Photo By Samuel King Jr. | Senior Airman Natalie Garcia, 96th Medical Group, checks the fit of her ceremonial cap...... read more read more
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After securing a ceremonial cap’s chrome wing and star insignia, Senior Airman Natalie Garcia, 96th Medical Group, placed the hat on her head to check the fit. She nodded her head to see if the hat moved with the motion. When she raised her head back up, Garcia leaned back in her chair and smiled brightly.
The locked-tight pressure valve of the Honor Guard’s training course, sealed up since April 1, loosened up in Week 4 for Class 25B with graduation on the horizon. Stern faces, downward looks and command voices gave way to conversations and a few more smiles.
The week was marked by repeated graduation practices, featuring a full active-duty honors funeral, punctuated with high points of receiving and preparing new ceremonial guardsman uniforms and hats. Another moment of levity was when the Airmen added metal side plates, known as cheaters, to their dress uniform shoes that adds clicking sounds to their steps and when they bring their heels together.
The smiles and end-in-sight mentality led to a few literal missteps during early graduation run-throughs forcing, class leader, Staff Sgt. Ryan Ranalli, 16th Electronic Warfare Squadron, to call cadence for a short time when the trainees marched together.
“It’s natural for the trainees to relax a bit,” said Airman 1st Class Taylor Mahan, one of Class 25B’s five instructors. “But when they stop meeting our performance expectations, we will respond the same way we have throughout each week of their training month. They will know they aren’t reaching our standard and we’ll refocus them back to the goal of a flawless performance.
The missteps ironed themselves out on Day 19, when the team donned their ceremonial uniforms for the first time for an official formation. Something magical happened when those clicking shiny black shoes, the deep blue of the uniforms and the ceremonial cap came together, removing the individual identity and to focus the team. When Class 25B formed up for an open-ranks inspection of their new uniforms, progress was apparent.
At the end of the inspection, the last step before graduation day, Master Sgt. Robert Joyce, Eglin Honor Guard superintendent, spoke to the class once again about reaching for and achieving perfection. He urged them to strive for that goal the following day.
For Senior Airman Samuel Smith, Class 25B’s head trainer, they got incredibly close.
“They performed above expectations and left me feeling so proud of them and the work the training team put into them,” said Smith, whose Honor Guard tour ended the week after with Class 25B’s graduation. “They came in as individuals and left graduation as a team. They earned the title of Guardsman.”
| Date Taken: | 05.22.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2025 15:26 |
| Story ID: | 498742 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Clickers & cadence blues: Honor Guard training Week 4, by Samuel King Jr., identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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