Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
May 5, 2007
Pg. B1
By David K. Randall
A gray Dodge Caravan with government plates stopped in a section of St. Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx on Tuesday and three young soldiers in dress blue uniforms stepped out. Specialist Rebecca Santana, 23, carried a black case holding a ceremonial bugle. Staff Sgt. Noel Rodriguez, 26, and Specialist Ruben Martinez, 23, walked toward a mound of fresh earth amid narrow rows of well-tended graves. The three were there to serve as official Army representatives at the funeral of a World War II veteran.
Sergeant Rodriguez and Specialists Santana and Martinez are members of the Southern Section of the Honor Guard, a division of the New York Army National Guard based at the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx that provides military honors at military funerals in New York City, on Long Island and in southern Westchester County.
The demand for their services is rising: On some days, details of two to seven guards will serve at 30 or more military funerals.
“There is no end in sight for our job, unfortunately,” said Donald Roy, a former master sergeant who is program director for the New York Military Forces Honor Guard, which is responsible for handling military funerals statewide. Military honor guards served at 9,136 funerals in New York State last year with members of the Bronx guard serving at nearly 70 percent of them, Mr. Roy said
In many ways, the Bronx-based Honor Guard, which has 30 members, is a service without politics, without medals and without heroics. Instead, it is part of a solemn ritual that spans generations: On the same day, the Guard may serve at a funeral for a soldier killed in Iraq and at one for a Korean War veteran.
The overwhelming majority of the military funerals, however, are for World War II veterans, a generation that is dying nationwide at the rate of 1,600 per day, according to military estimates. Mr. Roy said the number of funerals for World War II veterans should peak in October 2008. “After that we’ll have a brief slowdown until we reach Korea, and then it will pick back up again,” he said.
One reason for the large volume of work is a 2000 federal law requiring the military to provide at least two soldiers for the funeral of any veteran whose family requests the service. Since the law was enacted, the budget for the statewide program has risen to $5.5 million from $700,000, Mr. Roy said.
For the soldiers who serve in the funeral details, the reasons for joining the Honor Guard vary. For some it is patriotism. For others, it is also a reliable part-time job that pays roughly $40 a day. And for others, it is a way to heal the wounds of a continuing war.
When Staff Sgt. Melchiorre Chiarenza, 37, came back from Baghdad in 2006 after serving with the 69th Infantry Division, commonly known as the Fighting 69th, he could not leave the war behind. He said he saw 19 soldiers killed in action and it was his job to identify their remains. “When I came home, they said I had post-traumatic stress disorder, and I said ‘Yeah, that’s probably right,’ ” he said. “The Honor Guard was therapy for me.”
Specialist Orlando Torres, 28, has served on the Honor Guard for almost four years, and dreams of becoming a military chaplain. “I’m a Christian, and I wanted to put my faith into service,” he said. “I pray a lot to get through this job.”
Before Sgt. Ryan Comstock, 21, joined the Honor Guard, he nearly lost his older brother, Ken, 25, an Army sergeant who was hit in the forehead by shrapnel in 2004 while driving a Humvee in Baghdad. Medics initially thought he would die, but they were able to save him, and he was taken to Germany and then to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where a ceramic plate was inserted in his forehead. All this happened in the same week Sergeant Comstock signed the papers to join the service. Military officials went to his house in Glens Falls and told him that he did not have to join, he said, but he thought not enlisting would let his family and country down.
Partly because of his brother’s experiences, Sergeant Comstock said, funerals for soldiers killed in action are the toughest. “It’s hard when you pick up the casket and feel like there’s nothing inside of it,” he said. “You see their pictures and they don’t look that much older than me, and you see their parents and they don’t look much older than my parents.”
The emotional toll of serving on the Honor Guard is constant, Mr. Roy said. Second Lt. Melvin Rodriguez, 27, said he sometimes finds it hard to maintain eye contact with a dead veteran’s relative when handing over the flag. “You see all of their emotions, and as soon as you start talking, they start crying,” he said.
