Posted on 06/01/2015 2:47:07 AM PDT by markomalley
Former Green Beret Stephen Florich cannot understand why his son, a soldier who was killed during a helicopter training crash, cannot be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
“My son was in uniform. My son was serving in the capacity as a crew chief and a door gunner. And in adverse weather conditions, he accepted a mission to train people for combat in the future. And in that, he gave all and lost his life,” the father told Fox News Channel.
Staff Sgt. Thomas Florich was a Louisiana National Guard flight mechanic aboard an Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter when it crashed in the Gulf of Mexico in March.
Arlington National Cemetery’s eligibility rules for burial explain that “any active duty member of the Armed Forces and any retired member of the Armed Forces” can be buried but “a person whose only service is active duty for training or inactive duty training in the National Guard or Reserve Component” is considered ineligible for burial.
The Louisiana National Guard is appealing the denial but the U.S. Army insists that “he does not meet the requirements for burial in Arlington National Cemetery.”
One of the seven Marines involved in the crash was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in April.
“His wife Megan is seven months pregnant. It is her desire and the desire of our extended families to have our son who died serving his country interred at Arlington. In the future, when her daughter is asked ‘where is your father?’ She should be able to say: ‘He is in Arlington.’ The fact that others are interred there makes my son no less a man because he was in the National Guard, and because he was in the National Guard, does not mean I should have to cremate and put his ashes in an urn to put him in a small space,” Florich told “Fox & Friends” Saturday morning.
“My son died in service of his nation. He volunteered during a time of war.”
Eligibility for interment at Arlington National Cemetery is verified at the time of need (at the time of death) and cannot be verified by the cemetery or accommodated before that time. However, in accordance with Title 32 Code of Federal Regulations Part 553, section 15a, the following individuals are eligible for interment (in-ground burial) at Arlington National Cemetery:
Any active duty member of the Armed Forces (except those members serving on active duty for training only).
Any retired member of the Armed Forces. A retired member of the Armed Forces, in the context of this paragraph, is a retired member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, or a Reserve component who has served on active duty (other than for training), is carried on an official retired list, and is entitled to receive retired pay stemming from service in the Armed Forces. If, at the time of death, a retired member of the Armed Forces is not entitled to receive retired pay stemming from his service in the Armed Forces until some future date, the retired member will not be eligible for ground burial.
Any former member of the Armed Forces separated for physical disability prior to 1 October 1949 who has served on active duty (other than for training) and who would have been eligible for retirement under the provisions of 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) 1201 had that statute been in effect on the date of his separation.
Any former member of the Armed Forces whose last active duty (other than for training) military service terminated honorably and who has been awarded one of the following decorations
Medal of Honor
Distinguished Service Cross (Air Force Cross or Navy Cross)
Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star
Purple Heart
Persons who have held any of the following positions provided their last period of active duty (other than for training) as a member of the Armed Forces terminated honorably:
An elective office of the United States Government
Office of the Chief Justice of the United States or of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
An office listed in 5 U.S.C. 5312 or 5 U.S.C. 5313
The Chief of a mission who was at any time during his/her tenure classified in class I under the provisions of Section 411 of the Act of 13 August 1946, 60 Stat. 1002, as amended (22 U.S.C. 866, 1964 ed.)
Any former prisoner of war who, while a prisoner of war, served honorably in the active military, naval, or air service, whose last period of active military, naval, or air service terminated honorably and who died on or after November 30, 1993.
The term “former prisoner of war” means a person who, while serving in the active military, naval, or air service, was forcibly detained or interned in line of duty—
By an enemy government or its agents, or a hostile force, during a period of war; or
By a foreign government or its agents, or a hostile force, under circumstances which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs finds to have been comparable to the circumstances under which persons have generally been forcibly detained or interned by enemy governments during periods of war.
The term "active military, naval, or air service" includes active duty, any period of active duty for training during which the individual concerned was disabled or died from a disease or injury incurred or aggravated in line of duty, and any period of inactive duty training during which the individual concerned was disabled or died from an injury incurred or aggravated in line of duty.
The spouse, widow or widower, minor child and, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Army, unmarried adult child of any of the persons listed above.
The term “spouse” refers to a widow or widower of an eligible member, including the widow or widower of a member of the Armed Forces who was lost or buried at sea or officially determined to be permanently absent in a status of missing or missing in action. A surviving spouse who has remarried and whose remarriage is void, terminated by death, or dissolved by annulment or divorce by a court with basic authority to render such decrees regains eligibility for burial in Arlington National Cemetery unless it is determined that the decree of annulment or divorce was secured through fraud or collusion.
An unmarried adult child may be interred in the same gravesite in which the parent has been or will be interred, provided that child was incapable of self-support up to the time of death because of physical or mental condition. At the time of death of an adult child, a request for interment will be submitted to the Executive Director, Army National Cemeteries Program, Arlington National Cemetery. The request must be accompanied by a notarized statement from an individual who has direct knowledge as to the marital status, degree of dependency of the deceased child, the name of that child's parent, and the military service upon which the burial is being requested. A certificate of a physician who has attended the decedent as to the nature and duration of the physical and/or mental disability must also accompany the request for interment.
