from CNN-
Push-button bugle to play taps at military funerals Thursday, September 4, 2003 Posted: 12:50 PM EDT (1650 GMT)
Real buglers like this one are in short supply.
RELATED Military struggles to provide funeral honors
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The Ceremonial Bugle WASHINGTON (AP) -- Chronically short of musicians for military funerals, the Pentagon has approved the use of a push-button bugle that plays taps by itself as the operator holds it to his lips.
Only some 500 buglers are on active duty on any one day, but about
1,800 people with military service die across the country each day and are eligible for honors ceremonies, Air Force Lt. Col. Cynthia Colin, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Thursday.So the Defense Department worked with private industry to invent the "ceremonial bugle," which has a small digital recording device inserted into its bell to play the music.
A member of the honor guard at the funeral simply presses a button on the device. A five-second delay gives the guards time to raise the instrument to their lips as if they are going to play it.
The vast majority of families endorsed its use in a six-month test from November to May in Missouri, where 50 prototypes were distributed to military units and others who provide funeral honors, such as veterans groups, the Pentagon said in a statement Wednesday night.
Based on the test, use of the instrument was approved by Principal Deputy Under Secretary Charles S. Abell. A real bugler still will be used when available. Otherwise, the family of the deceased service member will be offered the ceremonial bugle as an alternative to prerecorded taps, often played on a boom box.
Use of the $500 instrument "is intended to enhance the dignity of military funeral honors," the Pentagon said. Also, it plays "an exceptionally high-quality rendition of taps that is virtually indistinguishable from a live bugler," the Pentagon said.
The military has been struggling for years to cope with its shortage of musicians for funerals. Families of honorably discharged veterans are entitled to a two-person uniformed funeral honor guard, the folding and presentation of the U.S. flag and a rendition of taps.
Congress passed a law that took effect in January 2000 and allows a recorded version of taps using audio equipment if a live horn player is not available. Officials say the push-button bugle is a dignified alternative because the visual effect of a guard playing the instrument is better than taps played on a stereo or compact disc player.