Photo By Sgt. Benjamin Whitten | Elizabeth Simpson, Chief of Special Events, Ceremonies and Training for Headquarters...... read more read more
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WASHINGTON – Elizabeth Simpson, Chief of Special Events, Ceremonies and Training for Headquarters Department of the Army Protocol, recently delivered a Protocol 101 presentation at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington D.C., Nov. 21, 2024. Protocol 101 is a course designed to educate service members and civilians in charge of event planning on the proper procedures and protocols.
“The importance is getting everyone on the same page, so that ceremonies and flag lines and your seating at a meeting can be standard across the Army,” said Simpson. “We’re using less personal opinions and more standardizations of the right way to do things.”
Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR) is the joint service command charged with planning, coordinating and providing U.S. military support to presidential inaugurations. During the upcoming inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, approximately 5,000 service members from every branch, including active and reserve components, will provide essential ceremonial and operational support for the 60th Presidential Inauguration.
Simpson discussed how ceremonial activities are important for maintaining tradition and the double-edged sword of maintaining responsible resource management at the same time.
“It needs to be, 'Hey, this is the right way to do it. This is the most cost-efficient way to do it for the Army,’” said Simpson, “but it still rings true for tradition.”
Since 1789, when a military escort and full ceremonial procession including a military contingent of 500 members of the Army, local militia and Revolutionary War veterans escorted the newly elected president to their swearing-in, military support has played an essential role in presidential inaugurations.
Simpson went on to describe the difficulty in balancing adherence to tradition to adapting to a changing world.
“We have to find that delicate balance between, 'Hey, I've been doing this for 30 years, and this is the way we do our flag lines,' as opposed to we don't want everything to be virtual now either,” said Simpson. “We have to find some balance.”
Participation of the armed forces in the time-honored tradition of the presidential inauguration demonstrates the military’s support to the nation’s newly elected commander in chief, reaffirms civilian control of the nation’s military and the peaceful transition of power which celebrates the principles of democracy. As the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region prepares to support the 60th Presidential Inauguration, members of the protocol team were brought in to attend this course.
“This is a team,” said Simpson. “Some of them are completely in protocol, but other are volunteers.”
She went on to say that these types of trainings and presentations need not be reserved for protocol professionals alone.
“I am happy to have anyone join who has anything to do with any ceremony because I think it’s just taken for (granted),” added Simpson. “It's very easy to say, 'Yes, a four-star is higher ranking than a one-star.' That's easy. It's everything else in between that's harder and it's better to understand where we're coming from, that we are basing it on common sense and regulation.”
| Date Taken: | 11.21.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.03.2024 17:15 |
| Story ID: | 486463 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON D.C., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 91 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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