View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
lastat06513
Joined: 18 Mar 2003 Location: Sensus amo Caesar , etiamnunc victus amo uni plebian
|
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 7:52 pm Post subject: Transporting soldiers as freight on commercial airlines. |
|
|
I found this article in today's copy of the Stars and Stripes, the US Army's daily newspaper and I was deeply appalled and disspelled by what I read;
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=33689
If I were a parent and my son, who fought bravely and died for his country, had died and was sent home like an ordinary piece of luggage, I would be on the front lawn of the whitehouse, continually flipping off G.W. Bush for f'king the war and sending my son to fight, only to come home on the luggage conveyor belt like my other suitecases.
This really pisses me off and makes me ashamed to be American, really!! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
rok_the-boat

Joined: 24 Jan 2004
|
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
So what are you supposed to do - set the corpse up in a first class seat? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
canuckistan Mod Team


Joined: 17 Jun 2003 Location: Training future GS competitors.....
|
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 9:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
rok_the-boat wrote: |
So what are you supposed to do - set the corpse up in a first class seat? |
Due honours: flag draping the coffin and an honour guard. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Pligganease

Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Location: The deep south...
|
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:00 pm Post subject: |
|
|
canuckistan wrote: |
Due honours: flag draping the coffin and an honour guard. |
Sincerely. It is appalling that the fallen soldiers are not being given the respect that they deserve. They should, in death, be treated as well as, if not better than, they did when they were alive. Making the ultimate sacrifice deserves the ultimate respect, and the government is using the work of some arline lobbying group as an excuse to line the pockets of the airlines rather than treat the fallen in the manner they should. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Pyongshin Sangja

Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!
|
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Or maybe this just demonstrates the contempt George W. Bush has for common people everywhere. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Wangja

Joined: 17 May 2004 Location: Seoul, Yongsan
|
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Well, at least they are sent home and not buried where they died. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Octavius Hite

Joined: 28 Jan 2004 Location: Househunting, looking for a new bunker from which to convert the world to homosexuality.
|
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
|
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 3:56 am Post subject: |
|
|
Well, I don't know. On one hand, it shows respect for the dead and their families if the military takes charge of the bodies until they arrive at destination. But on the other, using a commercial flight could be the better option if the body are repatriated in a more timely manner. In any case, not allowing the unit to organize an honor's guard to welcome the body is disrespectful on so many levels. I hope vets raise a stink about this. I wonder how George Bush Sr. thinks of all this, being that he's a WW2 vet. John McCain must be fuming. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
TJ
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
|
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:28 am Post subject: Transporting bodies |
|
|
Many, many years ago I worked in the reservation section of an Australian airline. Passengers complained bitterly if they knew there was a body on the same aircraft they were travelling on.
Consequently, if we had to transport a coffin it was placed inside a crate so (live) passengers wouldn't know there was a body on board. What's more, the cargo manifest listed it as a "natural history specimen", not a coffin.
The passengers were happy and there were no complaints from the corpse, either. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Wrench
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
|
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:35 am Post subject: |
|
|
They are dead! Do they really need a business class seat the badly? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Summer Wine
Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Location: Next to a River
|
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:12 am Post subject: |
|
|
Quote: |
They are dead! Do they really need a business class seat the badly? |
Its the issue that the dead must be treated with respect, especially if they died for a country. Trying to save a dollar or benefit some company (if that is the case) on the remains of the dead seems rather rude and insulting to those who currently serve, had served or died in service to thier state. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
|
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
Summer Wine wrote: |
Quote: |
They are dead! Do they really need a business class seat the badly? |
Its the issue that the dead must be treated with respect, especially if they died for a country. Trying to save a dollar or benefit some company (if that is the case) on the remains of the dead seems rather rude and insulting to those who currently serve, had served or died in service to thier state. |
My point exactly. Putting them on a commercial flight in time of war may be cheap, but it's also tacky. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue
|
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 7:37 am Post subject: |
|
|
Quote: |
Many, many years ago I worked in the reservation section of an Australian airline. Passengers complained bitterly if they knew there was a body on the same aircraft they were travelling on.
|
Sheesh, how uptight can they get? If you've ever spent time in a hospital, there are probably dead bodies galore there. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
canuckistan Mod Team


Joined: 17 Jun 2003 Location: Training future GS competitors.....
|
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 3:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
On the other hand wrote: |
Quote: |
Many, many years ago I worked in the reservation section of an Australian airline. Passengers complained bitterly if they knew there was a body on the same aircraft they were travelling on.
|
Sheesh, how uptight can they get? If you've ever spent time in a hospital, there are probably dead bodies galore there. |
As long as the coffins have flags draped over them and an honour guard gets them off the plane, commercial airlines is ok. Civilian passengers shouldn't be shielded from what their gov't got them into: a foreign war with dead bodies coming home. It's a bit conspicuous hey? Maybe that's why the admin doesn't provide for flags and honour guards to final destinations--bad PR right up close and personal. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
|
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I think transporting corpses on commercial flights/ships is normal procedure. Isn't it? I don't really get the complaint of that aspect of this.
The offensive part, to me, is the lack of honor guards at the point of destination, with all the ceremonial that is due the fallen.
I know the administration has forbidden photographs of coffins coming off planes as part of their effort to control public reaction. That is controversial in and of itself. But not to treat the remains with all due respect and honor is beyond the pale. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
|