Stan M

Good ideas, Fringe and Rubics.

I am currently using the garment bags laid flat. (You can't avoid carrying this stuff in garment bags because it collects so much dust otherwise.)

The back seats of my HHR have been folded down since the day I brought it home, and will probably stay that way forever. If I need to carry passengers I have a '97 Grand Caravan with 7 passenger seating.

All things considered, adding a rod is probably not worthwhile, because the stuff won't hang to its full length anyway. The topcoat and raincoat are durable enough that they don't wrinkle when laid down. And the dress uniform jacket ("blouse," as it's officially called) hangs OK from the stock garment hook.

I was just curious to see whether anyone else had worked this problem.

allman

As a side note, thank you for your service. It is a very important job you perform. I was a Casualty Clerk in the Army at Ft Devans in Mass in the early 70's and had the job of assigning military honors for the New England states and know it can be difficult but fulfilling.

Stan M

Allman - it is a genuine honor, made all the sweeter by the fact that it pays a modest salary. I could not possibly be available as often or on as short notice as a volunteer, though I have done it. My boss is retired from the USAF, where he was the main bugler at Arlington National Cemetery for over 20 years, and he is considered the leading authority--living or dead--on bugling and its history. As a second-generation musician who has been blowing trumpets for over fifty years, this job is the pinnacle of a lifetime of "doing" music--the thing in life I love most, and that keeps me going through the blackest of times.

My own military service was from 1969 to 1972. Part of that period I was an instructor in the QM corps at Ft. Lee, VA. This post happened to be home to the burial detail that covered the entire First Army area. Having heard I played the trumpet, my battalion commander invited me to join this Honor Guard unit. But having heard from other unit members of the stress of burying so many comrades who'd been killed in action, I declined. Seldom in life do we get a second chance to rectify a bad decision, so I am doubly blessed with having this current job.

I work primarily at one of the MD veterans' cemeteries, where we do as many as six funerals in a day. Occasionally I will travel as far as several hundred miles for some particular burial. So I have been driving an average 500 miles a week (plus hundreds more miles of carpooling with the Guard), and working 5 to six days a week. In the course of the past calendar year, I rendered Taps at 286 funerals, plus a handful of memorial services.

To have been given this reponsibility at the age of 62, after a lackluster lifetime of mostly paper-pushing jobs, is more than I deserve, and not a day passes that I am not thankful for the opportunity to be doing something of genuine importance.

Your own service encompassed the last years of the Vietnam war, and I appreciate how difficult that was for you. So in turn, allow me to thank you for your service to the USA.