WEBVTT

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US Army Master Sergeant Gerry Amoury
is charged with coordinating all of the

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military ceremonial support for
the inauguration coming up on January 21st.

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He is a Leawood native and a KU graduate.
He joins us now.

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Sergeant Amoury, good afternoon.
Anything that you want to say to the

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folks here back home?

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Well first of all happy new year to everybody
in Kansas City. I miss Kansas

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City terribly.
I hope everyone's having a great January.

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We're here in DC getting ready for
the inaugural parade which takes place a week

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from yesterday.
It's getting a little chilly outside but

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it's getting very exciting and people are
very, very excited about the upcoming events.

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An exciting time and I'm sure
very busy time for you too.

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What are you doing in these last
few days to get prepared?

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Well right now if I could I'll just tell
you that my first part of my job was to

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help build the parade, military groups and
the civilian groups that were interested

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in participating.
My office, the Band Control Office,

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which is attached to the Joint Task Force
National Capital Region Parade Division,

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we took all the applications from groups
around the country that were interested in

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participating in the parade, we organized
those packets of application, and we

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presented them to the Presidential
Inaugural Committee which is a non-profit

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organization appointed by the President to
organize all activities for the Inaugural Week.

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One the Presidential Inaugural Committee
made the selections then my office was

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tasked with organizing and liaisoning
between the military leadership,

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the leaders of the Presidential Inaugural
Committee, and the groups that were

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selected to participate in the parade.
So right now we're making sure that all

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of the groups that were selected have all
the information they need to make the

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transition from their home areas to the
DC area as smoothly as possible.

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Will we get to see you on inauguration day
or are you going to be kind of more behind

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the scenes?

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I definitely will be behind the scenes.
I'm going to be stationed at the press

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reviewing stand which is right at
Lafayette Park across the street,

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Pennsylvania Avenue, from the presidential
reviewing stand so you will not see me.

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But I'll get to see - I'll have
the best seat in the house.

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It's going to be a fantastic event.
I can't wait.

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It's going to be a lot of fun.

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Big opportunity no doubt.

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When did all the planning begin for this?
I imagine it has taken months to prepare?

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Indeed.
I joined up - just to let you know - my

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primary job is I'm a member of the US Army
Band Pershing's Own which is right across

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the Potomac River at Fort Myer.
I'm a musician in the band.

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I participated in a number of inaugural parades.
As a matter of fact I must tell you [inaudible]

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a bit but my first inaugural event
was President Clinton's second inaugural

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parade so I've done a number of these.

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So when it came to planning for the
parade, getting everything - all the ducks

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in a row rather to get the parade built
I was brought on board for this job in

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mid-August.
And I have a colleague, another member of

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the United States Army Band, Master Sergeant
Lane Shioji and he and I together

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working with the JTF-NCR leadership started
the process of getting the website

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built for applicants who were interested
in participating in the parade.

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So you've obviously got a great seat.
You've been to a few of these inaugurals,

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had a bit role in them in the past,
but there's so much pomp and circumstance,

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so much ceremony involved in these
inaugural parades and ceremonies.

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Do you feel the pressure at all?

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Not really, I must say that we do a lot of
ceremonies in the National Capital Region.

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You get used to a certain amount of that
pressure, it's part of the job, and it's

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part of the excitement.
I would say that if you do your planning

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properly there's no reason to feel pressure.
The whole point of my job and all the

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colleagues that I'm working with throughout
all the services that are

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involved with planning this parade is to
make sure that if we do our jobs right

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then the pressure level will be done and
most importantly that we'll set the stage

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for a really enjoyable time for the
President, for the American public

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watching on television, and for the folks
that are actually participating in the

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parade itself.

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Well everyone back here at home
are sure proud of you.

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Is this something that you pursued or was
this an opportunity that you were selected for?

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I was selected for it by my commander.
It was a great honor, I was thrilled to

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get the call for this.
It's taken me out of my performing duties

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for this five and half months so I miss
playing my trombone with the Army Band but

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I'll be going back to my unit in mid-February
after this is all over.

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But being selected was a tremendous honor
and it's been a great experience,

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I've really enjoyed it.

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Last question—you've been a part of several
of these inaugurals now, what

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is your favorite moment during that
day? There's so much that goes on, can you

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pick a favorite moment or a favorite
time during that day?

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Well if you're talking about my own
personal experience I can tell you the

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first one that strikes me when I think
about all the time is for President

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Clinton's second inaugural.
I was playing with the Herald Trumpets,

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United States Army Herald Trumpets, which
had those long trumpets that you see,

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we have a nice flag of the
army, the Army Band Crest.

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They're beautiful instruments and the
Herald Trumpets are placed on the top,

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the first balcony overlooking the swearing in platform.

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So before the ceremony started we're obviously
in place a long time before the

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ceremony begins and I'm just standing there
with my trumpet and this kid from

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Kansas, Leawood, Kansas and looking out on
the National Mall and seeing hundreds of

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thousands of people all the way back to
the Washington Monument and it's a surreal moment.

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And then I saw all the members of Congress
come in, the President, the Chief

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Justices of the Supreme Court come in,
sit down, shake hands, and watch the ceremony.

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It was just a thrill.
I still can't believe that I got to see

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that so that's a memory that I'll take
with me for the rest of my life.

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It sounds like a seat that only those of
us back here at home would get to watch on

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television or only dream of actually being
able to see and we sure hope that you

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enjoy this inaugural as much as that one too.
Thank you so much, Sergeant, for joining us.

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Thank you, it's been a pleasure talking to you.