No, he should have his ass handed to him on a silver platter. Soldiers are not free moral agents.
Posted on 01/13/2005 4:24:59 AM PST by Ellesu
A US National Guard unit on Wednesday defied a Pentagon request that sought to stop television news crews filming six flag-draped soldiers' coffins arriving in Louisiana following the men's deaths in Iraq last week, according to a report by CBS News.
The Pentagon has barred US media from filming the coffins of US servicemembers arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, but the Louisiana National Guard allowed a CBS news crew to film the arrival of six soldiers' coffins at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse, near New Orleans, Louisiana.
Despite the Pentagon request, Lieutenant Colonel Pete Schneider, a spokesman for the Louisiana National Guard told CBS: "What we thought was, we're going to do what the family asked us to do."
Footage broadcast by CBS showed an honor guard carrying the soldiers' flag-draped coffins out of an aircraft, watched by grieving families, to six waiting hearses.
The six soldiers had served in the Louisiana National Guard, all six died last Thursday after their armored vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
It was the largest number of US troops killed in a single attack since last month's suicide bombing in a military mess hall at a base near Mosul that killed 14 US service members.
I thought I heard that the ban on news crews filming coffins was out of respect for the families. If all the families whose children were in those coffins wanted the news crew there, then it would seem appropriate.
If this was done at the request of ALL the families involved then it certainly seems the right thing to do, Pentagon policy be damned.
The LOOOOISIANAH NA'NAL GOORD isn't really accountable to the Pentagon. They are accountable to the State Adjutant General, their governor and the people of Louisiana.
Exactly what statement do you feel this would this make? Elaborate.
It would make the statement that the soldiers in question were members of the Louisiana National Guard.
That would seem to be self evident.
The mainstream media was there at the request of the soldier's families. And I'd bet the Pete enjoys a long and honorable career with the Louisiana Guard.
As spokesman for an organization that decided to honor the request of the family over the request of the Pentagon? Whoever made the decision deserves a medal.
No, he should have his ass handed to him on a silver platter. Soldiers are not free moral agents.
Why does the sight of soldiers who have given the ultimate sacrifice being honored bother you so?
Obviously, your anger and logic are on far higher planes than I can comprehend.
It would seem to me that a soldier who serves in a National Guard unit is making a conscious decision to serve his state. He could just as easily serve in the U.S. Army Reserves, couldn't he?
Did I say that it bothered me? Don't ever put words in my mouth.
What gets me is how thus far, it has not been allowed to have a media fest with returning coffins of our dead soliders like they had with those coffins coming back from Vietnam. I think that was a good idea.
What this light colonel did was pure hubris. Strip him down to an E1 and give him the boot.
For what? For doing his job as spokesperson for the Louisiana Guard? Nowhere in the article does it say that he is the one who approved respecting the family's wishes and allowing the press to film the return. And regardless of who ordered it, what grounds would you have for punishing them? For respecting the wishes of the families? Because it might embarass Dubya in some way? Nonsense. They violated no order, they're looking out for their troops. I wish more people felt the same way.
Are you an American?
All National Guard units are part of the US armed forces.
Would you like to divie them down to the city?
Why anyone would pick the Guard over the Reserves is known only to themselves or those with whom they choose to share information. I know of one soldier who made the shortest drive to an armory his main consideration.
My son enlisted in the Iowa Army Guard before 9/11/01, and he volunteered for duty in Iraq in 2003 (actually changing units to do so)- on enlisting, he was already aware that the Guard had been "federalized" decades ago, and that active duty would put him under federal auspices ("Uncle Sam totally owns my ass").
The national flag has been good enough for the veterans in this family since 1776. If another family wished to drape a casket with their state flag, I would consider it inappropriate, but I would not quibble about it unless the act was obviously meant to be a blatant political statement to undermine the mission... if an officer simply took it upon himself to use the state flag for whatever reason, then I would consider his "balls" (your words) subject to removal.
And I don't say that lightly.
Uh, he is.
They're already doing that here in New York, where a couple of NYC firefighters were listed among the casualties in Iraq from December. I don't have a problem with that, do you?
related thread
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1319940/posts
The two-star generals who command the state National Guards report to the governors, not the Defense Department. The Adjutants General are not required to meet any military service or education requirements of active duty military personnel.
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