Honor Mission Duty
The Honor Mission is a sacred duty for the WVPG to provide support to veteran’s and their families when they are laid to rest. This includes preventing protesters from trying to disrupt or cause harm to those attending a soldier’s funeral.
If you would like the West Virginia Patriot Guard to attend the funeral, please fill out our Honor Request From
First Mission
Once you have decided to attend a mission or event, the following will give you an idea of what to expect and some guidelines of the West Virginia Patriot Guard to help maintain a high level of integrity for our organization.
Arriving to a Honor Mission
Please arrive at the staging location at the appointed time. Introduce yourself to the Ride Captain as a new member and follow any and all instructions. It is not necessary to call or email the Ride Captain in advance of the mission to let them know that you will be attending. Although; you may call him or her in advance if you have a specific concern or question. Keep in mind that our Ride Captains are also volunteers with other life commitments and responsibilities. Since the planning of a mission takes a considerable amount of time and energy on top of those, please be mindful that they are very busy juggling many things.
During the mission briefing, the Ride Captain(s) will provide members attending with the information that is needed for that particular mission. Please pay attention and ask questions if something is not clear to you, and please follow the instructions.
Please choose your method of transportation according to weather conditions and any other circumstance that might have an impact on your safety or the the safety of others. Although various law enforcement agencies or Funeral Escort Companies often provide logistical support during mission escorts, it is possible that for various reasons it may not be available.
When a law enforcement agency or Funeral Escort Service is on the ground and providing support, all of our members are expected to follow their instructions regardless of method of transportation.
Road or traffic blocking is permitted by a Funeral Escort Service or law enforcement only, Any questions or concerns that you may have in that regard should be brought to the attention of the Ride Captain(s).
Honor Mission Communication Policy
Members should not be in contact with families, police agencies, funeral homes, military representatives, or other planners around missions or potential missions. If you are contacted by one or more among them as the result of an acquaintance or relationship, please refer them to the assigned mission Ride Captain or senior leadership in attendance. Lines of communication are established and need to be maintained in order to preserve consistency and clarity of information. Once again, it is important to remember that everyone associated with a mission or potential mission is quite likely very busy attending to a wide range of details and circumstances.
Occasionally, another source might publish or bring to your attention certain mission details (dates, times, locations, escort routes, etc.) in advance of a statewide email or national forum mission thread posting. Since that information might be inaccurate or inconsistent with our operational security guidelines, that information should not be further published or distributed by members. Instead, any such information that might come your way should be communicated to the mission Ride Captain(s).
- Photographs and/or videos should not be taken while you are in a flag line. Read more about our Flag Holding Guidelines.
- Photographs and/or videos should not be taken of a casket or of family members.
Honor Mission Protocols
- Patriot Guard leadership team consists of State Captain(s), Ride Captains and Chaplain.
- Ride Captains handle the line-up of the missing man formation and/or the motorcycle flag honor guard columns at the staging areas, and directs the flag lines at the funeral services.
- Road guards help lead the processions to the funeral sites and help control traffic. Cages haul water and snacks for the flag line participants.
- Flag truck drivers transport flag poles with 3 by 5 foot American Flags. Chaplains offer prayer at the staging area and on request elsewhere during missions.
- Meet the West Virginia Patriot Guard
- State Captain and/or Ride Captain will perform the following tasks to plan the mission:
- Contact the family and the military Casualty Assistance Officer. (CAO)
- Contact Law Enforcement Officers (LEO) and funeral directors.
- Maintain ongoing contact with the family, CAO, LEO, and funeral directors.
- Perform a recon mission to scout the church and cemetery before the funeral date.
- Choose appropriate staging areas that provide fuel, food and restroom services. Obtain permission from the staging area owners for Patriot Guard Riders to use the site.
- Work with LEO to choose a safe procession route.
- If requested, arrange and provide escort from airport to funeral home.
- Arrange for flag line participation for funeral home visitation.
- Create the “ride itinerary” that is posted on the website and emailed to members.
