ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100070
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ARLINGTON
SOURCE: LAURA MYERS ASSOCIATED PRESS
IT'S A HIGH-TECH ARMY in many ways, but the ceremony attending the burial of heroes harkens back to a different time.
The rite begins in darkness. In a red-brick stable, majestic white and black steeds are washed, groomed and trimmed with newly shined brass and buffed hand-tooled leather.
As the sun rises, white-gloved soldiers stand at attention, and a casket holding the remains of one of America's leaders, heroes or veterans is placed atop a horse-led black caisson. The clip-clop, clip-clop taps out a time-honored march, little changed since men first fell in battle.
``The only thing that changes is the faces,'' said Pete Cote, blacksmith for 26 years in the Caisson Platoon, the Army's only horse company that ``escorts fallen comrades'' at Arlington National Cemetery.
The ritual will be repeated today when Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, an Army veteran, is buried at Arlington.
In 1957, to save money, the Pentagon announced it would abolish the caisson-led escorts in favor of ``motorized military funerals.'' Two weeks later, the government changed its mind after ``widespread expressions of regret.''
``You have your high-tech Army, your laser-guided weapons systems, smart technology - modern military. But when we bury our heroes, we send them home in a carriage,'' said Lt. Wesley MacMullen, leader of the Caisson Platoon.
So amid Arlington's emerald expanse and white marble headstones set in eternal rows, the caissons go rolling along.
The only bow to modern times was the addition of two women to the platoon last year. Otherwise, the Army's 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, the ``Old Guard,'' does things the old-fashioned way - from making its own leather tack to using two 1918 caissons that carried artillery in World War I - the last time the United States widely used cavalry.
``At first, some of the guys were a little uncomfortable,'' said Kelly Bailey, 21, ``but if you do the job, they don't care if you're a woman.''
In a room above the stables, Spc. Levi Ross, 23, takes raw black-dyed leather and transforms it by hand into horse-riding gear. ``There's pride and honor in doing it this way,'' he said, sewing together a breast strap.
A denim-clad Cote, in a scene from the old West, uses a bed of white-hot coals to heat and pound out horseshoes - PING! PING! PING!
The soldier-riders arrive at 4 a.m. to wash and groom their horses and to clean and arrange the tack. No detail is missed; the horses' hoofs are painted black, their coats brushed to a sheen.
Outside, the team assembles with much jangling of bridles, stomping of hoofs, and last-minute adjustments to man and beast.
``I guess I'm a little nervous,'' admitted Sgt. John Wood, 30, carefully arranging his dress blue uniform with riding breeches and tall black leather boots for his first mission after three months of training.
Wood rode in the beginner's swing position, the middle horse on the left of the six-steed team pulling the caisson behind two platoons of military escorts - Marines that day.
``I'm just glad it went well. ... I think sometimes the horses know, in the cemetery it's time to settle down.''
The platoon members, 40 strong with some 40 horses, rotate from funeral to stable duty. ``If I knew I'd be cleaning stalls, I might not have joined up,'' joked Ross.
With two caisson teams - one with black horses, one with white - the platoon can conduct eight funerals a day - and often does as aging World War II veterans die. ``The last time we did this many was during Vietnam,'' MacMullen said.
``I never forget there's a family and this is their day,'' said Pfc. Daniel Ratliff, 21, who saw his stepfather, a veteran of Korea and Vietnam, buried at Arlington with military honors two years ago.
The caisson practice began in 1864 when Arlington, once owned by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, was used to bury the Civil War dead. The Caisson Platoon took over when the U.S. cavalry disbanded in 1948.
Historians believe caissons - a pair of two-wheeled wagons linked together to transport artillery ammunition - were first used to carry caskets about the time of the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s.
The use of a riderless horse, black boots facing backward in stirrups, for funerals of high officials, generals and presidents, dates back to 13th-century Mongolia, when a warrior's mount was sacrificed and buried with his master.
Today, most mounts at Fort Myer are Quarter Horses, stable mixed breeds that don't spook like Thoroughbreds. In March, the platoon picked up 10 new horses from Kansas, refusing several hundred that didn't match in color and style.
``These horses got to learn to work as a team,'' said trainer Spc. Jeff Hooks, 25, who unlike most recruits knew how to ride before he joined up. ``The horses got to learn to pull - and look good doing it.''
(A Quarter Horse is a separate breed, not a mixed breed as the story states.)
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. 1. Pfc. Steven Fogg works on the shoe of a horseby CNBbelonging to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment. Its Caisson Platoon
``escorts fallen comrades'' at Arlington National Cemetery. 2. Sgt.
John Wood leads a horse out of its stables at Fort Myer last week.
The horses pull funeral caissons. color.