Posted on 07/25/2023 8:50:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
With all that’s happened, much of it negative, during the Biden administration, it’s easy to forget just how bad the withdrawal from Afghanistan was. With time, things fade, but the disaster that unfolded remains one of the lowest points in American history. That it was completely preventable, caused by one arrogant, egotistical man only makes the situation more tragic.
As American troops oversaw the emergency evacuation of remaining US personnel, which was only necessary because of the total collapse of the Afghan military, suicide bombers targeted one of the entry gates to Kabul’s main airport. The results were horrific, with hundreds dying, including 13 American servicemembers.
One of the deceased was Sgt. Nicole L. Gee of the US Marine Corps. She had famously been photographed rescuing a young infant in the preceding days before the deadly attack that took her life. Unfortunately, her own government abandoned her after her passing.
According to a new report, sourced by US Army veteran and current Rep. Cory Mills, Gee’s family was forced to pay $60,000 to transport her body to Arlington National Cemetary after ceremonies were held in her hometown of Roseville, CA.
Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who is an Army veteran, told Fox News Digital that during a meeting with the families of the “Fallen 13” last week, he was “enraged to learn that the Department of Defense had placed a heavy financial burden” on the family of Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, who were forced to find funding in the thousands to move her body to its final resting place after her 2021 death in Afghanistan.
(…)
Gee’s remains were initially flown to her hometown of Roseville, California, for a ceremony, but the responsibility for transporting Gee to her final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery would fall on the family. Honoring Our Fallen, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting the families of fallen American service members, stepped up to help the family move Gee via private jet to Virginia.
The military covered the cost to bring Gee’s body to California for her funeral, but that was all the government was required to pay because of a more recent provision within the National Defense Authorization Act allowing the DoD to deny paying further transportation costs. That left Gee’s family scrambling to find money to get their loved one to her final resting place in Arlington National Cemetary.
To be clear, I understand that the military can’t pay to cover the costs of burials for all servicemembers. If someone is retired and ultimately dies of old age or some other cause, that’s a different situation. Gee was killed in action, though. The idea that the military wouldn’t ensure her body was brought to Arlington is inexplicable.
Meanwhile, the military is more than happy to pay for transgender surgeries and ongoing “gender-affirming care” that costs well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The military is also happy to pay for servicemembers to obtain out-of-state abortions. But if you die on the battlefield and your family wants to hold a hometown funeral first, then you are out of luck.
In the United States of America, Gee’s family had to crowdsource $60,000 to get her to the cemetery, but Hunter Biden flies for free on Air Force One multiple times a month. If that’s not a screwed-up dynamic, I don’t know what is.
Military cargo planes are constantly carrying out training missions because their pilots are required to fly a certain amount of hours for currency. Are we really to believe that no branch of services could arrange to pick up Gee’s body as part of an already planned flight? This is embarrassing for our nation. Taxpayers are forced to pay for mentally ill men to have their genitals mutilated while real heroes are abandoned and forgotten. What kind of country does that?
Ol’ Shizzpantz takes the Short Stairs to Short Bus One...
Appalling.
Biden to her parents: “That was 2 years ago, 3 years ago. Did you know my son Beau died in Iraq?
This way she was honored by people who not only knew her but loved her.
They did the right thing.
The government, as per usual, did not.
$60,000 to fly a body across country is plain price gouging by funeral directors and airlines.
And yes, the US owes this soldier and her family the cost of her last journey, but no one should be charged that much.
I think it’s mostly the airlines. When my daughter was stillborn, the funeral director found that the airlines were charging $3000 to fly a little tiny casket 700 miles, while we were driving to the family cemetery.
He ended up getting us the proper certificates to take her with us in the car.
The DoD transported her remains to CA for her funeral in her home town. Transporting remains CA to VA via commercial air costs about $3,000, not $60,000. A private organization flew her remains via private jet at no cost to the family to Arlington, where she was interred free of charge with full military honors. Horse drawn caisson, Marine Band, gun salute. They got their “beautiful and honorable ceremony”, though I’m sure they would have preferred a beautiful and honorable withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Never heard of such a thing. I’m not military but is this something that has happened in the past?
Well no. The DoD HID behind the law. Read this statement closely.
The military covered the cost to bring Gee’s body to California for her funeral, but that was all the government was required to pay because of a more recent provision within the National Defense Authorization Act allowing the DoD to deny paying further transportation costs.
Allow. Not say they can not. Not say they will not but allow them to deny.
I stick by my statement. And my Congress Creeper would laugh his pasty white butt sick at the request. He needs that money to buy more votes.
There is always waiver provisions.
The author misspelled *despicable*.
The government needs to do it's soldiers better than that. She was killed while assigned overseas for active duty.
With all the government gives away in freebies to illegals and the way it panders to criminals eyc, it's the least they can do for those who are defending this country.
There’s a world of difference between *right* and *legal*.
What they did may have been legal but it sure wasn’t right.
There’s nothing more callous than to dismiss wrong doing with a *but they followed the law*.
Retired military can fly Space Available anywhere an Aircraft is going to. All they have to do is show up at an Air Force Base and sign-in at Base Operations, then sit and wait for a plane going where the retiree wants to go. A few years ago my brother went from San Antonio to Germany and all he had to do was shell out money for food, then stayed at Space-A Lodging on base.
The Congressman is right. It wouldn't have been a problem at all for the Air Force to carry the KIA Marine back to Arlington National.
Meanwhile…
Retired Senator Harry Reid dies in Las Vegas from complications of cancer. His corpse gets flown round trip to Washington DC for a ceremonial tour with all of the pomp and circumstance, military escorts and bearers and then back to Nevada for interment.
Retired Senator Bob Dole dies in Washington DC. His corpse gets flown round trip to Kansas for a ceremonial tour with all of the pomp and circumstance, military escorts and bearers and then back to Washington DC for more ceremony and interment at Arlington National Cemetery.
Both very expensive trips to the taxpayers to parade the deceased across the country…
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