The Presidential Salute Battery (Guns Platoon),[1] an element of the 3rd United States Infantry Regiment, comprises soldiers qualified as MOS 11C (Mortarman).

[3] Activated in 1953, the Presidential Salute Battery is equipped with ten 3-inch Gun M5s which have been mounted on M6 howitzer carriages.

The M5 is a World War II-era anti-tank weapon and the cannons used by the battery trace their linage back to the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

[7][8] The Presidential Salute Battery fires blank artillery rounds packed with a 1 pound powder charge.

[9] The battery is assigned to Arlington National Cemetery for full honor burials of sitting and former presidents of the United States, sitting cabinet secretaries, and military flag officers, as well as wreath-laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknowns .