Sacred Duty: A Soldier's Tour at Arlington National Cemetery
Written by Tom Cotton
Narrated by Tom Cotton and Jeremy Arthur
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
THEIR DUTY IS SACRED. THEIR STANDARD IS PERFECTION.
An extraordinary journey behind the scenes of Arlington National Cemetery, Senator Tom Cotton’s Sacred Duty offers an intimate and inspiring portrait of “The Old Guard,” the revered U.S. Army unit whose mission is to honor our country’s fallen heroes on the most hallowed ground in America.
Cotton was a platoon leader with the storied 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment—The Old Guard—between combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the height of the Iraq Surge, he carried the flag-draped remains of his fallen comrades off of airplanes at Dover Air Force Base, and he laid them to rest in Arlington’s famed Section 60, “the saddest acre in America.” He also performed hundreds of funerals for veterans of the Greatest Generation, as well as the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
The Old Guard has embodied the ideals of honor and sacrifice across our nation’s history. America’s oldest active-duty regiment, dating back to 1784, The Old Guard conducts daily military-honor funerals on the 624 rolling acres of Arlington, where generations of American heroes rest. Its soldiers hold themselves to the standard of perfection in sweltering heat, frigid cold, and driving rain. Every funeral is a no-fail, zero-defect mission, whether honoring a legendary general or a humble private.
In researching and writing the book, Cotton returned to Arlington and shadowed the regiment’s soldiers, from daily funerals to the state funeral of President George H. W. Bush to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, reliving the honor—and the challenges—of duty at the nation’s “most sacred shrine.”
Part history of The Old Guard, part memoir of Cotton’s time at Arlington, part intimate profile of the today’s soldiers, Sacred Duty is an unforgettable testament to the timeless power of service and sacrifice to our nation.
Tom Cotton
Tom Cotton is a United States Senator from Arkansas and bestselling author of Sacred Duty and Only the Strong. He served in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division and in Afghanistan with a Provincial Reconstruction Team. Between combat tours, he served with the United States Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment (“The Old Guard”) at Arlington National Cemetery. His military decorations include the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Ranger Tab. He served one term in the House of Representatives before election to the Senate. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Tom is married to Anna and they have two sons, Gabriel and Daniel.
Related to Sacred Duty
Related audiobooks
Indestructible: The Unforgettable Memoir of a Marine Hero at the Battle of Iwo Jima Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Modern Warriors: Real Stories from Real Heroes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rifle: Combat Stories from America's Last WWII Veterans, Told Through an M1 Garand Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sergeant York: His Own Life Story and War Diary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Red Blood, Black Sand: Fighting Alongside John Basilone from Boot Camp to Iwo Jima Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Call of Duty: My Life Before, During, and After the Band of Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Were Soldiers Once… and Young: Ia Drang – The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We are Soldiers Still Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pegasus Bridge Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Never Call Me a Hero: A Legendary American Dive-Bomber Pilot Remembers the Battle of Midway Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Staying with My Boys: The Heroic Life of Sgt. John Basilone, USMC Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unknown Valor: A Story of Family, Courage, and Sacrifice from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Three Days at the Brink: Young Readers' Edition: FDR's Daring Gamble to Win World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Luckiest Man: Life with John McCain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boys of Pointe du Hoc Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lightning Down: A World War II Story of Survival Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under This Roof: The White House and the Presidency--21 Presidents, 21 Rooms, 21 Inside Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Speaking for Myself: Faith, Freedom, and the Fight of Our Lives Inside the Trump White House Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Three Days at the Brink: FDR's Daring Gamble to Win World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Price of Valor: The Life of Audie Murphy, America's Most Decorated Hero of World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reagan Diaries Selections Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Watchmaker's Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dirty Tricks Department: Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the Masterminds of World War II Secret Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Templars: The History and the Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Founding Mothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin - Book Summary: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead And Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Sacred Duty
22 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I enjoyed the history of the guard. I also got to visit Arlington. It makes me feel good about country.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Informative and touching! Listened for Memorial day. My life is changed for the better.