GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- The Air Force honor guard is a distinguished presence at ceremonies that honor both the past and present.
It undoubtedly takes bearing, precision and above all, practice to execute the drills and coordinated movements that are a part of storied Air Force moments.
New recruits for the honor guard program at Grissom recently took part in training here at the base to learn the skills they’ll need to perform during veteran funeral ceremonies.
“We had a one-day course and went through different scenarios and things that we might encounter in the real world,” said Master Sgt. Adam Reynolds, 434th Honor Guard program manager. “There’s always obstacles at a cemetery and it’s never the same funeral twice.”
Reynolds said the main goal was to get new honor guard members up and running on the basics so that they can participate in future events as needed.
Participants went over details such as the order of ceremony, flag folding and the playing of taps.
“There’s a lot more to honor guard than that, but that’s probably 90 percent of what we do here,” he said.
While this training was a crash course of sorts, Reynolds said he hopes his team can participate in the quarterly five-day training typically hosted by Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
He added that routine trainings are especially important for reserve honor guard members because they don’t have the opportunity for the daily training or frequent ceremonies that active duty members might have.
“If you don’t do something for three months and show up at funeral, you’re going to forget things and that’s not good,” Reynolds said.
“When you’re out there, you’re going to run into obstacles, he added. “Things might change on the fly so it’s important to have the steps down. “
For questions regarding Grissom’s honor guard contact Reynolds at 765-688-3937.
The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. The Citizen Airmen from the Hoosier Wing routinely deploy around the world in support of the Air Force mission.
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