Corrections_Today_Spring_2026_Vol.88_No.1

News&Views

VIEW FROM THE LINE

MCDOC presenting the colors Red Sox By Kraig Emery A s many growing up in New England, I fell in love with the Boston Red Sox at an

An aerial view of Fenway Park.

early age. I remember being a child of around 4 or 5 and pretending I couldn’t sleep so my father would allow me to sleep on the living room couch. Of course, I conveniently hatched this plan whenever he was watching the Red Sox on TV and, although the condition was that “I kept my head under the covers.” I, with incredible stealth, naturally found a way to peak out. This led to a lifelong bond between father and son, an obsession with baseball, and a strong desire to one-day play for the Red Sox on the hallowed grounds of Fenway Park. This, alas, never came to fruition. Fast forward several decades. As a veteran member of the Merrimack County Department of Corrections Honor Guard, with nearly 19 years in the profession, I have had the distinct honor of organizing team events for the better part of my career. This includes local parades, ceremonies, civic events, law en forcement memorials and funerals. There has also been some of the fun stuff, like marching in the Christmas

Adobe Stock/Felix Mizioznikov

Parade and taking part in pre-game ceremonies for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the AA Minor League Affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays. It took a number of years of several emails and phone calls, but in 2013 our team was invited to Fenway Park to present the ‘Colors’ before a Red Sox game,

and did so twice more before the COVID-19 pandemic. Having been several years since our last appearance, I made it a mission to get our team back out there again this year. Not any small task because, as you can imagine, every Honor/Color Guard in New England is chomping at the bit to

Corrections Today | Spring 2026

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