See you on the high ground
I was notified of the 25 July funeral last week. The 1SG sent an email to all of the NCO's in the company that had been on funeral detail in the past year, telling them that they were tasked. Normally, the regular detail doesn't need help for funerals, but this was an active duty Soldier that died in Iraq. So, this wouldn't be a joint service detail, nor would it be with a crew of inexperienced Soldiers. Of the 15 people tasked, 9 were SSG's and only 3 weren't NCO's.
We got together last Thursday for an initial practice. We first divided the responisiblities up. For normal retiree full honor funerals, the rifle squad will also serve as pall bearers and flag folders, but for an active duty funeral, we make two full squads. We even had a SSG that could play the bugle tagged because the family wanted a live bugle, not a recorded one. I was among the six SSG's picked to serve as pall bearer/flag folder. The remaining Soldiers were put on firing detail. We then broke up into our separate elements and practiced.
One thing we quickly learned was that since we had all served as funeral NCOIC at different times but had rarely actually done the pall bearer or folding job, we had different ideas of how it should go. Every time we discussed how things should be, I took to pointing at each person (including myself) and saying "Chief". Too many chiefs! Before too long, we had it worked out, as well as naming one SSG as the team NCOIC. That sped things up since he made the "final call" every time a point of discussion arose. We practiced pall bearing and flag folding a few times and picked it up real well. We decided that we wouldn't need another practice on Friday, but that we would like to rehearse on Monday when we got to the city where the funeral would take place.
We met Monday at noon and loaded up the two vans. The funeral was in a city about three and a half hours away and was scheduled for 9 AM on Tuesday, so we were going a day early and staying the night there. We had to get a late replacement for one of the pall bearers. He broke his hand playing wallyball after our Thursday practice. We were out of NCO's with experience, but we were able to get a PFC that had been on the detail for nine months while waiting to start class. He was allowed to miss two days of class in order to help support this funeral and it was a great addition to the team, since he had been in more funerals than any of the NCO's on the detail.
The drive out took forever. We had to stop at Ft Ord and replace one of our vans. Apparently, we were given the Commandant's VIP van by accident and it was just to nice for us. We got an old van that had a decent AC, but plastic seats. So our heads were cool and our butts were sweaty. Bleh! Then we had to make a pit stop for the other van that turned into a lunch break for people that hadn't eaten before we left.
We finally got into town around 5 PM and checked into our hotel. Our only plans for the evening were to drive to all the locations and do a walk through. This plan disintigrated upon our arrival. The family had a Rosary scheduled for the evening and everyone our NCOIC had to be in touch with was going to be there. So, he cut us all loose for dinner and told only the two team leaders and the LT to be ready to do a site recon once the Rosary was complete. We actually had a slight scheduling scare as we were told that the CPT that had been there for a week working with the family had expected us to get into our Class A uniforms and be present at the Rosary. This is something we have never done and the NCOIC told her that we would not be attending.
A small group of us, including the NCOIC, decided to eat at the hotel. We had a decent dinner and had a lot of fun reading the itinerary that had been written up by the CPT. There were a lot of things in it that did not make sense or were just plain wrong. I think she had us playing Taps twice, maybe three times. The civilian from our base that is in charge of Casualty Affairs came in at the end of dinner and he told the NCOIC to stand strong and do things right. We also met a SGT, who was the Squad Leader of the Soldier. He had served as the escort all the way from Iraq.
On Tuesday morning we met in the lobby at 0730. Our team had to leave earlier than the other team did since we were pall bearing from the funeral home into the carriage and again from the carriage in to the church. At the funeral home, we waited in the lobby as there were some final prayers and respects paid. The Squad Leader came out along with a couple of friends just as we were about to go in. While I'm not sure of how it is officially, I think when we went in to serve as pall bearers, we were relieving him of his escort duty. He took a moment to grasp each of our shoulders and the emotion in his eyes looked to be a combination of relief and grief.
We had a couple hiccups on pall bearing through out the day, most of which could be blamed on the civilians not being aware of military procedure and setting things up backwards for us. This resulted in us not looking quite right to a keen eye. We barely beat the police escorted motorcade to the church. At the church, we wheeled the casket to the front and sat in the front row on the left, along with all of the other military people in attendance. There were some local National Guardsmen, a local recruiter, the CPT, our LT, the General Officer (overall OIC and he would later present the awards and flag to the family), the Squad Leader, and some other friends from the Soldier's unit (some civilians now but one that had flown in from Iraq for the ceremony). There was also an honor guard from both the Knights of Columbus and the Patriot Guard. We had initially resisted the idea of sitting in the front row. We are there for military honors and while we are normally present during religious ceremonies, we are not part of the ceremonies. But it was the request of the family that we be seated up front, so we did. This was odd for most of the members of the team, though. I was the only one that was Catholic, so most of them were worried they wouldn't know what to do.
At the end of the Mass, the Squad Leader came up to the front and gave a very short speech. He talked about how the Soldier had been a good man and loved his family. One thing of note he mentioned was that the Soldier had always taken to saying "See you on the high ground" when saying good bye to other Soldiers that had passed. He finished his short speech by telling his Soldier that he'd "see him on the high ground".
Then the General got up and talked. He had never met the Soldier, but had taken time to talk to friends and family to learn everything he could. He spoke at length about heroes and what it took to be one and how the Soldier had been a hero. He finished by presenting the awards to the family. The Soldier had earned the Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and the Iraqui Campaign Medal.
We then took the casket out to the carriage and raced the motorcade to the cemetery. By this time, the day had really warmed up and we had hit the predicted high of 110 degrees. The sweat that had started trickling in the morning quickly became free flowing. We had yet another hiccup on pall bearing when the funeral home had arranged the grave so that we would have to lead in with the head of the casket. Military honors require that the feet travel first, so when we took a detour to come in the right way (after we had explained this to the civilian from the funeral home twice) the man said out loud that we were going the wrong way. We got the casket set and marched out to the little bit of shade provided by a small tree. Even in the shade, I could feel my undershirt becomding soaked.
The graveside service was fairly short. When we saw the NCOIC come to the head of the casket and salute, we also saluted. The 21 gun salute fired and Taps was played live. We then marched back up to fold the flag. The folding wen perfectly. The addition of the PFC (ringer) worked out great. The firing team leader brought three shells from the salute to the casket and the flag folding NCOIC put them inside the flag. We then marched off while the NCOIC presented the flag to the LT, who in turn presented it to the General (at least that was the silly plan, I was marching off, so I never saw if the NCOIC took out the unnecessary middle man and presented the flag directly to the General). The General then presented the flag to the parents.
After a few minutes, the NCOIC came to us and told us to meet with the General in five minutes. He wanted to talk to us and review how things had gone. The AAR (After Action Review, a staple of any Army operation) quickly turned in to the General thanking us, telling us we were heroes, and further propagandizing (is that a word?) that made most of us want to get out of the heat and in to the vans all the sooner. He finished up by giving us all coins and sent us on our way. We changed clothes in the conference room at the cemetery and we started the ride home.
This was a long post and mostly just a review of what happened. I'm still working out how I feel about everything involved. I was really worried about doing an active duty funeral, especially for a 21 year old Soldier. I was nearly overcome with emotion twice during the ceremony and I actively fought down the memories of active duty funerals I've attended for friends of mine. But I'm glad I got the oppurtunity to be there.
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