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The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is America's shrine to those who have given their lives and identities to their country. The tomb is under a permanent 24 hour Honor Guard of the Third United States Infantry, know as "The Old Guard". Sergeant Heather Lynn Johnsen is the first female to guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. As a junior in high school, Johnsen realized that she wanted to have a career in the U.S. Army after seeing soldiers walking around with their Air Assault and Airborne wings on their uniforms. She knew right then that she wanted to be a part of it. She was into wrestling, sports, and everything her dad liked. Her dad was a cross-country runner, so she was a cross-country runner. All the people she looked up to were male figures. In high school, she was mainly involved in cross-country and track. She also did one season in junior varsity swimming and wrestled her junior year. And, from the time she was a little girl, she wanted to be a cheerleader. The summer before her senior year, she tried out and made the varsity team. She was also the president and editor of her school newspaper. Johnsen graduated from Everton High School in Freemont, California and ,soon after, joined the military. In 1994, she set her sights on becoming a tomb sentinel. That same year, she joined the Third Infantry as a member of the regiment's military police platoon . After serving in "The Old Guard" for one year, she applied to become a tomb sentinel, in June, 1995. She is currently working to finish her associates degree in college.
Training
Sgt. Heather Johnsen's training at the tomb started with an interview and a two-week trial assignment. During those two weeks, she posed back to back, which meant that she would go up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier every other hour, on the hour, when the cemetery closed. Between times, there were dress drills, where she had three minutes to get dressed in full uniform and three minutes to get undressed. Candidates also had to memorize and recite the history of Arlington National Cemetery and Sentinel's Creed during the two-week training. Along with training to learn the procedures of the Tomb Guard, there was intense physical training. If a trainee made a mistake or cursed, he would have to do twenty-one push-ups in front of the Tomb of Unknown Soldier, though this practice has been discontinued recently.
Now that she has permanent orders as a Tomb Guard, Johnsen has a regular schedule for guarding. It is 24-hours on duty, 24-hours off duty, 24-hours on duty, 24-hours off duty, and then four days off. During the four days of on and off duty, the sentinels stay in the guards' quarters, preparing for their next hour of walking. During the four days off, Heather goes to the gym to work out and to school, where she is working on her associates degree.
Interview excerpt
"...some people think of it [the Unknown] like we think of it, but some people don't know what goes into it. But that's all right. As long as the Unknowns are given the highest respect and the highest honor ... you can't break composure. Think of what you're representing. All these [people watching], it could be their son or their daughter ... it could be anybody in there[in the tomb], and they've given up their identities. We can at least give up 18 of our 24 hours or 24 of our 24 hours for them [the Unknown.] ... they gave up their whole identity. Their identity ... imagine that ! We are sitting here and one of us has to give up our identity. I know no one would raise their hands. I mean, that's your whole existence. So when you look at it like that, all the sacrifices aren't that great compared to the sacrifices that the Unknowns gave ... "
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