Wednesday, July 25, 2007
No Wonder People Come To Hate The Government
On Base, a Plea to Give Each Death Its Due - New York Times: "FORT LEWIS, Wash. — Twenty soldiers deployed to Iraq from this Army base were killed in May, a monthly high. That same month, the base announced a change in how it would honor its dead: instead of units holding services after each death, they would be held collectively once a month.
The anger and hurt were immediate. Soldiers’ families and veterans protested the change as cold and logistics-driven. Critics online said the military was trying to repress bad news about deaths. By mid-June, the base had delayed the plan."
Who was the idiot that came up with this plan, and then who were the idiots that approved it? This is so obviously offensive that I cannot even imagine what these people must be thinking other than the expense, which is not an issue to be pondered after the serviceperson has died in combat. In fact, what if a company had people dying every month and they decided that they should only hold monthly memorial services? People would find that outrageous too. I do not think it is about repressing bad news. I do think it is about money, but that just cannot be an issue here. These dead are our dead. They are American service people, among those that we should hold in highest esteem in life and death. That means you give them full military honors individually. There should be no question about this.
The anger and hurt were immediate. Soldiers’ families and veterans protested the change as cold and logistics-driven. Critics online said the military was trying to repress bad news about deaths. By mid-June, the base had delayed the plan."
Who was the idiot that came up with this plan, and then who were the idiots that approved it? This is so obviously offensive that I cannot even imagine what these people must be thinking other than the expense, which is not an issue to be pondered after the serviceperson has died in combat. In fact, what if a company had people dying every month and they decided that they should only hold monthly memorial services? People would find that outrageous too. I do not think it is about repressing bad news. I do think it is about money, but that just cannot be an issue here. These dead are our dead. They are American service people, among those that we should hold in highest esteem in life and death. That means you give them full military honors individually. There should be no question about this.
