Funeral Detail - 5 Apr 2005

Published on April 6, 2005 By chiprj In Blogging

I went home a bit early on Friday, so I missed the email that warned me that there might be a funeral on Tuesday. It wouldn't have mattered if I had gotten the email, there was no information other than there might be a funeral on Tuesday. When I got in on Monday morning, the NCOIC didn't have any more information but told me he'd get it and contact me later. Around 1000 he emailed me the information and instructions to contact the funeral home and confirm everything. He also told me that we'd have a practice later that afternoon. We were expecting the Air Force unit to send us five new Airmen since the trained up crew had all started class. He also told me that he'd work on getting an Air Force officer for the flag presentation because the deceased was a retired Air Force officer.

I called the funeral home and confirmed the request. We would serve as pallbearers at the Presidio Chapel. After the Mass, we would carry the casket back out to the carriage and then go to the cemetery in Monterey for the interment ceremony and military honors.

The practice did not start well. People were late. We couldn't get the keys to our practice casket. It took forever to track down a flag. Our firing team leaders had appointments, so they were late. We finally got the rifles and ran them through some drills by the numbers. After a couple hours the team started to warm up to what they had to do but still didn't feel much confidence in themselves. We released them around 1600 and told them that we'd practice again for a few hours before the actual ceremony.

On Tuesday we met at 1200. The NCOIC told me that he still had not been able to contact the officer that would present the flag, but had received multiple assurances from the civilan from casualty affairs that he would be there. I told the NCOIC that I wanted to run through a few rehearsals with the practice casket and then move down to the chapel. I figured we could practice the rifle drills there. That way, if anyone showed up early, we'd be close by and able to easily react. This proved to be the right thing to do. Just before we loaded up and left, the civilian in charge of casualty affairs showed up and wanted to talk to me. He and the NCOIC have not gotten along very well over the past five weeks. He gave me what could be called nicely a pep talk. What it really turned into was a round about insinuation that the NCOIC didn't really care about this detail and that it was up to me to make sure this funeral went well despite the lack of training the team had. I have my own opinions on where our problems lie, but knew it would do no good to voice them, so I quickly excused myself saying that the only way we'd be able to perform well was if I was with the team, overseeing the practice.

We got down to the chapel around 1230. I had the firing team leader take the team down to Soldier's Field and practice while I went to see the Chaplain's Assistant. I inprocessed here at DLI at the same time as the CA, so I've known him for a bit. He told me that he really didn't have any information. He got word the day before that the chapel would be used for the ceremony but that they weren't tasked to provide any support other than the building. At about 1240, family members arrived. I spent a few minutes speaking with the widow and her daughter and son in law. Her son in law was a Major in the Army and he told me that he and his wife were married in the DLI Chapel. That was one of the reasons they had requested the DLI chapel for the funeral. They also told me that they planned an open casket viewing at 1315, so they asked if we'd be able to serve as pallbearers when the carriage arrived at 1300.

When I went to get the team I was relieved to see a familiar face in the parking lot. The Air Force officer selected to present the flag was none other than the Associate Dean of my school. I've known him since I've been here and is an excellent officer to work with. I also knew why he'd been so hard to contact in his office. He was constantly on the go, taking care of things for the school and is often out of the office doing this. I was relieved that he was there. I haven't had any real problems with officers that have come to funerals in the past, but the young Lt's I've worked with recently seemed really nervous and that makes me nervous. I quickly briefed the Major on his responsibilities at the chapel and told him we'd go over everything else during the church service.

We lined up in front of the chapel. When the carriage arrived, the team carried it into the entrance to the chapel. They placed it on a wheeled cart and the man from the funeral home and I pushed it up to the front of the chapel. Once it was in place, the Major and I saluted and then marched out.

I had the team return to practice. The Major and I went over the details of the ceremony and his responsibilities. The civilian from casualty affairs showed up. I think he was taking personal interest in this ceremony partly because it was here on post, but also because of his low opinion of the NCOIC. I think he figured he'd be on site to make sure he could fix any problems he saw personally. I was only a little annoyed by this.

By the time the service was nearing completion, the team was looking and sounding good with the rifles. I lined them up outside the chapel and we waited for the service to end. When the service was over, the Major and I went back to the front of the chapel and escorted the casket as it was wheeled to the entrance. The team marched in and took the casket out to the carriage. We then marched back to the van and immediately left. I had arranged for a five minute headstart with the funeral director so we'd have time to get set up at the cemetery.

At the cemetery we quickly placed the rifles in position and then lined up the team on the side of the road. I had to make some minor adjustments to the chairs because they were in the path we'd need to take to get the casket to the platform. The civilian from casualty affairs showed up, too. Again I was only mildly annoyed that he was there. If he has such a low opinion of the NCOIC (and such a high one of me, as he told me in the private pep talk), why wouldn't he arrange to attend a funeral he ran instead of mine? He made a nuisance of himself by asking me if I was going to do things that I was plainly going to do (like where I planned to stand, what path we'd take with the casket). Fortunately, this didn't last long as our five minute expired. The team moved the casket to the platform and the Major and I saluted. They marched back to the rifles and we took our position off to the side. The priest spoke for a bit and then turned the ceremony over to us.

The Major and I stood side by side at the head of the casket and saluted. The rifle team fired the salute and they sounded very good. Very minor timing errors made the shots sound just a little popcorny but not bad at all. Just not perfect - which is hard for a well trained team to do anyway. After Taps, the Major and I changed positions so that I was at the head of the casket and he stood behind me. The team marched up and began folding the flag. With the civilian from CA and the two Majors present, I silently prayed the flag would come out OK. It was the same brand that we'd recently seen and had trouble with the first few times we'd folded it. But, the folders were both experienced (the only two on the team that had even practiced more than the day prior) and did a very good job on the flag. I presented it to the Major and saluted. He then presented it to the widow and we both marched to our positions again to wait.

The ceremony ended and I sent the rifle team back to the van. The firing team leader collected the remaining brass and left for the van. I saw the civilian from CA hanging around, so I knew he wanted to talk to me. The Major planned to stay until the family departed. I went to see the civilian and he told me that he was very happy with the ceremony. He noted that the rifle team did an excellent job and asked me to tell them so for him. He gave me a case for the flag and thanked me for getting the team ready on such short notice.

I put the flag in the case for the family and spoke with them for a few more minutes before finally heading back to the van. I told the team that they did an oustanding job and congratulated them on a job well done.

Overall, it was a nice ceremony. The team performed well despite the short notice training and practice. In fact, they did as good a job as any of the prior teams I've worked with that had much more experience. It is truly nice to work with these young service members. Most of them are volunteers and their attitudes reflect that they take this detail seriously and want to be there. That's really the key to getting them trained so quickly - they want to learn and do a good job. It's always a pleasure to work with people with that mind set.

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Comments

drmiler

on Apr 06, 2005

Thank you for sharing this with us. I can't say that everyone appreciated this but as ex-navy I surely did!

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