ping
Most recent news on the topic (yes, I still read the Sierra Vista news every morning...right after I read the Killeen news...lol) At the link there is a darling picture of a little boy meeting one of the horses up close...the look in his eyes is...wow
http://www.svherald.com/articles/2007/02/15/local_news/news1.txt
Equine conference: Platoon members describe ceremonial responsibilities
BY BILL HESS
Herald/Review
FORT HUACHUCA — Cavalry maneuvers on this old western Army post are far different than what the Caisson Platoon of The Old Guard does in and around the nation’s capital.
The fast, hard riding of cavalry charges done by Fort Huachuca’s B Troop, 4th U. Cavalry Regiment (Memorial) is nothing like the slowly sedate functions of the 3rd Infantry Regiment’s Caisson Platoon. On Wednesday, a few soldiers of The Old Guard watched an 1880s cavalry demonstration at the post’s Wren Area.
They were taking part in the Seventh Annual Army Equine Conference. It’s the first time the event has been held on the fort.
After the display of B Troop’s horsemanship, which included different maneuvers and carbine, pistol and saber charges, members of The Old Guard special platoon and other conferees went into the arena and spoke with B Troop members.
It was a totally different experience for Staff Sgt. Stephen Cava, the platoon’s training noncommissioned officer.
Speaking with B Troop Commander Rod Preuss, Cava was interested in the equipment, arms, tack and uniforms from the 1880s. Preuss explained much of the equipment is a replica of what an 1880s cavalryman used.
While the troop’s horses are U.S. Army mounts, and some equipment is provided by the Army, some items are purchased from eBay, said Preuss, who has the honorary rank as captain in the memorial unit but is a chief warrant officer in the active Reserves.
The Old Guard traces its lineage back to the First American Regiment, which was founded in 1784.
The unit is currently a major participant in ceremonial activities, which includes its soldiers guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
The Caisson Platoon also is an important fixture of the national cemetery, where Cava and more than four dozen soldiers provide part of the final honors for military personnel.
A caisson, which in the days of the horse artillery carried ammunition, is now used to carry caskets through Arlington National Cemetery to a grave site.
During times of state funerals, a caisson also carries the casket, and a riderless horse is part of the ceremony.
The late President Gerald Ford did not have a caisson as part of his corteges.
Cava said there are at least eight funerals a day, Monday through Friday, during which two caisson detachments provide the special honor for the most senior enlisted grade and for officers. For Army and Marine colonels and generals, a riderless horse is also part of the procession, with a cavalryman’s boots backward in the stirrups, the NCO said.
The reason they are provided a riderless horse is that both services had cavalry units. There are four riders with the caisson, which is drawn by six horses.
If there is a riderless horse, a soldier from the Caisson Platoon leads the animal. “I’m almost at 1,000 (burials),” Cava said, noting he has ridden with a caisson about 850 times. The rest involved leading a riderless horse.There are two caissons used at Arlington, one black and the other white.
For most, weekdays the duty starts at 4 a.m. and ends around 6 p.m. Initially, a casket arrives by hearse. It is removed from the vehicle and placed on one of the caissons. After the caisson carrying the casket arrives at the burial site, another team removes the coffin and takes it to the final resting place.
Spit and polish is not all The Old Guard prides itself on. The unit also has been given the honor to provide added dignity to the deceased.
While the Caisson Platoon supports all services, members of America’s armed forces handle graveside honors for their own. The Caisson Platoon has “fifty-one and a half horses,” Cava said, adding one of the animals just foaled.
One could almost tell he would have liked to have gotten on to a B Troop mount and experienced a charge, saber drawn, galloping across the western landscape.
Until he became part of The Old Guard’s Caisson Platoon, Cava said his only horse-riding experience “was once as a Boy Scout in New Jersey.”
herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.