Colors

Often as I'm in my kitchen preparing the evening meal I suddenly realize that the cacaphony of children playing in the parking lot outside has been silenced.  I know that if I look out the window I will probably see this...

Have the children all been frozen by an alien's paralyzing ray?  No, it's only sunset and time for "Colors".  This is another part of military life that I was oblivious to before moving here, but the tradition has been going on for a long time.  Every day, the military observes the beginning and ending of the day by sounding Colors, usually loudly over a broadcast system.

All the branches observe this in a different way.  When we had soccer practice on Kadena (an Air Force base) in the fall, life stopped at 5:00pm to stand attention to the national anthem (both American and Japanese).

But here on Lester and on Foster (Marine bases), each day Colors is sounded at a different time - at sunset.  I guess because the Navy is the nation's official keeper of astronomical data, from the positions of various heavenly bodies to the exact moment the sun rises and falls, they observe the actual sunset. 

To prep you for the coming pause, there's a sounding five minutes before sunset.  And then at sunset "Retreat" plays.  During this time all people, military and civilian, are supposed to stand at attention and face the music.  If you're driving on base, you're supposed to stop and wait.  After "Retreat", "Carry On" is sounded and life goes on.

The idea is that you are supposed to pause and give thought to what it means to be in the military and an American and to remember those who sacrificed all...which is really not a bad idea for all of us to do.