Widows or widowers of service members who are interred in Arlington National Cemetery as part of a group burial may be interred/inurned in the cemetery, but not in the same gravesite as the group burial.
The surviving spouse, minor child, and, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Army, an unmarried adult dependent child of any person already buried in Arlington. (Army Regulation 290-5 defines an adult dependent child as an adult permanently incapable of self-support because of physical or mental disability incurred before age 21.)
The parents of a minor child or unmarried adult dependent child whose remains, based on the eligibility of a parent, are already buried in Arlington National Cemetery. (Army Regulation 290-5 defines an adult dependent child as an adult permanently incapable of self-support because of physical or mental disability incurred before age 21.)
Why even bother establishing rules when so many demand exceptions just because they think they deserve one.
Personally, I think the rules are far too lax for burial at Arlington. If it was up to me (thankfully its not) only commissioned officers who served in combat (and their spouses only if in the same plot) would be allowed to be buried there.
I wouldn’t go so far as to disinter non-eligibles who are already buried there, but I would tighten the rules moving forward.
I am thinking back to possibly the Clinton Tenure.....I seem to remember something about a scandal involving burial at Arlington for a crony/supporter/donor......
Commissioned Officers only? So non-coms who died in combat shouldn’t be allowed? Guess we’d need another National Cemetary for the non elites or second class Bets.
or second class Vets. My error.
Better to have him "home," so to speak, in my opinion.
I have a small plot with the rest of my family, right next to my fellow sailor brother's plot. Both places are empty right now and I hope the situation stays that way!
Another factor is the local military connection; by going away, you deprive the man's "buds" the chance to say goodbye. Just my observations.
They billet officers separately from enlisted. (Seeing the games the Ø's play, I was very thankful for that). Why would they perpetually "billet" officers next to enlisted. (speaking for myself, I personally would have absolutely no desire to perpetually be around a bunch of stinking officers)
Guess we’d need another National Cemetary for the non elites or second class Bets.
How about this one?
Why officers? because they went to college? That’s elitist.
Alvin York and Audie Murphy are just grunts, I suppose.
Why not disinter all, and return the land to the Custis-Lee family?
I correct. HS dropout Audie Murphy had gotten a battlefield commission near the end of his active duty
See post #8
Why establish bad rules?
Yeah so you have different sections for officers and enlisted men. Both at Arlington.
Arlington National Cemetery’s eligibility rules for burial explain that “any active duty member of the Armed Forces and any retired member of the Armed Forces” can be buried but “a person whose only service is active duty for training or inactive duty training in the National Guard or Reserve Component” is considered ineligible for burial.
I think it's pretty clear why his son is ineligible to be buried at Arlington. There is limited space at Arlington; there has to be some selectivity about burials there, to prolong its use as an active cemetery.
What is wrong with burying his son at a family plot? Many families of service members select that option even when their loved one is eligible for burial at Arlington.
(speaking for myself, I personally would have absolutely no desire to perpetually be around a bunch of stinking officers)
I can assure you, I take a shower every day before going to work, and I wash my uniform regularly. We are *clean* officers where I work.
The bottom line here is that he was a soldier of the Louisiana National Guard. Bobby Jindal was his commander in chief. His paychecks came from the State of Louisiana.
i.e., he wasn't federalized...and its likely (judging from his age) that he had never been federalized.
He should be (and I am certain is) fully eligible to be buried in a veterans's cemetery run by the State Military and Veteran's Affairs Department.
(Now had he been federalized and deployed overseas then he should be allowed, but that doesn't appear to be the case here)
In peacetime, yes. However, when dead we are all equal in the eyes of the Lord. When dead we are all equal, we served our country honorably and are among equals. . .one does not carry rank into heaven (or h$ll).
“Why would they perpetually “billet” officers next to enlisted.”
We are not “billeted” when we are buried. We are honorably interred.
In combat we live side-by-side.
“(speaking for myself, I personally would have absolutely no desire to perpetually be around a bunch of stinking officers)”
Stinking? Insulting the dead? Think you forgot the humor tag with that comment.
The limited space situation at Arlington must limit interment at this time to special situations. Extreme valor should be prime. But of course politics will always rear its ugly head and I can imagine jerks like John Kerry being eligible To limit to officers is ludicrous. I suppose there must be separate sections.
Dad and Mom are in the largest, Calverton. He never made it past Pfc between 1942 and 1946. I don’t know who or what ranks are buried near him. Never even thought to check
You have no idea how many truly awful officers I ran into during my career. The vast majority were political, careerist, bureaucratic weasels. And I mean vast.
You mean that they didn’t hold you up as being the model of a good serviceman/woman?
I was under the impression that a death in the line of duty would require the military to pick up the tab for funeral and burial costs.
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