Vol. 62, No. 20 May 21, 2015
Pentagram www.army.mil/jbmhh
Published For Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall
Safety becomes watchword on JBM-HH By Julia LeDoux Pentagram Staff Writer Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall and the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) joined forces May 15 to host an annual safety day event on Summerall Field on the Fort Myer portion of the joint base. With a variety of vendors on site, JBM-HH Safety Programs Manager Leonard Davis said he hoped that the event would remind service members that they are responsible for their own safety. “Their commander, their sergeant major, their squad leaders can’t be there all the time,” he said. Dan Goff of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary briefed Soldiers on how to stay safe while on and in the water. “Let’s talk about boat safety,” he said as a group of attendees gathered around a kayak he had on display. “You’ve probably heard that Great Falls is off-limits. It’s offlimits for a very good reason.” Potomac River waters in
see SAFETY, page 4
News Notes Memorial Day observance at Arlington National Cemetery
PHOTOS
BY
SPC. KLINTON SMITH
Flags adorn gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery during the annual Flags In event May 22, 2014. ABOVE: A Soldier from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) places flags at gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery May 22, 2014. Since 1948, Soldiers from The Old Guard have placed American flags at some 275,000 gravesites in the cemetery.
By Guv Callahan Pentagram Staff Writer For more than 60 years, the Army’s 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) has honored the nation’s fallen heroes for Memorial Day during Flags In, and on May 21, more than 1,000 Soldiers will set out
into Arlington National Cemetery to keep the tradition alive. During Flags In, approximately 1,500 Soldiers will place a small American flag at gravesites in the cemetery, a duty The Old Guard has performed and upheld since it was designated the U.S. Army’s ceremonial and memorial unit in 1948, according to
Arlington National Cemetery’s Web site. Soldiers will place flags at roughly 275,000 headstones, said Staff Sgt. Joseph Hanline, officer-in-charge of Flags In preparations. A team of 15 Old Guard Soldiers has been unpacking boxes of the flags – there are about 6,500 flags in each box – and
see FLAGS IN, page 4
Local ACS relocation specialist knows firsthand about PCS By Jim Dresbach Pentagram Staff Writer Joi nt Base Myer Henderson Hall Army Communit y Ser vice Relocation Specialist Jennifer Blue knows firsthand how nerve-wracking a permanent change of station (PCS) can be to a service member or military family. The wife of Army Capt. Billy Blue III, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot with Army Air Operations Group on
the Fort McNair portion of the joint base, Jennifer made a successful PCS from Fort Wainwright, Alaska to the Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Reg ion and the Military District of Washington. She helped her family transition from being arctic warriors to capitol city inhabitants by juggling motherhood, her husband’s deployment, travel arrangements and a multitude of forms and appointments with the assistance of ACS offices and connecting with
others via social media. “My husband was deployed [to Afghanistan] while we were stationed in Alaska,” she said as she explained the complexities of the move. “He got back in November, and we had to leave in December, so it was real quick. That was my first PCS as a spouse. It actually wasn’t too bad. I was nervous because there are so many different parts of a PCS. There are a lot of details to work out.”
see PCS, page 4
T he a n nual Nat ional Memorial Day observance to honor America’s fallen military service members is scheduled for May 25 at Arlington National Cemetery. The U.S. Army Military District of Washington will conduct a Presidential Armed Forces Full Honor WreathLaying ceremony at 11 a.m. at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, to be followed by an observance program hosted by the Department of Defense in the Memorial Amphitheater. A prelude by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band will begin in the amphitheater at 10:30 a.m. For more information, visit http:// go.usa.gov/3K5wY.
Annual Memorial Day service
The Mid-Atlantic Branch of t he 2nd I ndia n head Division Association will host a Memorial Day service at the 2nd Division Monument near 17th Street Northwest and Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., at 11 a.m. May 25. For more information visit www.2ida.org; call 919498-1910; or email 2id.pao@ charter.net.
Stroller walking group
COURTESY JENNIFER BLUE
The Blue family, from left: Jennifer Blue, relocation specialist for Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall’s Army Community Service; son Billy IV and U.S. Army Capt. Billy Blue III, know all too well the challenges of making a permanent change of station move. The Blues PCSed from Fort Wainwright, Alaska, to Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall last December.
Army Community Service hosts a stroller walking group from 9 to 10 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays in May (May 25 and 27) at Long Bridge Park, 475 Long Bridge Drive, Arlington, Va. This group is for parents, caregivers and
see NEWS NOTES, page 4
Index
Holiday hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page Memorial Day message . . . . . . . page Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page Asian/Pacific Heritage Month . . . page Iwo Jima 7K results . . . . . . . . . . page JBM-HH pools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page
Local forecast
2 2 3 3 6 8 9
THURS. 65 | 53
FRI.
77 | 51
SAT.
75 | 57
SUN.
83 | 66
For more weather forecasts and information, visit www.weather.gov.