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Outrage Ensues After Family of Marine Killed in Afghanistan Withdrawal is Forced to Pay to Transport Her Body
Red State ^ | 07/25/2023 | Bonchie

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?



TOPICS: Government; Military/Veterans; Society
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; marine; outrage; smellslikebs; withdrawal
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To: Right_Wing_Madman

I’m surprised the family still wanted her buried at Arlington after how the government treated them.


21 posted on 07/26/2023 1:41:44 AM PDT by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant. Never Fearful.)
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To: higgmeister
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.

This wasn't a problem with procedure. If I were the case manager, I would have responded the same way. The problem is with how the NDAA was written (DoD will only pay for transportation of remains to one interment site), and the Congressman you cite probably voted yea on it. Maybe the Congressman should actually read the laws he votes on.

22 posted on 07/26/2023 2:15:21 AM PDT by Right_Wing_Madman
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To: Right_Wing_Madman

Don’t join the DoD. Join a militia instead.


23 posted on 07/26/2023 2:43:11 AM PDT by joma89 (Buy weapons and ammo, folks, and have the will to use them.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Military flies you to you’re home town. That’s SOP. It DOES NOT cost $60k to get a body California to Arlington so that’s pure bullshit.

There’s far more to this story. Afghanistan withdrawal was a disaster but so is this story.


24 posted on 07/26/2023 4:10:00 AM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Where I live, the county pays $10,000 to send dead illegals back to their countries.


25 posted on 07/26/2023 4:13:07 AM PDT by 11th_VA (XX < > XY)
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To: ETCM

Wife and I have APASI insurance contract. Cost about $1900 each. I die anywhere in the world and they transport me back to where my body will be buried. My kids just have to call and they handle it.


26 posted on 07/26/2023 4:15:22 AM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Had she been black and or a tranny....


27 posted on 07/26/2023 4:22:33 AM PDT by Leep (What skill or service did the biden family have that netted them tens of millions of dollars?)
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To: BenLurkin

The U.S. government should pay for it.


28 posted on 07/26/2023 4:23:07 AM PDT by popdonnelly (All the enormous crimes in history have been committed by governments.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Of course. biden hates the military except when he can appoint flaming LGBTcrap things to high posts.


29 posted on 07/26/2023 5:08:23 AM PDT by I want the USA back (One's sex is determined by one's chromosomes. No one has the ability to change one's chromosomes.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I really want to see a breakdown of the $60k charges.

We flew my aunt back from Florida to Michigan and it cost around $6k, airline was I think around $4k of it and hearse drives to and from the remainder.

The prices just don’t add up to reality, if this was the case then no one would be doing it.

(had my father found out we spent that kind of money to get his body to a burial, the casket lid would have popped off and he would have kicked our butts for spending what he left us for that.)


30 posted on 07/26/2023 5:18:24 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: Abathar
I really want to see a breakdown of the $60k charges.

A veterans group had the remains flown from CA to VA via a private jet. I don't know if they flew the family on the jet also, but I guess if you chartered a private jet solely for transfer of remains, it would be pretty expensive.

31 posted on 07/26/2023 7:43:12 AM PDT by ETCM (“There is no security, no safety, in the appeasement of evil.” — Ronald Reagan)
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To: Right_Wing_Madman
It would not have been breaking the law.

It is in fact allowed by law.

It would have been adhering to the law.

But they did not want to do it.

So they didn't.

Their reponse was "screw you gold star family. We could give a tinkers damn about your died in action loved one. The law says we could give you help only if we want to and we don't want to."

32 posted on 07/26/2023 8:00:21 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Follow the money. Even if it leads you to someplace horrible it will still lead you to the truth.)
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