Dear America, why?
(media.communities.win)
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (54)
sorted by:
This sounded almost too crazy. After a very quick look this is what I could figure out.
Sgt. Gee was initially taken to her hometown where a funeral was held. Her family decided she should be ultimately be buried in Arlington. Transport of remains, after some point, is done by commercial flights. Not sure if that is paid for. Per DOD policy:
A nonprofit, Honoring Our Fallen, stepped in and made a $60,000 donation *directly to the family to have her remains flown by a private flight. Given airlines' track record with moving remains, this was a blessing. The family wasn't forced to pay but, again, I'm not sure if they would have had to pay for the final commercial flight. I wouldn't be surprised if they were, though.
Everything about Zelennskyy is true.
*Edit: donation was made directly to the family, not just for the flight, see post below.
Not on point, but . . . is there anyone else offended when dead troopers are referred to as "the fallen" like they were majestic redwoods or something?
No, because that's retarded. It's one thing if they died of a donut overdose or a drunk driving incident, then fuck em. But treating those who died in combat with a bit of respect is not offensive to anyone with a brain.
My point is that the cliche rather diminishes the respect intended by the metaphor. It's overused and too easy, reflecting badly on the lazy writer and disrespecting the fact that these are our people, not trees, and their deaths in bullshit wars like those foisted on us over the last 60-odd years were/are unnecessary.
It also makes dying in war seem romantic, which is offensive to anyone who actually has had to face death or disfigurement in war, "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" and all that rot. An old, old story.
M8 you should go talk to some vets before getting offended on their behalf. The ones who volunteer to go and fight, at least a significant portion of them, find the idea of death in battle to be honorable. Not because getting shot is special but because they chose to be there, and that self-sacrifice for a cause is honorable to them.
It's grass-touching time, my friend.
You're right, but not for the reason you think.
I'm just interested in language, and if this point seems trivial and tortured, I hope my explanation in response to HellsBells00 shows where I'm coming from.
Time to add an item to my Bucket List.
I'm just stunned that shipping a body costs that much. You can send a real living human in a great deal of comfort in business class for a little more than a grand. Hell, even round trip sleeper cabins on Korean Air cost less than $60K.
I worded my post poorly. The $60k was donated directly to the family, not on a flight.
My guess is that $60k was to be cover a charter flight for the entire family to Arlington and back, hotel accommodations, things like that.
Thank you for providing the important context.