Celebration of Life for Mark - A Star Wars Fan
#1
Troop Report 
Date: Monday, Feb 26th


Venue: Riverlife


Time: 12:00pm - 2:30pm


Mission:
Mark was a massive Star Wars fan, who passed away on February 18th, 2018 at age 53.

A request was made for some Troopers to attend his memorial service to help pay tribute to his life.


Trooper Attendance:
Disco TK 90373
Donut TK 50180
Mykill IC 20552
RoboTom TB 40363
Stormraven TI 4056



Details:
Mykill and I (Donut) were first to arrive at Riverlife. We met with our contacts and were shown to our change room at the top of a huge flight of stairs.
Mark's brother gave me an outline of what they wanted us to do and we saw that the memorial was going to be held inside a large clear marquee beside the Brisbane River.

Disco arrived not long after, and we were later joined by RoboTom and Stormraven.

Disco and I were the first to get suited up and because we were ready and because guests were already gathered en masse, we decided to carefully (and awkwardly) make our way down the stairs and we set up, standing guard at the main entry to Riverlife.
Mykill remained upstairs to assist RoboTom and then Stormraven into costume.


As Disco and I stood at attention, a couple of guests took photos. Funerals and memorial services are always a strange kind of event to do. People are never sure if they should take photos or if they should be happy or remain sombre.
We just stood at attention and let people come to their own choices.

As it neared the official memorial service start time, the guests all made their way up the ramp into the marquee.

As the last of them entered, Disco and I followed behind and then we stood guard at the main entryway to the marquee.

The service was run by White Lady funerals, and they asked us to also sign the guestbook. Definitely not the easiest thing to do.

As the service began, we continued to stand to attention and were joined by Mykill, RoboTom and Stormraven.
They made their way to a back entry point and stood to attention along the back wall of the marquee.

I'll be honest here and say that funerals and memorials are absolutely brutal events to do. Not just emotionally speaking, but physically.
Standing perfectly still, at attention for an extended period of time and not making any noise is one of the hardest things I've ever done as a trooper. This is the third time I've done these types of events, and they don't get any easier.

You do everything you can to try and move as much as you can, without it being visible. You make fists with your toes inside your boots. You outstretch your fingers ever so slowly. You gradually stand on your tippy toes then back to your heels.

Monday was a ridiculously hot day as well, so I want to take a moment to commend everyone who attended this troop. It was brutal, it was hard and you all did wonderfully.

The service lasted over an hour and was full of tributes, memories, prayers and one of the longest slideshow videos I have ever seen.

Towards the end of the service,  Mykill, RoboTom and Stormraven made their way over to Disco and I, and we all stood at the open doorway as the service came to a close.

As guests began to mingle to share memories and to eat and drink, we made our way down the ramp to a shaded area, where some guests followed to get photos.
Despite the sombre nature of the event, there still managed to be smiles, laughter and joy.

Absolutely spent, myself and Disco made our way back upstairs to get changed, whilst the others remained downstairs to do the last of the photos.

Once we were all changed, Disco had to run, but the rest of us were invited back to the marquee to have some water and soft drink.

Many guests thanked us for the day and said that Mark would have been thrilled to know we were there at his memorial.

While we were down there, a young girl dropped her gold ring, and we all watched as it rolled across the floor before falling down a crack in the decking, possibly lost forever.

And then I got to witness the miracle which is Mykill.
He leapt into action, like Han Solo racing out of Echo base to save the lost Luke Skywalker on Hoth.

Initially using a paper clip (?), he tried unsuccessfully to find and save the ring! He was like Golum desperately clawing at the One Ring…. it was his precious!
Unwilling to give up, Mykill went outside and found a suitably sized stick and then returned to try again.
As he laboured away in the heat of the day, quite a crowd of guests had gathered around to watch. And then finally… as if by magic or some amazing use of the force, Mykill pulled up the stick, complete with ring.
He handed the ring back to its young owner and all the guests applauded and cheered. Mykill is the hero we needed.
As such, I have now renamed him MykGuyver.

We all got one more can of soft drink, and we left as heroes, having helped to pay tribute to a Star Wars fan whose life was cut short, and saving a lost ring.




Charity Funds Raised: $300 confirmed so far for the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation

Injuries / Malfunctions:Mild heat stress suffered by Mykill and myself (and I'm going to guess the others) that presented itself in the days following the event.

Public Incidents: None

Mission Status: Success
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#2
Thankyou troopers for giving up your time to attend and saying good bye to a fan from all of us.
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#3
Hot. so hot. But extremely worthwhile. Great report mate
DW2016GCSN16
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#4
Funerals are very tough troops, but they leave long lasting memories for the family. Well done troopers.
GCSN16 >> GCSN19
DW2015 >> DW2018
OCC2015 >> OCC18  
BN15 >> SN18
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#5
Brilliant troop report Donut, and well done for being the POC for a potentially sensitive event.
Thank you for being the leader for this. Good work to all.
[Image: UbITLYb.png]
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#6
Champions. Awesome effort to all who attended. Thank you for representing us in such a great way. Wonderful report and another outstanding job done by Donut as POC.
Td  Snowie  Jawa Still working on   Bobafett 
      FNG
      [Image: gec.png]  
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#7
Well done guys, you did the garrison proud
FNG  OCC2017  CVIII DW2017  BN16 OCC2016
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#8
Excellent job troopers.
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#9
Great job guys
Sith  Use your hate and strike me down  Sith
DW2017 FNG
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#10
Trick I picked up watching nature documentaries about chimps eating termites Hehehe

Its hard to look stoic (without a helmet), when they start playing "time to say goodbye" and releasing doves - but all the heat, and emotion are worth it if you can bring just a little joy to the memories of the friends and family of someone who has departed.  

And with it being my 100th IOC troop (and 25th in my ID warrant officer), this day, the people I met and the person I wish I could have met in life, will always be a special one.

My hat's figuratively off to the 4 guys in helmets on this one, at least I could breathe free.
"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear, I said supper is ready!"
DW2015 -> DW2018
OCC2015 -> OCC19
BN15 -> SN19
GCSN16 ->  GCSN19
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#11
Amazing work troopers!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I am so glad I found you and didn't kill you.
Tusken 
B2B 
OCC18 (BARELY!)
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