CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (AFNS) – More than 170 Army chaplain candidates gathered on the flightline here July 14 to receive training in the honors given to fallen servicemembers during dignified transfers of human remains.
Last August, officials at the Army Chaplain Center and School at Fort Jackson, S.C., began coordinating with Charleston Air Force Base officials to provide a learning environment for students enrolled in the school’s Chaplain Basic Officer Leader Course.
To closely simulate what would actually be seen during a real dignified transfer, a Charleston AFB C-17 Globemaster III was used, along with the help of Charleston AFB honor guard members with training in dignified transfer procedures.
“Imagine if you’d never done one of these before,” said Army Chap. (Maj.) Robert Hart, the staff group leader and ethics instructor for the CH-BOLC. “The very first one I got tasked with, I had never done before and I was in Iraq. They said, ‘Chaplain, we took losses, and we want to do the right thing.’”
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