Garfield County sheriff's office honor guard excels

PRESS RELEASE
July 5, 2013

IMPORTANT: Please direct any media requests to the contact below. Do not contact the Garfield County Emergency Communications Center or Patrol staff for media requests.

GARFIELD COUNTY, Colo. – Recently at an Honor Guard Academy hosted by the Colorado Professional Firefighters Honor Guard in Arvada, Colorado a team of four members of the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) joined with two members from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office and two from the Adam’s County Sheriff’s Office. This team of eight competed against other teams in a final “practical” that incorporated all of their training and associated maneuvers. The composite team, from three jurisdictions took first place because of the synchronization of their rifle movements and marching, with unsolicited comments from the judges such as “Wow” in addition to their normal scoring. The four members of the team representing Garfield County were Brandon Locklear, Brian Griffin, Matthew Graham and Ryan Melody.

In addition to winning first place in the team event, Deputy Brian Griffin, of Garfield County, took first place in the overall drill competition. The drill competition is held at the end of each day of training. All students align in formation and perform a series of “facing” movements and marching orders given by the Commander. If the student fails in any command, he or she is eliminated. By the final day there were only four students left, and in the final “Drill Off” Brian was the “last man standing”, thereby winning the overall competition.

The Garfield County Sheriff’s Honor Guard assists with funerals, parades and other events as requested. They volunteer their time and energy not only in Garfield County, but in neighboring jurisdictions as well, whenever needed. The GCSO’s Honor Guard was established by Sheriff Lou Vallario in 2010 with four members. It has since grown to include ten members coming from the Patrol, Detentions and Civil Divisions of the SO.

The Honor Guard Academy is an annual event, this year there were participants came from Mesa County SO, Broomfield PD, Littleton PD, Arapaho County SO, Adam’s County SO, Weld County SO, Lakewood PD, Blackhawk PD, Pueblo Fire Dept., Castle Rock Fire Dept., South Metro Fire Dept, La Junta Fire Dept., Federal Heights Fire Dept, and the Longmont Fire Dept.

These events are important to all participating agencies not only to standardize interdepartmental maneuvers and procedures, but to strengthen and improve the Honor Guard as a whole.