The Things That Carried Him

Part 1

Establishing background information — about Joey, about his family, about his troubled past, about his mother and all that she has been through. Background on the procedures of army funerals, of those involved, of those who have seen far too many; about his wife, Missie and their children

 

Part 2

Emphasizing and focusing on the military perspective, from proper mortuary procedure and profiling the people involved, to how procedure regarding fallen soldiers has changed, to those involved with this procedure as it relates to Joe

 

Part 3

Diving further into the human element — how each of the family members found out, what the protocol is for that type of thing, and the individual reactions of each of those close to Joey. What exactly transpired that led to his death and the soldiers involved, told without much detail left out to convey and honor what happened to him.

The conclusion does a great job summarizing what is at the heart of this story — the close-knit relationship of those in the military and their loved ones, how it is a different bond because only those in and around it can relate to the feelings and emotion that come with it.

Each part adds a little on, with the first serving as almost a full-part lede into the rest of the story so that it can be told, with the next getting more into the actual military jargon and procedure behind this type of thing, and the last tying it all together and tapping into the human element of the story that it is its foundation.

 

Things that Carried Him Outline

Part 1: Indiana, The End
  • Subject is Don Collins, middle-aged and mapping rectangle
    • Spent childhood working with father embalming bodies, familiar
  • Begins digging burial
    • Scooping dirt for grave, decides to move it out of sight
  • Military members arrive and assemble for the funeral
  • Motorcade took a longer route to cemetery
    • Motorcade arrives, flanked by civilians paying respect
  • Casket, which is specially designed for Iraq vets, is removed
    • Reverend leads prayers and songs, including Nine Inch Nails, are played
    • Soldiers fire their three shots in perfect unison
  • The bugler at the funeral is a real musician, which is rare now
    • Leatherbee begins playing Taps
    • The bugler always keeps his eyes open when he plays at funerals
  • Folding the flag can be the hardest part for soldiers, close to the family
    • Soldiers hands were shaking as they folded the flag
    • Huber placed polished shells into folded flag
    • Dawson passes flag to general
  • Belinda Pinckney was assigned to attend funeral, as a general officer
    • Connected with the wife, Missie, to help her deal with loss
    • Says she must be strong for families, it could be her
  • Folded flag is held closely to widow’s chest
  • Service over, people begin parting ways
    • Collins begins burying tomb, temporary tombstone for Sgt. Montgomery
  • Mother remembers baptizing her son in the same church of his funeral
  • Gail smokes to relieve stress and has a kit to make it more ‘ladylike’
  • She has lost many people in her life, but losing Joey really got to her
    • Looking at her surviving family and friends at the funeral
  • Many people at the funeral did not know Joey well, various reasons
    • People could piece together bits about him, but not his reasons for serving
  • Joey’s body was escorted to his hometown by two state troopers
    • The procession would be three miles long
    • Biggest procession they had seen
    • Patriot Guard Riders formed in response to fundamentalists taunting families at soldiers’ funerals
    • Micah Montgomery’s friend, Charles Dunaway, volunteered to be official escort
    • Townspeople lined the sidewalk to watch the procession
    • People crying for family
  • Joey used to work at steel forge
  • Joey’s best friend, Ryan Heacock, distraught over losing friend
    • Friends in high school as outcasts
    • Introduced Joey to Missie
    • Ryan sold paintings to Joey
    • Ryan designs tombstones, including Joey’s
  • Mourners line the streets with flags
  • Joey was homeless after high school, troubled
    • Went to Florida to live with sister, Mindy
    • Ryan visited to help Joey and Mindy
    • Joey asked mom to take him home
    • Came home, became father to Missie’s daughter
  • Two more pregnancies, little money, so Joey joined the Army
    • Inspired by brother
    • Life felt properly aligned in Alaska
  • Gail last saw Joey on Christmas, took family pictures
    • Joey is coming home again
  • Joey looked good enough for a viewing
    • Gail and Missie spent a long time looking at him
    • Tried to replace Joey’s ring to find glove was filled with cotton
  • Army chaplain Jim Staggers waits for plane
    • Joey would be honorable transfer
    • Staggers felt calling to be chaplain
    • Prepared family for funeral
  • Guardsmen can tell a lot about a soldier by carrying casket
    • Kept game faces with light casket
  • Staggers begins prayers
    • Missie and Gail approach casket with family to pay respects
    • Carry casket back to hearse
  • Two state troopers would join National Guard
Part Two: Dover AFB
  • Soldiers bodies are taken back to the U.S. via charter plane, used to be commercial
    • Now planes that only transport fallen soldiers
  • Kalitta crew randomly assigned to haul bodies
    • Make mental maps of routes and places
  • Crew had never been to Seymour before Joey
    • Smaller town, bigger turnout
    • As it became more common, people got more practiced
  • Casket moved to ball mat in hangar, family really feels it at this point
    • Jones doesn’t watch
    • Tons of people showed up in Seymour, remember most trips
  • Mortuary is tough place to work – Cory Larsen
    • Only 12 permanent staff, many volunteer to return
    • Giles doesn’t discuss what she sees
    • Dignity, honor, respect
    • 3,431 is Joey’s number
  • Five days at mortuary, processed
    • Nothing dangerous found on him, no personal effects
    • Counseling and mediation rooms available
  • Chaplains are always available
  • Joey was “believed to be” status at first
  • Autopsy to document and predict
    • Joey likely killed instantly, close to explosive
    • Morticians must close eyes
    • Fluid replacement and repair of body
  • Want to make body viewable to family like they remember
  • Body put in casket in full uniform, then flag
  • Richard Formica – moving bodies is important job
    • He was there when Joey came in
    • Lists of “incoming sheets”
    • Chaplain struggled with religion
  • Transfers are given red carpet
    • Honor guards march out, crew always struggles
    • Sparks leads prayer as cases are loaded into trunk
  • Formica – job is always difficult, always a family
Part Three: Forward Operating Base Falcon
  • Terry Slaght was friends with Montgomery, KIA south Baghdad
    • Slaght to arrange flight, wants to be with friend
    • Loads Joey’s body into truck, placed in bag
    • Slaght waits
  • Micah hears of Joey’s death, calls aunt and uncle
  • News coming in at base, not sure who
    • Vicki tells Gail, word spreads
    • Ryan tells Missie, friends gather to support her
  • Joey was in Humvee listening to music, other people in vehicle too
    • On phone with Missie, explosion, told her he’s ok
    • Driving down dirt road, pull into patrol base
    • Captains brief men on mission, raid of a farm
  • Executing raid, Joey walking point
    • Explosion
      • Loud noise
    • Other men couldn’t see Joey, unclear on what had happened
    • Rudberg fell and saw Joey’s uniform
  • Joey’s body is gone from waist down
    • Know he’s dead, call in KIA, carry him out
  • Gathered belongings and silently walked to Humvee
    • Joey placed on hood
  • Bostick thinks about Micah, doesn’t talk to him til brother dies
  • Troops salute the trucks at base, become emotional
    • Body taken to the morgue, chaplain leads prayer
    • Other soldiers cannot sleep
  • Joey is placed in Black Hawk to be taken home, others salute

