By completing the mission. Thier sacrifice not be in vain. WTF did we invade Iraq for? We always thought there was a reason, and its 3 words-O-I-L. Yeah, democracy...but how do you teach democratic principles to people who have known nothing but opppression and violence? There was no "post Baghdad" plan...there wasn't much planning done at all concerning an insurgency. Not everybody was happy to see Saddam go. We were unprepared for that. FUBAR.
THE MILITARY
A Matter of Honor
I witnessed the ceremony at Dover. I'm not sure it needs flashbulbs.
Published Feb 14, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Feb 23, 2009
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Posted By: Trooper101st @ 06/11/2009 9:29:07 AM
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Posted By: MinervaWriter @ 04/09/2009 10:22:03 AM
They Didn't Look The Other Way
As I sat at my kitchen table,
Preparing for yet another day;
I read the somber headline:
"FOUR OF OUR OWN COMING HOME TODAY"
Four of our most courageous,
Taken from the field in body bags,
Eventually their caskets,
Would be draped by American flags.
A symbol of liberty and justice for all,
That Americans proudly display.
There are those who are humbled by her,
And some who choose to look the other way.
But not those brave young soldiers,
They knew what it truly meant,
When they picked up their orders a week before,
Knowing exactly where they would be sent.
They made the ultimate sacrifice,
For a people they had never met.
Putting their lives on the line for their freedom,
May those people never forget...
The hearts of those brave young soldiers,
Who could have looked the other way,
Yet chose to fight for their liberation,
Making the righteous choice to stay.
The meaning of those stars and stripes,
Were not taken for granted,
They knew exactly what freedom meant,
Never becoming disenchanted.
I can almost hear God our Father,
As He welcomes them home, one by one,
His words full of tender loving mercy,
All their hurts and their pain, now undone.
"You have made the ultimate sacrifice,
And have past the final test,
Good job my sons and daughters,
In peace you will finally rest."
Copyright c 2003 by Minerva L. Serro
All rights reserved
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Posted By: MinervaWriter @ 04/09/2009 10:20:36 AM
They Didn't Look The Other Way
As I sat at my kitchen table,
Preparing for yet another day;
I read the somber headline:
"FOUR OF OUR OWN COMING HOME TODAY"
Four of our most courageous,
Taken from the field in body bags,
Eventually their caskets,
Would be draped by American flags.
A symbol of liberty and justice for all,
That Americans proudly display.
There are those who are humbled by her,
And some who choose to look the other way.
But not those brave young soldiers,
They knew what it truly meant,
When they picked up their orders a week before,
Knowing exactly where they would be sent.
They made the ultimate sacrifice,
For a people they had never met.
Putting their lives on the line for their freedom,
May those people never forget...
The hearts of those brave young soldiers,
Who could have looked the other way,
Yet chose to fight for their liberation,
Making the righteous choice to stay.
The meaning of those stars and stripes,
Were not taken for granted,
They knew exactly what freedom meant,
Never becoming disenchanted.
I can almost hear God our Father,
As He welcomes them home, one by one,
His words full of tender loving mercy,
All their hurts and their pain, now undone.
"You have made the ultimate sacrifice,
And have past the final test,
Good job my sons and daughters,
In peace you will finally rest."
Copyright c 2003 by Minerva L. Serro
All rights reserved
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Posted By: penaten @ 03/04/2009 3:05:18 PM
I do not think it would be fair to the families who have lost their loved one to allow the press to photograph so private loss. I know that if it was my loved one I would not appreciate my appearance in a newspaper or magazine to be used as they see fit.
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Posted By: SrAN @ 02/18/2009 2:06:25 PM
Oh My God People! Why does it matter who is and is not a Bush supporter? How did a simple question like how to properly respect and honor our dead become a political issue. The issue at hand is how to properly handle and respect the wishes of the family and the deceased. Once again, I am serving active duty right now and I can say that if I were to be killed overseas (God forbid) then I would not want my death publicized in anyway. I am serving this country so that my younger sisters and my brother can grow up with the same rights as I have. If I were to be killed, I would want a dignified burial with my closest friends and family, not a slew of media and photographers. How would a politician who never knew me know that?
