Throughout last week, the MSU Police Department and the East Lansing Fire Department was home to a training school for officers across Michigan to become ceremonial honor guards in their departments.
About 30 police officers and firefighters were trained in basic marching, rifle drills, casket watch and casket movements from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday in Demonstration Hall.
Participants included members of MSU police, East Lansing police, East Lansing Fire Department,
Lansing Fire Department, Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office and Grand Traverse Fire Department.
MSU police Honor Guard Officer Michael Thomas said the primary duty of an honor guard is to give proper honors to fallen police officers and firefighters who died in the line of duty.
“We want to honor them appropriately,” he said.
“They did make quite a sacrifice so everyone else can enjoy their freedom every day.”
Other duties include escorting the U.S. flag at community events, such as parades or sporting events.
On Friday, the guard put a week’s worth of training to the test with a mock funeral service for Sgt. Paul Cole, an officer who died in a car accident in 1996 en route to a domestic assault call. For their final exam, honor guard members performed a practice funeral to memorialize the fallen officer at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, 955 Alton Road, and at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, 2520 W. Willow St., in Lansing, with Cole’s surviving wife, Kathy Cole, in attendance.
East Lansing firefighter paramedic Nathan Gates said participating in the honor guard training was important to him and he was happy with the honor guard’s performance at the memorial service.
“Everything went really well, considering where we started Monday with a group of 30 people who have never (had the opportunity) to work with each other before,” he said.
Aside from ensuring flag laws are respected and honoring fellow officers, Thomas said honor guards provide a way for the public to see police officers and firefighters in a more casual light at the various community events.
“They’re able to see us as people and not just robots, for lack of a better term,”
he said. “People have an opportunity to come up and to talk to us.”
East Lansing police officer Ryan Kuhn said last year, members of the East Lansing Police Department, or ELPD, decided they needed honor guard officers themselves.
“(We want) to represent the police department in city events … and to pay respect at officers’ funerals in more of a formal way,” he said.
Kuhn said the ELPD currently has five honor guard members and was able to send two officers to the training hosted on MSU’s campus.
Reflecting on the week, Gates said despite the long training hours and the large amount of information to digest, he was happy he took the opportunity to volunteer to join the honor guard.
“Everyone I spoke to agreed,” he said. “We all felt like this is something we were all glad
we did.”
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