Things that carried him

Things That Carried Him

Paragraph 1: The opening paragraph gives a brief description of Don Collins and sets up an anecdotal scene at the burial grounds.

Paragraph 2: The second paragraph continues with the anecdotal scene at the burial grounds and it also provides background information about Don Collins and how he grew up in a funeral home. This information helps the reader feel more personally connected to the protagonist.

Paragraph 3: This paragraph also helps set the scene of the story by describing the weather. It describes how he prepares to dig the hole and then leads into him starting to dog the hole that it described in the next paragraph.

Paragraph 4: Describes the steps he takes to dig the hole and also lists some of supplies he used to give the reader a better understanding of what is needed and how much work it takes.

Paragraph 5: This paragraph gives a real life dates example of what Don Collins could experience of any day out there in the graveyard. He rests on the tombstone, observing a funeral going on. The small details lead to me that this was a scene that the author observed on his own along with Don Collins.

Paragraph 6: Describes the soldiers and the hearse at the military funeral

Paragraph 7: Continues to describe the hearse and follows it through its journey from the funeral service to the graveyard

Paragraph 8: Describes the body’s journey from the hearse to the vault that was built specifically for Iraq soldiers. Also gives a little background information on the on Iraq, at the time.

Paragraph 9: The story then goes into the start of the burial ceremony. Describing the music being played in the background and a train passing by

Paragraph 10: Background info on proper military burial procedures and gives some perspectives on the soldiers’ role

Paragraph 11: Introduces readers to the character of Leatherbee and some brief history on buglers like him

Paragraph 12: Continues with Leatherbee and touches on the song he was playing at the military funeral. The author continues to give background info and history of buglers and uses music terminology to better set the scene.

