Honor Guard
The Honor Guard Team
The Honor Guard Team gives you a chance to meet a whole new group of people from many different career fields. The team represents a wide range of ranks, primarily from Airman to Technical Sergeant and Second Lieutenant to Captain. Joining the Honor Guard team is a great way to meet people, make new friends, learn discipline, exhibit commitment and proudly represent our military throughout the base and community.
The Air Force Military Funeral Honors
Providing honors to our nation’s heroes is perhaps one of the most rewarding and satisfying acts any of us can perform. The Honor Guard has the awesome responsibility of representing the Air Force, and the United States, as friends and families say their last farewells to loved ones who have proudly served our country. We are often told that our presence was the most important aspect of the ceremony. Join us and help us nobly express our nation’s gratitude to these fallen heroes, and remind their families the importance of the sacrifices they made.
Activities
The Honor Guard does more than just funerals. Not only do they participate in active duty and veteran funerals they also perform color guards at many different activities such as retirements, promotions, changes of command and community events. The Honor Guard helps other squadrons perform for the base reveille and retreat ceremonies,. and have supported several local events such as basketball and hockey games, parades, and weddings.
Training
The initial training to become a member takes an average of five days to complete. That’s four days of one on one practice a few hours in the morning, and then one day to test. After you pass and become a member of the Team Kirtland Honor Guard you will be assigned to a rotating flight and receive additional training during your duty week between details.
Flights
The team is separated into four flights; A -D. This limits the amount of time each member spends away from the duty section. Flights are “on Duty” 1 week, training and working details as needed. When not involved in one of these activities, members return to the parent unit. Next is one week of “standby” to be called if needed to support Duty Flight. The next two weeks are “Downtime” working back in the parent unit. The goal of the rotation is to reduce strain on the member and parent unit, while assuring available members to cover team obligations.
Benefits of joining Honor Guard
- Base Barber Shops - Men’s Free Hair Cut coupons
- Enlisted Club - Credit members with 3 months free dues
- Bowling Center - Three free games of open bowl per week
- Outdoor Recreation - 20% off rental equipment
- Skill development Center – 15% off purchases
- Auto Hobby Shop – 15% engine analysis/1 hour free stall
- Golf Course - Free use of greens
- Quarterly and Annual Award Opportunities to excel
- Base-wide respect
How do I join?
Joining is simple, talk to your supervisor and First Sergeant. Once they give their approval you can call the Honor Guard office, set up a meeting and schedule your week of qualification training. The Honor Guard NCOIC has more information that you and your supervisor may want to review, just call and get the ball rolling.
How do I Request Honor Guard for a Ceremony?
Honor Guard’s main mission is to be readily available to provide funeral honors. Due to schedule fluctuation, we provide colors guards for base and local community events. Please contact the honor guard office to book your event, please keep in mind that the team may need to cancel our participation in your event if a funeral were to be scheduled.
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