Jeff Gottesfeld Twenty One Steps Honoring Veterans Honoring the Unknown tomb Honoring America 111121

Did you know you can do your tithing and love offering right from your computer? Visit www.chosengenerationradio.com to support Chosen Generation and make a tax-deductible donation. Now, back to Chosen Generation with Pastor Greg. And welcome back to Chosen Generation Radio. I'm your host, Pastor Greg. Thanks so much for being here.

I know you have a choice on where you can listen each and every day. Well, it is my sincere pleasure to welcome back a gentleman. I just so thoroughly enjoyed our previous conversation and what he's done and what he's doing. And I'm just really excited to have him back on this very, very special day.

Jeff Gottesfeld is the author of 21 Steps, and it is about guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier. And today's a very special day. Jeff, welcome. Good to have you. It's so great for you to have me back. Thank you so much.

Oh, my pleasure. I thank you for taking the time to be with us on this very special day because today is the 100th centennial of the tomb. November 11th, 2021. One hundred years.

It began November 11th, 1921. It's really amazing to think about. One hundred years ago and twenty nine minutes. The first the first unknown was interred at Arlington. And you have to imagine what it was like in Washington right now, what it was like here that day. You know, you had the unknown state in the capital, but tens of thousands of people came to came to see him and pay respects. And then there's a funeral cortege through the streets, horse drawn carriages, and then brought to Arlington where there were another hundred and fifty thousand people waiting. And I write about this in the book for kids.

And Matt Tavares illustrates that magnificently. It says if you're there, it's something I just spent the first portion of my program talking about veterans talking about the honor and and what they do and the commitment. I'm a veteran of the Cold War. So I was I was just talking about how we, you know, we sign that document. We make that oath to have the nation's six to be willing to lay down our lives.

And you have captured one of the most iconic pieces of that statement. In I mean, you know, I just I mean, in the in the cell and this is, you know, an unknown soldier, obviously. I mean, this is also about selflessness and laying down one's life for their brother.

It is. And I feel like an imperfect messenger for this because I'm a civilian and I came of age during the Vietnam generation. And the idea of joining the military then or being part of the military was anathema to me. I was not even close to my radar and my point of view on the American military at that time. You know, as I've said before, was skeptical at best.

But, you know, I've grown up and as I've grown up, I've met people from all over the country and traveled and lived in Europe for a time. And I know that the American military is maybe the greatest force for good that the world has ever seen. Oh, God bless you. But it's true. No, it is true. And that's what I tried to tell people. And I'm like, look, you don't understand how much effort has been made by enemies of our nation to besmirch what you just said and make people think the exact opposite.

The UCMJ was the highest, the absolute. I mean, that's why Lieutenant Colonel Scheller said what he said, because and I don't want to make I mean, this is not about that. But but but it's just it's about what you just said, that there is a the United States military and and veterans should be should be honored because of what you just said.

Look, and I'm not naive and nor are you. It's a big institution and we're a big country. And to think that you're going to not have problems in a big country or a big institution is the thinking of a four year old. But if you look at it as an adult on balance, I mean, the Unknown Soldier was from World War One. That was not our fight. You know, our borders were were not under threat.

There were no ICBMs there. And yet we committed to go help our allies. And we lost one hundred thousand soldiers. Plus, many never came home. They're buried. They're buried in Europe and many were unknown. So I'm trying to impart that message to young people by talking about the selfless service of the unknown and then the selfless service of the tomb guards. And that is something, isn't it? I mean, you know, everybody everybody, you know, talks about the guards at Buckingham Palace. Right.

You know, you know, people would, you know, go up, you know, and what have you. But these guys, 21 steps turn, 21 more steps. And it's not just for like 10 minutes. No, it's not. It's not first. And remember, these are guys and gals. Yeah, we've had I think five.

I did a program yesterday that was broadcast on Facebook Live and tens of thousands of school kids watched it, which is incredibly gratifying. The tomb guard who was on with me was Sergeant First Class Chelsea Porterfield, sergeant of the guard, you know, and they are out there counting 21, which is our highest honor. And it dates all the way back to the Middle Ages. You know, had 21 emerged as a sign of peace and respect for the unknown soldiers in all kinds of weather. I mean, Chelsea said yesterday, her favorite time to be out there was when rain was pounding. The worst weather was when it was most meaningful. Right.

And when there was no one on the plaza to watch her because that wasn't what it was about. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's it's it's doing the right thing when no one's looking. Yeah, that's the true measure, isn't it?

Yeah. But I think I think kids also get this. I mean, they may not when I start when I start to read this book in school.

Many kids. And once you get away from military areas like San Diego or Eastern North Carolina, they are zero on Arlington National Cemetery. They know nothing. And they know nothing about the tomb of the unknown. But I can't blame them.

No one's talked to them. So I'm there, you know, and I and I, you know, and I start to read and I tell the book in first person, you know, we start with like, I am an unknown. I was one of many. We fell for the last time in the Argonne Forest. That's some fellow would face down in trenches, face up on hillsides. He fell a thousand waves. OK, that's my opening.

