So I'm part a ceremonial training team.
So I was in my office
that were coming down from 34 Squadron,
and my flight sergeant came and he said
So I went to the lecture room
There was the bearer party standing there
And they also lots officer and the CEO
You are going to be doing that.
Oh, wow.
Massive honour.
I think there was a lot of
meetings of higher ranks
going on behind closed doors, which is
fair enough.
A couple of hours went by,
um, activity with prepping my kit
I knew I'd be a part of
the job, whether that be bearer party
or the guard of honour
Yeah.
Got called into the lecture room,
was told you're on the bearer party.
You know, it was a it was a massive honour.
It was
we weren't really allowed
to tell friends or family
But I rang my wife and I said,
went back for a few days.
And I think she knew straight away and,
you could just sense the occasion
something it was
Whatever happened.
And to be a part of it was unbelievable
So there’s the officer in charge of the air bearer party
warrant officer, warrant officer Martin who's the,
now King’s Colour Squadron warrant officer
who bear a royal coffin
as opposed to six for a non-royal
And then we had two reserves as well,
Sergeant Sean Newton,
who deployed with us to ensure
were all met and that sort of the support needs
It's all about teamwork.
It's about trusting each other.
The mechanics are pretty simple for us.
As long as we just listen to the boss,
as long as the boss gets it right,
And then it's just all about teamwork
because everyone's different,
Um, every situation is different,
So it was just adapting
and just go in with your
The first time I'd ever
carried a coffin in the military,
Um, so training wise, the squadron,
like I said, the squadron hold
So in the hangar we've got a
So we kind of got used to of what, what,
the ramp, carrying a
And then obviously once
we were selected, it was kind of the bearer party
off you go, practice.
However, you need to practice
and be ready for the day.
Done a few a few jobs.
whilst I have been on the squadron, but
Her Majesty's funeral.
So but we do plenty of training.
We train week in, week out, in preparation
So everyone is well prepared, everyone's
At work in the hangar,
a mock
aircraft ramp and we have a hearse
Practice with that.
So we just practice in day in, day out,
from the hearse onto the ramp,
taking it off the catafalque off the aircraft
all day, every day.
Just practice and practice.
And then even when we got
got there on the Sunday,
And then on Monday we out of rehearsal
and then
seeing the aircraft,
but that being done on a C-17,
the difference was between the two ramps
But luckily there was no issues
The people who were chosen for
this particular job were kind of scattered
But we all know each other well.
You know,
And it wasn't difficult for us to,
you know, put it together and
And we rehearsed for it a lot.
It's something we've been preparing for
in that sense, yeah,
it was it was relatively easy