Paragraph 13: The author uses his first direct quote, taken from Leatherbee describing his back and forth emotions during the ceremony

Paragraph 14: The author uses a quote from Sergeant Chris Bastille, who gives shares his experiences with military memorials.

Paragraph 15: Huber says, “He had a few kids.”

Paragraph 16: How the soldiers fold the flag during the ceremony and a quote from Dawson

Paragraph 17: The author writes about the flag folds and the sea shells that are folded inside

Paragraph 18: The flag was folded and handed to wife?

Paragraph 19: The Army’s Chief of Staff attends every funeral of a Iraq/Afghanistan soldier and is quoted that she does not like to keep count.

Paragraph 20: Missie, the soldiers wife, is trying to keep her composure at the funeral

Paragraph 21: Quotes from Pinckney about how emotional and difficult these funerals are

Paragraph 22: The history of the 13 folds

Paragraph 23: What Pickney recited to Missie as he hands her the flag

Paragraph 24: The end of the ceremony and everyone’s departure

Paragraph 25: Back to Don Collins and the burial site. The name on the tombstone

Paragraph 26: Gail Bond losing her son Joey

Paragraph 27: Background information about Gail and how she is grieving

Paragraph 28: Gail and all the deaths she has experienced from people close to her

Paragraph 29: Joe’s family and loved ones that were at the funeral

Paragraph 30: Others that attended the funeral and why

Paragraph 31: Why Joey was so loved

Paragraph 32: Perspectives of troopers that led the funeral

Paragraph 33: The long procession line

Paragraph 34: Patriot Guard Rider Tim Barclay gives his experience

Paragraph 35: Background info on The Patriot Guard

Paragraph 36: Connecting the Barclay Brothers, Don Collins and Missie

Paragraph 37: Gail and her brother Bill driving to the funeral trying to control their emotions

Paragraph 38: Vicki gives quote about people crying for you  

Outline

Don Collins is mapping a square in his head.

Don Collins helped his dad at their family funeral home, but the outside is refreshing to him.

Collins starts digging a burial. It is hot.

Collins decides to pick up his dirt.

Soldiers showed up to the grave Collins dug. They have guns.

A lot of people lined the streets for the funeral procession, led by Collins Sr.

It took a while, but the procession gets to the cemetery.

The casket was specially made for soldiers. People packed around the tomb.

There was a prayer, some bagpipes and some songs.

Seven guns go off in unison.

An authentic bugler plays.

The bugler plays notes that are good.

The bugler contemplates emotion.

Folding the flag is emotionally tough.

Soldier had kids.

Folding flag got emotional.

Flag has shells inside.

Flag is passed.

Brigadier General Belinda Pinckney is randomly assigned officer at funeral. She remembers bits and pieces from every funeral.

Pinckney told soldier’s wife, Missie, it is ok to cry.

Pinckney drops to Missie’s knees.

Funeral’s are very emotional and Pinckney makes failed attempt at not humanizing tragedy.

Flag folding is ideal for being held to widow’s chest.

Missie is presented flag.

Service is over and people go their separate ways.

Sod is placed over burial and temporary tombstone is added.

SGT. JOE MONTGOMERY 1977–2007

Gail Bond remembers when Montgomery was baptized at her church.

Gail smokes and has two black leather bags to hold cigarettes and lighter. Hasn’t quit for a reason.

Gail is Joey’s mom and has experienced a lot of heartbreak.

All family is in attendance and church is overflowing.

Not many people in attendance ACTUALLY knew Joey.

You can and cant tell a lot of things about Joey by looking around at funeral.

Joey’s body was escorted from airport to home.

There was a 3 mile long procession.

The Patriot Guard protected family from Westboro Baptist haters.

Micah Montgomery has death paperwork and medals for Missie.

Gail’s brother is mayor and drove a car in the procession while crying.

Vicki says its tough to see people emotional. Mechanic stands out.

Joey used to be a mechanic.

Joey was going to be best man in his best friend Joey’s wedding.

Ryan and Joey were different in high school.

Joey and Ryan helped each other out.

 

Hi so I know this isn’t complete but I’ve been working on it for a while now and honestly, would just love to read and enjoy the story. I will come back and finish this as it is a much longer homework assignment than originally intended.

