Did Trump follow the procedure to have a formal wreath laying ceremony complete with military escorts at Arlington? You be the judge. By Hal Brown, MSW

 

Because Trump is now an ordinary citizen in the controversial ceremony at Arlington there's one question that I haven't seen asked.

Trump was escorted by two members of the 101st Airborne. A military bugler was also part of the ceremony. 

Federal law prohibits Army employees from being involved with any political campaign.

There's a procedure for members of the public to request such a formal ceremony.

You can read it here.

Arlington National Cemetery offers the following opportunities to conduct public ceremonies. To avoid delays in scheduling, please read carefully to ensure that you request the appropriate ceremony for your group.

All ceremonies are scheduled based on the discretion of Arlington National Cemetery. All ceremonies are scheduled based on time, location, appropriateness and availability. They are also subject to cancellation or rescheduling due to official U.S. government ceremonies, inclement weather or other unforeseen occurrences.

Public Wreath Ceremonies may be requested up to 180 days in advance. The online system begins accepting requests as early as 7 p.m. ET the evening before the 180 day period.

Let's say that Trump asked for a formal ceremony at the last minute and the request was very quickly granted as a courtesy for a former president. I wonder if officials would have granted the request if they knew he was going to use it as a campaign event. I rather doubt it.

As it happened two members of the fabled 101st Airborne and a bugler from another division (possibly a member of the US Army Band)  leant their stature to a president who has consistently disparaged military service and who was also a draft dodger.

As president Trump had the pomp and circumstance he was entitled to (see photo).

As a private citizen who happens to be a former president it could be argued that as a courtesy he should be able to jump to the front of the line to have a formal ceremony. As a candidate there is no way one could make the argument this gave him the right to turn a solemn ceremony into a smiling thumbs up campaign event, let alone post a campaign message over a video of the event on TikTok (view here).

Another question I have is who is the three star general in the photo below and what is he doing there in uniform?

Addendum: 

Here's an article by a veteran who was a member of the 101st Airborne. He doesn't mention that members of the 101st were escorting Trump but I expected he noticed this.

I’m a combat veteran. Here’s why Trump’s Arlington stunt was so insulting.

His disregard for military tradition and his disdain for military service members is well documented

Read previous blogs.