{"id":191812,"date":"2026-02-24T19:48:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T19:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/191812\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T19:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T19:48:39","slug":"kern-county-honor-guard-seeks-veteran-volunteers-amid-critical-staffing-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/191812\/","title":{"rendered":"Kern County honor guard seeks veteran volunteers amid critical staffing shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 An honor guard that has long ensured Kern County veterans receive full military funeral honors is now urgently seeking more volunteers, warning that dwindling membership is threatening its ability to continue providing those services.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kerncounty.com\/government\/veterans-service\/partners\/non-profit-and-other-agencies\/associated-veterans-honor-guard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kern County Associated Veterans Honor Guard<\/a> said the shortage could impact its ability to perform key elements of military funeral honors, including the three-volley rifle salute, folding of the flag and the playing of \u201cTaps.\u201d The organization has, for years, provided those final rites for local veterans.<\/p>\n<p>The honor guard is looking for veterans from all branches of service who are willing to volunteer their time to honor fallen service members. Full-time participation is not required.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The selfless volunteers of our local Honor Guard ensure every Veteran receives the final military rites they earned!&#8221; stated Jose Lopez, Director of the Kern County Veterans Service Department.<\/p>\n<p>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>Veterans interested in joining can email Jose Lopez at lopezj@kerncounty.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 An honor guard that has long ensured Kern County veterans receive full military funeral honors&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-191812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}