They do not send them back in coffins....

[noel711]

My heart was wrenched out of my chest today:

During a conversation with a neighbor lady,I was told that her son drives delivery trucks for a casket company. This week he delivered over three hundred caskets to a large military base in our region.
"Oh?" said I.
Yes, she continued, they send them back to the states from Iraq in body bags, hang the body bags up on racks so the bodies hang like sides of beef. They are not laid to rest in caskets until they arrive stateside.

I thought the fact that the government would not allow photos of the caskets was done out of sensitivity to the families. Well.. that's not quite the truth. The truth is far too brutal. I can hardly think about it.

Is this standard operating procedure for the bodies of those who have served in the military?

[rubberducky]

1. OMG I have never heard of anything more disrespectful.

I sicerely hope this is not true.

[MadMaddie]

2. It is sick but if it is true I am not surprised...

The Neocons and this administration will do anything to save a buck...if they send them home in coffins....they can't send many home that way...but (repug think) if they hang them in body bags just think of how many they can fit in the belly of a plane.....

The sick bastards....

[rasputin1952]

3. This is not SOP for transporting the remains of servicemembers...

The military goes to great lengths to treat it's dead with respect.

There is a good possibility that those caskets were being transported to the ME to have remains placed in them, then shipped back. Although that is not something that is by any means "good".

I cannot say that there have not been changes in SOP, it's been a long time since I was in the Army; but the treatment of those who have died in battle has been sacrosanct throughout the history of this nation.

[QuestionAll...]

5. things have changed greatly, my friend.

don't expect sacrosanct from these lizards.

[rasputin1952]

10. I expect nothing but the most fould from bush and his minions....

but the military would have a lot to say about this, and if bush tampered w/any of it, he'\d lose what little support he has from the military.

Virtually everyone of rank knows that bush skipped on his service, and he is not well thoought of for that. There are insane clowns that would follow him anywhere, but these people knopw he's never come close to seeing what they've seen.

I know the mind of the combat Infantry...these guys are just doing this to survive and come home, all thoughts of glory are long past.

[Iris]

18. Heard a report on NPR a couple of years ago

explaining the care and respect military treat the bodies of the dead troops. I sincerely doubt this has changed. After hearing the soldiers whose duty it was to get the bodies back to the US, I have no doub you are right rasputin1952. Thanks for setting the record straight here.

[rasputin1952]

23. The Services never give up on reclaiming the lost...

Not long ago, a couple of Doughboys from WWI were found in France and they were brought home w/full military honors.

Remains from WWII have been found and returned from some of the Island fighting that went on in the Pacific relatively recently, and there are still remains being found and returned in Vietnam.

I have read where Japanese remains were found and returned by the US military w/full military honors.

In any case, I find it difficult to think that the AF would transport the remains like sides of beef in body bags....some Airman or Pilot would have blown this wide open a long time ago.

[Iris]

25. I'm about as un-military as a person can get.

(think Goldie Hawn in "Private Benjamin"!)

But I have immense respect for the codes of honor found there. I hate this war because the men and women who join the military do so trusting their leaders will not send them off to war on a whim. This administration has destroyed that trust.

[rasputin1952]

26. That is why so many Generals have retired...it is a vote of

"no confidence".

Our Servicemembers are brave and have been trained in many aspects of protecting this nation. When they see their brothers and sisters sacrifced for nothing, they realize that there is a flaw in the system.
These men and women are willing to sacrifice a portion of their lives, if not their lives, and they are treated like trash by an individual who ran out on his obligation.

Our Servicemembers are not a happy bunch.

[WinkyDink]

16. So have been habeas corpus and the Constitution.

[QuestionAll...]

4. o sheesh. but we Have seen casket draped flags in carriers...

there were some photos about a year or so back.

so maybe the transport system has been changed? if so, that is so disgraceful, despicable.

but hey, on a dollar system, pack 'em in tight. you can get more hanging bodies on an aircraft than big cumbersome boxes. :sarcasm: bottom line is everything.

[Truthiness Inspector]

6. "The neighbor lady said...

her son said..." is not a good enough source.

