Story and photos by 2nd Lt. Meghan Drysdale
BEDFORD, MA – From March 17 to 28, 2026, the Massachusetts Army National Guard Honor Guard held a Qualification Course at the Lexington Armory. Soldiers attending the course learn the six soldier casket carry, flag folds, firing party sequences, honorable transfer techniques, and full honors sequences.
The course is instructed by six trainers who spend months preparing for the two week course. From selecting Soldiers, to prepping course material, and adjusting the structure based on the current standard operating procedure.
“The course is very interactive,” said Spc. Angelo Silva, an 88M. motor transport operator, from the 1166 Transportation Company, and a certified Level 2 Honor Guard Trainer. “Us as instructors have to be willing to make all on the spot corrections to show the students how things are supposed to be done properly.”
Trainers are tasked with taking trainees and turning them into qualified honor guard Soldiers.
At the beginning of this course, Soldiers only know about two man casket and urn sequences, along with basic flag folding skills. In this course, Soldiers will learn about the full honors sequence, honorable transfers and color guards. These six instructors in the state of Massachusetts have to ensure by the end of these two weeks, Soldiers are fully caught up. The pass rate of this course is 65%.
The trainers begin their day at 4:30am, run physical training then followed by a full day of instruction. Following dinner, the instructors provide supervised training until 9:00pm or later. Many nights are spent in the uniform maintenance office at Camp Curtis Guild, where students work diligently on restructuring, sewing, and cleaning their uniforms. If they fail uniform inspection, they fail the course.
This course is focused on training for real life scenarios – since no service is exactly the same. “We put all the stress factors into the training aspect, because once we get into the field, we have to have them be ready to do those full honor services in front of the general public,” Said Silva. “There is only one shot. We put all the stressors here, so that when they get out there, they’re comfortable, they’re calm, they’re relaxed, and they have the exposure.”
Soldiers attending this course understand the gravity of the training that they are doing, and how it impacts the public. “There are some pretty rough services – one of our classmates received a flag {at a funeral}, and it really kind of puts that weight into your mind,” said SGT Cole Dennison, Delt Company, 1st Battalion 182nd Infantry Regiment. “Once you’re outside the armory, it has a lot more weight, and that’s a very impactful mission to be on.”
Training is not only about techniques; physical fitness is a major aspect of this course. “I’ve been to different classes with the military, and I feel like this one is a lot of practice, which is needed,” said Specialist Melissa Romeiro, I Co 250th BSB, 181 Infantry Regiment. “I think that the instructors set us up for success, especially with the type of PRT {physical readiness training} and PT we do.”
Instructors direct physical training to be geared towards the mission – casket carries and rifle techniques specifically. The physical training in the morning consists of holding the rifles out with one hand, walking lunges, holding it overhead, and even doing sit ups with them, with many being high intensity interval training circuits.
A new addition to this course is the Caisson Familiarization portion. During this training block, Soldiers are introduced to the two Caisson horses at The National Lancers – Champ and Charlie. It is imperative that Soldiers understand the process of how the Caisson mission differs from typical modified full honors and traditional full honors or honorable transfers. The Caisson unit is only activated when there is either an individual who meets the criteria to be honored with it, or someone “rents” out the Caisson – which can be done on the Mass Guard website, under the Honor Guard section.
Along with teaching Soldiers new techniques and processes, the trainers also have to focus on the training that Soldiers have done in the field before this, along with breaking any bad habits they may have developed between their first Orientation Course and the Qualification Course.
This specific course focuses on repetition – over and over and over again. “I think just honing in on that repetition kind of breaks down their ability to focus on getting the task done,” said Sgt. Dorien Bazmore, Military Funeral Honors Training Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge. “Through repetition, that kind of has wear and tear on them, because it becomes redundant after a while”.
But through repetition, these Soldiers can finally get down the techniques correctly. The Massachusetts Army National Guard Honor Guard trainers ensure all Soldiers are held to the highest standard, which directly translates to the services done graveside.
As the trainers say, “if you start right, you might finish right”!
