The Durham Bulls in conjunction with the 82nd Airborne recently announced plans for the 236th birthday of the United States Army to be celebrated at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Tuesday, June 14th at the Bulls game against the Norfolk Tides at 7:05pm.
Major Jason Brown from the 82nd Airborne’s Public Affairs office determined the Durham Bulls game to be an ideal fit for the celebration when he began planning earlier this year.
“We wanted to celebrate the birthday of America’s Finest Institution with America’s Favorite Pastime,” Major Brown said, “We’re looking forward to a great night and a fantastic celebration.”
Beginning at around 5:30pm, fans will have the opportunity to explore high tech army equipment positioned on Blackwell St. in front of the team’s box office including…
- An un-manned Arial Vehicle (Shadow) – The Shadow will be set up on a launcher and fans can look through the camera and see what soldiers see when they are flying it.
- An Armored Humvee with a guided missile launcher (TOW) that fans will be able to climb in and look through the sites.
- A Front Line Ambulance that fans can climb in and check out the medical training equipment
- A fully-armed Infantry squad complete with body armor, night vision and real military weaponry. Fans will be able to try on all the equipment.
During the game, fans will have the opportunity to recognize all active and retired military during a special between-inning ceremony followed by the singing of Happy Birthday. Then during the 7th Inning Stretch, the All-American Chorus from Ft. Bragg will perform God Bless America.
“We are honored that our friends at Ft. Bragg selected us for this event,” Durham Bulls General Manager Mike Birling said, “This will be a wonderful night to celebrate with our heroes.”
Active military wishing to attend the game may come for free courtesy of SofSole by showing their active military ID at the box office. Any fan can take advantage of a “Two Tickets for $9” deal courtesy of Whole Foods Market that night at well.
About the Birthday of the U.S. Army…
The June 14 date is when Congress adopted “the American continental army” after reaching a consensus position in The Committee of the Whole. This procedure and the desire for secrecy account for the sparseness of the official journal entries for the day. The record indicates only that Congress undertook to raise ten companies of riflemen, approved an enlistment form for them, and appointed a committee (including Washington and Schuyler) to draft rules and regulations for the government of the army. The delegates’ correspondence, diaries, and subsequent actions make it clear that they really did much more. They also accepted responsibility for the existing New England troops and forces requested for the defense of the various points in New York. The former were believed to total 10,000 men; the latter, both New Yorkers and Connecticut men, another 5,000. READ MORE |
Thanks to DBBC’s Matt DeMargel for this capcom story & graphic.