- Plan for line-up at the funeral site no less than 1 hour prior to start of the funeral service.
- Arrange for flag truck to transport flags to cemetery after funeral service starts.
- All participants should arrive at the designated final staging area prior to the mission briefing. During the briefing the procedures will be explained.
- Participants will be directed to the correct parking area.
- Motorcycles – two-wheel – will be lined up in columns of two.
- Motorcycles with large flags will be placed at the front.
- Motorcycles without flags will follow.
- Trikes follow the two-wheel motorcycles.
- Tribute vehicles will follow Trikes.
- Cages will follow Tribute vehicles.
- Listen closely to the Mission briefing that is delivered by the Ride Captain.
- Questions will be answered at the staging area. The intent is for everyone to know what to do and where to go so that the mission runs smoothly.
- Bear in mind that the best-made plans can fall through, so we will remain flexible and deal with any obstacles that arise.
- Whenever possible the procession to the funeral site will be led by Law Enforcement and/or professional motor escorts.
- The Road Guards will follow them, and lead the Flag Honor Guard. It is their job to read the traffic and if requested help the LEO keep us safe.
- Motorcycle processions travel in columns of two, staggered on freeways and if possible, side by side on surface streets.
- Automobiles are single-file.
- Road Guards will have their flashers on.
- All others will have their headlights on.
- Automobiles will have lights on, and the last vehicle will also have flashers on. This alerts the LEO and Road Guards of the end of the procession.
- We will line up our motorcycle color guard and all motorcycle columns in front of funeral/memorial building, and/or line the street and parking area.
- We will stand shoulder to shoulder holding the American Flag, forming a shield between the funeral/memorial service and the protesters to protect the family of the fallen soldier.
- We will turn our backs on protesters and maintain silence unless otherwise directed. If requested, we recite patriotic slogans, pledges, sing patriotic songs, or play patriotic music.
- Under no circumstances should anyone speak to or have physical contact with the protesters.
- The flag line must maintain a solemn, reverent demeanor. No loud talking. Turn cell phones off. No smoking. If you need to do these things, please ask someone to relieve you so that you can take a break away from the flag line.
- After the funeral service starts, the flag truck and most of the Patriot Guard will depart for the cemetery to create a flag line or avenue of flags at the graveside.
- A motorcycle honor guard with flags will escort to the graveside.
- The motorcycle Flag Honor Guard will be displayed in the following order as prescribed by DoD Directive 1005.8
- American flags, State flags, Military Academies (if present), Army, Marine, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, POW/MIA, Guard and/or Reserve (if present), Military Divisions
- Other flags, if present, must follow the military service flags. This includes Veterans Service Organizations first, followed by any other flags, based on birth date of the organization.
- We comply with military procedure for flag display because these are military funerals. High-ranking military officers and military veterans attend and expect to see the proper flag protocol observed.
- When you hear the command ‘Present Arms’ those who are carrying flags will bring their flagpole from resting on the ground to their waist and keeping the flag upright and not tipping; those who are Veterans will salute and non-Veterans will place their right hand over their heart.
- When you hear the command ‘Order Arms’ flagpoles will return to the rest position and the rest will drop their salute.
Dress Code
Remember, you are attending the funeral services for an American hero so please dress appropriately. Depending on the climate, the clothing worn can change dramatically. The best advice or rule of thumb is wear what you would normally wear when riding. The best way to illustrate the dress code is to tell you what is not acceptable. Then, what is acceptable will be just about everything else.
Items considered permissible
- Jeans
- leather tops and bottoms
- chaps
- boots
- vests displaying motorcycle groups/clubs
- sunglasses
- do-rags
- baseball caps and normal motorcycle attire.
The following are considered unacceptable:
- Shorts of any kind
- Tank tops
- Halter tops for ladies
- Any clothing or other attire which contains ANY offensive language, statements or remarks (the only exception to this is patches on motorcycle vests)
- Any clothing that emphasizes the male or female anatomy is considered offensive and should not be worn.