Our friend Tom Cotton, currently serving in Afghanistan, emailed us his thoughts on this article in the Washington Post describing a public ceremony honoring our fallen at Dover Air Force Base:
The article quotes soldiers in my home unit, Charlie Company of The Old Guard, about a ceremony known as the Dignified Transfer. Two quoted soldiers — Sergeant Rhett and Specialist Bowers — and I have conducted the ceremony together. During my assignment at The Old Guard, I have participated in the ceremony around 15 times and I agree completely with Sergeant Rhett: with or without press, rain or shine, cold or heat, day or night, the honors we pay to our fallen are deeply respectful, solemn, and unchanging. Indeed, the article omits other details demonstrating how seriously the military takes the event. Aside from the officer in charge and the Honor Guard, the Army always sends a general to preside at Dover — all in a dedicated Blackhawk helicopter. We drive there in inclement weather, but no matter what, we are always there to give honors to every returning soldier (my team and I once drove 30 hours in advance and stayed overnight to beat an ice storm). Moreover, the Air Force colonel in charge at Dover typically participates, as does his chaplain. And the base works with the great local USO to support the mission with food and beverages (teams sometimes stay for hours awaiting a second airplane because remains always leave Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany on the very first available airplane). The ceremony itself is detailed yet simple in its dignity. As The Old Guard officer in charge, I enter the airplane with an advance team and prepare the transfer cases for the ceremony. As the article explains, we replace any flag with the slightest flaw. For multiple cases — in the hardest days of the surge, we sometimes had 10-20 cases per mission — we preposition all but one on a vertical loader and place the last case in the cargo doorway. The general, chaplain, and Honor Guard then enter the airplane, where the chaplain says the prayer and the Honor Guard moves the last case onto the loader. They then deplane and the loader is lowered, at which time the Honor Guard moves the cases to a large hearse. Salutes are rendered any time a case is moving. When all cases are loaded, the hearse departs and the ceremony quietly concludes. (From there, the military continues to honor its fallen as portrayed in the excellent HBO movie, “Taking Chance.”) I can attest the skill and respectfulness of Sergeant Rhett’s team, which I know they continue to uphold. We should be very proud of them, Charlie Company, and other Old Guard soldiers for performing this physically demanding and emotionally difficult task with the utmost dignity and professionalism. They forge a link in the long chain from the battlefield to the final resting place that fulfills our promise to never leave a buddy behind. The fallen heroes at Dover represent our country’s very best, and they are honored there by our Army’s very best.
