U.S. Navy photo by MC3 (AW) Jesse Awalt A member of the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard stands in front of an empty casket before the graduation of the first ever Navy-wide Funeral Honors Program class at the Marine Corps Reserve Center on Naval Support Facility Anacostia. The program, spearheaded by Vice Adm. Robert Conway, commander Naval Installations Command (CNIC), is being conducted by the Navy Ceremonial Guard throughout the fleet.

The graduation was a display of skills learned during the five-day-long program. Graduates performed a mock-funeral with honors, critiqued by Cmdr. Chris Higginbotham, commanding officer of the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard.

The training program, spearheaded by Commander Naval Installations Command (CNIC), Vice Adm. Robert Conway, is being conducted by the Ceremonial Guard throughout the fleet in an effort to standardize Navy funeral procedures and to ensure that all fallen shipmates are properly honored.

‘‘This is the Navy way as per Navy instruction and Navy tradition,” said Higginbotham. ‘‘It’s what the Navy does and will do around the country in every funeral we perform. It won’t matter if you go to Hawaii or if you go to Minnesota, you will see the same performance, the same ceremony, performed every single time and the same honors rendered.”

Regional representatives who attended the course were able to apply the training to their prior experience with funeral honors and perfect the details.

‘‘I found that every region was pretty much doing their own thing,” said Personnel Specialist 2nd Class Fletcher Stiff, who attended from Naval Operational Support Center (NOSC) Houston. ‘‘Everyone was doing something differently and it kind of brought a perspective to the training.”

Program graduates represented regions from across the country and were tasked to bring the knowledge they absorbed during the course back to their commands and train others.

‘‘I was doing it as close to the right way as I knew how before,” said Storekeeper 2nd Class Anthony Carrigan, Naval Operational Support Center (NOSC) Tampa, Fla. ‘‘Now I’ll be able to go back and tweak it to make it as close to perfect as possible.”

The Ceremonial Guard is now largely responsible for the training and implementation of Navy funeral honors. However, the transition to this standard process is multi-faceted.

‘‘It is being put out through all the regions, through the regional Casualty Assistance Calls Offices (CACO), that there is a requirement now to receive standardization training from the Guard,” said Higginbotham. ‘‘This happens one of two ways: with trainers coming to us (for training); and we are standing up mobile training teams which will travel to all the regions providing this same training throughout the country and throughout the world,” he added.

Though training is now in progress, Higginbotham acknowledges that implementation of standard practices won’t happen overnight.

‘‘The intent is to go to each region twice a year, and it’s incumbent upon the regions to provide the right bodies when we go there so that the right people are trained in the right procedures so that this continues on,” said Higginbotham. ‘‘And, this only lasts as long as you have people who are qualified to continue the training, which is why it never stops,” he added.

Personnel interested in volunteering for funeral honors service should contact their command or regional CACO for more information.