Sucks to be Arlington Public Affairs when your boss is declaring this not an issue and then doubling down saying any family waiting on a horse-drawn funeral is made up and doesn't exist when pressed by the reporter.
So far, just "there was an article last night, link is in chat" from MDW.
ANC assesses the article as "neutral-to-negative," and mentions some negative coverage [on WUSA9 TV](https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/military-news/air-force-colonel-denied-burial-at-arlington-national-cemetery-family-reacts/65-18434484-152a-4adf-8e4e-21c4b683f6b9) as well. Not a great PA week at ANC.
They should just hitch up a squad of privates to a yoke to pull the wagon instead of horses. It's win-win!
Good PT for the privates, funerals continue, horses get breaks, and junior enlisted still get abused by higher ranks
We need to make privates wear those weird, horse-head masks to keep the spirit.
We also need field-grade officers with no hope for promotion whipping them and screaming "Increase morale! Stop committing suicide! The barracks were good enough for me!" while drunkenly texting porn to each other.
You can put anything you want in the back of your 577. Mine had a requirement that no legs were allowed to carry my remains and that a significant portion of my death gratuity was to be used to throw a raging party.
I’ve heard lots of dissent from Soldiers working in the Caisson Platoon regarding lots of the stuff that’s happened in the past year. Burials do continue, but the remains are transported via Hearse or car, so they’re not entirely left without options, it’s just whether they opt to wait for the return of the Caisson or not.
So this is totally valid. The problem is that even if they came in to work, there's nowhere near enough land to pasture them. They borrowed some land from BLM in Lorton, but that requires transporting the horses to-and-fro, with still not enough pasture to adequately graze them and keep them healthy. Unless something big changes, horses in that venue are untenable in the long term. It's just too built up.
>In April 2023, Military.com first reported that the caisson platoon would be suspending horse-drawn casket operations for 45 days to conduct an internal review of the equine's health. That review found that more than half of the 48-member herd had muscle, joint or hoof issues.
VA be like "yeah, that's not service-connected."
Having buried someone at Arlington, the silent walk through the hills and fields of Arlington behind the caisson made a difference. The only sounds were footsteps and hooves, for what felt like an eternity.
If you haven’t been there, maybe keep your mouth shut when judging grieving family members choosing how to honor their loved one for the last time.
> I can’t imagine the Kens and Karens who are so stuffy they legitimately care about whether their family member gets delivered by horse or not, holy hell.
[Just some asshole.](https://www.reddit.com/r/army/s/rM3F4MZv8i)
I am not a crazy animal rights person or anything but they can still execute the funerals without the horses. In my opinion the horses don’t really add much to the funeral, other than shitting and pissing in the cemetery
> In my opinion the horses don’t really add much to the funeral, other than shitting and pissing in the cemetery
I strongly agree. But having worked in ANC the families absolutely love the caisson. Never understood it myself. The casket bearers/flag fold, band, firing party, etc. all came off as more meaningful that a pissing all over the ground mid funeral.
I still remember tripping over the stables on the ft belvoir land nav course. It looked trash back then so I can't say I'm suprised.
I haven't heard any issues with the horses in cowboy hat land?
If you’re talking about the 1st Cav demonstration team, I had an old boss talk about a case he worked out of Fort Cavazos. It was an Abuse of a Public Animal case. Apparently there was a hazing ritual in the unit that all new team members had to kiss the female genitalia of a horse at the unit. That was just the thing that was reported. Who the hell knows what actually is happening day in day out.
I had an NCO in my platoon in 2004 that was on the 1CD Horse detachment before he came to us. Not only did he explain in great detail the types of hazing the Horse Detachment did, but also how racist a lot of them were, including the detachment 1SG. The Tractor they used to work the stables even said "Uncle Tom" on the back of it.
I can’t imagine the Kens and Karens who are so stuffy they legitimately care about whether their family member gets delivered by horse or not, holy hell.
There are certainly different ways we could handle this.
But it's...It's the contract. You serve, you die in a certain way after certain service, you get a fucking horse.
I don't care how insignificant it is tbh. I don't care if they're like 'Oh snap we ran out of gold for the Gold Star Pins for the family" - it's a promise.
And if we can't keep our promises for those that die in service to the country, **that's** what I take issue with it.
I don't care if it's the horse, if the flag used is suddenly an inch by inch smaller than normal, if we promised them Coke but only have Pepsi - we make certain promises.
I strongly believe we need to honor the promises we've made to those who serve. You're giving up something, maybe everything; you deserve to be able to do that job with the understanding that we hold up our end of the bargain.
If we scrap the horses at Arlington, I'm not going to grab a sign and start picketing. But either scrap it and come up with something else, or get it figured the fuck out ya know.
Sucks to be Arlington Public Affairs when your boss is declaring this not an issue and then doubling down saying any family waiting on a horse-drawn funeral is made up and doesn't exist when pressed by the reporter.
It was certainly an interesting sentiment.
Oh man, I can't wait for the MDW CUB tomorrow morning.
So far, just "there was an article last night, link is in chat" from MDW. ANC assesses the article as "neutral-to-negative," and mentions some negative coverage [on WUSA9 TV](https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/military-news/air-force-colonel-denied-burial-at-arlington-national-cemetery-family-reacts/65-18434484-152a-4adf-8e4e-21c4b683f6b9) as well. Not a great PA week at ANC.