I know there are others out there that want the opposite. Here is what is great about living here, you have that right! So, please stop making this all about bush admin bashing and liberal bashing. Those of us who serve in the military are people as well, not a pawn in some big political game.-
Posted By: Osama Bin Login @ 02/20/2009 12:22:15 PM
"The issue at hand is how to properly handle and respect the wishes of the family and the deceased."
No, it isn't. The issue at hand is how to honor our war dead.-
Posted By: SrAN @ 02/24/2009 8:51:02 AM
Isnt part of honoring the dead upholding their wishes? Or when your dead do your feeling no longer matter?
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Posted By: Constitution Lover @ 02/26/2009 9:01:37 AM
SrAN,
But what happens when the wishes of the different servicememebers (or their families) conflict with each others. So now the military has to put the caskets of those who are OK with being photographed on one plane and those who do not want to be photographed on the other plane? That is absurd. And the idea that if some object that none should be photographed is not a valid answer. If the caskets are photographed with the honor guard without identifying which casket is for which servicemember that is a good compromise. And yes, have ther press sign an agreement to just show the photos with no commentary (although taht woud probaly go against the free press idea.)-
Posted By: SrAN @ 02/26/2009 3:16:53 PM
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Posted By: Constitution Lover @ 02/27/2009 8:35:17 AM
SrAn,
Could not come up with a well thought out response?-
Posted By: SrAN @ 02/27/2009 9:27:52 AM
I will post this once again since it was toward the bottom of the blogs.
Constitution Lover
I think dividing the members ok from the ones that are not is a little drastic. As for the servicemembers and family who disagree, what happens when a Democrat wins over a Republican with majority vote? Simple, we are a democracy where the majority wins and everyone presses on. It should be the same with this. Why cater to the minority and ignore the majority? Seems a bit backwards to me. I neither support keeping the band or lifting the ban, I just want to let everyone here know that. But with this ban lifted here is hoping that at least the families will be consulted. Hopefully that will lead to having the military members consulted on this issue. I dont think that is too much to ask for.
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Posted By: Second_Opinion @ 02/16/2009 4:17:28 PM
.
The author describes the homecoming of the fallen as "an event so moving in its intimacy and restraint" that he, a reporter, felt as though he were an intruder. We are all guaranteed two intensely intimate moments on earth: when we arrive and when we leave.
The key word here is "intimate" which, by definition, describes events "of a very personal or private nature". My conclusion is that the public has no right to impose itself on the intimate proceedings of a fallen hero's homecoming, just as I have no right to barge into a funeral home and insist on partaking.
However, as a nation, we have a collective responsibility to honor the VOLUNTEERS who have fallen and a larger responsibility to those that have come home scarred. I think we can meet our responsibility to the fallen from a respectful distance and the Canadian solution seems to provide a nice balance.
We should be allowed to know when fallen soldiers are coming into Dover. At all costs, this should not be allowed to degrade into a circus used by fringe groups to push their own agendas. To stand quietly as they pass is all that's required.
Failing this, we may want to consider a more structured ceremony either near Dover or another location of national prominence where, if need be, thousands can come together. At that place we can simply listen to a reading of the names of the fallen. And stand quietly.
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Posted By: Osama Bin Login @ 02/16/2009 4:38:28 PM
"My conclusion is that the public has no right to impose itself on the intimate proceedings of a fallen hero's homecoming, just as I have no right to barge into a funeral home and insist on partaking."
