Riding through Inaugural Parade Route: An interview with Captain Emter
January 20, 2017
Captain Riley Emter and 14 other soldiers are part of the Commanding General’s Color Guard, who traveled to Washington D.C to be in the 58th Presidential Inauguration. Emter and the other soldiers from Fort Riley, rode the inaugural parade route in honor of the First Infantry division at Fort Riley.
Cora Astin: “What exactly are you guys doing in the presidential inauguration?”
Captain Riley Emter: “So, we will be riding in the presidential inauguration with 14 soldiers. We will have a total of nine quarter horses, two mustangs and two first-round draft horses that will also be pulling an 1871 Army escort wagon. We will be representing the First Infantry Division, as a part of their hundredth anniversary.”
C: “What exactly did you guys do to get prepared for the inauguration?”
E: “To get prepared … it takes a year-long process really. We participate in parades as far as the Chicago Memorial Day parade and other local parades around central and eastern Kansas. So the parade works you get them ready for a formation and dealing with crowds. We do a lot of desensitization training on Fort Riley. Getting them … just general horsemanship with all the riders. So that we will be proficient and capable in dealing with things that appear along the route here.”
C: “Is there anything outstandingly different in your process of getting ready for the parades versus the inauguration?”
E: “No, there really isn’t anything different for the inauguration than normal ones. Just the size and the formation we have varies depending on the parade, for this it’s kind of a typical one. Kind of what we did in the Manhattan Veteran’s Day Parade is very similar to what you’ll see here.”
C: “How are the soldiers and horses chosen for the parade?”
E: “For this parade specifically, we tried to go along with some of the more experienced riders, especially riders who have been in parades before. Some of it has been based on rank, so there are certain people who have to be in the parade like [Specialist Breahna] Maimore, myself, my first sergeant [Jason Therkelsen], the commander and one of my senior nco [Staff Sergeant Jeffrey Fellin] he’s the guide out there. So those guys attend what we do, but outside of that, we really only have so many people we can choose from. It’s kind of a small unit and we have some support staff here as well that are helping.”
C: “How else do you guys get the horses ready?”
E: “When we got out here, we checked their health — that was the first thing we did — and then we got them acclimatized to the area. We gave them a couple days to get used to being here after being on the truck for so long. Then, yesterday we got them all nice and pretty we gave them a bath. Today, we put on their special horse shoes that they will be wearing in the parade, to help them not scuff up the concrete.”
C: “How long did you guys travel for?”
E: “We did two days for the guys driving out here, the majority of us flew. We did a contracted movement with a horse moving company for this trip.”
C: “Is there anything else that I need to know about the inauguration?”
E: “Not really specifically, the most important thing for us, is that it is, for one, an opportunity for us to represent the state of Kansas and a lot of people in the parade are from Kansas. To represent Fort Riley and the Infantry Division and its hundredth year as a division. The opportunity to ride on a national stage and be a part of a historic event. It’s a special privilege and honor for us to do that. When you look at what our division, our division being the first in a hundred years, when you look back at our division at 1917 in World War I we had soldiers training on horses to go fight in Europe. We are being able to train on horses a hundred years later and still represent the Army is a unique experience and something we never thought we would be a part of.”
For more information about the Commanding General’s Color Guard visit:
