A novel concept, probably not. A timely one, absolutely.
Development of a Fire Service Honor Guard Program is not easy. It requires investment in both time and money. The development of a multi departmental Honor Guard Program is just that much more complicated and it requires leadership from both inside and out.
A few words of uniform caution when developing an Honor Guard Program: continuity, consistence, availability, timeliness and maintenance of specs.
You need to make sure your uniform style will not change over time; the fabric remains consistent, the color stays the same and when necessary, you can get an accurate uniform in a hurry.
This generation’s ‘uniform of choice’ has by and large been black double breasted for both Class ‘A’s and Honor Guards. In addition to being dressier and a more forgiving fit, black provides the color/shading consistency you just can’t get with navy blue (think of how many shades of navy blue you have in your fire station), plus it never gets mistaken for the police.
Almost as important as color consistency is uniform availability and timeliness. Most funerals come in a hurry and firefighters tend to find out things don’t fit, at the last minute and local uniform stores rarely maintain any meaningful inventories of Dress or Honor Guard Uniforms, plus they have virtually no dress uniform history. The absence of inventory and dearth of dress uniform experience coupled with a general lack of interest usually makes dealing with local stores a dress uniform nightmare.
In other words, when all is said and done, like most things, the development of a Honor Guard Program, particularly the development of something as involved as a Multi Departmental Honor Guard Response Team almost always works best when you work with the ‘experts’.
Please feel free to give us a call. The number is 1-800-426-5225. We look forward to talking with you about Honor Guard and Multi Departmental Honor Guard Response Teams. Let’s talk,
Steve Cohen, Pres.
Home of the Fallen Fire Fighter Dress Uniform Program
www.lighthouseuniform.com