Two very different things. Nobody is suggesting that it would be appropriate for the nation to be part of a private family funeral...but until the remains of our soldiers are reunited with their families, they are OUR soldiers, and the nation is well served by having its citizens view the cost of our actions and decisions...not to condemn or vindicate any particular war, but to remind us to think very carefully before committing our finest.-
Posted By: SrAN @ 02/27/2009 7:42:27 AM
First off I am nobody's soldier (dead or alive) other than my families. My life and remains while in the military do not belong to the public just because I volunteered to defend a country I dearly love. So for your to say that the remains being brought home are "OURS" until they reach their family is wrong.
Once again, I know you will twist my words to make it sounds as though I want the deaths swept under the rug. That is not the case. For once though, I would like you to see that we are not property, we are not for public use and we definitely don't "belong" to everyone to use as they see fit. We are individual people who joined the military for individual reasons. We are husbands, wives, sons and daughters who have families all over this nation who have different feelings on this matter. We (the military members) have different feelings on this matter. So please don't say that the bodies belong to the public before they get home, we are not a piece of property, we are people just like you. -
Posted By: Second_Opinion @ 02/26/2009 5:10:43 PM
.
You missed the point entirely. Congratulations!
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Posted By: tracker190 @ 02/19/2009 6:05:05 PM
A little break in the action is needed and I'm leaving the blogs for a while and wanted to share something. Most know that i was a hillary Supporter in Fla. until Barack won and then worked for, donated to and voted for him. I was very happily suprised to come to the realization that a Republican who i could support could actually beat President in 2012. hat man is Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota. This guy is great and i would love to have the choice between Obama and him next time around. It is the ultimate win/win situation. now of course Barack may be lucky enough to have everything go his way and i sure hope it does but either of these men wpould make a great president. I wonder if the Republican party can give a little of what it takes to nominate such a man. That's all for now.
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Posted By: allanmercer @ 02/26/2009 6:42:17 PM
Noty sure If I understand your comment, but I will try to explain my thoughts. Are you saying when you got back to USA, you where living right? This add to me is talking about the dead and how they should be accepted back my not only USof A, but the immediate family members how do they feel. When I ETS I did not have any band or big party but I was alive not dead. I would like to be remembered as a man that gave his life for the beliefts of Amercia and what it really stand for.
What's you take on time?
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Posted By: allanmercer @ 02/26/2009 6:37:53 PM
It is my true feelings, it's a personal and private emotion for our fellow veterans to be honored with all the true intentions of our Country, but most importantly it's the families right to give them this. Since I realize it's very difficult to acknowledge our hero's, they gave our Country the biggest sacifices for being true to the American cause. Where does this have any meaning other than their families and themselves? I am a veteran of which I could not go to a war zone. The press and our Country has a right to make sure these veterans are honred with dignity and pride of Country and being of one. When I hear taps and or a 21 gun salute it makes me cry and I feel so proud of being a veteran, and a American they can not give anything else they have give their lives so that we all can be free from the wost of the world's bad guy's. We are a nation of people that respect life and freedom, we should take care of those who have paid with their lives to keep us free.
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Posted By: SrAN @ 02/26/2009 3:31:28 PM
Constitution Lover
I think dividing the members ok with the ones that are not is a little drastic. As for the servicemembers and family who disagree, what happens when a Democrat wins over a Republican with majority vote? Simple, we are a democracy where the majority wins and everyone presses on. It should be the same with this. Why cater to the minority and ignore the majority? Seems a bit backwards to me. I neither support keeping the band or lifting the ban, I just want to let everyone here know that. But with this ban lifted here is hoping that at least the families will be consulted. Hopefully that will lead to having the military members consulted on this issue. I dont think that is too much to ask for.
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Posted By: HDavidsonNeverDies @ 02/26/2009 12:43:07 PM
BREAKING NEWS! The Ban on photos of the fallen returning home has been lifted, for the first time families will be consulted before the loved ones are returned to see if they apporve of teh photos...details to come.