Outline of The Things That Carried Him

Introduction – Introducing Don Collins, but other than that we don’t get much more information. The following paragraph introduces the Collins family and what they do.

Following paragraph is a descriptive one, the reader can imagine how hot it is and can see that he’s about to start digging in the grass.

The next paragraph we see more into what tools he’s using and can imagine ourselves in the cemetery with him as he’s digging this grave.

The next paragraph talks about the “honor guards” who were from Fort Knox that would perform the parts of the service. They were dressed in their uniforms and had their M16’s in hand. And the last serviceman was holding a trumpet instead of a gun.

The funeral processional through the town was only about a 5 minute drive from the church to the cemetery.

Then it describes what happens once the casket is out of the hearse and at the cemetery. Describing who made the vault that would lower the casket into the ground.

“Amazing Grace” was played by a group of bagpipers and then music was played over the loud speakers. The reverend then spoke a few words.

The soldiers shot their rounds into the air, making sure all seven guns sound like one — otherwise they would’ve been upset and disappointed in themselves.

The boy with the trumpet began to play and he’s a true “bugler” because he wet his lips and now most of the times the “bugler” use electronic trumpets that play the taps for a funeral service.

The next paragraph talks about how it doesn’t take much skill to perform the taps and there are only a few notes to the song, but the bugler could mess it up depending on how he felt that day.

Leatherbee discusses how he decides to keep his eyes open when he’s performing the taps because it’s the least you can do.

The soldiers discussing how they feel the emotions at the funeral also.

The three shells from the guns would be placed into the flag.

The flag was then folded and inspected and passed to a woman who wore the general’s star.

Brigadier General Belinda Pinckney was to attend all the funerals of someone who was killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The wife of the soldier didn’t seem to be dealing with the death of her husband so Pinckney approached her and told her it was ok to be upset and they embraced (this was before the service began).

Pinckney then approached the wife again (once the flag had been folded) and she is giving her the flag but also talking about how it needs to come from the heart, she tries to connect with them on a level so they know it’s real.

Then discussion of why the flag folding gets done.

Pinckney then gives a spiel about the flag and what it represents to the wife.

The service then ends and the Collins lower the casket into the ground and lock of the vault.

Don Jr. removed the extra dirt and placed the makeshift tombstone on top of the grave.

Gail Bond is extremely sad over the death of the first person who she baptized in her church in 1977. She remembers holding him and baptizing him.

Bond needed a smoke, so while sitting at her kitchen table, she pulled out of little “ladylike” bag that holds her cigarettes and her lighter.

Bond lost her one of her sons, her first husband (Joey’s father), her second husband and now Joey too.

The next paragraph introduces the people who were there for Joey, his siblings, his aunts and uncles, and his wife and kids.

The majority of the people who were at the funeral barely knew Joey, but were doing it because they knew the Mayor (his uncle) or his mom. There was no eulogy for Joey.

The next paragraph discusses the things that people could’ve learned about Joey from looking around the funeral and other things they wouldn’t have been able to know about him unless they really knew him.

The next paragraph talks about how Joey’s body was escorted from the airport to Seymour where he was from.

The procession from the airport to Seymour was going to be at least three miles long because of everyone waiting at the airport for Joey.

They would have to block off the highway for the procession and the state troopers would speed up to block the upcoming ramps.

Why the Patriot Guard was created (they were also at the airport to help escort Joey’s body home). Bond was worried about the protestors but once she saw the Patriot Guard she wasn’t anymore.

Sergeant Charles Dunaway fly in from Alaska to help escort his body home on the final stretch.

It was difficult for the Mayor to drive himself and Gail because he was crying so much.

Describing Joey’s job at the steel forge.

Ryan, Joey’s best friend was also having a hard time seeing while driving back from the airport.

Ryan describing his and Joey’s friendship.

Ryan is designing Joey’s tombstone.

The processional grew more and more attention as word had spread of it.

Gail kicked Joey out of the house, he was turning into a bad egg.

He moved down to Florida to be with his sister.

Joey was still going down the wrong path, until Ryan came and visited.

Gail said he could come home if he obeyed the rules and got a job.

Came home, returned to work at the steel mill and became a father.

He was tired of having to scrape around for money, so he joined the army.

The Army suited Joey and they had moved to Alaska – things were turning around for Joey.

