VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. –
Two Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers and two North Carolina Army National Guard Soldiers trained on the basics of military funeral honors during a course hosted by the Virginia National Guard Funeral Honors Program Dec. 9-13, 2024, at the State Military Reservation in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Military Funeral Honors Level 1 training is a five-day course which prepares Soldiers to conduct professional military funeral honors in accordance with service tradition.
“This course is very rewarding,” said Spc. Wercleyson Alves, a North Carolina Army National Guard Soldier assigned to the New Bern-based 694
th Maintenance Company, 113
th Special Troops Battalion, 113
th Sustainment Brigade. “I’m glad they sent me here because I can learn a lot of new things and improve. It’s all about repetition and improvement.”
Alves, a native of Brazil, has been in the Army National Guard for three years. He found out about the funeral honors program from a fellow Soldier and has been a part of the program for a year.
“The challenging part is not physical, it’s mental,” he explained. “It’s keeping your composure for so long.”
“The whole course and the whole group has been great,” said Sgt. Celeste Casillas, assigned to the Hampton-based Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 111th Field Artillery Regiment. “I’m learning a lot of new things as far as performing full honors.”
With only four students, the small class size provided an opportunity for members of the Virginia Guard Funeral Honors Program to participate and gain refresher training as well, according to Staff Sgt Jason Cain, senior instructor for the Virginia National Guard Funeral Honors Program.
It also made it easier to communicate with the classmates and the instructors, according to Cassilas.
“Staff Sgt. Cain takes the program seriously and we can see in his eyes how he loves the program and he makes us have a passion for it too,” Alves said.
Casillas has performed more than 50 services and finds the program really rewarding.
“This is the best part of our career because we get to go and give back to the families for what their family served,” she explained. “My uncle was a first sergeant and I did his service. It was rewarding to give back to my own family for what my great uncle did.”
Begun in January 2007, the Virginia National Guard Military Funeral Honors Program is composed of four teams located throughout the state which provide funeral details, not just to National Guard Soldiers, but to veterans of the active Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard.
They have performed more than 26,000 funeral services throughout the Commonwealth and average 150 services each month.
The Virginia National Guard Military Funeral Honors conducts a 40-hour, Level 1 training course once a quarter throughout the fiscal year with Soldier trainers from Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. Virginia also annually hosts the Level 2 National Training Course and the Level 3 National Recertification Course with Army National Guard Soldiers from around the country.
For more information on the Virginia National Guard Funeral Honors Program please visit
https://va.ng.mil/Programs-Resources/Funeral-Honors/ or call 434-480-2599.