Airmen, Sailors team up to create joint honor guard

  • Published
  • By Maj. Karen Roganov
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  "Colors, ready, cut," echoed in the 77,000 square foot expanse housing the F-35 Lightning II, followed by a "forward harch."

The calls and marching came from Airmen and Sailors executing their first official ceremony as a color guard. After a month of training twice a week, the joint group performed the flag presentation at a 33rd Fighter Wing change of command ceremony, Nov 2.

"I'm proud of them," said their trainer, Air Force Master Sgt. Troy Kiick, of the 33rd Maintenance Squadron, who just completed a three-year tour as the Eglin Honor Guard Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge. "I wouldn't let them do it if they didn't do it well."

With the all-Air Force squadron now being transformed to include a Navy commander and a few incoming Marines, there was a need to have an honor guard reflect the squadron's new joint composition.

Kiick saw the need and offered his services. He asked for volunteers in the maintenance units and received just the right amount of responses. None had prior experience, yet they stepped up from day one, he said.

According to Kiick, a key to their preparation was their ability to retain instruction and take corrective criticism, which usually coincides with a volunteer spirit.

For one Airman, this was a dream fulfilled.

"I always wanted to be in the honor guard," said Airman 1st Class Justin Glover, with the 33rd Maintenance Squadron. He said the training and ceremony gave him a taste for it and he's eager to perform again.

For Petty Officer 2nd Class, James Peters, an aviation ordnanceman, the most challenging thing for him to learn was foot placement.

"We're taught in boot camp to stand at a forty-five degree angle," he said. Instead, the tight formation of an honor guard required keeping the toes together.

He overcame those obstacles quickly, because Peters was chosen to lead and belt out commands to the other five members as well as carry the American flag. He used techniques gained in his prior work environment to carry out his new mission.

Peters said he learned his command voice while directing people and aircraft amidst earsplitting flight line operations and the teamwork finesse from the silent hand signals and other choreography necessary on an even noisier aircraft carrier.

To execute the precision facing, flag and rifle movements, Peters said he drives the calls off the others by watching when the timing is best to give a command. This, along with remembering Kiick's skill-honing expressions made for lock-step movements.

"One-two-three-four," Kiick enunciated loud and slow trying to reduce the excited pace of the members during pre-ceremony practice. "Get your knees up, that will help you."

With the pressure of a first performance and a crowd of co-workers, commanders and community leaders, the team's concentration remained un-jarred as they bowed flags, squared up rifles and pivoted their boots in precision.

After the ceremony, the incoming 33rd Maintenance Squadron Commander, Cmdr. Joel Tessier, praised the team's performance stating they did very well and expressed what they meant to him.

"They represent the joint integration of the entire 33rd Fighter Wing."