WRIGHT PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Military customs and traditions used today go back hundreds and even thousands of years.

Take the military gathering known as a “Tattoo.” The Air Force Materiel Command Freedom’s Call Tattoo 2010 is scheduled for Friday, June 25, on the grounds of the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

It is the base’s biggest public event of the year, typically drawing 75,000 people, said Dave Egner, director of the Freedom’s Call Tattoo.

This will be the sixth year for an event that recognizes traditions that started thousands of years ago with Persian and Egyptian armies, said John Weber, Air Force Materiel Command historian.

The battles of war are loud and commanders had to figure out ways to signal their units to take actions like retreating, attacking or turning that would be heard. First, it was drums, and then went on to employ bugles, fifes and even bagpipes.

“Using these instruments and this music by themselves or in combinations signaled certain moves or instructions for the soldiers,” Weber said. “In many ways and many times, soldiers drilled to the sounds of different music.”

After a while, hearing a certain musical sound was something soldiers would react to instinctively.

The origin of the Tattoo started in 17th Century Europe when military police would sound musical signals telling tavern owners to close the taps on their kegs and the soldiers were to march back to the barracks.

A Dutch word, “taptoe” emerged, combining the word “tap” meaning faucet and “toe” meaning shut.

“Over time, through the repetition of the word taptoe and with a shift from Dutch to English, the ‘tap’ become ‘tat’ and the ‘toe’ became ‘too,’ ” Weber said.

All this leads to today’s Tattoos, events honoring the military traditions of the past, while at the same time throwing open the doors for civilians to see the events.

“I think it gives the public an appreciation of its military and I think by going through this, the public has gained some satisfaction that their force is ready,” Weber said.

Hundreds of years ago, what the public would see were guns and marching soldiers. Now, at a Tattoo, there are flyovers of high-tech aircraft and more, but they are there to send the same message as centuries ago, Egner said.

“There’s so much technology and so much invention that we do right here in southwestern Ohio that most people just do not understand,” Egner said.

“We put on the Tattoo and, yes, we show the military pomp and circumstance, but it also shows people what Wright Patterson Air Force Base does in 2010 to keep citizens safe from that threat we have out there.”

Another military tradition on display at the Tattoo will be more personal and esoteric: the relationship that allies continue after conflicts.

The United States Air Force Band of Flight will honor Korean War veterans in a one-hour musical presentation with narration that will recall events of the Korean War and honor 850 veterans in attendance, said Dave Thomas, AFMC Freedom’s Call Tattoo operations director. Part of the program also includes the swearing in of new Air Force recruits and honoring a special World War II veteran.

Also attending are military dignitaries from South Korea.

“Once those partnerships and friendships are forged in the very beginning in wartime, that camaraderie and partnership continues.”