Dempsey

Answer this question: When was the last time you saw the United States’ highest-ranking soldier belt his guts out into a microphone? People who attend tomorrow’s Washington Nationals game will get to see such a performance.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be singing the national anthem at Nationals Park tomorrow before the 11:05 a.m. game against the Milwaukee Brewers. Considering it’s a late-morning game on a holiday following a night on which presumably many ticket holders will have partied hard, tomorrow will feature America’s brassiest top brass serenading a bunch of hung over louses.

Yes, given that it’s Independence Day tomorrow, one can hardly be surprised that the Nationals are taking an opportunity to blend inject maximal American pomp into the national past time. But believe it or not—and we didn’t at first—Dempsey kind of has a set of pipes. Here he is singing “The Theme From New York, New York” at a reception in 2010.

For what it’s worth, we could not find any footage of Dempsey’s last two predecessors, Adm. Mike Mullen and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, singing.