Another case for "Get a rope!"

[Subdeacon Joe]

I messed up. I didn't see that there was already a thread on this topic! Please make any further comments there:

 

 

http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=180224

 

 

 

http://www.12newsnow.com/story/16218430/air-for

 

274 soldiers' ashes dumped in Va. landfill

Posted: Dec 08, 2011 7:37 AM PST Updated: Dec 08, 2011 7:37 AM PST

By Cathryn Khalil - email

 

 

The Air Force dumped the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops in a Virginia landfill, far more than the military had acknowledged, before halting the secretive practice three years ago, records show.

 

The landfill dumping was concealed from families who had authorized the military to dispose of the remains in a dignified and respectful manner, Air Force officials said. There are no plans, they said, to alert those families now.

 

The Air Force had maintained that it could not estimate how many troops might have had their remains sent to a landfill. The practice was revealed last month by The Washington Post, which was able to document a single case of a soldier whose partial remains were sent to the King George County landfill in Virginia. The new data, for the first time, show the scope of what has become an embarrassing episode for vaunted Dover Air Base, the main port of entry for America's war dead.

 

The landfill disposals were never formally authorized under military policies or regulations. They also were not disclosed to senior Pentagon officials who conducted a high-level review of cremation policies at the Dover mortuary in 2008, records show.

 

Air Force and Pentagon officials said last month that determining how many remains went to the landfill would require searching through the records of more than 6,300 troops whose remains have passed through the mortuary since 2001.

 

"It would require a massive effort and time to recall records and research individually," Jo Ann Rooney, the Pentagon's acting undersecretary for personnel, wrote in a Nov. 22 letter to Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.).

 

Well, if it would "require a massive effort" sounds to me like you better get cracking, Ms. Rooney. There is NO excuse for this. Even if they were, as it seems from the article, unidentified fragments, there should be a better way. Maybe a receptacle for them at the Tomb of the Unknows. Or special gardens at the military academies. Something.

[Utah Bob #35998]

:angry: :angry:

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

..... may I suggest that the rope be a bit short-ish ...

 

........ and that the tree be rather tall ...

[Subdeacon Joe]

..... may I suggest that the rope be a bit short-ish ...

 

........ and that the tree be rather tall ...

 

Just long enough so they can, with some effort, stand on tip-toe. Barely.