Joey was home for Christmas in 2006 and got a final family photo of everyone.

Flashback to the procession of taking his body home from the airport.

The war changed him as they looked on to his body when they got it home from the airport.

Joey was missing his ring and when Micah tried to put his on his hand, they realized his finger was gone.

 

 

The Things that Carried Him

  • Gives background on Collins that reveals his history with Funeral Homes, the process, and his preference of staying outside.
  • Lays out that the story is taking place in May and he is beginning a new cut.
  • Making strategic decisions because of circumstances of this grave, but leaves open ended.
  • The grave is being prepared for a military ceremony. The group of soldiers are practicing their duties for the burial. The men are all quite different.
  • Don Collin’s father is leading the motorcade of the procession
  • The coffin is a special kind just for Iraqi soldiers killed in war, The coffin is also decorated specified to the soldier with pictures of friends and moment of the war.
  • The ceremony went as planned with the ceremonial firing of the guns
  • Bugler performed but shows the rarity of the role of the burglar
  • Background on the bugler and how it can be effected
  • “In my opinion, you can’t close your eyes. There’s a person in a casket in front of you. You want to give them as much as you can.”
  • The hardship of performing the ceremony is expressed especially when the soldier is so young
  • The soldier had children
  • The ceremony proceeds with folding the flag.
  • The flag is given to a 52 year-old woman (mother?)
  • General officer says when assigned a funeral, “”You’re never not available.”
  • The General connected with the wife: Missy.
  • Pinckney gets emotional at ceremony and reflects on if her son was in the same position, andre (27)
  • history behind the flag: 13 folds for 13 colonies
  • Ceremony is over and things progress, casket lowered into ground.
  • Tombstone not prepared yet for SGT. Joe Montgomery
  • Gail Bond reflects on past with Joe.

The Things That Carried Him – outline

Part One: Indiana, The End

  • Pre-burial
    • Don Collins standing outside, mapping a rectangle
    • Find out that the rectangle is for a burial
    • Scene-setting of Collins carefully beginning digging process
    • Starts digging and it’s a little different than his normal process
    • Soldiers arrive and we learn this story has a military component
  • Burying the body
    • Travel to cemetery
    • Casket enters cemetery for military funeral
    • Casket description, adds detail about the person’s military past
    • Prayer and songs
    • Military funeral rituals
      • Fired three volleys
      • Background on buglers
      • Leatherbee plays trumpet
      • Emotion of this ritual
    • Soldiers carrying casket and seeing the person’s family
    • Flag folding
      • First step, emotion
      • Triangular folds, pride of those who do it
      • Completion of fold
      • General officer in attendance
        • Introduction of the young wife
        • Pinckney approaches wife, Missie
        • Pinckney reflects on difficulty of job
      • Ties in Pinckney’s emotion with flag folding and Missie’s pain
      • Purpose of flag
    • Service ends
      • Cover with dirt
      • Person buried was Sgt. Joe Montgomery, who was 30 years old
    • Gail Bond reflects on Joe’s baptism
      • Smokes
      • Gail’s brother has died; we learn that her first husband was Joey’s father and he died in a car wreck; her parents died consecutive days and more
    • Introduction of those who are mourning Joey’s death
      • Joey was first person from Scott County to die in Iraq; many people didn’t know Joey
      • Learn details about Joey – liked to write, brave, became a soldier to make older brother proud and wanted to make better life of his wife and kids
    • Seymour, Indiana
      • Procession
        • Was very well attended
        • Worried about protesters, but the Patriot Guard was formed in response
        • Dunaway met Micah Montgomery in jump school and came down from Alaska to be Joey’s escort
        • Mayor drove while crying
        • Seeing people crying for you
        • Joey used to work at steel forge
        • Ryan’s best-friend relationship with Joey
          • How they became friends
          • Ryan helped set Joey up with Missie
          • Ryan sold paintings to Joey
          • Now Ryan is designing Joey’s tombstone
        • Line of mourners
          • Bill Graham saying what that meant
        • Post high school Joey, homeless
          • Went to Florida to live with sister
          • Ryan came to visit
          • Joey asked mom to bring him home, said he had to obey the rules
          • Joey came home and followed rules, went to work, became a father
        • Joey joined the Army
          • A fresh start, climbed the ranks
          • Gail last saw Joey Christmas of 2006
          • Her saying bye to him at airport
          • Now he’s coming home again in the procession
        • Back to funeral scene
          • Joey looked good enough for family viewing
          • Details of Gail and Missie seeing him dead
          • Joey was missing ring; Micah put his own ring on Joey’s glove
        • Jim Staggers
          • Describes military handoff
          • How Staggers became chaplain
          • Staggers approach to his work
          • He tried to prepare Joey’s family
          • Guardsmen assessing casket weight to find out about the person
            • Joey’s was lighter than expected
          • Dealing with emotion of seeing tearful children
          • Staggers thinks about his own children
          • Psalm and approach casket
            • Missie
            • Gail
            • Staggers
              • Can’t deny humanity
            • Lift casket and carry to hearse
            • State troopers head back
              • Two people in van joined members of Indiana National Guard going to Iraq

