Saturday, December 10, 2005

They're Dead Soldiers, Not Refrigerators Headed for Sears Roebuck

The San Diego family of a Marine killed in Iraq are upset at the way their loved one's body was sent home. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.

There's controversy over how the military is transporting the bodies of service members killed overseas, 10News reported.

A local family said fallen soldiers and Marines deserve better and that one would think our war heroes are being transported with dignity, care and respect. It said one would think upon arrival in their hometowns they are greeted with honor. But unfortunately, the family said that is just not the case.

Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard.

But in reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners -- stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo.

This is not about the dead soldier; it's about the family. The soldier is dead and doesn't know his body is being treated like so much merchandise. It's the families, who are alive and in indescribable pain already at losing a son or brother or dear friend, and then have to deal with the anger of knowing their government doesn't care enough about the soldiers to treat their bodies with dignity and respect in death.

8 comments:

Neil Shakespeare said...

"Be the first one on your block
To have your boy sent home in a box."

Nothing's changed since Country Joe & Fish, I see.

Maggie Goff said...

The soldiers' and marines' bodies are accompanied by a military escort. This series of articles in the Rocky Mountain News describes the process. Click on the multimedia link.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news/article/0,1299,DRMN_3_4224657,00.html

Post American said...

Well at least we found Iraq's WMD and got revenge for Operation 911?

Bush needs another war, a race war inside the USA!

Anonymous said...

Got a kid in Iraq? Keep a daily check on Fed-ex's tracking page to see if he's coming home early.
http://www.fedex.com/us/pckgenvlp/track/index.html?link=1&lid=//Track&hbxrootmenuid=//Track&hbxrootmenuorientation=down
Great idea, huh?

DrewL said...

So I guess THAT'S Bush's plan for resuscitating the ailing airline industry, eh? Not enough LIVE people are flying, so let's just send our dead troops home that way and pay the airlines to do it.

I wonder what the government is paying the airlines to ship the bodies. Are the airlines doing it for free? Or, is the government paying them EXTRA to help keep them afloat?

The government pays the commercial airlines a lot of money to transport LIVE troops to and from the Middle East. Now they're also - apparently - paying them to transport the dead ones back home, too. Sounds like a sweet deal for the airlines to me.

Anonymous said...

which of them make money off rhis? Halliburton? Carlyle group? Rumsfield? These guys in office are slimier than the mafia

Unknown said...

American officials should hang thier heads in shame,sending sons and daughters to Iraq and bringing them
home in this manner is a disgrace.
When I read this I said "This can't be
happening in America",I do'nt see those beaurcrats in Washington seeing
thier sons or daughters treated in this way,I would like to know how many
of the congress and senates children are over there dying? I do'nt have to name names,but do'nt they have sons and "daughters" of military age? I am a veteran myself and I believe if you "talk the talk",then you should "walk the walk." And that about says it all.

Esteban del Mal said...

Christ. I saw the pic over at Jesus' General and thought it was a joke. I really did.

I am simply speechless.