashed into the morning of September 11th. And in fact, when it hit at 937, most funerals were

still going on in the cemetery. And the old guard rushed troops down to the Pentagon. At first, it's medical platoon to provide emergency medical care, but later in the day, hundreds of troops to provide security. They stayed there for 30 days after 9-11 to help with the recovery of remains from that crash site as the largest infantry unit in the capital region with hundreds of young physically fit soldiers. They were really the only unit that could do that back-breaking work in very dangerous conditions. That night, when they helped disperse the visitors who had stayed in the cemetery up until closing, they came across parts of the airplane that had been smashed into the cemetery over the short distance over Washington Boulevard. That was the same standard

held true last December during President George H.W. Bush State funeral. With all of the ceremony than American saw on TV, and with hundreds and hundreds of Old Guard soldiers and their counterparts from the other four services dedicated to honoring President Bush in Houston and in the nation's capital and at Texas A&M, funerals continued at Arlington, exactly as planned. And so many families came up to those soldiers after those funerals rushed over from the graveside to the bus before the soldiers took off and said, thank you so much for being here to honor my father, my mother, you know, my brother, my sister, we were sure when we learned the news last weekend that President Bush had died that our funeral is going to be canceled. And it never happens. No matter the weather,

no matter what's going on around the capital region, it never happens. The other old guard activities are not the same. Sometimes ceremonies, retirements, that kind of thing will be rescheduled. They'll be moved earlier or later in the day to accommodate weather or changes in schedule. But the one thing that is never altered at Arlington is a funerals because they're always going to be present on the marks at the time appointed to honor our fallen heroes. Memorial Day is coming up soon and you share a story in the book about your own experience placing flags at gravesites for this really special holiday. Why is this so special to the Old Guard? Every Thursday before Memorial Day weekend is known as flags in. After that last

funeral, Old Guard soldiers will march into the cemetery and they'll put a small American flag at every grave site. And so for 230,000 now, I think, for about 440,000 men, women and children who are buried in those gravesites. That goes back to the Revolutionary War, up to soldiers who were just killed or veterans who just died in old age yesterday. That's a tradition that it reminds their families, the visitors to Arlington Memorial Day, the heaviest trafficked period of the year, and everyone who sees it, that we will never forget those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. and defense of our nation. And for the Old Guard, it's a particularly special day to perform that mission, which they perform every single day because every single soldier in the Old Guard does

it. The Old Guard, like any infantry regiment, is mostly infantrymen, but has a lot of support soldiers as well. It has mechanics and cooks and clerks, and they are not typically outperforming funerals or marching in ceremonies. But for them, this is a chance for them to stand shoulder to shoulder with their fellow soldiers in the Old Guard and perform the Old Guard's core mission. That's one reason why it's one of the biggest events of the year for the Old Guard. And it's perfectly open to the public. You know, it's the Thursday before Memorial Day and anyone can go into the cemetery and see soldiers from north, the south, east or west, putting those flags in and go up and

thank them for their service. As I saw so many Americans do last year when I visited on Flags in and has happened to me during my time at the Old Guard back in the last decade. Senator, I want to ask you finally, you're somebody who recounts in the book how you came to serve in the Army. 9-11 played a transformational role in your life. You finished law school later enlisted. You've gone on now to write this incredible book called Sacred Duty

to help us all understand some of the sacrifices that go into it. What would you like listeners to take away most if they were to get a copy of your book? Sacred duty tells the story of the old guard, but the old guard acts on behalf of our nation. And the long hours they put in, pressing their uniforms, making medals from scratch, perfecting their craft of marching or folding a flag or firing seven rifles as one in a three-volley salute, or simply a reflection of the love that all of us hold in our breasts for our nation's warriors, from the Revolutionary War up to today.

They are acting on behalf of a grateful nation. and they are expressing that grateful nation's gratitude to the next of kin and to the family and the mourners for every hero that they laid a rest in Arlington. I know that we live in divided times these days. I feel that oftentimes we probably overestimate just how divided our nation is. If you look at the origins of the cemetery and how Arlington became our place of national unity and reconciliation at a time when Americans raised arms against each other and killed each other and said, great numbers that a plantation across the river from our nation's capital had to become a graveyard and then the national cemetery. But even in these divided times, what the Old Guard represents to our nation and what Arlington represents to our nation is a sense of unity, reconciliation,

respect, and even love for those who carry its banner forward in combat to defend all of us and our freedom at home. The book is called Sacred Duty by Senator Tom Cotton. Thanks so much for writing it. Thank you. Did you know you can now listen to all of our events through SoundCloud or just by visiting our events page on Heritage.org? You now have access to hundreds of events and compelling discussions on policy issues from your car, on the train, or the comfort of your own home. Visit Heritage.org slash events for more information or search for the Heritage Foundation on SoundCloud. And that's going to do it for us today. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage.

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