Corrections_Today_Spring_2026_Vol.88_No.1

News&Views

A beautiful day for baseball The public address announcer’s voice booms across the sound sys tem: “Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Welcome to Fenway Park America’s Oldest and most Beloved Ballpark. Now presenting our Na tions ‘Colors’, we’d like to welcome the Merrimack County Depart ment of Corrections Honor Guard from Boscawen, New Hampshire.” With the sound of the first note of our National Anthem, we march out onto the field, in perfect unison that within the team you don’t see, you feel. Thousands of fans are signing in unison and, when the last note is played, the eruption of cheers literally made the ground

it meant. We went as a team of four, representing our agency and profession. No friends or family ac companied us to share the moment. As for me, I thought of all we repre sent and reflected on the importance of the moment. How fortunate we are to have had the opportunity and how few get to experience it. I thought of my father, who passed on years ago, my family, and the dream of a small boy. CT

As we march off the field I ask aloud, more to myself than anyone else, “Does it get any better?”

shake. No. They weren’t cheer ing for us. They were cheering the perfect weather for a ballgame, the hometown team and for America. As we march off the field I ask aloud, more to myself than anyone else, “Does it get any better?” Throughout the experience, each had personal feelings of what

Kraig Emery is a Training Sergeant for the Merrimack County Department of Corrections.

Corrections Today | Spring 2026

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