Guest Blogger Steve Runge served from 1985 through 1988 at Holloman AFB as an Egress troop on the F-15. He now lives in St Louis and works in law enforcement and sports broadcasting. Steve wrote the following post to share why our Nation’s Flag means so much to him and to others like him.
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Updated May 30, 2016
I am proud to have served one year on the United States Air Force Honor Guard Team at Holloman Air Force Base. Although the world was at peace while I was in, we did stay busy laying servicemen to rest for one reason to another.
The team was no joke….we were sharp in every way. Our boots were as shiny as glass, and our uniforms were pressed so well, a pair of pants or a shirt could often stand up on their own. We trained, trained, and trained some more. We rotated from different functions on the team….flag detail, casket detail, or firing party detail…..so we had to be perfect in each role.
We provided full military honors at a lot of funerals, but one funeral always stood out as one I’ll never forget.
We were in El Paso, and the gathering of family and friends was the biggest we had seen.
I was on the casket detail that day, although we were trained on the flag detail or firing party, that was my day to join six other Airmen to carry the casket and fold the flag.
For those who haven’t seen a full honors military funeral….I hope you have the chance to see one.
So, where I was standing, I could see the widow and her kids directly in front of me, about 8 feet away. We brought her husband from the hearse and sat his casket right there. It was sunny and beautiful that day.
After the preacher finished his part, we started ours.
The firing party was off to the right. 7 Airmen holding M-1 Garands, with one Sergeant off to the right. He called the detail to order, and everyone snapped to attention. Then came the orders to raise the rifle, ready the rifle, and fire. Pow….pow…pow……the 21 gun salute went off in perfect syinc.
Sadly, as it usually did, it caught the widow off guard, and she jumped and started crying. Most of the entire gathering jumped as those rifles are pretty loud…..and then they watch in amazement as 7 sharply dressed Airmen in perfect sync fired in perfect harmony. We used to find a tree or a sign off in the distance that we would all aim at, so as we fired our blanks, we were all pointing at the exact same thing.
I recalled the widow making eye contact with me, and I got pretty choked up, which was actually pretty common among all of us.
Then, as soon as the 21 gun salute ended, the Bugler began playing Taps on his trumpet. That day, we had an echo Bugler who was staged about 25 yards away, and he played each note a second or two behind the primary Bugler. It was epic….the best they had ever done, and the family just held each other.
After that, it was our turn. There were six of us at the casket, with a Sergeant at the head of the casket, and a Lieutenant behind him.
We snapped the US Flag off of the casket and pulled it tight so the military style fold could begin. We stretched it, handed the edges across to our team member, and then began the triangle fold all the way to the Sergeant.
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After the flag was folded, the Sergeant takes it in his arms, holding it so preciously like a mother holding a child, and he executes an “about face” where he turns around facing the Lieutenant. Before handing the flag to the LT, the Sergeant from the firing party came over and put three spent shell casings inside the flag.
The Sergeant then slowly passes the flag onto the LT, and then cracks to attention and gives it a slow salute.
The LT then turns and slowly walks over to present the flag to the widow. As he bent over to hand her the flag, she latched on to him and sobbed. It was so sad. We all had tears in our eyes.
The LT has a rehearsed thing to say, but this time we could all hear him break character and really console her from his heart.
When he finally gave her the flag and took a step back, she cuddled up with that flag in her chair like a child.
He took a step back and also gave a slow salute.
Following that, the firing party was dismissed and made it to the bus, then us, then the flag party, which was four Airmen at the head of the casket: two Airman holding rifles, one with the US Flag at attention, and one with the USAF flag.
When we boarded the bus, there wasn’t a dry eye in sight, and we had a pretty somber 80 mile ride back to base.
That’s why the US Flag means so much to servicemen and women, because when all is said and done, the US Flag represents the loss of their loved one, and what he or she died for. Even though during my time, like I said earlier, the world was at peace, it represented their spouse’s time in service…the deployments….the training….the uniforms….the time away………the US Flag represented the life their spouse chose and the sacrifices made on behalf of the USA.
And for every single service member who died during or after their service to this country, each and every one likely has a family who experienced a full military honors funeral, and that’s why the US Flag means so much to them…..and also why the US Flag means so much to me.
Two of Runge’s five children, Tom (L) and Steve (R) currently serve our country in the Air Force.
Steve, who still keeps in touch with many of his Air Force buddies from ‘back in the day’ adds…
“Turned many a wrench for the 7th TFS Bunyaps, 8th TFS Black Sheep, and 9th TFS Iron Knights. Best days of my life.” Sgt. Steve Runge
Holloman AFB
49th CRS
’85-’89
USAF Base Honor Guard Team
’87-’88