There's been recent expansion, and looks like there's plenty of room for more across Patton Drive.
Do important Democrats live there?
Source
Posted on 09/26/2019 10:46:35 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
Acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy on Sept. 25 announced new criteria for interment (burial) and inurnment (preservation of cremated remains) at Arlington National Cemetery to keep from running out of space in the nation’s most hallowed military cemetery.
Congress called on the Army to revise the criteria for burial at the cemetery in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, with the goal to keep it functioning as an active burial ground for another 150 years. That’s not possible under present rules.
Today, some 95,000 burial spaces remain available, but with more than 20 million living veterans and 2 million military members currently serving, the population of potential eligibles keeps growing. Without changes to eligibility, the cemetery will be full by the mid-2050s, according to the Army.
Today, any Active Duty member or veteran with at least one day of active service is eligible for burial at Arlington.
Under the proposed new rules, below-ground interment will be limited to presidents and vice presidents, as well as military members or veterans:
• Killed in action, including repatriated remains of service members
•Awarded the Silver Star or service Cross or Medal of Honor
•Awarded the Purple Heart
•Suffering combat-related service deaths during “unique” military activities
•Formerly held as prisoners of war
•Or who served in combat and also served out of uniform in government and “made significant contributions to the nation’s security at the highest levels of public service.”
Those eligible to be inurned above ground must be either:
•World War II-era veterans, including legislated active duty designees
•Retirees from the military who are eligible for retirement pay but not eligible for interment
•Veterans who served at least two years on active duty and served in combat
•Or veterans who did not serve in combat, but did serve out of uniform in government service and “made significant contributions to the nations security at the highest levels of public service.”
A notice of the new rules will be posted for public comment in the Federal Register within the next nine months, according to the cemetery.
At the same time, the cemetery is planning a large expansion of the grounds on the southern side of the cemetery, including the area surrounding the Air Force Memorial. The expansion will add another 60,000 new burial plots and a large new columbarium for cremated remains.
894 out of 899
Amen to that!
Do you know the part of the cemetery I refer to?
I don’t know how it is now, but in the late 80s/ early 90s the parking lot for the Ft Meyer NCO Club was right up against Arlington Cemetery and it only had a fence with a heavy chain between posts. You could step into the cemetery grounds from the parking lot, and look down the hill from there and there was a bend in the road with bench right there.
Of joint-duty thing for my computer room coworkers was to go to Ft Meyer NCO club on Friday after work and have a few pitchers of beer and plenty of great hors d’oeuvres. I only ever had a few beers (I was a MSGT at the time so tried to not to be a bad example!), but loved to come out around sundown and sit on that bench and think how important that place was.
This time of year it is beautiful with the Fall colors. If you and your wife go up there for me, I would be honored!
I’m in full agreement with your final statement: “No politicians!!!”
Teddy Kennedy did serve in the US Army during the Korean War, but not in Korea; thus he may have qualified under the existing rules at the time of his death in 2009. I’m no fan of Teddy and agree that he worked to betray the USA during President Reagan’s administration.
From Wikipedia:
In June 1951, Kennedy enlisted in the United States Army and signed up for an optional four-year term that was shortened to the minimum of two years after his father intervened.[13] Following basic training at Fort Dix in New Jersey, he requested assignment to Fort Holabird in Maryland for Army Intelligence training, but was dropped without explanation after a few weeks.[13] He went to Camp Gordon in Georgia for training in the Military Police Corps.[13] In June 1952, Kennedy was assigned to the honor guard at SHAPE headquarters in Paris, France.[2][13] His father’s political connections ensured that he was not deployed to the ongoing Korean War.[2][17] While stationed in Europe, he traveled extensively on weekends and climbed the Matterhorn in the Pennine Alps.[18] After 21 months, he was discharged in March 1953 as a private first class.[13][18]
Arlington National Cemetery burial eligibility rules as of 2017: https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Funerals/Scheduling-a-Funeral/Establishing-Eligibility/Ground-Burial
I just discovered that I was wrong in my previous post to both of you. Unfortunately AOC is eligible for burial at ANC under 32-CFR-Part-553-Final-Rule-(26-Sep-16), paragraph 553-12, sub-paragraph (a) (1) (ii): Elected member of the U.S. Congress;
The full federal law governing ANC is at: https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Portals/0/Docs/32-CFR-Part-553-Final-Rule-(26-Sep-16).pdf
“Could we give a Navy veteran the opportunity of being buried at sea, as one choice? (I know, this is kind of hare-brained.)”
My father was a WWII Merchant Mariner, he was laid to rest at sea with full military honors by the Navy when he died in 2005 due west of Key West and due south of New Orleans.
So I think that option already exists.
Yes, but the posted article aims to change those rules.
Maybe they’ll have to get Congress to pass the rules as an update to this law...
Recall the Clinton donor disinterred. Served in merchant marine in WWII.
Ted Kennedy is buried there. Enough said.
Yes!
Someone tell my how Ted "The Swimmer" Kennedy qualified to be buried at Arlington? That is an abomination.
I think that’s really neat!
Wow. Even with Papa Joe intervening - Teddy was still too stupid to get into Army Intelligence. And after 2 years he left as a PFC?
What a failure.
Being expelled for cheating would have been a disqualifier for a security clearance to be sent to intel school.
It was once R.E.Lee’s estate.
If we must bury politicians there, could we not at least plant them in the latrine areas where they belong?
Even more of a tangient, there are places much more bizarre than this. in crowded Hong Kong, you can "rent" a crypt / cemetery plot for 7 years - someplace where family can gather for a funeral and memorialize you for a while. After that remains are dug up, and expected to be sent elsewhere. I've seen it - excavated bones are left on the crypt, out in the open, before they are taken away
Yup. “Significant contribution” means “got pull.”
I’ll happily be buried in the same little town I grew up in; 22 years on active duty with 53 months of combat pay.
He went into the service only after Harvard threw him out for cheating; he was ineligible for officer training because of the cheating incident. Don’t attribute his military service to anything other than his hand being forced as the result of unethical conduct.
That pay sure bought my wife a lot of gold jewelry.
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