US Air Force Pipe Band

**Barb T** · 17th March 11, 07:00 PM

OK - this is proud momma time. Our daughter is now a piper with the US Air Force Pipe Band. She still has her regular job as a research physicist at the Air Force Research Labs, but she does temporary duty assignments with the USAF Pipe Band.

So....today they played at the Capitol in Washington for St. Patrick's Day. Not your average St. Pat's Day gig, though. They piped the President up the steps of the Capitol Building, and then piped him back down again after an event inside the Capitol. Carolyn was Pipe Sergeant, and she is the piper at the very top of the steps in the pic below:

Security personnel cleared the entire area, but we were close enough to be able to hear them play, and Dave took the photo above with a telephoto lens.

The Band also played at the White House tonight for a dinner for the President of Ireland. President Obama and the First Lady shook the hands of every member of the band and thanked them for their service. Carolyn says that they are all still shaking!

Here's another pic taken a few days ago:

For those of you pipers out there, the pipes are unbelievably gorgeous - Naills with engraved gold-plated ferrules and slides. Wow.

Just as a kiltmaking, XMarks kind of side note, the piping community is so small that several of the pipers in the band actually know my book and know of me as a kiltmaker.

**KiltedDixon** · 17th March 11, 07:03 PM

Wonderful pics! Thanks for sharing.

**Spartan Tartan** · 17th March 11, 07:17 PM

What a great experience! Thanks for sharing.

**cessna152towser** · 17th March 11, 07:19 PM

Such a fabulous honour for your daughter to play in such a prestigious location.
Thanks for sharing your pics.

**EagleJCS** · 17th March 11, 07:27 PM

Cool pics. I'm jealous of those pipes!

BTW - is the guy standing behind her at the Capitol holding a phone/camera or a tuner???

**Barb T** · 17th March 11, 07:30 PM

[QUOTE=EagleJCS;963395]is the guy standing behind her at the Capitol holding a phone/camera or a tuner???

[/QUOTE

Wouldn't be a tuner - they were all tuned when they went up the steps. And he isn't anyone associated with the band anyway. He's actually quite a ways behind her - just looks close because of the foreshortening of the telephoto view.

**Downunder Kilt** · 17th March 11, 08:08 PM

What a day for a proud mum and dad, congratulations to your daughter Barb.
One of those days she and you will remember for a lifetime.

**billmcc** · 17th March 11, 08:37 PM

Very cool!!!
I wish I had known how to play the pipes when I was in the USAF.

**Wayne** · 17th March 11, 08:48 PM

Great photos and I'll bet they sounded great. Thanks for sharing this with us. Have a great day or night.

**Morris at Heathfield** · 17th March 11, 11:30 PM

That's a seriously cool job...both of them.

I recently made the decision to join the Air Force...and then found out I was slightly too old, even to go into officer training. Ah, well.

By the way, this is the U.S. Air Force Reserve Pipe Band. Isn't (or wasn't) there also a U.S. Air Force pipe band that wears (or wore) the Mitchell tartan?