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I had the most amazing experience on Tuesday night. Not only that, it’s free and open to the public.

Since 1956, the U.S. Marine Drum & Bugle Corps and the Marine Corp Silent Drill Platoon, have been performing during the summer at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington.

My friend Foggy Dew sent out an email last week, asking if anyone would be interested in attending. It ended up being him, me, one of my co-workers, and a few other ladies.

They have special reserved seating in front of the Memorial for VIPs and invited guests, but anyone can sit on the grass, or bring chairs or blankets to sit on.

Here’s the cool part: we had just spread out our blanket to sit on the ground when we were approached by one of the uniformed Marines who was helping with the reserved-seating section. When the reserved seats aren’t full, apparently they’ll go around and ask random people if they’d like to sit in them — which is exactly what happened to us. So instead of sitting on the ground, farther back from where everything was happening on the lawn, me and two other ladies got to sit in the second row of reserved seats, almost smack-dab in front of the Memorial.

It was awesome. The Drum & Bugle Corps played first. And it wasn’t some boring thing where they stood in one place the entire time — it was like those band performances you see at special events, like the Super Bowl, where they play their instruments while weaving around each other and creating different formations, constantly on the move. (And somehow they never collide. I don’t even want to know how many hours it takes to perfect something like that.)

After the band performed, the Silent Drill Platoon arrived. Just like when the band entered the area, the Marines marched out from behind the Iwo Jima Memorial, half on each side, came down the stairs, and met on the lawn in front of the Memorial.

I’d heard of the Silent Drill Platoon before, and I’ve seen them on YouTube, but I’d never seen them in person — so I was very, very excited to see their performance. They’re an extremely specialized group that performs without any music or commands; the training is intense and only the best of the best are chosen to perform.

I wasn’t at all disappointed. Their performance was flawless (at least that I could tell). I even found myself getting all teary-eyed at one point — you know, it was that whole “Wow, these guys make me feel really proud of my country” kind of feeling.

Specifics:

When does this happen? Tuesday evenings, for a few months during the summer. There’s only one more performance this year — next Tuesday night, August 11, from 6:30-7:30pm. If you aren’t able to catch it next week, make sure you do so next year.

How do you get there? You can drive or Metro to Arlington Cemetery and take a free shuttle bus. Or you can do like I did and take Metro to the Rosslyn station, then walk a short distance from there to the Memorial grounds.

[Note: These photos are courtesy of Foggy Dew.]

John McCain arrived just before everything started.

U.S. Marine Drum & Bugle Corps

Silent Drill Platoon

Another shot of the Silent Drill Platoon