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Posted By: HDavidsonNeverDies @ 02/24/2009 6:00:37 PM
FYI it would not be a funeral or one coffin over and over, that's just ridiculous. If the Media were allowed to take only one picture of each soldier that has been KILLED in Iraq they could have taken 1 NEW PICTURE every 12hrs for the last 6 YEARS, never showed the same body/coffin twice....that's how many have died there 1 every 12 hrs for 6 years.....
and what about how Bush and Rumsfeld EXPLOITED PAT TILLMAN, LIED about the circumstances of his MURDER to further their call for attacking Iraq and for more war....
Think about what you are saying before you try and act like you're "patriotic"....
"they signed up to fight for a cause they believed in"....yeah and then they got sent to IRAQ instead.
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Posted By: SrAN @ 02/17/2009 3:12:59 PM
To clarify I am not calling "honoring the fallen" propaganda, I am just saying that using that occasion as propoganda is wrong. To Osama Bin Login, I am sorry you think that I am unworthy of my service, maybe you should read my comment more thoroughly to understand what I am saying or read mideastsoldier2003's comment. You took the words right out of my mouth. We should Honor the Hero and it's family members not use it (as suggested in many previous comments) to fuel anti-war propaganda.
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Posted By: Osama Bin Login @ 02/20/2009 12:37:12 PM
"To Osama Bin Login, I am sorry you think that I am unworthy of my service"
Tough ***. You want to keep your fellow servicemen who are slain in combat a dirty little secret. You're damn right I said you're unworthy of your service.-
Posted By: SrAN @ 02/24/2009 9:07:57 AM
If I remember correctly you stated that you were ex military. If I recalled that correctly, then how could you say that I am unworthy of my service? I came into this military voluntarily. How does that make me unworthy of what I do? I never said to hide the fact that I have fellow soldiers dying so you can keep your right to sit here and whine, gripe and complain while sitting in your temperature controlled, safe/secure and comfortable home. I never said that we should sweep these facts under the rug while you go to a job that ensures you will be able to go home to your family at the end of every night and not possibly be sent overseas with only a 2 week notice. No, I never said any of that, instead you took what I said, my opinion, and twisted it to that so you could prove me wrong since I dont agree with you. If you were indeed serving in the military at any point in time I would have never trusted someone like you to watch my back on the front line, what would have happened if I had a disagreement with you? Would I have come home in a box ? If anyone is unworthy of their service it is you sir.
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Posted By: summer4077 @ 02/17/2009 4:32:51 PM
Exactly. It shouldn't be used as propaganda on either side, but left up to the families. And thank you for your service--there are those of us who truly appreciate it.
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Posted By: Pia1981 @ 02/22/2009 10:51:34 PM
Harley- I like your new screen name. HDavidsonNeverDiies....very James Bond.
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Posted By: lbaker_17 @ 02/21/2009 4:49:10 AM
When my husband left for his current deployment, he had to make arrangements for who would be financially responsible for shipping his body home and things like that. It seems like it would be all to simple to give the soldiers and their families that decision in the pre-deployment paperwork.
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Posted By: Pia1981 @ 02/20/2009 9:56:15 PM
Posted by:ToTheRight @02/20/2009 4:35:28 PM
"How about if we honor the dead by respecting the wishes of their families?"
What of the Other Families who would want our country, the United States of America and the whole world to know that their dead husbands, sons and daughters are finally home to their resting place after having sacrificed their lives? What would be wrong in honoring these families wishes with one photograph of the caskets arriving home in somber silence? The heavy load of grief feels lighter when it is shared.
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Posted By: Pia1981 @ 02/20/2009 2:12:24 PM
IMHO, this policy is wrong. Since the start of the Iraq war, I have not seen a single photograph of the caskets carrying our dead arriving at Dover or anywhere else, on the news or in the paper.
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Posted By: HDavidsonNeverDies @ 02/20/2009 2:36:52 PM
it's a shame too, it is how the Viet Nam war was ended,,,people were forced to face their choices of supporting WAR, some did not even know what was actually happening. Some like to say it was just a bunch of "hippies" protesting, but it was much more than that, congress felt the pressure, cut funding, and they boys came home.