Sergeant Rodriguez, who is not related to Lieutenant Rodriguez, said he adds a sentence offering his personal condolences to the official script Honor Guard members say when presenting the flag.
Sergeant Comstock said his team members often spend time together outside work. “You have to do things to blow off steam or else you’ll have kids in the mental ward,” he said.
To serve on the Honor Guard, soldiers attend a weeklong training academy in upstate New York where they learn the history of the State Honor Guard, which mirrors the traditions of the Third Infantry Regiment, the unit responsible for funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. Soldiers must also meet with a grief counselor to talk about their role in military funerals and how to cope with their work.
They also learn the rituals of a military funeral. For veterans who died with less than 20 years of service, a three-person team folds a flag draped over the coffin and presents it to the next of kin, and a soldier will sound taps on a ceremonial bugle. For those with 20 years or more of service, four additional soldiers are part of the detail and serve as a gun-salute party. And for soldiers killed on active duty, a detail totaling 22 soldiers will also serve as pallbearers and color guard, and will stand sentry over the coffin during a wake.
On Tuesday night, a team of seven Honor Guard members enacted a mock funeral service inside the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan as part of a presentation for about 100 funeral home directors. Specialist Santana stood at a 45 degree angle to a coffin, faced away from the crowd and sounded taps. Sgt. Comstock and Specialist Torres were part of the gun-salute party, using M-14 rifles. Sergeant Rodriguez and Specialist Martinez folded a flag, and Sergeant Rodriguez handed it to a woman playing the role of next of kin.
Sergeant Rodriguez recited the same words he had said at the funeral earlier in the day at St. Raymond’s Cemetery for the World War II veteran.
“As a representative of the United States Army, it is my high privilege to present you this flag,” he said. “Let it be a symbol of the grateful appreciation our nation feels for the distinguished service rendered to our country and our flag by your loved one.”
May 5, 2007
Pg. B1
By David K. Randall
A gray Dodge Caravan with government plates stopped in a section of St. Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx on Tuesday and three young soldiers in dress blue uniforms stepped out. Specialist Rebecca Santana, 23, carried a black case holding a ceremonial bugle. Staff Sgt. Noel Rodriguez, 26, and Specialist Ruben Martinez, 23, walked toward a mound of fresh earth amid narrow rows of well-tended graves. The three were there to serve as official Army representatives at the funeral of a World War II veteran.
Sergeant Rodriguez and Specialists Santana and Martinez are members of the Southern Section of the Honor Guard, a division of the New York Army National Guard based at the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx that provides military honors at military funerals in New York City, on Long Island and in southern Westchester County.
The demand for their services is rising: On some days, details of two to seven guards will serve at 30 or more military funerals.
“There is no end in sight for our job, unfortunately,” said Donald Roy, a former master sergeant who is program director for the New York Military Forces Honor Guard, which is responsible for handling military funerals statewide. Military honor guards served at 9,136 funerals in New York State last year with members of the Bronx guard serving at nearly 70 percent of them, Mr. Roy said
In many ways, the Bronx-based Honor Guard, which has 30 members, is a service without politics, without medals and without heroics. Instead, it is part of a solemn ritual that spans generations: On the same day, the Guard may serve at a funeral for a soldier killed in Iraq and at one for a Korean War veteran.
The overwhelming majority of the military funerals, however, are for World War II veterans, a generation that is dying nationwide at the rate of 1,600 per day, according to military estimates. Mr. Roy said the number of funerals for World War II veterans should peak in October 2008. “After that we’ll have a brief slowdown until we reach Korea, and then it will pick back up again,” he said.
One reason for the large volume of work is a 2000 federal law requiring the military to provide at least two soldiers for the funeral of any veteran whose family requests the service. Since the law was enacted, the budget for the statewide program has risen to $5.5 million from $700,000, Mr. Roy said.
