Arlington, Virginia — Soldiers of the U.S. Army’s Old Guard are taking on intensive drills as they prepare to resume next month their sacred and solemn duty of using horse-drawn caissons, or carriages, for servicemembers being laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
These horse-drawn funerals were suspended by the Army in May 2023 following the deaths of two of the horses within a 96-hour period back in February 2022, prompting an Army investigation.
As CBS News previously reported, other horses pulling the caissons were also suffering painful muscle and tendon injuries. At the time, the Army said that 27 Arlington horses were sent to multiple rehabilitation facilities, and the horses were replaced with hearses.
The horses were performing up to eight funerals a day, in all weather, and pulling wagons that weighed more than a ton.
Most of those horses are retired now, replaced by dozens of new ones.
But Army commanders knew they needed professional help to bring the caissons back. So, they called in equestrian David O’Connor, an Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. Equestrian Federation.
“The commanding general gets up there and he goes, ‘OK, I would like for all of you guys to realize that we do not know what we’re talking about,’” O’Connor recounted to CBS News. “I thought it was the greatest opening line I’ve ever heard. That humility was surprising to me: ‘We’re in serious trouble. We need to really look at this whole thing.’”
According to Lt. Col. Jason Crawford, a veterinarian and the new commander of the Caisson Detachment, much of the issue centered around education.
“Once we brought the right experts in, I think everyone then starts having the aha moment,” Crawford said. “Like, we didn’t know the horses were kind of working too much.”
Starting in June, two squads of 11 horses will perform two services a day for a total of about 10 funerals per week. Before the pause, some of the horses were working 45 days straight when they were supposed to get two weeks rest after 14 days of work.
And it isn’t just the welfare of the animals that is a focus, but the equipment. The old caisson weighed about 2,600 pounds. The new one is more than 1,000 pounds lighter.
There has also been extensive training for unit personnel. Staff Sgt. Isaac Melton, a squad leader, told CBS News he didn’t grow up riding horses, and says the first time he even came in contact with one was when he began training 15 months ago. He says that training has averaged about “eight to 10 hours a day.”
Melton says “perfection” will be going through his mind on day one of the program’s return.
Sgt. Daimien Copeland was part of the program before it was suspended.
“Something inside your chest, let’s you just feel — you’re proud, you’re nervous, you’re excited,” Copeland said of his feelings of resuming horse-drawn caissons. “You know, you’re honored to be able to be the one that’s saying, ‘I’m helping bring this back to the cemetery to those service members and their families.’”
Charlie D’Agata is CBS News’ senior national security correspondent. He was previously a senior foreign correspondent and has spent more than two decades covering international news for CBS.
contributed to this report.
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