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Posted By: HDavidsonNeverDies @ 02/20/2009 1:42:05 PM
FYI it would not be a funeral or one coffin over and over, that's just ridiculous. If the Media were allowed to take only one picture of each soldier that has been KILLED in Iraq they could have taken 1 NEW PICTURE every 12hrs for the last 6 YEARS, never showed the same body/coffin twice....that's how many have died there 1 every 12 hrs for 6 years.....
and what about how Bush and Rumsfeld EXPLOITED PAT TILLMAN, LIED about the circumstances of his MURDER to further their call for attacking Iraq and for more war....
Think about what you are saying before you try and act like you're "patriotic"....
"they signed up to fight for a cause they believed in"....yeah and then they got sent to IRAQ instead.
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Posted By: HDavidsonNeverDies @ 02/20/2009 1:25:28 PM
BTW Michael Steele, wonderboy for the RNC, yeah he's under federal investigation for FRAUD....DOH!
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Posted By: dbtmellis @ 02/17/2009 11:46:18 PM
Thanks to the Hippy Liberal Baby Boomer's, with the "if it feels good just do it" attitude, we will never have the same pride that we once did during WWII.
Anyone want to prove me wrong that the Baby Boomers have done more harm than good in this country? Things really went down hill in the 60s, and it doesn't look like it will reverse anytime soon.-
Posted By: summer4077 @ 02/18/2009 8:25:19 AM
How did things go downhill? Medical and scientific advancements and more wealth enjoyed is going downhill? I wouldn't exactly call the excess of the 20s and the Great Depression a freakin' dreamworld.
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Posted By: Osama Bin Login @ 02/20/2009 12:35:19 PM
He longs for the good old days of Thalidamide and wife beating.
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Posted By: kruedawg @ 02/17/2009 7:09:04 PM
I think the press should be allowed to photograph and show the flag draped caskets of our fallen heroes returning home.
There isn't any identifying information on the caskets, so it's not an invasion of privacy.
The caskets aren't open, so it's not like the bodies of our fallen heroes are being put on display for people to gawk at them.
These men & women gave their lives in service to our country and they deserve a heroes welcome when they return, they do NOT deserve to be hidden from sight like something we are ashamed of. And the American people should know the cost of this, or any other, war.
If the circumstances were different and they came home alive & in one piece would we hide their arrival or would we honor their service? Why should our fallen heroes be treated any differently?-
Posted By: wnzin @ 02/19/2009 12:28:23 AM
The press doesn't have to be there when the caskets come to let the American people know the cost of the war. The information is available and the news is capable of publishing death statistics as they have before. The press making spectacles of the families is not informing the people, it is an attempt to make a media event or poltical points, neither of which is the presses purpose.
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Posted By: Osama Bin Login @ 02/20/2009 12:20:50 PM
REMEMBER, KIDS...These soldiers died so that the press could be supressed!
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Posted By: jjaffie @ 02/20/2009 9:43:46 AM
Seeing a number on a scrolling ticker on a news station is quite a bit different than seeing flag draped caskets lined up by the dozens. Banning press is a disservice to the American heroes who gave their lives for their country. They deserve every honor, not to be swept under the rug.
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Posted By: Pia1981 @ 02/18/2009 8:57:12 PM
Excellent comment! The Bush administration only wanted the "out of sight, out of mind" because of their huge guilt. They don't care about the families feelings whatsoever.
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Posted By: TheFourthHorseman @ 02/19/2009 10:39:45 PM
Precisely,
During WWI, WWII, etc Americans were asked to ration and to make sacrifices for the war effort, though since then the average American is not affected by the war..
Some would say that the average American didn't get behind the efforts to pull out of Nam until the wooden boxes started to pile up. So naturally to keep the the carnage of war out of the sight of the masses is designed to keep it out of their minds. Bush and company should feel guilty, and very ashamed.-
Posted By: Pia1981 @ 02/19/2009 11:43:36 PM
Ditto and thank you for your comment.
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