Patriot Guard Riders Funeral Attendance

Procedure to Request a Mission

We have five types of missions which have an order of precedence in case we have multiple missions on the same day, same time.

It is our intent to attend every mission we are invited to. We never do a mission without being invited by the Immediate Family. When we are invited to more than one mission on a given day this will be the priority:

1. KIA or in theater death

2. Any other active duty death

3. Any Veteran with no family

4. Veterans from any era

5. Welcome home/send offs, HOTH.

In case of a priority 1 or 2 request the request MUST COME VIA THE CAO/ CACO. I will take family information and initially contact the family if necessary, but after a CAO/CACO has been assigned by the Military, all communications between the PGR and the Family must go through the CAO/CACO. CAO/CACOs are assigned very quickly, so if anyone including a family member asks for something, take the information but reinforce with them it has to be confirmed and communicated to me by the CAO/CACO (this is necessary because the CAO/CACOs interface with a single person in the family, next of k! in, and that person is the only person authorized to make decisions for the family).

In the case of multiple priority 4 requests it will be on a first come first posted basis. All priority 4, -mission requests must come from the next of kin, as show below in order of precedence:

First living person in this list -

Spouse

Children (over the age of 18)

Parents

Grandchildren (over the age of 18)

Siblings

Grandparent

Great-Grandchild (over the age of 18)

Niece/Nephew (over the age of 18)

Aunt/Uncle

I prefer to have an email with ALL necessary information to schedule a mission. If the NOK does not have email please ask them to contact me by phone 916 214-9534, please do not send me an email asking me to contact the NOK, I will not make initial contact the next of kin by phone or email, that comes off like ambulance chasing. If you are the Next Of Kin (if you are not then please have the next of kin) forward the needed information to me at pgr.steiner@hotmail.com. ( you can! forward an email from the NOK to me if that is more expeditious):

Deceased’s Information:

Full Name

Branch of service

Rank ( if a veteran then Rank at the time of discharge)

Years of service both total and range e.g. 26years, 1965 to 1991

A brief military service history (Include important assignments, combat tours, Awards and decorations)

A complete itinerary of the fune! ral services with Dates, Times, and complete addresses, name of the funeral home and funeral director and his/her contact information.

Name and contact information for the person requesting the mission.

When we are asked to do a priority 5 Welcome Home or Sendoff missions. We cannot do entire units without command involvement so have someone in the chain of command contact me. If we are asked to welcome home an individual we will do missions at the beginning and/or completion of a tour. The requirements to schedule a mission are the same as priority 4 (above), except of course name of person returning or leaving and requestor’s relation to that person.

The faster I get all the information above, from the next-of-kin, the faster the mission announcement goes out.

Make no commitment on behalf of the PGR to do a mission.

John Steiner,

Assistant State Captain

PGR NorCal Capitol Region