Presidential Salute Battery Coffee Mug

The Presidential Salute Battery: Most people never see them: they are the “Ones that are often heard and rarely seen.” The 3d Infantry Salute Guns Platoon is responsible for rendering honors to visiting foreign dignitaries and heads of state at the White House, the Pentagon, and in the Washington D.C., area. The platoon also fires the final salutes during many funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. The guns platoon is the only unit of its kind in the military, and its busy schedule includes more than 300 ceremonies each year. The platoon is equipped with M5s a 3-inch anti-tank gun of WW II vintage. Each gun weighs 5,775 pounds and fires 75mm blank shells. Most ceremonies require a five-man staff and a two-man team for each gun. The two-man team at each gun consists of the loader and the gunner. These soldiers are “indirect-fire infantrymen”