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Colors: Out in front

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Katherine Windish
  • 11th Wing Public Affairs
BOLLING AIR FORCE BASE, D.C. (AFNS) --  "I still get the chills," said Staff Sgt. Lee Langston, a U.S. Air Force Honor Guard ceremonial guardsman, about entering Arlington National Cemetery, Va. "Even after four years here, there's nothing more humbling."

Sergeant Langston is a part of the colors element, a group of Airmen who carry the national and Air Force flags in military ceremonies as part of an Air Force or joint service colors team. Executing military honors , retirements, promotions, Tomb of the Unknowns ceremonies, state dinners, presidential inaugurations, and ceremonies for fallen Airmen at Arlington National Cemetery, are all part of their duties.

"Honoring our fellow Airmen in Arlington is what we came to the Honor Guard to do and it is a privilege I can't describe," said Senior Airman Christopher Cowell, the Honor Guard colors trainer.

Before earning the right to carry the national and Air Force flags in any military ceremony, colors Airmen must go through intense training. The regimen starts in technical training school with the basics of weight training to cope with the weight of the flag and standing at attention for hours at a time.

Trainees then accustom themselves with weighted flag poles through practices, basic ceremonies, and gradually more high-profile, intricate ceremonies. The colors element has a total of 23 qualifications to be evaluated on before being certified as a element member.

Colors Airmen are called to perform duties in all kinds of weather: extreme temperatures, high winds, snow or rain.

"The flag weighs so much, it could literally blow you away in high winds," said Airman 1st Class Daniel Bennett, an Honor Guard ceremonial guardsman. "I've seen new Airmen without training get dragged backward when the wind catches their flag."

To prepare for this, there are training sessions at the Potomac River waterfront on Bolling Air Force Base.

"We train close to the Potomac when the waves turn white," Sergeant Langston said. "It means the wind gusts are higher, sometimes 40 miles per hour or more. It makes for better training, and prepares you for anything."

Colors Airmen have a responsibility to be experts on all parts of the ceremony. Not only do they carry the American and Air Force flags, but also as the guidon bearers they ensure that other Honor Guard elements -- firing party, body bearers and flight -- are spot-on in their execution of the ceremony. If any member of the ceremony makes a mistake, it is the guidon bearer's responsibility to correct the error and ensure the ceremony continues as smoothly as possible.

"Protocol knowledge is essential to being a colors Airman," said Staff Sgt. Matthew Williams, an Honor Guard ceremonial guardsman. "You have to know each sequence perfectly and be ready for any possible scenario."

Working at places like the White House, the Capitol, the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery constantly puts colors Airmen in the public eye. Events like the presidential inauguration, President Gerald Ford's state funeral, arrivals and state dinners for foreign heads of state put them under the eye of national news channels and show the element's true colors as ambassadors in blue to the American public.

"It's part of our job to represent not only our service, but also our nation," said Staff Sgt. Nathan Farber, an Honor Guard ceremonial guardsman. "As colors team members we are representatives of a collective whole."