 

Part Two: Dover Air Force Base

  • How bodies are taken back to U.S.
    • Greene talked about chartering plane
    • Before remains of soldiers had been sent on commercial planes
    • Changed ways of how military dead are delivered
    • Special planes devoted full-time to this
    • Crew of these planes
      • Emotions of crew
      • Familiar routes, some places they’ve never landed
      • Before Joey, neither had flown to Seymour, Indiana
      • “Smaller the town, the bigger the turnout”
      • Memories of trips
      • They became more practiced
    • Casket pushed onto ball mat
    • Family is “hit by the truth” when casket comes through door
      • Hardest part
      • Now Jones doesn’t stay in open door
      • Memories of when it takes a long time – in Seymour, so many people below
    • Mortuary
      • Mortuary description
        • People who work there
        • Impact on people who work there
        • Karen Giles accepts reality of job
        • Dignity, honor and respect – motto
        • Joey is 3,431st person killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom
      • Arrival at mortuary, five days there
      • Process at the mortuary
        • No unexploded bombs, ammunition, booby traps found
        • Unpacked from case
        • No personal effects
        • Counseling and meditation rarely used
        • Chaplain
        • Arrived with “believed to be” status
        • Autopsy
          • Consistent with proximity to explosive device
          • Wounds documented, prepared for burial
          • Body fluids replaced by preservatives
        • Viewability
          • Putting Joey back together
          • Description of putting others back together
        • Body in casket
          • Attention that goes into this
        • Flag happens last
      • Protocol of moving bodies and the emotion/importance of the job
        • Formica’s background in military death procedure
        • Specific instance of Joey
        • Honor guards waiting
          • Religion
        • Open door and red carpet
        • Honor guards march out
        • Process is still brutal for crew
        • Case in front of cargo door protocol
        • Sparks memory of saying prayer
        • Carrying cases into trunk
        • Never gets easier, always person

 

Part Three: Forward Operating Base

  • Journey to the States
    • KIA in south Baghdad
      • Slaght was friends with Montgomery
      • Where Slaght is now
    • Helicopter touches down
    • Joey is carried into truck
    • Placed in bag
    • Slaght’s distraught
  • Micah learns Joey is dead
    • Calls mayor and then calls Aunt Vicki
    • Tells Vicki to go to his mom’s house
  • The news breaks
    • Gail finds out from Vicki
    • Everyone begins to find out
    • Missie finds out from Ryan
    • Men come to Missie’s house
  • How Joey died
    • Listening to music heading to party
    • Description of people in the car
    • Joey had just had weekly phone call with family
      • Explosion interrupts phone call
      • Joey emails that he’s OK
    • Description of roads and IEDs in Iraq
    • Driving down Red Wings
      • Road turned to dirt
    • Humvees pull inside Patrol Base Red
    • Briefed the platoon
    • Plan of farm raid
    • Joey volunteers to walk point
    • Description of Joey, how other perceived him
    • Walking with night-vision goggles
      • Thought they were being watched
      • Told Joey to take his time
      • Loud noise
    • Gilliland asks if Ross has been hit
    • Couldn’t see Joey
    • Couldn’t see through smoke
    • Still couldn’t find Joey
      • Rudberg fell into crater and landed on Joey’s rifle
      • Sees uniform
    • Joey’s body stopped at the waist
      • The others knew there was nothing that could be done
      • Radios KIA
    • After Joey’s death
      • Gathered what they could of Joey and his belongings
      • Ross was OK
      • Continued to walk in silence, covered in blood
      • Drove Joey on the hood of the truck
      • Medic took Joey’s possessions out of his pockets
      • Bostick thinks about Micah
        • The two don’t talk until two months after Joey’s death
      • Rest of the troop salutes the men in the trucks
        • They are overcome by emotion
      • Joey is carried to morgue
        • Prayed
      • The others couldn’t sleep that night and burned fires
    • Joey’s body is carried away in one of the Black Hawks and the others salute him as the plane leaves

