No better way than to get funding, than to poor on emotion.
Why is this a problem? Remains need to be identified, then families and loved ones need closure. Sorry, but as a Vet, I don’t see this as an issue and it should not be made one IMHO.
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Like most Americans, I was once unaware of how the remains of our missing comrades are treated once they ‘re recovered and returned to the United States for burial, but I found out the hard way when several years ago the remains of six soldiers whom I served with in Vietnam were recovered, identified by DNA match, and scheduled for interment at Arlington National Cemetery. These six soldiers (3 U.S. and 3 ARVN) were members of a long range reconnaissance team lost and presumed dead in the A Shau Valley during April 1969.
At the funeral ceremony at Arlington, I was shocked to find that there was only one casket for the six of them, and when I voiced my disapproval to the funeral director, he explained that there was a “bag of bones” in the casket and not all of the bones had been identified; DNA identification is expensive and they only identified enough bones to ensure at least one bone from each man was positively identified. The funeral director went on to say, as he pointed down the long line of white headstones we were standing by, “Remember the seventeen who were killed the other day when a helicopter crashed and burned in Afghanistan, what was left of them is in a single casket right down there. Each man has an individual headstone with his name, but separating their ashes individually and providing each with a coffin would be not only impractical but impossible.”
If Arlington had provided six caskets for my six comrades, it would have simply been for show. The six of them died together and they will remain together now, forever. And, yes, there are now three Vietnamese Special Forces soldiers buried in Arlington National Cemetery along with their U.S. Army Special Forces comrades and that’s most appropriate.
I now know that most of the ceremonies conducted by our military to honor our fallen comrades is for the benefit of family, friends, and comrades of the fallen, so I see nothing wrong with these “staged” aircraft arrivals that only offend those who simply want to make political points during a time of political unrest.
And this is a problem how??? The ceremonies are real and they take place after the remains have identified. So then what's the problem???