16 hours straight in kilts, a long 9/11 day

[OC Richard]

Yesterday I left the house before 5am to pipe at a dawn 9/11 service at a city police headquarters.

Then it was off to a wedding. The bride said that she chose 9/11 as her wedding day because no one would be able to forget her anniversary!
There were many kilties present. I chatted with one guy in kilts and I mentioned X Marks the Scot. He'd not heard of it.

Then lastly off to a twilight 9/11 service in a city park that featured an Army brass band (in camouflage uniform) performing patriotic tunes.

16 hours on the road, hundreds of miles on the car, loads of piping, doing my part to make these services complete, my favourite sort of day.

It's days like that that make me appreciate a good kilt of quality tartan that doesn't wrinkle in the car, comfortable ghillies, and a quality roomy sporran.

And I appreciate my new old pipes, probably made by Lawrie between 1881 and 1908, which I aquired around three weeks ago. They're lovely, have a huge sound, and are surprisingly light on the shoulder.

Here they are:








(That's a new McCallum chanter there.)

[artificer]

What beautiful pipes, OC Richard. I bet they're a treat for the ears as well as the eyes.
It sounds like you gave them a good run to 'blow the carbon out' .

As an aside, I'm always amazed at people's choice of dates (and underlying 'logic') for weddings, planned birthing deliveries, etc.

[longhuntr74]

...that featured an Army brass band (in camouflage uniform)...

[Rant begins] Can I just say how much this irks me. The Army has fallen victim to the trend discussed on Jock's "too much bling" thread...where it was pointed out that as a society...especially in American society...we have down dressed everything!! When I came in the Army back in the 90s, Soldiers wore their dress uniform at least once a month on the first Friday of every month. Class A uniform was also the standard for soldiers traveling anywhere on official orders and it was DEFINITELY the uniform that you wore to a memorial service or funeral. Now, I'm lucky if I put on my Class A uniform once a year...and there have been several years that I haven't. I'm more likely to put on my dress blue uniform for a formal function than I am to wear my service uniform (class As). The Army has justified this by saying that we are an Army at War and we want to portray the human side of the life of a Soldier to the American public...so they actually encourage Soldiers to go out and about in the community wearing their standard, everyday camouflage uniforms. I guess I don't have a problem with showing the public that side of the Army...but I firmly believe that there are certain occasions that require something a tad bit more formal...9/11 observances and memorial services for our fallen brothers (and sisters) in arms would be two of those in my mind!!! [Rant over]

Now on to better topics...it's great that you had such a busy day and were able to pay proper tribute to some great Americans. I also wanted to say that those pipes are absolutely beautiful...what wonderful works of art!!

[dutchy kilted]

Those pipes are a work of art -glad to hear they sound as good as they look.

Thank you for taking your time and using your talents for the memorial services.

[McConnell Mor]

Totally Agree...

[McConnell Mor]

[Rant begins] Can I just say how much this irks me. The Army has fallen victim to the trend discussed on Jock's "too much bling" thread...where it was pointed out that as a society...especially in American society...we have down dressed everything!! When I came in the Army back in the 90s, Soldiers wore their dress uniform at least once a month on the first Friday of every month. Class A uniform was also the standard for soldiers traveling anywhere on official orders and it was DEFINITELY the uniform that you wore to a memorial service or funeral. Now, I'm lucky if I put on my Class A uniform once a year...and there have been several years that I haven't. I'm more likely to put on my dress blue uniform for a formal function than I am to wear my service uniform (class As). The Army has justified this by saying that we are an Army at War and we want to portray the human side of the life of a Soldier to the American public...so they actually encourage Soldiers to go out and about in the community wearing their standard, everyday camouflage uniforms. I guess I don't have a problem with showing the public that side of the Army...but I firmly believe that there are certain occasions that require something a tad bit more formal...9/11 observances and memorial services for our fallen brothers (and sisters) in arms would be two of those in my mind!!! [Rant over]

Now on to better topics...it's great that you had such a busy day and were able to pay proper tribute to some great Americans. I also wanted to say that those pipes are absolutely beautiful...what wonderful works of art!!

Totally Agree. Been ranting about that for 10 Years.

[cessna152towser]

Beautiful set of pipes, and worthwhile playing opportunities.

[xman]

It's days like that that make me appreciate a good kilt of quality tartan that doesn't wrinkle in the car, ...

And which plaid might that be?

Glad to hear you had a good day.

[macshorty]

The Army does not encourage soldiers to wear their uniforms off-post. It's a direct violation of Operational Security. The only time a soldier is allowed to wear their uniform off post, is if they are travelling on official military business (e.g. from basic training to AIT).

[Kornkob]

I'm sorry but I have yet to hear and explanation of how wearing a class A uniform to a wedding (or a funeral or a *insert formal function here*) would compromise the operational security of any ongoing operations.

Sounds like a made up middle management excuse for an ill conceived public relations policy to me.