AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar – On a stage at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, Airmen receive the command to fall in. Instinctively, the Airmen move to form straight lines, from the right, to create a formation. During this evening’s Al Udeid Air Base Honor Guard practice, the Airmen learn how to sharpen their rifle movements. For some of the Airmen, it is their first involvement on an honor guard team.
An honor guard unit is a ceremonial unit that provides funeral, firing party and color details. The primary role of the honor guard units within the U.S. military is to provide funeral honors to fallen military personnel.
“Honor Guard is a group of skilled individuals from the Air Force that provide military funeral honors to veterans, retirees, and active duty Air Force comrades,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. James Pennington, Al Udeid Air Base Honor Guard non-commission officer in charge. “The foundation for our program is bearing and discipline.”
While deployment locations provide opportunities for Airmen to also focus on accomplishing some of their goals, for example earning college credits for a degree or joining a professional organization, for Senior Airman Blake Soule, an individual protective equipment journeyman with the 379th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron, it is an opportunity to serve with the honor guard.
“I just never had a time where it felt like the opportune moment to join the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Air Force Base honor guard,” said Soule. “I was finishing my bachelor’s degree, about to get married, deploying, trying to learn a new part of my job and doing the mission. The time involved just wasn’t something I could commit to, but I felt like being here is a good stepping-off point to get involved.”
The day-to-day operations of a deployed honor guard are different from those of a permanent duty base honor guard.
According to Pennington, joining the honor guard in a deployed location is easier for new members, like Soule. This is due to the primary focus on just the color detail. At non-deployed locations, honor guards are responsible for funerals, firing parties and colors. The time commitment needed to perform these details and learn all aspects of the honor guard is greater.
“Here, the training program will not be as intense,” said Pennington. “The reason is we only have two hours a week with each member. As much as we rotate here, we have to get the members spun up as fast as possible in order to do the color detail.”
On average it takes a new member a month to learn the movements needed to perform a color detail. After the member has a few color detail performances under their belt, a certification process allows a member to become an honor guard trainer and wear the black rope, something Soule looks forward to.
Each member of the honor guard has their own reason for joining. Some join for the tradition or to improve military bearing or as a way to give back. Soule has a few reasons why he wanted to join the Al Udeid Air Base Honor Guard.
“Out here, we get the opportunity of doing dignified transfers of fallen service members and I feel like this is the opportune moment for me to give back and to be a part of that tradition,” said Soule. “Paying them respect and helping to get them home to their families is something that I feel honored to do, so I feel like I need to give it my all.”