For the soldiers who serve in the funeral details, the reasons for joining the Honor Guard vary. For some it is patriotism. For others, it is also a reliable part-time job that pays roughly $40 a day. And for others, it is a way to heal the wounds of a continuing war.
When Staff Sgt. Melchiorre Chiarenza, 37, came back from Baghdad in 2006 after serving with the 69th Infantry Division, commonly known as the Fighting 69th, he could not leave the war behind. He said he saw 19 soldiers killed in action and it was his job to identify their remains. “When I came home, they said I had post-traumatic stress disorder, and I said ‘Yeah, that’s probably right,’ ” he said. “The Honor Guard was therapy for me.”
Specialist Orlando Torres, 28, has served on the Honor Guard for almost four years, and dreams of becoming a military chaplain. “I’m a Christian, and I wanted to put my faith into service,” he said. “I pray a lot to get through this job.”
Before Sgt. Ryan Comstock, 21, joined the Honor Guard, he nearly lost his older brother, Ken, 25, an Army sergeant who was hit in the forehead by shrapnel in 2004 while driving a Humvee in Baghdad. Medics initially thought he would die, but they were able to save him, and he was taken to Germany and then to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where a ceramic plate was inserted in his forehead. All this happened in the same week Sergeant Comstock signed the papers to join the service. Military officials went to his house in Glens Falls and told him that he did not have to join, he said, but he thought not enlisting would let his family and country down.
Partly because of his brother’s experiences, Sergeant Comstock said, funerals for soldiers killed in action are the toughest. “It’s hard when you pick up the casket and feel like there’s nothing inside of it,” he said. “You see their pictures and they don’t look that much older than me, and you see their parents and they don’t look much older than my parents.”
The emotional toll of serving on the Honor Guard is constant, Mr. Roy said. Second Lt. Melvin Rodriguez, 27, said he sometimes finds it hard to maintain eye contact with a dead veteran’s relative when handing over the flag. “You see all of their emotions, and as soon as you start talking, they start crying,” he said.
Sergeant Rodriguez, who is not related to Lieutenant Rodriguez, said he adds a sentence offering his personal condolences to the official script Honor Guard members say when presenting the flag.
Sergeant Comstock said his team members often spend time together outside work. “You have to do things to blow off steam or else you’ll have kids in the mental ward,” he said.
To serve on the Honor Guard, soldiers attend a weeklong training academy in upstate New York where they learn the history of the State Honor Guard, which mirrors the traditions of the Third Infantry Regiment, the unit responsible for funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. Soldiers must also meet with a grief counselor to talk about their role in military funerals and how to cope with their work.
They also learn the rituals of a military funeral. For veterans who died with less than 20 years of service, a three-person team folds a flag draped over the coffin and presents it to the next of kin, and a soldier will sound taps on a ceremonial bugle. For those with 20 years or more of service, four additional soldiers are part of the detail and serve as a gun-salute party. And for soldiers killed on active duty, a detail totaling 22 soldiers will also serve as pallbearers and color guard, and will stand sentry over the coffin during a wake.
On Tuesday night, a team of seven Honor Guard members enacted a mock funeral service inside the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan as part of a presentation for about 100 funeral home directors. Specialist Santana stood at a 45 degree angle to a coffin, faced away from the crowd and sounded taps. Sgt. Comstock and Specialist Torres were part of the gun-salute party, using M-14 rifles. Sergeant Rodriguez and Specialist Martinez folded a flag, and Sergeant Rodriguez handed it to a woman playing the role of next of kin.
Sergeant Rodriguez recited the same words he had said at the funeral earlier in the day at St. Raymond’s Cemetery for the World War II veteran.
“As a representative of the United States Army, it is my high privilege to present you this flag,” he said. “Let it be a symbol of the grateful appreciation our nation feels for the distinguished service rendered to our country and our flag by your loved one.”