This is typical of governments, whether a school dept or the Air Force; when their budget demands are not met, they throw a tantrum by cutting the most publicly noticeable item they can. In the case of a school dept, they cut art, books, or chalk instead of cutting the 42 assistant vice principal positions. In the case of the Air Force, they leave their multi-billion dollar boondoggles intact such as the F35, but have no money for a funeral salute. It’s petty and it’s typical of bureaucracies.
Different pools of money, but biofuels at $50+ a gallon and “green” energy mandates to the services don’t help either...it’s not just about airplanes, whether you agree with them or not.
Many, if not all of the USAF Honor Guard are volunteers...they get paid TDY money and their travel is paid for, other than that, I can’t see how there’s a large expense here. I suspect it’s something else...
There are severe manning shortages in the AF and by all appearances, it’s only going to get worse, they’ve gone over the edge PC and folks are leaving in droves.