I spent nine years on subs. I get gallows humor. And honestly I don’t really see any real damage in posing around an empty casket while at an honor guard training class (I wouldn’t have had the flag on it though).
In the old days a picture like this would be in someone’s scrapbook. Now it’s splashed across the world in seconds and there are way too many people eager to take a stab at every slight regarding our military.
Gives "Soap Box Derby" a whole new meaning.
People, especially young people, often don’t think about the repercussions of posting things like this online.
Probably the biggest problem for them is not that they behaved badly, but that someone posted it online and that reflects on their superiors. Now reprimands won’t do (where one might have sufficed had this been found in a scrapbook or on a desk), but heads will have to roll—especially since the Internet Rage Machine is in full swing.
It was disrespectful to behave as they did and they should be held accountable, but I also think it’s unfortunate that careers will probably be over because of this.