Apparently, the 2007 Defense Budget includes a provision for all deceased to be transported by military aircraft, instead of civilian transport, to their final resting place (or, I presume, the closest airport.)
This is going to be a waste of resources. Military transport is used to bring fallen servicemembers to Dover AFB. There, the remains are processed, and then civilian transport is used, with a uniformed escort, to bring the servicemember the rest of the way.
Why? Because it makes sense. The airlines have the infrastructure and capability to fulfill this particular mission. This is also how all other remains are transported.
It is certainly much better allocation of resources to purchase space for the coffin and the escort on an established route, instead of pulling a military transport (likely a C-17 or C-130) and its crew from missions to bring war materiel to the theater to make a flight elsewhere. It's prohibitively expensive.
This is the same reason that the military usually transports personnel on civilian transports. It's more efficient and a wiser allocation of critically needed transport assets.
This is merely a feel-good measure by some who feel that being carried in the cargo hold of an airliner is an indignity to the fallen servicemember and the family. I believe this to be the farthest from the truth. The servicemember always has an escort, and care and respect are always given to the fallen.
Let's ensure that our resources are used to maximum effect as we fight this war; we'll need every single asset.
3 comments:
This is an issue in Austalia at the moment. One Australian soldier was accidently killed in Iraq a couple of weeks ago and the body transported home much like the US has been doing. Only problem is that somewhere in Iraq (more than likely in the mortuary) the bodies were mixed up and the wrong body transported back to Australia...the other is a civilian Bosnian that was working for the US in Iraq and died of natural causes. We do agree with you Reid, but think that in Australias case anyway they should at least check it is the right body in the coffin before flying home. Australia is now saying also that they our Military will bring them fully home..not private.
Les & Colleen
My thought is this - I think transporting the deceased on civilian aircraft serves another purpose. Most Americans in this day and age have no personal contact with the military. They have no concept of the sacrifices made other than what the MSM feeds them. Every account I have heard about a servicemember being transported on a civilian aircraft includes accounts of the passengers witnessing the transfer and paying their respects in the small way that they can.
If we cease transporting our fallen on civilian aircraft, not only are we wasting resources but we are also denying the public the opportunity to not only recognize the sacrifices made by our military but to pay their respects as well.
HF6, excellent point. In a war that requires no sacrifice from the population at large, no connection to their country's military other than the loudly proclaimed daily body count, civilian transport does have a tangible connection... if only a sad one.
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