Photo By Senior Airman Elizabeth Figueroa | Logo at the Maxwell-Gunter Honor Guard hangar at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala, Nov.20,...... read more read more
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MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala.---Honoring with dignity every fallen comrade who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, the 42nd Force Support Squadron honor guard is the living representation of Air Force core values and that Airman’s Creed line of “Never leave an Airman behind.”
Maxwell-Gunter honor guard provides military funeral honors for fallen veterans, retirees and active-duty service members, as well as presents colors for eligible promotion ceremonies, retirement and other special events. They are assigned to 57 counties; 54 in Alabama and three in Georgia.
“We have members that volunteer to come join our program and they do a six-month tour,” said Master Sgt. Kiefer Colmer, 42FSS Base honor guard superintendent. “It ranges from military funeral honors to color details, retirements, games, to a lot of things. We are there to be the representation of not only the United States Air Force, but also Maxwell-Gunter base.”
Honor Guard member’s training takes about 312 hours for military funeral honors, two- and six-man’s flag fold, firing party; play the bugle and handing of the flag with 33 words announced to the next of kin. Training also includes presenting colors at promotions and retirements.
“It makes me feel grateful and honored to do honor guard,” said Airman 1st Class Noah Willis, an honor guard member. “It’s a break away from what I typically do, and I think it has more meaning.”
Due to the successes of their training program, 42nd FSS honor guard expanded training to River Region universities ROTC programs to augment their training. They also helped teach Columbus Air Force Base honor guard’s program.
“We taught them every bit of it,” said Colmer. “Their new program manager was so appreciative that we’ve now solidified monthly training to go to Columbus Air Force Base to revamp their whole new program and make it what it should be.”
According to Colmer, honor guard connects with the community in different ways, one of them is when they go out to local schools and provide demonstrations of their job and also provide monthly training to the Civil Air Patrol. This sparks the interest of these young cadets to join the Air Force as they grow older, since a lot of the training experience they got was through the Maxwell honor guard.
“From children in the Child Development Center to elementary school, middle school, high school, junior ROTC to also college, the Maxwell-Gunner Base honor guard has had a footprint on all of it,” Colmer said.
One of the most significant moments for Colmer in the honor guard was during a dignified arrival for an active-duty member, he and his team were taking the member off the plane into the hearse and when Colmer looked up, he realized the entire Birmingham Airport was watching.
“I’m getting goosebumps thinking about it, everyone was watching and we have a mission that you only have one chance to get it right,” Colmer added. “When we talk about sharp, crisp and motionless, we live that. Beig able to do that active-duty member’s funeral, present the flag to the younger daughter and being the representation for this one’s father that mean a lot to me.”
Colmer points out the importance of taking time to have fun, spend time with the team and advise guard members that once they leave the office, to go home and be human.
“Go home, be human, because when we put the uniform on, we’re back to being an Airman,” Colmer said. “The proof is here if everyone’s happy, healthy or having fun, and to have alumni members come back to sacrifice one of their off days, that means we’re doing something right, here at the base honor guard.”
42nd FSS honor guard goals include hiring a non-commissioned officer in charge, ensureing that ammo and rifles allocations are sufficient and continuing with innovative ideas.
| Date Taken: | 12.06.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.06.2024 16:08 |
| Story ID: | 486881 |
| Location: | ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 15 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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