The Things That Carried Him

Pt 1 The end

  • Don Collins

o   Background about Don Collins, the coroner of Scottsburg

o   The author gives an account of Collins digging the grave for the solider who is to be buried the next day

  • Guards from Fort Knox practice their nine-gun salute for the officer that it is going to be buried

o   There is an account of most of the guards, accompanied by their names

o   The author goes into detail as to what they do before the funeral starts

  • The older Collins drives the funeral hearse to the grave site

o   Those who know the family, those in the military, and civilian motorcyclists surround the grave site

  • The soldiers from Fort Knox lower the casket into the burial vault

o   The author then goes on to name the vault company and describe it

  • The reverend speaks, bagpipers play, and three songs are played over the loudspeaker – including “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails
  • Seven of the soldiers fire three volleys

o   It sounds like a single sound

o   News cameras are on them

  • Leatherbee is a genuine bugler

o   He plays “Taps” and the author describes different variations of the song

o   He doesn’t close his eyes so emotion is conveyed

  • After “Taps” the flag is folded by the men who lowered the casket

o   The author describes the folding of the flag and the emotions of the men folding it – their hands are shaking

  • Once the flag passes inspection it’s given to an older women, who is assumed to be the soldiers mother

o   The general is standing next to her

  • The general has seen too many funerals
  • The general comments on the mannerisms of the soldier’s wife, Missie, at the funeral
  • The author describes the myth of the flag folding
  • The funeral ends

o   The general and guards fly back

o   Everyone leaves

o   The Collins’ start to fill in the grave

  • The section ends with the sergeant’s name and his birth and death year

Pt 2

  • This part of the story focus’s on the soldier’s mother

o   She recounts his baptism and happy times she had with him in this church

o   The mother smokes today for the first time in a long time

o   She recounts how her brother and first husband died

  • Her other children came home for the funeral

o   The soldier’s older brother who is also in the army and his sister

o   Her brother and sister also come to attend their nephew’s funeral

  • People in the town come to the funeral as well

o   Some because it was the mayor’s nephew and others because they knew the mother

  • The author observes the faces of the people sitting in the church

o   Their love for the solider radiates off of them

Pt 3

  • The soldier has been laying in the Collins funeral for sometime until his funeral

o   He was escorted from the airport by a pair of brothers

o   The brothers were greeted by hundreds of people with flags

  • This was the longest and biggest procession the guards had ever seen

o   The author then explains what the Patriot Guard is and why it formed

  • The soldier was pulled by a hearse driven by the older Collins and his mother followed behind with her brother
  • The aunt remarks the patriotism of the people they passed
  • The author tells an anecdote about where the soldier used to work
  • At the end of the procession was the soldier’s best friend

o   They were outcasts in school

o   The soldier was supposed to be in his wedding

o   They rode skateboards together

o   He set up the soldier with his wife, Missie

  • The friend liked to paint

o   He designed the soldier’s tombstone

  • Flags lined the interstate and truck radios chimed in to welcome him home
  • The soldier took a while to complete high school, hit a rough patch, and was kicked out of the house at one point

o   He went to live with his sister in Florida

o   Leaving brought him back home and he turned his life around

  • The soldier had a family and got a job

o   The job wasn’t cutting it and he decided to follow in his older brother’s footsteps and join the army

  • Army life suited him

o   He started in Alaska

  • The last time the mother saw her son was Christmas 2006

o   She drove him to the airport in Louisville

  • Now the soldier was coming home with a full procession filled with people who had known him his whole life

o   The soldier was dressed in his finery in the casket

o   He was whole enough for open viewing

  • The family had a hard time seeing him and believing it was him because he was gone so long

o   His brother put his Mason ring on his brother, with his hands shaking as he did so

