U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jon Shinn never saw combat. He never experienced the front lines. His life was never threatened. He never even touched a weapon after basic training.
But over six years, Shinn likely witnessed more death and grieving than many active-duty soldiers.
As a clarinet player in the United States Army Band Pershing’s Own, Shinn saw more than 1,000 soldiers laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Many were retirees, World War II veterans dying after long, full lives. Some were active-duty soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, young men leaving behind young widows.
“It’s an image that’s sort of etched in your mind,” Shinn said. “You don’t remember the details years later, but you remember those images.”
Those encounters encouraged Shinn to pursue a new career in 2008 rather than re-enlist in the military.
“There was a part of me that didn’t want to be at a gravesite every day,” Shinn said. “There was a big part of me that wanted to be a part of these people’s lives in a different way … not just help them be buried.”
Shinn was honorably discharged in August 2008 and moved to Portland. After a year of working in a bank, Shinn realized how to accomplish his goal and enrolled at Concordia University in Portland. Three years later, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing and joined the staff at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center.
“This would be a great way to see veterans, see them while they’re still with us,” Shinn thought.
“I have not been disappointed.”
Dream job
Shinn, 37, grew up in Houston. As a child, Shinn loved music and learned to play the saxophone and clarinet. He ultimately gave up playing the sax, but the clarinet led him to the career of his dreams.
Shinn’s family has a military background. His father is a U.S. Army veteran, serving after the Vietnam War. His grandfather served as an Army medic during World War II.
Shinn’s respect for the military intersected with his love for music when, as a high school student, Shinn attended a Navy band performance in Houston.
“I was just amazed,” Shinn said. “I was so impressed.”
That, Shinn said, is when he realized he wanted to play in a military band.
In 2002, Shinn graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in music performance for the clarinet. Shinn applied for military band openings and was invited to audition for three bands. After the first daylong audition, Shinn was offered a position with the U.S. Army Band Pershing’s Own.
“It is a premier band,” Shinn said. “I was really taken by their mission, their mission to provide full honors.”
He accepted the position and began basic training at Fort Sill, Okla., in January 2003. Nine weeks later, he was stationed at Fort Myer, Va., adjacent to the Arlington National Cemetery, where he remained for six years.
Within a few days, Shinn was playing for his first full-honors funeral.
Full-honors funerals
During funerals, the band stood 20 to 30 feet from the casket and played hymns as the family grieved. They played “America the Beautiful” as the flag draping the casket was folded and presented to the family.
“Once the service was complete, we just leave,” Shinn said. “Turn and walk away and get ready to do the next one.”
“There was no connection, really,” he added. “It becomes just a job at some point, unfortunately.”
Turning off the emotional connection was a coping mechanism, Shinn said. The band played for four funerals each day, with each band member playing for two of the four ceremonies.
“We were in an active conflict overseas,” Shinn said. “We had active-duty service members coming home not alive anymore.”
The band never knew anything about the person being buried prior to the funeral. But once they got to the grave, it wasn’t tough to discern between a retiree and an active-duty soldier.
The scene at one grave is still vivid in Shinn’s mind.
“It struck me when I saw that the now-widow looked like she was in her early 20s and was carrying an infant, and she was burying her husband,” Shinn said. “And all the sudden, it’s not really just a job in that moment. It kinda hits home.”
The funerals constituted the majority of the band’s duties, but the band also played at retirement ceremonies for soldiers at Fort Myer. The band was active in the community, too, playing in parades in Alexandria, Va., and in military showcases throughout the summer months. Shinn also played in two presidential inaugural parades and for the funeral processions of Presidents Ford and Reagan.
“The soldiers’ funerals, that I always found, to me, the most notable,” Shinn said. “I would do a soldier’s funeral any day before I would want to do anything else.”
New career
After six years of funerals, though, Shinn decided it was time for a change.
“A thousand funerals is nothing to sneeze at,” Shinn said. “For someone like me, it kind of takes a toll.”
After completing his nursing degree, Shinn went to work at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center. He works in the hospital’s intermediate care unit, a new 16-bed unit that is considered a step down from the intensive care unit.
Since joining the hospital in August 2013, Shinn has cared for many veterans — likely more than he even realizes.
“Most veterans are pretty humble about their duty, their accomplishments, their sacrifices,” Shinn said.
Typically, he only learns a patient is a veteran if their service comes up in passing or a family member mentions their time in the military. Shinn takes the opportunity to share his own experience and thank the veteran for their service.
This Veterans Day, Shinn will spend his day doing what he does most days: caring for patients. Though, for Shinn, Veterans Day is never just another day.
“Veterans Day is special to me,” he said. “It’s one of the most special days we have.”
