Todays funeral may have been my last on this two month rotation. We have two funerals scheduled before our official end date, but other NCOs will be handling them. I spent some time thinking about volunteering for another rotation, but in the end, my schedule has been too disrupted and my students are grumbling about never seeing me in the classroom. Of course, they don't complain to me, the go around behind my back and may backhanded comments to other MLIs. They have a point, though. I have had plenty of free time that I could have spent in the classroom, but the teaching team leader has an inability to work around my schedule. If I told her that I needed a particular morning off, she would schedule me off the entire day. When I asked her about helping out in the afternoon, she says she forgot what time I needed off and so scheduled me the whole day off. I guess it's a bit difficult to check week old emails... Oh, well, I'll be back in the classroom daily starting on 1 Sep.
Todays funeral was for a retired Army officer. An active duty CPT from our unit came to practice on Tuesday and we talked about the ceremony. He wasn't comfortable with playing too active a role, so we discussed exactly what he would have to do. His thoughts were that since I trained the team and dealt with them regularly, he didn't want to disrupt anything. I told him that was just the way I preferred it, too. We decided that I would handly everything except the presentation of the flag, which was the one duty that he had to perform. We ran through the ceremony once and marked our positions. He was a bit nervous/anxious/I don't know what, so after practicing, we talked it through three more times. I then told him our depart time and assured him that I would take care of all prearrangements with the funeral home and cemetery.
On Thursday, I went down to the funeral home and spoke with the director. They had an odd request and I felt it was best to speak to him face to face. They wanted us to act as pallbearers going into the chapel before the ceremony, leaving the chapel after the ceremony, and also at the grave site. I spoke to him abou the position of the casket and he assured me that they would have the casket loaded the wrong way (the way they always do it). I told him that once we took responsibility for moving the casket, we would move it the proper way at all times, so when we put it back into the vehicle after the chapel ceremony, it would be our way, not his. He agreed that was the way to go. He also asked us to be there at 1000 (even earlier than I planned on arriving).
At Thursday practice, we ran through everything, including unloading the casket while it was facing the wrong way. We did everything once and then the team wiped their weapons down and I dismissed them. They are very experienced and their practices run smoothly so there was no reason to make them stick around. Some members of the oncoming team showed up and they trained the new guys.
This morning, I picked up weapons and drove the van down to the meeting place. Everyone showed up and we left for the cemetery. We arrived at the cemetery at 0950 and we laid everything out at the gravesite. I placed the firing team and the bugler. We then went over the path we would take carrying the casket. The grave site was set right next to a raised wooden platform that was going to make carrying the casket difficult. The people on the left side of the casket would end up about 18 inches higher than the right side as they carried it. We ran through a quick rehearsal and then set the rifles out. Two new guys came along today to see how a real funeral went. I placed them off to the side so they could see everything and gave them instructions to stay with the rifles while we were at the chapel.
We drove back to the chapel. It wasn't really very far, but we wanted to have the van there to get us back to the grave site quickly. At 1020, I made contact with the funeral home personnel. They had already placed the casket inside the chapel. This actually kind of bothered me. Part of the reason they wanted us there so early was to carry the casket in early. Now there was no reason to be there so early. He told us that he thought the chapel ceremony would be over by 1140, so we had more than an hour to sit around and wait. After standing in the heat (and it was very hot today for Pacific Grove - nearly 90 degrees) for about 30 minutes, I moved everyone back into the van and we sat in the air conditioning to keep cool.
At 1120 we lined up outside the chapel and waited. The ceremony ended right about 1140. The team carried the casket to the hearse and we moved back to the van. I had the bugler waiting in the van and she had it ready and running for us. We got over to the grave site with plenty of time to get set up.
The hearse driver pulled up and the team moved the casket to the grave. It was tricky getting it onto the platform, but the team was able to do it without too much trouble. After saluting, I moved over to stand next to the CPT. The minister spoke for a very short time and turned it over to us. I moved forward again and the CPT moved up behind me. We saluted and the firing team performed the rifle salute. Todays salute was the best one they have performed in the two months I've been on the detail. Every movement was in sync and all rifles fired in unison. Only one rifle failed to fire one round, so the sound was impressive.
The entire time we were there, the funeral home personnel failed to point out the next of kin to me. I reminded them twice to let me know, but they never did. Fortunately, I was able to figure out who it was. There were two older women sitting in the front row, one much older than the other. The younger of the two had a balloon that said 'No 1. Dad', so I figured that was the daughter and the older woman was the widow. So, when the team completed folding the flag, I turned to the CPT and handed the flag to him and told him that. He had figured the same way, and it turned out to be correct. He moved off to present the flag and I moved to my position.
A short time later the ceremony ended. I moved off and signaled to the new guys to follow me. The CPT, firing team leader, and the bugler all saw me move off and each made their way to follow. When we got back to the van, I inspected all the weapons to verify that they were clear. We also collected brass and ammo and verified we had the correct amount.
Just before we left, a man came over to us. He introduced himself as a retired Marine COL. He thanked us for being there and told us that we had done a great job. He talked of his friend for a few minutes, letting us know that he had been a hard-charging, crusty old Soldier and he'd have been proud of our work today. He shook hands with every member of the team and thanked each of them. It was a very nice gesture that made the team stand visibly prouder of their work.
We returned to base. I dropped the CPT off near his office and we took the weapons back to the armsroom. We had just missed lunch time at the dining facility, so I told the team that we could all go out to lunch in Pacific Grove if they wanted. We all piled back into the van and we went to Subway. I finally dropped them all off, for what may have been the last time, around 1400 and thanked them all for their hard work and attention to detail.
Well, this has been quite long, so I think I'll leave it here. Sometime next week, maybe, I'll write about this detail as a collective experience.