MSNBC should NOT be releasing info on KIA before the

[Joe for Clark]

DOD does - It is not cool. What happens is the army (or Marines I guess) confirms the death and notifies the family before they report. Most of the time the units FRG will email the families in the unit to say their kid was not involved - everybody knows.

They did this without the process - many people were needlessly upset.

(Jesus - I just agreed with the military on this matter)

Joe

[BOSSHOG]

1. My father in laws parents

were informed by the Army that he was killed in World War II. He was seriously injured, lost his left arm but he lived 81 great years. Then news almost killed his mother.

The worst job I ever had in the Navy was knocking on that door to inform a mom or dad that their son or daughter had been killed in service to their country. I'd rather take a stick in the eye.

[Joe for Clark]

5. I don't know how you did that job Boss.

Joe

[Skittles]

8. OMG BOSSHOG

I worked in notifications in the late 70's, after the Vietnam war. My boss told me what those wartime notifications were like - he said he was physically attacked more than once by grieving mothers and he said it was even worse when they would later call to apologize to him for acting out their grief - he said he prayed he would never get used to it. The difference between the notifications I was doing and the ones he did is those Vietnam era parents/wives already had an underlying fear - dread - about that knock on the door. Much, much worse.

[BOSSHOG]

10. My teammates and I were very fortunate

(Always send two for just that reason.) We never encountered physical violence but as you might expect lots of sadness. And one way to ruin a career is to fuck up a CACO (Casualties assisance call.) The worst one we went to was a widowed mother of a young son who was killed in a shipboard accident in the early 80's. She feigned sadness but she was much more concerned with the insurance money. I maintained professionalism but I wanted to slap her.

[Joe for Clark]

13. I think I would hit her -

Joe

[Skittles]

20. my worst one

an airman died in a 'ho house in Korea, some sort of gas leak. I used to type the condolence letters - in this one I sought advice about the wording, asked and received permission to make the wording "died in the home of a Korean national", something like that, it's been a long time. But I was told if the parents pressed for more information to tell them the truth. The airman's father did arrange to come to the office and we did tell him, but he thanked us for our discretion on the letter, preferring not to tell his wife.

I do remember the young wife of a middle-aged pilot inquiring about insurance on our notification visit and it absolutely floored me.

[Mabus]

16. My grandparents were told my dad was dead

He was fighting in the Korea Conflict. After a skirmish in which most of the men died, the Marines assumed that my dad was dead too and contacted my grandparents. Then they packed up and sent all of his stuff home. My dad was found about a week later. He had made his way back to his fellow Marines, along with what was left of two of his fellow Marines. He was seriously wounded but survived only to have the medics almost do him in. He was given a dose of penicillin and almost died. That's about the time they figured out my dad is allergic to penicillin (as are several of my siblings).

[Skittles]

21. WOW

that is one heck of a story :o

[karlrschneider]

2. Do we know that's the case?...maybe MSNBC got it from DOD?

I dunno...

[Joe for Clark]

3. For a fact they did.

Joe

[Captain Hilts]

4. I agree, but they must have gotten the info from DoD. nt

[Joe for Clark]

7. I don't know how they got it - but it sure was not from them.

Joe

[951-Riverside]

6. Anything to keep those death counts low n/t

;)

[Connie_Corleone]

9. Well, CNN reported it too according to Americablog.

[Joe for Clark]

11. Then they were equally wrong - bet they got it from the

same source msnbc did, too.

There is a reason for the delay. In my experience it is about 12 to 15 hours. It is NECESSARY.

There is no excuse for media jumping the gun - they had NO business doing so.

It really did upset an awful lot of people for no reason other than jumping a news cycle.

It was wrong and better not happen again.

Joe

[Captain Hilts]

12. They should wait 48 hours. To be sure. There's no reason the general public...

needs to know right away.

[Joe for Clark]

15. It just needs to be long enough to notify the family and

let the FRGs notify the other familes in the unit it wasn't their kid - thats all.

It is not a lot to ask for - and the military is actually getting pretty good with this "program".

At first it was pretty bad.

Joe

[fedupinBushcountry]

14. When my husband was in Vietnam

and his ship got hit and 3 sailors got killed, they called me and informed me of the situation and to tell me my husband was Ok, before it hit the news. I will never forget that phone call, and I surely appreciated it. I was able to call his parents and mine in N.Y. ( I was in Hawaii) so they wouldn't go out of their minds worrying.

[Joe for Clark]

17. It is SO important to let that happen.

Thank you for sharing this. It is the same now - they just use email.

I am glad your huband made it out OK and you are here to share.

Joe

[Captain Hilts]

18. I'm still not accustomed to ships' movements being announced ahead of time.

You might have gotten a carrier mentioned - hard to hide - but not other ships.

It was for security of the families, in addition to security for the ships.

[Joe for Clark]

19. Maybe its me - anything we can see happening,

people we don't want to - see it too.

Its those "Geraldo" moments that really bother me - they do. I so remember the day he located the 101st for every bad guy out there - and I think he had no idea what he was even doing!! I wanted to reach thru my TV set and shake him!!!

Joe