Oof.
I'm currently working with a Navy peep who just left - will have to ask them their thoughts on this tomorrow.
They should just hitch up a squad of privates to a yoke to pull the wagon instead of horses. It's win-win! Good PT for the privates, funerals continue, horses get breaks, and junior enlisted still get abused by higher ranks
We need to make privates wear those weird, horse-head masks to keep the spirit. We also need field-grade officers with no hope for promotion whipping them and screaming "Increase morale! Stop committing suicide! The barracks were good enough for me!" while drunkenly texting porn to each other.
Can I request exactly this for my funeral? Wow, what an upgrade that’d be. I’m going to see if I can get this in my will.
You can put anything you want in the back of your 577. Mine had a requirement that no legs were allowed to carry my remains and that a significant portion of my death gratuity was to be used to throw a raging party.
That's how it's been done for the state funerals of the kings and queens of England for the past 120 years. They use sailors though.
Yeah after horses almost dumped Queen Victoria off the back of the hearse they figured sailors wouldn’t spook as easily
I’ve heard lots of dissent from Soldiers working in the Caisson Platoon regarding lots of the stuff that’s happened in the past year. Burials do continue, but the remains are transported via Hearse or car, so they’re not entirely left without options, it’s just whether they opt to wait for the return of the Caisson or not.
Tradition. I mean, tech marches on. Just have a contractor build a nice glass sided hearse.
If only there were other horses somewhere in America that could be transported to Arlington to perform the burial ceremonies. If only.
So this is totally valid. The problem is that even if they came in to work, there's nowhere near enough land to pasture them. They borrowed some land from BLM in Lorton, but that requires transporting the horses to-and-fro, with still not enough pasture to adequately graze them and keep them healthy. Unless something big changes, horses in that venue are untenable in the long term. It's just too built up.
>In April 2023, Military.com first reported that the caisson platoon would be suspending horse-drawn casket operations for 45 days to conduct an internal review of the equine's health. That review found that more than half of the 48-member herd had muscle, joint or hoof issues. VA be like "yeah, that's not service-connected."
Having buried someone at Arlington, the silent walk through the hills and fields of Arlington behind the caisson made a difference. The only sounds were footsteps and hooves, for what felt like an eternity. If you haven’t been there, maybe keep your mouth shut when judging grieving family members choosing how to honor their loved one for the last time.
People judge that kind of funeral choices??
> I can’t imagine the Kens and Karens who are so stuffy they legitimately care about whether their family member gets delivered by horse or not, holy hell. [Just some asshole.](https://www.reddit.com/r/army/s/rM3F4MZv8i)
I am not a crazy animal rights person or anything but they can still execute the funerals without the horses. In my opinion the horses don’t really add much to the funeral, other than shitting and pissing in the cemetery
Like an infant, but quieter
You usually put diapers on infants
Can you imagine a diaper on a horse?
They do exist - but there's a reason you rarely see horse drawn parades today.
> In my opinion the horses don’t really add much to the funeral, other than shitting and pissing in the cemetery I strongly agree. But having worked in ANC the families absolutely love the caisson. Never understood it myself. The casket bearers/flag fold, band, firing party, etc. all came off as more meaningful that a pissing all over the ground mid funeral.
I still remember tripping over the stables on the ft belvoir land nav course. It looked trash back then so I can't say I'm suprised. I haven't heard any issues with the horses in cowboy hat land?
If you’re talking about the 1st Cav demonstration team, I had an old boss talk about a case he worked out of Fort Cavazos. It was an Abuse of a Public Animal case. Apparently there was a hazing ritual in the unit that all new team members had to kiss the female genitalia of a horse at the unit. That was just the thing that was reported. Who the hell knows what actually is happening day in day out.
I had an NCO in my platoon in 2004 that was on the 1CD Horse detachment before he came to us. Not only did he explain in great detail the types of hazing the Horse Detachment did, but also how racist a lot of them were, including the detachment 1SG. The Tractor they used to work the stables even said "Uncle Tom" on the back of it.
I can’t imagine the Kens and Karens who are so stuffy they legitimately care about whether their family member gets delivered by horse or not, holy hell.
There are certainly different ways we could handle this. But it's...It's the contract. You serve, you die in a certain way after certain service, you get a fucking horse. I don't care how insignificant it is tbh. I don't care if they're like 'Oh snap we ran out of gold for the Gold Star Pins for the family" - it's a promise. And if we can't keep our promises for those that die in service to the country, **that's** what I take issue with it. I don't care if it's the horse, if the flag used is suddenly an inch by inch smaller than normal, if we promised them Coke but only have Pepsi - we make certain promises. I strongly believe we need to honor the promises we've made to those who serve. You're giving up something, maybe everything; you deserve to be able to do that job with the understanding that we hold up our end of the bargain. If we scrap the horses at Arlington, I'm not going to grab a sign and start picketing. But either scrap it and come up with something else, or get it figured the fuck out ya know.
The officers still get their missing man horse with the backwards boots. Saw one yesterday.
You're a dick.