Mission Report for:
Specialist Daniel J. Agami, 25, Coconut Creek, FL, 26 Jun 07

This mission went exactly as the plans we had posted originally on the forums….NOT!

Anyone who has ever done these missions more than once knows one thing… Plan and plan to change it!

I along with Skywalker from US Military Vets MC Treasure Coast Chapter arrived at 9:50 to find Whistler set up with his truck, American Flags and PGR Flag flying right at the entrance to Star of David. Whistler provided the water, ice, soft drinks and snack that are so much needed on these hot south Florida summer days.

I spoke to the funeral home staff to approve or staging area and plans for the day. They were good to go with the plans and drove me via golf cart to the far end of the cemetery where Specialist Daniel J. Agami would be laid to rest. This was one part I was unable to attain prior to this morning. Then they drove me back up to the funeral home and explained they had back to back to back funerals today and the Family would follow the hearse to another building they had on site and be dropped off. Then the hearse would come to the funeral home in preparations for the funeral later that afternoon. OK our first change… We needed a flag line out on the roadside as the Hearse and family passed.. CHECK… Then we needed to get half of the flag line at the entrance of the driveway and the other half to the side entrance where the soldier would finally come in… Double Check! I asked the funeral directors instead of the hears turning immediately in front of the funeral home as they entered if they would go straight ahead into the cemetery area and come back up the road directly in front of the side door. This allowed our four flags as the entrance to make it to the side door with us. Works well for everyone they said.

OK we got a plan! 10:50am which is 10 minute before briefing time, Cell phone rings… Casualty Assistance Officer on the phone… Plane will be 15 to 20 minutes behind schedule… No problem…. However he tells me they have NO ESCORT of any kind… No LEO at all… I tell him we will see what we can do and I will call him right back. We have Mohawk from the Enforcers MC on site and 1 rider who works for the Sheriff’s department… Surely we can get something for them…. Both of those end up with nothing available too short notice… Understandable but doesn’t solve the need for an honorable escort for our soldier…. I asked Mohawk if he was familiar with the route to and from the airport he said affirmative I had him take WPBFJR (who had a GPS for confirmation) from the FJRForums.com site. He and I have shared ride and farkle stories for a year now but never met – His first mission with us by the way. I called CAO and told him his escort was on the way. He was delighted.

For the arrival, we had 8 flags lined up along the street spaced about 12 to 14 feet apart, giving us a 100 foot flag line and god granted us a solid breeze to make those flags fly! After the hearse and family passed, 4 riders posted along the entrance to the funeral home and the other 4 posted at the side entrance. A few minutes later our escort bikes returned with the hearse following behind…. After passing our riders at the main entrance, those riders joined us at the side door. Then our escorts joined us for 5 flags on each side of the hearse as the casket was removed by the Military Honor Guard. Flag line saluted at each passing of course and a very nice slow return when dropping our salutes. At this point we all broke for lunch at a Subway about 1 mile away.

We returned at 2pm, were asked by the funeral director to provide escort for the family back from the waiting area to the funeral home for the service. Mohawk and Thor ENFORCERS MC…away they went! Flag line of 8 riders formed up directly across from the main doors of the funeral home facing what the media estimated to be 400 guest. Again we spaced ourselves to basically cover the entire width of the front entrance area. When our escort bikes returned with the family about 3:15pm, they carried their flags and joined us. Our soldier was then carried from the side entrance across in front of the main entrance and carried inside for the service. After all were inside PGR took a short break to hydrate and such.  Then we moved our bikes back away from the staging area going deep into the cemetery as not to be heard inside… Moved our bikes to in front of the procession and ready to have all 10 of us escort this fine soldier to his final resting place. Once the bikes were in place we returned to or previous flag line location with only two of the flags from Whistler’s Cage… This allowed us to mount up quickly as not to delay the procession once the indoor service had concluded and the procession ready to.

The entire procession walked behind the hearse to the burial grounds and in the last 2 minutes or so we picked p our pace and got the bikes parked, flags in hand and stationed 3 flags on each side of the walk way and the remaining flags were posted beyond the burial plot in a arch. The graveside service did not end until about 5:25PM at which time we returned to our bikes chatted among ourselves for a few minutes and began our journeys home….

Specialist Daniel J. Agami has completed his journey home now. God Bless You! We all thank you from the bottom of our hearts and were all honored to be of service this day.

Dale Graham
Roadname SEYIYES aka SEYYES
PGR Ride Captain – Part of the South Florida Ride Captain Team

It is not customary to announce individual rider names for there are often just too many to count…. However for this special short notice mission I would like to mention those that were able to attend and thank each and every one of you:
Whistler, Skywalker, Mohawk and Thor from the ENFORCERS MC , PGRLabLuvr, Jim FXDWG, Dana –WPBFJR, Dale, Jimmy and Joel

Today we indeed had a SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE…..
The needs of this fine soldier and his family.