BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Sixteen first responders from around the state, including Winchester and Russellville, are learning to perform ceremonial and funeral honor drills. 

When a first responder falls in the line of duty, the honor guard is there to ensure he or she is remembered properly.

“We want to feel like we are serving the proper honors for fallen firefighters and for the national colors,” Doug Morris, battalion chief of the Bowling Green Fire Department, said.  

Some of the topics the camp covers are basic and advanced drill and ceremony, color guard and parade details, and flag and law etiquette. 

“You’re going to spend a whole week together, you know, marching in sync, so you know, there’s a lot of camaraderies and then that’s obviously going to go into our department in Bowling Green to build that camaraderie even bigger, given that we work together and get to serve on the honor guard together,” said Shathan McCoy, a firefighter with the Bowling Green Fire Department. 

The Bowling Green Fire Department invites any firefighter, EMT or Law Enforcement agencies to attend the camp every year. “We’re training them to be the next group of leaders here, so it’s important that we pass along as much knowledge as we can and we can watch them thrive here,” Morris said.

This was the first time since 2020 the Bowling Green Fire Department hosted the Honor Guard camp because of the pandemic. 

After the training, the graduates have the ability to teach others in their organization the skills they learned.