US Army Sentinel Reprimands Defense Secretary at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

A US Army sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery publicly admonished Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday for violating the site's strict decorum rules, an incident that drew global attention to the elite guard unit. The sentinels, members of the 3rd Infantry Regiment known as "The Old Guard," guard the tomb 24 hours a day with a precise ritual of 21 steps and 21-second pauses. Selection is extremely demanding, with a failure rate of about 90%, requiring exacting physical standards, memorization of historical details, and uniform precision measured to 1/64 of an inch. Hegseth later awarded the soldier, Specialist Iglesias, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, praising him on social media. The tomb has been guarded continuously since 1937, and fewer than 750 soldiers have earned the silver Tomb Guard Identification Badge since 1958.