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Santa Clara Vanguard 2024


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1 hour ago, Lance said:

The most interesting post in this thread in a long time.  Thx. 

You're not alone in your SCV Fatigue Syndrome. I only check this thread for the jokes. 

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28 minutes ago, Richard Lesher said:

After posting a few rants I scurried off to one of my additional duties as an Army Reservist, and lead a Military Honor Funeral Detail for a passed veteran.

I do about one of these a week. I have another one tomorrow. I suspect there is a crunch to have these services before the holidays, followed by a lull half way through December, and then slammed again in January. 

I'm that guy that hands the flag to next of kin, and says: "Oh behalf of the President of the United States...."

My drum corps military bearing really comes in helpful here, and I have Vanguard to thank for that. 

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Never had that duty.  But I have had to do casualty notification to next-of-kin.  Absolutely awful but it needs to be done. So you do it.  Fortunately there is a script and you have a chaplain and a medic with you.  

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12 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Never had that duty.  But I have had to do casualty notification to next-of-kin.  Absolutely awful but it needs to be done. So you do it.  Fortunately there is a script and you have a chaplain and a medic with you.  

Never been the military chaplain in that situation but been in hospital chaplain situations like that where some doctor is the one who has to bear the news. I suspect you know this but it's actually a 'best practice' for the one to break the news not to be the one who picks up the support. There's no solid script for the chaplain part of it though.

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20 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Never had that duty.  But I have had to do casualty notification to next-of-kin.  Absolutely awful but it needs to be done. So you do it.  Fortunately there is a script and you have a chaplain and a medic with you.  

As a reservist for me it's not like that. I am doing funerals for Korea and Vietnam era veterans (sometimes WW2). 

If someone passes while on active duty they get the whole 9 yards. 

If someone  some decades later after they were in passes, and next of kin wants gramps to have military honors then I'm that guy. 

So yea, I'm lucky, I'm not passing a flag to a bereaving parent of a 20 something. I'm passing it to a 50 year old child of the deceased. 

*****

What happens is the funeral director will ask the family if the deceased was a veteran and then the funeral director takes care of the rest, and my team and I show up. 

That said............ I was furious once, as the funeral home CHARGED for the flag, when in reality they are supplied for free from the Post Office (with proof of service and death certificate). 

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