Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska -- Air Force honor guard members from the Mobile Training Team from Anacostia-Bolling Air Force Base visited the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson honor guard from June 19 to 28 for an eight-day training class to establish every base honor guard is doing exactly the same details and ceremonies.
“For a lot of people, [honor guard] is their first and only experience with the military,” said Senior Airman Kolbe Kleinschnitz, JBER honor guard head trainer. “Retirements and funerals are a lot of people’s first and last impressions of the honor guard, and in my case … the first time I saw the honor guard was during my grandfather’s retirement ceremony and I fell in love with it right then and there. It was the main reason why I’m in the military today.”
The honor guard consist of a colors flight, a body bearers flight, training flight, firing party, and drill team to represent the Air Force and preserve its heritage.
The MTT focused their training on perfecting the active-duty funeral, and clarifying details from the manual. For the fairly new honor guard members, these adjustments can be made quickly, but for some veteran members, it has become a task of breaking habits.
“It is too soon to say how much better we’ve gotten,” Kleinschnitz said. “Personally, I learned how to train better and to keep an eye out for the smaller things. It’s only been two weeks of habit-breaking, but in the long run we will definitely change for the better.”
The JBER honor guard class had 26 personnel total; 21 active-duty JBER Airmen, three Eielson Air Force Base active-duty Airmen, and two JBER National Guardsmen. The final lesson was a mock funeral which requires 20 honor guard members to be in sync – a rare ceremony, but equally important as daily details.
After the class, the JBER honor guard is training everyone to be well-rounded and versatile, said Senior Airman Brandon Moore, a relatively new honor guard member. Most members have a specialty and preference, but their goal is for every member to be proficient in all jobs when they are called to do so.
“I like that because the whole purpose of honor guard is to be able to do the same thing at any other base,” Moore said. “Obviously, every base and setup is going to be a little different, but the motions are the same.”
For more information about the JBER honor guard, call the main office at 552-2252 or their training room at 552-0810.