(image courtesy of Robb Allen)Remains of war dead dumped in landfill
The Dover Air Force Base mortuary for years disposed of portions of troops’ remains by cremating them and dumping the ashes in a Virginia landfill, a practice that officials have since abandoned in favor of burial at sea.
The Dover, Del., mortuary, the main point of entry for the nation’s war dead and the target of federal investigations of alleged mishandling of remains, engaged in the practice from 2003 to 2008, according to Air Force officials. The manner of disposal was not disclosed to relatives of fallen service members.
[takes a deep breath]
A. FUCKING. LANDFILL.
Who in blue bloody blazes came up with this policy? Cremation I can grok - these are unidentified parts here. It's unfortunate that the remains of our fallen soldiers cannot always be recovered completely, but such is the brutal nature of warfare, especially given the enemy we currently face. IEDs, rocket-propelled grenades, asymmetrical warfare; all of these contribute to soldiers dying in combat in manners that may not allow for complete retrieval.
But by Odin's beard you don't dump the ashes of the unidentified parts in a landfill.
Perhaps there could have been something worked out in Arlington, maybe even as part of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier? It seems like that would certainly be more fitting than a landfill. The policy in place now is burial at sea; this certainly seems like a far more palatable option for the partial remains that truly cannot be identified.
Someone needs to be fired for this - preferably out of a cannon.
That is all.
4 comments:
You have no idea how bad this pisses me off. As a medic in Iraq, I was fortunate to not have any fatal casualties with the teams and squads I rode and walked with. Some of my medic friends were not so lucky. You would not believe the dedication of those guys and gals when it comes to recovery and the preservation of body integrity where possible when dealing with limbs, toes, teeth etc. Many come back from mission and escort the remains of their teammates by Blackhawk when permitted. Mortuary Affairs (a job I would not do for triple pay) people are very dedicated also. The handling of remains is taken very seriously, probably because we all have a dog in the fight, that is if any of our assholes exploded through our foreheads, we all hope someone would take the time to send the right parts home to the right place. To read this is very disheartening, demoralizing, and unfuckingbelievable. I apologize for the language, but this one pisses me off too.
Fucking assholes... They need to be taken out and shot... PERIOD!
Most likely lazy assed civil servants.
I am calling bullshit on "unidentifiable". When I went through basic way back in the dark ages of the 1990s I gave a small blood sample to be used for DNA sampling. I would think that anything big enough to be cremated would be big enough to get a sample from to be matched.
Whatever punishment is given to whoever wrote this "policy" will be too light.
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