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Show IP O Hilltop Times June 17. 2004 Convoy course prepares Airmen for duty in Iraq ' 3 ,V 1 15.1-- 1 ' by James Coburn 37th Training Wing Public Affairs Air Education LACKLAND AFB, Texas (AFPN) and Training Command leaders saw the need for the Basic Combat Convoy Course for Airmen during a visit to Iraq in March, and 37th Training Wing experts here assembled the course in record time. The first platoon of Airmen began the course June 7, training to relieve transportation Airmen currently in Iraq, said Master Sgt. Phil Coolberth, operations superintendent of the 342nd Training Squadron. He designed the three-wee- k course and is its top enlisted leader. A second platoon began its first week of training June 14. truck companies The goal is to have multiple trained over a period, officials said. The training actually lasts five weeks here. The Airmen get about two weeks of integration and training as they go through the course, said. Coolberth Sergeant subject-matte- r Forty-on- e experts from here, F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.; Altus AFB, Okla.; and Air Force medical detachments nationwide serve as instructors. They are scheduled to work seven days a week, 18 hours a day during the course, said 1st Lt. Leo Martin, course commander from the 342nd TRS. The instructors will return to their regular jobs afterward. "But it's not about us," Sergeant Coolberth said. He said the true heroes are the current battlefield Airmen who are supporting Soldiers as they drive trucks and man automatic weapons mounted machine guns and on either cargo trucks or Humvees to run supply convoys "down mean streets, highways and byways of Iraq." "We are honored to even be considered to provide combat training for them," Sergeant Coolberth said. Gen. Donald G. Cook, AETC commander, and Maj. Gen. John F. Regni, 2nd Air Force commander, went to Iraq and "visited with these Air Force truck companies," Sergeant Coolberth said. "They identified the need to train (transportation) battlefield Airmen, and they thought there was no better place to do that than where battlefield Airmen are trained, and that's here at Lackland." Before the course began here, transportation Airmen went three-platoo- n 13-we- seven-days-a-we- onward-moveme- nt er M-24- 9 through basic convoy training at several Army posts, Photo by James Coburn Staff Sgt. Scott Grant, right, teaches Senior Airman Jeffery Salonga to use an 4 carbine during a Basic Combat Convoy Course at Lackland AFB, Texas. Sergeant Grant was helping students sight in the "red dot" aiming optics of their new rifles. He is a course instructor and Is assigned to the 342nd Training Squadron. M-- then additional training in Kuwait, Sergeant Coolberth said. Airmen completing the course here also will receive advanced training in Kuwait. The first week of the course is here, where the Airmen receive intelligence briefings and live-fir- e training on the M-carbine, Lieutenant Martin said. They also receive combat simulator training and some initial vehicle training before going to nearby Camp Bullis for two weeks of weapons tactics and maneuver training. Instruction includes multiple weapons systems and qua4 cial operator on a horse calling in a 2 Stratofortress strike," said Sergeant Coolberth, who just returned from a month-lontrip to Iraq along with two other instructors. "(The transportation Airmen) are involved in combat every single day, and they were former dispatchers and shuttle bus drivers on any Air Force base you can name." Sergeant Coolberth, who went on two convoys without incident, said the Airmen have traveled "well over a quar- B-5- g miles on the road" without an Airman being killed in action. "I met two (injured troops) over there who are recoverlifications, specific Army communications systems, Global Positioning System navigation tools, combat ing and waiting to get back on the road, and they are Airmen," he said. "They make no bones about it. They're proud skills, tactical-vehicl- e qualifications and heavy emphag sis in small unit leadership and procedures. of being in the Air Force, and they're prouder executing All aspects of the training are encased in combat convoy that combat capability. "(The Airmen) are extremely disciplined with focused operations. d "If there are people out there searching for the perfect awareness," he said. These are troops battlefield Airman, it doesn't necessarily have to be a spe who have a rough job." life-sav- ter-milli- er troop-leadin- combat-hardene- Military funeral customs reflect history, tradition by John D. Banusiewicz American Forces Press Service When President John WASHINGTON Kennedy was assassinated more than 40 years ago, television was able to bring the nation together in mourning as it had never F. been brought together before. For the first time on such a scale, people could see history as it unfolded without having to be there themselves. For anyone who 1963, the memories experienced Nov. of the sights and sounds remain vivid. Now, with exponentially more advanced technology bringing Americans more intimately and clearly into the national observance of former President Ronald Reagan's death, no detail went undocumented and no distance separated observers from participants. And among the memories of the unprecedented week were the customs and rituals of the military honors bestowed upon the fallen commander in chief. Prominent among these is Reagan's casket. The blue field of the flag is placed at the head of the casket, over the left shoulder of the deceased. The custom began in the Napoleonic Wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when a flag was used to cover the dead as they were taken from the battlefield on a caisson. Though all six horses pulling the caisson that bore Reagan's body to the Capitol were saddled, the three on the left side had riders, while the three on the right