By the time I get to a thousand waves, they are right there with me because. The unknown soldiers unknown. We don't know what state he's from. We don't know whether he is Christian, Jewish, nothing black, white, Latino.

It doesn't matter, because in his anonymity, he belongs to all of us. Yeah. And that was the message. I mean, that was.

Yeah. And I mean, but that was even the message of the of the of the of the reason why this was done to begin with was to recognize because we united. We didn't necessarily unite around war, although we did, because why? We fought because we recognized that the things that we valued, the things that we consider to be significantly important to everyone. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. Those things were under assault.

Your friends overseas said, listen, we know it hasn't come to your shores, but we're pretty sure that if if it if it doesn't get stopped here, it's coming. Well, you know, you could argue and argue well that World War One was the time when America became a world power with a world mission. You know, I I believe different peoples have different missions. I'm Jewish. And, you know, there's a certain mission for the Jewish people.

Sure. The mission of the United States is freedom and liberty. That's what we are best at. And that is what we are there to share and protect. The French are all about beauty.

You know, the Germans are precision in technology. The Russians are meaning through literature. We freedom is ours. And this book that you have written and this day that we are taking time out is to honor those living because we have Memorial Day. But we also honor those. We honor the.

The symbolism and the persons of what this unknown soldier. Tomb and Arlington and and these vestiges of our history are really about you're making a very important point and a very important distinction, and it's quite astute because Memorial Day Memorial Day is a somber holiday. We are remembering the loss. Veterans Day is a big difference.

You know, it is a holiday from my point of view of honor and respect for living veterans and those who are lost. And I mean, it's sort of like when you go to Arlington itself and you set foot in their place is indescribable because it's not bad. They're right. Right. There's a lot of that. There's 400,000.

Sure. You're mourning people. But it is not a place of status. It's a place of awe. You know, it's a place of being fearful, sort of in the biblical sense of it. Revered.

Yeah, we'll talk more about that. Well, and and and and and being proud of a of a of a spirit of something. This is Adam Mundall with State Air, and we are sponsors of Chosen Generation and Pastor Greg. Sponsoring this program has been a real blessing to our business. And I want to encourage you to join me in sponsoring Chosen Generation and Pastor Greg. Call him today at 830-446-3624.

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I was just going to say, yeah, I imagine you get some hot foot going on. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. And then how do they rotate? So they're on for an hour and then they get how long of a break? It depends on how many people are available.

There are three so-called reliefs that work in sequence. A relief will be on duty for 24 hours and there's a place to sleep in the tomb guard quarters down there and there's a place to eat and they're constantly critiquing one another's performance and then they'll be off and they sort of rotate in sequence there. But as Chelsea made clear yesterday, a 24-hour shift was not a 24-hour shift because you come off, you've got to get your uniform prepped for the next time, there may be training to be done, there may be dignitaries to prepare for and she said that it could easily extend another six or seven hours. And if it's an hour on and so there's usually how many, four, five, six people?

I believe there's six people in a relief. Let's say someone's sick or maybe someone's assigned to some other duty. During summer you may be up there, a half hour you'll come up and you may go right back up. And then they also try to get their advancing trainees up on the mat and they may have challenge quizzes 15 minutes before the shift to see who gets to go up and then you've got to dress. Right, get dressed and then go up there and whether you're on for a half hour or on for an hour.

And think about that, ladies and gentlemen. You're marching and none of that is relaxed. It is a very strident and very disciplined 21 steps turn, 21 steps turn.

Whether it's a half an hour in the swamp heat or it's an hour in the spring or the autumn or the winter, that's still, you've got to be in some great shape to be able to do it. We were talking as we were getting ready to go into that break as well, about the difference between a Memorial Day and a Veterans Day and the sense that you feel there in Arlington on a day like today and you're there. Pride, this gives you a renewed sense of pride about your country. And you're celebrating too, in the sense that you're celebrating these incredible people, veterans, who we just have been through and are in some ways still in the midst of almost 20 straight years of war and wounded individuals coming home, whether it's mentally, physically, emotionally, what have you, but woundedness. And we celebrate these individuals. We love you. We want you to know you matter. You matter, veterans.

Please, please know you matter. And we might talk, I don't know if you talked at all about the suicide issue, but it's a major, major issue. It's a major problem. Major issue. It's a major problem. Twice a year is not enough to pay attention to my humble opinion.

It is something that we should be conscious of at all times. Here's an example. I go in to talk to schools about 21 steps. Here's the first question I ask, and I participate in this. I'm like, if you are in this auditorium with me today and you've got a brother or sister or mother or father who are active duty military or were active duty military, raise your hands. My hand does not go up.

I'm a civilian here and has always been one. And I watch the hands go up. Sometimes in a place like Eastern North Carolina, 60% of the hands will be raised. Other times, I was at a school here in Arlington on Tuesday, six hands go up. And this is what happens.

The other kids look at those kids with the hands in the air and their jaws drop open because they had no idea at all because no attention is paid. So I'm hopeful that with my book, you know, kids will start to pay attention and it will be part of their consciousness as they go through school and learn more. Well, God bless you for it. Jeffgoddessfeldwriter.com. You can find it there or at Amazon. 21 steps. Buy this. It's a great gift for your kids.