Posted on 02/27/2012 10:49:39 AM PST by TSgt
Moose, did someone screw up? yes and no. Yes in that someone who knew the soldier had died contacted someone else with the news and that was relayed; to me the fault is on whoever sent out the first tweet or whatever. No, in that with cell phones tweeting and twerting and whatever, modern communications have gotten news events inside the official military chain of command.
Agreed. My next door neighbor (a good friend) has two sons and a daughter-in-law who are Air Force pilots, and I panic every time I see those white government plates. Such relief when they keep driving and make it past his house.
That’s why we implement “communications blackouts” after we have KIAs. It’s not lifted until home station Rear Detachment tells us that the next-of-kin has been notified. Primarily a blackout involves cutting off the unclassified internet, collecting cell phones, and padlocking the MWR phone trailers.
the scene in “We Were Soldiers Once..” when the taxi driver
asks for help finding the correct address to deliver the telegram is one of the most moving scenes I’ve ever watched..
Nothing will ever top the scene in "The Fighting Sullivans."
There is no way that I would ever post on FB or text someone my condolences over such a terrible loss. I find it hard to imagine that an entire generation considers it normal.....
This GD war SUCKS!!! If we’re not going to fight hard and unmercifully, then we have no business being there and putting our warriors in harms way.
Either blow the shit out of that place and get the hell out, or just leave it alone and get the hell out. But let’s get out of there already.
The Afghan people don’t give a rats ass about the blood we have spilled in their barren wasteland (the Iraqi’s have shown a lot more gratitude, which ain’t sayin’ much).
This is no way to fight a war.
Seems like we were saying the same thing back in the 60's and 70's about another sh!thole.
I am not a Paulbot, but it is past time to get our men and women out of that hell hole.
All these years of this police campaign, and how many of ours killed. What do we have to show for it, we won nothing, got nothing out of it except death. Ben Laden is dead (?), GET THE HELL OUT, that was what we were there for anyway.
No matter what we do to try and free them, bring them into the 21st century living standards, they won't. They love Ghetto, lets give it to them, even if we bomb the place we will only improve their living conditions.
Bomb pakistan, bomb Iran, bomb Afganeeestan and any other STAN over there. I hate these people.
The story implies the army didn't notify her which both you and I know isn't true. The story should stress that social media informed the wife before the military did officially.
I have been on the notification teams before. I assure you that we took the process very seriously and we knew we were up against a "grapevine" that was fast and efficient.
Retired Greyhound, I agree with every word you wrote.
As for how Mrs Born was notified. It is, unfortunately, a logical outgrowth of Vietnam. Having dinner one night with my girl friend's family when her mother screamed out that she just saw her son on the nightly news. As I remember he wasn't injured but he was there on the TV.
For those who don't remember Vietnam the daily casualty counts frequently ran into the hundreds. The worse part wasn't the numbers or names of friends but the images of the wounded and living on the nightly news during dinner. You never knew if that fleeting image of a friend was his last or not.
The military communication channels haven't changed since Korea nor are they likely to, too many jobs tied up in the formal communications systems. The rest of the world moves at 4G while the military’s non-mission essential traffic moves at carrier pigeon speed. Personally, I would much rather have more “Private Ryan's” than another Sgt Born.
I did two notifications and in both cases, the family already knew by the time I got there. And I got there quick.
I did Casualty Notification Officer, Funeral Detail OIC and Casualty Assistance Officer. Sad sad sad. Nobody hates war more than Soldiers.
I do too.
When my son was over there I got the impression that the soldiers were under strict rules on what they could and could not say. I know there were times we were talking on skype and he would indicate that he couldn’t say when asked a question. I think someone broke the rules and let this through.
Thank goodness he came home from this hell hole in January.
The standard procedures used to be that all non mission essential comm (including Morale WiFi, Morale Phones, noncritical duty section email/phones) was suspended in the event of a Troops In Contact (TIC) or casualty.
Non mission essential comm was restored once the next of kin received their initial notification. This is the specific reason for that policy.
We didn’t have this crap happen when I worked casualty!
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