did not. That custom evolved from the days when horse-draw- n caissons were the primary means of moving artillery ammunition and cannon, and the riderless horses carried provisions. The single riderless horse that followed the caisson with boots reversed in the stirrups is oalled the "caparisoned horse" in reference to its ornamental coverings, which have a detailed protocol all to themselves. By tradition in military funeral honors, a caparisoned horse follows the casket of an Army or Marine Corps officer who was a colonel or above, or the casket of a president, by virtue of having been the nation's military commander in chief. The custom is believed to date back to the time of Genghis Khan, when a horse was sacrificed to serve the fallen warrior in the next world. The caparisoned horse later came to symbolize a warrior who would ride no more. Abraham Lincoln, who was killed in 1865, was the First U.S. president to be honored with a caparisoned horse at his funeral. Graveside military honors include the firing of three volleys each by seven service " ? -i v 22-2- 5, flag-drape- IiI A d Photo by Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyl Members of The Old Guard's 3rd U.S. Infantry Salute Guns Platoon fire a salute on the flightline at Andrews AFB, Md., following the arrival of a hearse car-- , rying former President Ronald Reagan's casket after his state funeral service at the National Cathedral in Washington on June 11. President Reagan was flown to L the nation's Capitol on June 9 following his death June 5. President Reagan's remains were flown to Simi Valley, Calif., for a private sunset burial. 21-g- tlefield custom. The two warring sides would cease hostilities to clear their dead from the battlefield, and the firing of three volleys meant that the dead had been properly cared for and the side was ready to resume the battle. salute traces its roots to the The Anglo-Saxo- n empire, when seven guns constituted a recognized naval salute, as most naval vessels had seven guns. Because gunpowder in those days could be more easily stored on land than at sea, guns on land could fire three rounds for every one that could be fired by a ship at sea. Later, as gunpowder and storage methods other ceremonial gun salutes and military traditions. On the day after the death of the president, a former president or presiden- unless this day falls on a Sunday or holiday, in which case the honor will t-elect rendered the following day the com- formed in the United States in 1812, the song became popular, and it became a favorite of bands at festive events. It evolved to be used as a greeting for important visitors, and evenj tually for the president, though no record,, exists of when it was first put to that use. I The bugle call "Taps" originated in the Civil War with the Army of the Potomac. Union Army Brig. Gen. Daniel Butterfield didn't like the bugle call that signaled soldiers in the camp to put out the lights and go to sleep, and worked out the melody of "Taps" with manders of Army installations with the necessary personnel and material traditionally order that one gun be fired every half hour, beginning at reveille and ending at retreat. On the day of burial, a gun salute traditionally is fired starting at noon at all military installations with the necessary per- his brigade bugler, Pvt. Oliver Wilcox sonnel and material. Guns will be fired at Norton. The call later came into another use intervals. Also on the day of bur- as a figurative call to the sleep of death for salute soldiers. improved, salutes at sea also began using ial, those installations will fire a 21 guns. The United States at first used one one round for each state at five- - secAnother military honor dates back only to round for each state, attaining the ond intervals immediately following lower- the 20th century. The missing-ma- n formasalute by 1818. The nation reduced its salute ing of the flag. tion usually is a formation with to 21 guns in 1841, and formally adopted the The playing of "Ruffles and Flourishes" the No. 3 aircraft either missing or pern salute at the suggestion of the British announces the arrival of a flag officer or forming a pull-u- p maneuver and leaving the in 1875. other dignitary of honor. Drums play the formation to signify a lost comrade in arms. 5 Strike Eagles from the 4th Fighter Wing, Arlington National Cemetery follows an ruffles, and bugles play the flourishes - one "order of arms" protocol to determine the flourish for each star of the flag officer's Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., pernumber of guns to be used in a salute. A pres- rank or as appropriate for the honoree's posi- formed the maneuver in Reagan's honor duror foreign head of state tion or title. Four flourishes is the highest ing the caisson procession to the Capitol ident, is saluted with 21 guns. A vice president, honor. June 9. When played for a president, "Ruffles and prime minister, secretary of defense or secReagan was buried with full military honmembers. This commonly is confused retary of the Army receives a n salute. Flourishes" is followed by "Hail to the Chief," ors at his presidential library in Simi Valley i with an entirely separate honor, the n Flag officers receive salutes of 11 to 17 guns, which is believed to have been written in Calif., June 11. salute. But the number of individual gun depending on their rank. The rounds are England in 1810 or 1811 by James Sander(Information from Web pages of the Milison for a play by Sir Walter Scott called "The tary District of Washington and firings in both honors evolved the same way. fired one at a time. The three volleys came from an old bat- - A U.S. presidential death also involves Lady of the Lake." The play began to be per National Cemetery was used in thisArlington article.! j 21-gu- n te 50-gu- 21-gu- n n four-aircra- 21-gu- F-1- nt 19-gu- 21-gu- Base Information Ext.7-141- 1 one-minu- ft |