U.S. Military In Afghanistan Will Delay Casualty Reports

[Purveyor]

Reuters July 6, 2017

KABUL (Reuters) - The American military in Afghanistan says it will delay announcing troop casualties until after next of kin have been notified, potentially leaving casualties unreported for days.

The change in policy was instituted by General John Nicholson, the senior U.S. commander in Kabul, over fears that families could be left guessing for days after casualties were announced but not identified and before families could be notified, said military spokesman Captain Bill Salvin.

"It's a balance we're trying to strike between trying to provide all the support we can to families, while also informing the public," he told Reuters.

Previously, the U.S. military command in Kabul issued a initial announcement only stating that a soldier had been killed, often including a general location within Afghanistan, but not identifying him.

MORE...

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-military-afghanistan-delay-casualty-reports-130723814.html

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Shades of the Bush/Cheney

Doctrine. What are they hiding?

[CherokeeDem]

2. Numbers..

they can hide the numbers of casualties this way.

I don't believe for a moment that they are trying to protect the families.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Smelled that from the get go.

We are sliding back to the Bush Years only instead of us backing the Taliban,Russia is this time.

[spanone]

4. despicable administration.

[Solly Mack]

5. Speaking as a former army wife - spouses tend to know the general area where our spouses are located

so when a death is announced, we know it could be ours, and we start calling anyone and everyone.

And we aren't nice or polite about it. Not the least bit. Don't ever delude yourself into thinking otherwise. Military spouses that have gone from worried to pissed-off is something to behold.

Notifying NoK first can save a lot of people a lot of grief.

That could be the factor for the decision.

Deaths should always be made public. No one is questioning that. I fully support releasing all the facts surrounding all deaths and as soon as possible.

But maybe, just maybe, notifying NoK first will give some families peace of mind, even while it shatters another family.

If you have never worried about the life of someone you love because of the unknown, then lucky you. But the not knowing can be debilitating.

[CherokeeDem]

6. I understand....

I fully support the family being notified as quickly as possible so no family has to worry that the casualty is theirs. With our ability to communicate so vastly improved from other conflicts, those notifications should be made in hours, not days.

My concern is that the statement made is not to protect the families but to deceive the public.

I would love to see these men and women come home to their families now and end this stupidity.

[Solly Mack]

7. I agree. It should only take hours and not days.

And you can't trust them not to use the families as a delaying tactic. But if, by some chance, they are truly motivated by the outrage of the families - and it would have taken them long enough to be - that wouldn't be unreasonable.

But I do know spouses have become irate when notifications of a death makes the news before the families are informed of it. Not meaning the name of the person - a death, period.

Case in point - Morning news in Colorado showed an overturned fastv with a body under it. You couldn't see the head, though you could make out the patches on the uniform of the body. The head was under the vehicle.

So all the spouses watching that morning could tell if it was their spouses' unit or not - but they didn't know who was dead. That they were dead was not a question. You could tell from the footage.

The news was already broadcasting the accident - they happened to be on hand for what should have been usual practice maneuvers, so the press was there for the whole thing. They were supposed to be doing a human interests story and the story got very human.

It was an all-the-way-around clusterfuck - but those aren't as uncommon as one might think.

It was my husband's unit.

And I have other horror stories about deaths "down range" (deployed/war zone).

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. I hear that.

Not knowing is horrible. Real news, even if bad, is preferable, at least in my experience.

would really be pissed if this decision is more about covering asses than serious concern for families.