Experience of the Arlington Cemetery

How do you describe the sea of gravestones each representing a brave man or woman who has paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedom and life we all know and enjoy in this country? How do you describe the experience of knowing that each one of the headstones represents a family that lost someone in defence of our freedoms? Buried alongside presidents are many of the most noble and honorable men and woman that have sacrificed their lives in service of our country.

On October 20th, a group of us (within our team) took a Sunday to drive up to Arlington Cemetery while we are deployed in DC working at the FEMA HQs office. Walking around the Arlington Cemetery, it is a very sobering experience. Just the sheer size of the cemetery and what it represents. Its really an experience that can never be properly described to someone who hasn't been there in person.

The sea of white headstones, each one representing a fallen soldier who has given his or her life in combat, really makes an impact on visitors to the Arlington Cemetery.

Although the experience is indescribable, this video helps to show just how many honorable American Soldiers are buried here. And this is but one group of many groups. Every headstone represents someone who left family and friends behind. Each headstone represents a fallen hero.

Walking through the cemetery, constantly surrounded by the graves of fallen soldiers who gave their lives, is an experience that everyone should have. There is the famous saying "Freedom isn't free". Only when you visit a place such as this and experience it in person for yourself, do you fully realize that it isn't simply a saying but rather a reality that is easily said but less commonly understood.

The honor at which every one of the service men and women buried at Arlington Cemetery, creates a feeling and experience that makes a lasting impression on all who fully experience it.

In the upcoming future, I hope to also post a separate post about the Changing of the Guard, an honored ceremony that happens at the Arlington Ceremony, once an hour, on the hour. Keep an eye out for the post. There are also photos from our trip to the Arlington Cemetery, now on the Photobucket (linked on the right of this blog).

More posts to come.

Q & A - Effect the Government Shutdown had on FEMA Corp

Q: I saw a facebook post at Americorps NCCC Winter 2013: FEMA Corps - Denver Campus, indicating that the government shutdown might be impacting deployment of NCCC teams. Sounds like teams are not traveling unless they're involved with disaster relief. Do you know if the government shutdown affecting the FEMA Corps program?

A: First I want to say that in answering this, my answer only responds to how it effected where I worked and what I have heard about other teams/locations of AmeriCorps NCCC Traditional and FEMA Corp. For our team specifically, we were minimally effected outside of the fact that our van was only approved for trips to and from work and needed health and wellness trips. For ISPs (Independent Service Projects) they had to be approved prior to the shutdown, and future unapproved ISPs were on hold until the shutdown was over. Our living allowances were still given and came on time and we were still funded, FEMA Corp is funded slightly different than other government programs so it still had funding during the partial government shutdown.

However during the shutdown, our primary POC (point of contact) was out on furlough, so we had a couple new POCs who worked on alternating days and who we reported to during the shutdown.

From what I have heard about how other AmeriCorp groups were effected, and this is all secondhand information so take it as such and not as official information, classes who had either not started training yet or who were not deployed yet were on hold until the partial shutdown ended. The different teams who were already deployable and deployed prior to the shutdown as far as i know were able to keep working and were funded during the shutdown.

Luckilly the shutdown is done now and our original POC returned to work this past Thursday. Time to do good work this last month then it is off for a two week break before our final six month period of service. More posts to come, stay tuned.

If you have any questions about AmeriCorps or what life is like while serving within the programs, send your questions in with the box that is on the upper right side of the blog page. Reader questions give me even more to talk about as well as enable this blog to have a Q & A component where questions can be answered and I can share my experience and feedback as it pertains to each question. Helps to liven up the blog even more.
All posts and answers are my sole opinion unless otherwise quoted and cited.

Update and future posts

Just wanted to post a quick update since my blog has been quiet for the past little while. For the past week or two, I was unable to connect to the wifi when not at work however with a quick technical fix from the IT people this past Thursday, I am able to connect to the wifi here where we are staying once again.

Looking forward to the upcoming break, will have two weeks off during which I will be back in Oregon, then it is back to work for the next six months. Having a blast so far and have more posts planned but it will be nice to have the break then change up the work days with a new project after the break. Be on the lookout for some more blogposts as well as more pictures posted to the photobucket account linked on the right side of this page. Planning on going to Arlington Cemetery today with some team members so should be a good experience and memorable.

More to come. Stay tuned.