Ready, Fire, Aim

My husband is a member of the DAV Memorial Honor Guard and this voluntary group of old timers aren’t always in sync when it comes to giving a 21 Gun Salute. Every once in awhile a member will get trigger happy and pull the trigger prematurely, or the opposite can happen. The signal from the ear to the brain to the finger is slow to respond and a round goes off late. Actually there are times when the salute is only a 15 Gun Salute because some member wasn’t on time, or they forgot to show up at all. Thankfully those at the memorial service aren’t able to count the total number of shots that go off.  I have to laugh when I think about how many misfires the Israelites may have had when they marched around Jericho. “The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. But Joshua had commanded the people, ‘Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!’” (Joshua 6:9-10 NIV)