Did I tell you that my friend's brother told me that his co-worker told him that the moon is made of cheese? So that makes it true!

Really, this is a very irresponsible and inflammatory thing to post.

[countingbluecars]

7. It may be a better source

than government press releases.

[noel711]

9. Well, Truthiness..

As a rule, I tend to brush off second and third hand information.
But the guy said he saw it himself... and he's a republican.
Why would a conservative lie about such a thing?

And that's why I asked.... could this possibly be true?

[Garbo 2004]

22. What military base? He drives a truck and delivers caskets? So that

means he simply drops off the caskets at the base or is he saying he actually does more than that and has access to where the bodies are? How does he know how the bodies are transported? Did he see them himself on the transport plane? As they were unloaded? What did he actually see for himself? What was he told? If he didn't actually see them in transport then someone must have said something to him. Did he just see bodies in body bags or did he say he saw them "hanging up like slabs of meat?" Need far more specific info. And since he claims he knows all about this, he should be able to readily provide such info.

So far there are documentation, observers, participants that would support the case that this guy is full of shit. If what he claims is what actually happens, how come no one else has heard about it? That seems strange, after all these years and thousands of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. I mean, think of all the military personnel (and civilians too) who would have to know about this and say nothing, ever. What info we do have from these folks is that the dead are flown back in caskets.

Absent actual specific information (like what military base for a start and a lot more info) that can be assessed, there's no reason to regard this story as credible (especially in light of ample available documentation to the contrary).

Meantime, I posted links above to some of that documentation since some people seem not to remember that Tami Silicio and her husband, for example, were fired for taking photos of the process of transporting troops in their caskets back to the States. Another link provides photos the Pentagon only released after FOIA requests and more publicity than it wanted about the human cost of the war.

[uppityperson]

27. No. Why? Many reasons.

To get your goat, to spread disinformation, to pass on info he had received secondhand also (remember those exploding dogs in microwaves, all those people who knew someone who knew someone, and even passed it off as secondhand information?). Check into it more, please let us know.

[alittlelark]

28. You said a lady told you. Not a man. n/t

[Keepontruking]

8. questionable

I know in hospitals when people die they go to the morgue then
the funeral home in body bags.  we nurses place them in the
bags after tying their wrists and ankles and slipping any
dentures in their mouth they may have.
My husband  choppered in many a brother in Viet Nam they too
were placed in body bags and sent home.  I know on American
Airline People were told a plane was delayed for the boarding
of a coffin of a Marine the coffin was draped with the flag
and brethren were at the side of the plane.  Is this standard
protocol...a commercial airline ...have no idea...something to
check out.    Circus girl    Death is real folks

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. OMG!

:cry:

[Garbo 2004]

12. Remember the cargo worker who got fired for taking picture of caskets

being flown back to the States from Kuwait? The picture was published in a local newspaper and she was fired. Articles and photo here:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001909527_coffin22m.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001906489_kuwait18m.html

More photos released due to FOIA request:
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/coffin_photos/dover/
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB152/index.htm

WaPo article and pics: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/28/AR2005042802078.html

I think it's been pretty well documented that the military dead are returned in caskets.

[MoseyWalker]

13. this post needs some recommendations, in my opinion

k and r

[alittlelark]

14. Sorry, I don't believe the story.

The dead are flown back on military planes, with military personel overseeing the process. I kinda doubt they would be able see what you describe and not go freakin' BALLISTIC!

This seems like a DIVERSIONARY Red Herring.

:eyes:

[Truthiness Inspector]

17. Bingo. n/t

[LostinVA]

20. Agreed n/t

[meisje]

15. As a DUer, I doubt you'll be swayed by this photo

[MoseyWalker]

19. It does sound questionable

but let's not jump on the OP for the story. After all, who would put anything past this misadministration?

[alittlelark]

21. I jumped on the 'source' for the story.

The story is BS.

Perhaps the person she spoke to knew she posted on DU and gave her some disinformation?:crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

[susanna]

24. I think you might ask...

...your "neighbor lady's son" for proof of such allegations before you go spouting off crap like this.

IMHO, of course.