[armymarinemom]

I don't know what "notifications for the Military" are,

If we have a death in our family we have to notify the Red Cross before leave is approved. We did have a death in the family a few weeks into the Iraq War. Notification turned into a nightmare. The local office stated in a rather rude manner that it would take at least a week to get word to my son. I gave up locally and called Germany. After a lot of insistence I reached my son in three hours. He refused to come home but at least he was able to speak with his family. Just knowing that they are notified makes a world of difference.

[strategofr]

"If we have a death in our family we have to notify the Red Cross before leave is approved."

Thanks for your explanation. It's too bad you have to put up with something like this.

Every piece of evidence on these organizations seems to point the same way. After Katrina, the first people on the scene were journalists and the Salvation Army. Everyone else was still complaining about how it was "impossible to get there".

[hummingbird]

If we have a death in our family we have to notify the Red Cross before leave is approved. We did have a death in the family a few weeks into the Iraq War. Notification turned into a nightmare. The local office stated in a rather rude manner that it would take at least a week to get word to my son. I gave up locally and called Germany. After a lot of insistence I reached my son in three hours. He refused to come home but at least he was able to speak with his family. Just knowing that they are notified makes a world of difference.

Shame on the Red Cross. Salvation Army is definitely the way to go.

During the hurricanes (Katrina or Rita...I forget which), some newsy was interviewing a Red Cross spokesman who was championing the RC for arriving to help and that they were starting to triage the situation and what not.

The funny thing is that the Salvation Army could be seen in the background already at work.