Three volleys of shots.

Pallbearers in crisply pressed dress blues.

A carefully folded flag and the words "on behalf of the President of the United States, the United States Army and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of appreciation for your loved one's honorable and faithful service."

These are the services the Fort Belvoir Post Funeral Honors Team provides for fallen Soldiers and their Families, and team members consider it an honor.

"Being able to do this is our way of giving back to the Soldiers who came before us, did their job before us and sacrificed what they sacrificed," said Spc. Brian Norcross, a team member from the 596th Signal Company.

The Funeral Honors Team is part of the Casualty Assistance Center, attached to the Headquarters Battalion, and is made up of Soldiers from Fort Belvoir tenant units.

Spc. Kevin Pollard, 249th Engineer Battalion, volunteered for the team after he felt the team's impact first-hand.

"Right before I came to Belvoir, my father was buried, and he's a veteran," he said. "I had never seen a military funeral before -- I had only been in for eight months -- but I saw what it meant to my mom, because she was with him throughout his career. That's the reason I came here: because I saw what they did for my father."

The team provides graveside honors to retired, active duty and veteran Soldiers. Veterans receive "simple honors," which include a bugler playing Taps and a three-man team to fold and present the flag to the Soldier's next of kin. Active duty and retired Soldiers receive "full honors," which also include a firing detail and pallbearers.

Spc. Robert Hughes, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, is the team's primary flag folder, and takes great pride in his work.

"Once you have that good fold, you feel more accomplished; you feel like you helped out that fallen Soldier that you're memorializing, so it's really nice," he said.

The team recently provided funeral honors for a Korean War veteran, who was killed in action 62 years ago, but did not receive a military funeral until his remains were identified and released from North Korea.

"We had a lot of veterans there," Hughes said. "They came up to us, shook our hands and appreciated it. It was a good experience."

Currently, the Fort Belvoir team has five primary members and six alternates, but desperately needs more Soldiers.

A typical full-honors detail includes 15 Soldiers, including flag folders, six pallbearers and a separate firing detail, but Fort Belvoir's team is modified so that eight Soldiers can perform all of these functions.

"We've trained to learn everybody's job," said team NCOIC Sgt. 1st Class Tanya Elliott, Operational Support Airlift Agency. "I can definitely say I can depend on these Soldiers."

However, the small staff has forced the team to limit the number of funeral details it can provide.

"We do not have the support that we need, so we can only do a certain amount before we get too bogged down or we can't properly keep up with the uniforms (getting cleaned)," said Staff Sgt. Allister Odum, Army Cyber Command.

Since the Fort Belvoir Post Funeral Honors Team formed two months ago, it has provided honors at about four funerals per week, according to Errol Radford, Casualty Assistance Center trainer.

The team's area of operation includes 18 counties in Virginia and two counties in West Virginia, he added.

Radford said that his goal is to have two Soldiers representing all 14 of Fort Belvoir's tenant units on the team. (Currently, only four tenant units have provided Soldiers.)

To join the team, Soldiers must be in ranks private through sergeant first class, be cleared to lift heavy loads and commit to the unit for six months, he said.

Interested Soldiers can talk to their commanders and first sergeants, who submit them to the CAC for consideration, Radford said.

For more information, contact the CAC at (703) 805-4020/9626/5595/4518. For a list of counties and hours of operation, visit www.hrc.army.mil/TAGD/FortBelvoirVirginiaCasualtyAssistanceCenter.