Next week, the elite horse-drawn caisson unit will return to one of America’s oldest burial grounds at Arlington National Cemetery.
What You Need To Know
- Next week, the elite horse-drawn caisson unit will return to one of America’s oldest burial grounds at Arlington National Cemetery
- In 2023, following the deaths of two horses and reports that aging horses were living in poor conditions, caisson burials were halted
- Lt. Col Jason Crawford, commander of the detachment, said since the caisson processions were paused, there have been many changes
- Many older horses were retired and new ones were brought in, wooden saddles were replaced with custom leather ones, the training for the soldiers and horses was updated, and the caissons were overhauled, reducing their weight by hundreds of pounds
For more than 70 years the unit, known as “The Old Guard,” has provided horse-drawn processions for burials.
But in 2023, following the deaths of two horses and reports that aging horses were living in poor conditions, caisson burials were halted.
Two years later, they are coming back.
“The biggest thing is we had to redo the whole program," said Lt. Col Jason Crawford, commander of the detachment. "We could put a patch on it and get them back out there, but really we weren’t fixing the whole pipeline program we had. We changed the way we did business.”
Crawford joined the unit as a veterinarian in 2023 and recently was named commander.
He said since the caisson processions were paused, there have been many changes.
Many older horses were retired and new ones were brought in, wooden saddles were replaced with custom leather ones, and the training for the soldiers and horses was updated. Also, the caissons were overhauled, reducing their weight by hundreds of pounds, making it easier for the horses to pull them at Arlington.
“There’s quite a few rolling hills that we have,” Crawford said.
Starting Tuesday, caisson services will resume, down from what used to be up to eight funerals a day to two for now.
“We want to get these horses in a good work-rest cycle,” Crawford told Spectrum News. “Leadership in the Army has been really receptive to this. I think now they understand, to have this program, we’re going to have to have more horses, a larger herd to help kind of facilitate this with the cemetery.”
Crawford said the horses will be able to handle the return of caisson services.
“From not just myself being on staff as the commander, we also have another team of veterinarians and the team of extras we brought in that are looking over these horses,” Crawford said.
Making sure the dozens of horses of symbolism can fulfill the job of cementing the honor of a fallen soldier for a family in mourning.