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(From right to left), Pfc. Michael D. Ortiz of McDonough, Spc. Clay G.Ragsdale of Cedartown and Spc. Nefertiti C. Stokes of Atlanta fold the American Flag during a short ceremony honoring veterans Friday at Oglethorpe National Guard Armory in Ellenwood. All are members of the Georgia National Guard Military Honors, a group that provides full-time military funeral honors to fallen servicemembers. (Photo by Staff Sgt. James Sherrill)
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Members of the Georgia National Guard Military Honor Guard are meticulous about their uniforms – shirts pressed crisp and shoes polished to a mirror shine. Their movements during funeral honors are deliberate and perfectly choreographed to the high standards set at Arlington National Cemetery.
Sharp appearance and discipline aside, this small group of full-time Soldiers’ aim is not to draw attention to themselves, but to render a final professional tribute to fallen service members.
1st Sgt. Bryan K. Hise, military funeral honors director for the Georgia National Guard, said his team of 18 Soldiers has provided honors for more than 70 funerals since inception Oct. 1, and that he plans on supporting as many requests as his group can handle while increasing the number of trained individuals on his team.
Hise said that providing funeral honors is “not a new program” for the Georgia Guard and that Georgia had been supporting military funerals all along, but not full-time and mostly for its own Soldiers and Airmen.
Hise attributes the increase in demand for military funeral honors to the aging generation of World War II and Korean War-era veterans, coupled with the casualties from the conflicts in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He said the Department of Defense and National Guard Bureau saw the need for more teams and pushed for the Guard to create regional military honors units.
“NGB (National Guard Bureau) had noticed that some veterans were not getting the proper honors because of the demand, so they decided to do something about it,” he said.
Hise said the Guard has done so well with honors teams that the states’ National Guard organizations collectively carry out about 80 percent of the military funeral honors mission, providing their services to deceased Guardsmen, Reservists, retirees, veterans and even former service members who only served a short stint in the military but whose family had requested the service.
With the rise in demand for honors, comes the need for highly trained Soldiers to perform the duty. According to Sgt. Rustin Kilburg, an honors team leader with the Georgia Guard, applicants must pass a 40-hour course of instruction and participate in five funerals to qualify as a team member.
The training standards are high – the same for conducting funeral honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Kilburg said not all who apply can withstand the rigid discipline and attention to detail.
“There are people who don’t make it. They have to be disciplined, fit, carry themselves well and perform above their peers,” he said.
“I tell them (team members) to remember they’re performing a service for a fallen veteran.”
Hise said there are three types of military funeral honors - basic honors, consisting of a three-Soldier team; the ceremonial rifle volley, consisting of a seven-Soldier team; and full honors with a 21-Soldier team, complete with 21-gun salute.
He said the level of the ceremony depends on the fallen Soldiers level of service and availability of the Honor Guard members at the time of the funeral.
At the moment, Hise said his group is capable of doing honors with three and seven-Soldier teams, but hopes to grow in numbers of trained members in the coming months.
“We’re infants in this program but we’re moving along, we’re still crawling,” Hise said.
Still, he said, his Honor Guard members can expect to render honors for more than 250 fallen service members this year.