Pt 4

  • The army Chaplin needed a quiet place before the service

o   He came with the guard

o   The author explains the color-coding system of soldiers and how they die

  • The Chaplin’s calling came to him in Bosnia

o   Today hit home because he had a family

  • When the hearse arrived he debriefed the family on what they would see

o   The wood caskets are heavier than metal but all soldiers are dressed the same underneath

o   The weight of caskets gives some indication of how the person died

  • People were looking for distractions as to not look at the casket
  • The Chaplin looked at the solder’s family and thought of his

o   He finished the reading with the 46th psalm

  • The wife folded her arms over the flag and wept

o   The mother held onto her grandchildren

o   The Chaplin cried as well

  • The guards carried the casket back to the hearse
  • The brothers who escorted the soldier from the airport led the procession

o   Two guards in the back of the van would soon find themselves in Iraq

Official Pt 2: Dover Air force Base

  • The Pentagon called Greene

o   His business had been in the auto industry

  • Until 2005 soldiers had been sent home on commercial planes

o   That changed when a family started a campaign as to how the military would be flown home and met

  • High profile planes were needed to transport mutilated bodies home
  • Greene’s company designed spaces for caskets in planes

o   The pilots were low-profile – one of the pilots said you just have to fly

o   There are some states that had more casualties than others while some have had none

  • This soldier’s flight home was their first to Indiana
  • They’ve noticed that small towns have the highest turnouts

o   Sometimes parents don’t show and sometimes the honor guard doesn’t either

  • When they landed in Indiana someone from the National Guard makes sure the body matches the name and hasn’t been damaged during the flight

o   The family meets the casket in the hanger

o   Sometimes the pilots go back in the plane because they cant handle the family’s reactions

  • Some soldiers stick out more in their minds than others

Pt. 3

  • Larsen entered the Port Mortuary in the Air Force in Delaware
  • There’s only a 12 person permanent staff there
  • It’s the worlds largest mortuary
  • It has records of every man and woman KIA to date
  • The soldier spent five days there before returning home

o   His body was scanned for bombs

  • The soldier was cleaned, his body parts tagged and cataloged, and placed back into the body bag to head home

o   There were no personal effects found on his body

o   Two rooms in the building deal with their personal effects

  • Chaplains are there every day
  • The soldiers can only be truly identified once they arrive

o   Then there’s an autopsy

o   The soldier suffered traumatic injuries consistent with explosives – his remains were incomplete

o   Wounds are documented and recorded in the database

o   Body fluids are replaced in order to keep from decaying

  • The body is put together best for “view ability”

o   Soldiers help their comrades look this way

o   It’s an intimate, hands on process

  • The solders are dressed in their best and the family chooses a wood or metal casket
  • Sometimes when prepping the bodies extra steps are taken to show care – i.e. shining buttons
  • The flags are last

o   They are creaseless and longer than a standard one

Pt. 4

  • The Major General must attend every funeral of a soldier KIA and greet every plane landing on Dover
  • The soldiers have a long way home before they make it back to the states
  • Honor guards from every major military branch greet the planes with lists of the dead
  • They roll out a red carpet for those returning home

o   Sometimes it’s one case, sometimes its more

o   Each case is moved one at a time and given a three second salute

  • Sometimes people are rendered speechless

o   A prayer is said for those lost

  • It doesn’t matter which branch carries who

Official Pt. 3

  • A staff sergeant looks at the body of his friend at his feet in the helicopter
  • The author describes the sergeant and tells how the two met
  • A medivac was called for the soldier but he was deemed KIA
  • The staff sergeant knew it was the soldier based off the radio code

o   He took off the headphones because he didn’t want to hear the rest

o   Helicopters landed and brought the soldier toward the truck

  • The soldier was looked at for distinguishing features

o   The solider would be on his way to Kuwait 6 hours later

Pt. 4

  • The soldier’s older brother visited him the week before his death

o   They took pictures together

o   He lost of his mother’s reaction

o   He called his unlace at home first

  • The brother then made sure his aunt with was his mother
  • Candidate wives gather round to see if they become widows
  • They knew something was wrong

o   The wife sent her kids next door to play

  • The aunt was with the mother when she opened the door to the soldiers
  • Once the mother found out the news spread through the town quickly
  • The wife found out and dropped the phone
  • Bags were packed and people from times of the past gathered together again

Pt. 5

  • The author describes what happened to the soldier when he died
  • He also described the man driving the truck and the other men in the vehicle
  • The soldier had just talked to his family

o   He heard an explosion while talking to them

  • The author describes how the army named areas of Bhagdad