Duty to country

  • Published
  • By Gary Cooper II
  • Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Detachment 1
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  "On my honor I will do my best, to do my duty to God and my country"

These are the first two lines of the Boy Scout Oath, and part of the core values that have been part of Scouting since the original Scout Promise was authored in 1908. As part of their duty to country, Boy Scouts perform service hours in support of their community and recently Boy Scout Troop 41 from Rosamond, Calif., participated in two events honoring our nation's veterans and our nation's flag.

Remembering our veterans that made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for our great nation, Boy and Girl Scouts from all over Southern California gathered at the Los Angeles National Cemetery over Memorial Day Weekend to place flags on the over 80,000 graves of our fallen soldiers. The Scouts from Troop 41 were assigned a section of the cemetery where they performed the same solemn ritual they repeat year after year. They approach each memorial, stand at attention, read the name of the fallen servicemember, place an American Flag exactly one foot from the marker and render a scout salute. They repeat this process until every grave has received a flag. 

Two weekends ago the scouts from Troop 41 again demonstrated their duty to country by performing a flag retirement ceremony at the American Legion Post in California City in honor of Flag Day. The United States Flag Code states that the flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning. The scouts collected 211 flags, which had been inspected and deemed suitable for retirement. The flags normally range in size from small hand-held up to large household flags, but this year the scouts had the honor of retiring two 30- foot by 50-foot flags that were displayed in the F-22 Combined Test Force hangers for the past 14 years.

Although these ceremonies are sometimes solemn for the scouts, it impresses upon them a sense of pride in their nation, respect for our American Flag and the importance of their duty to country.