PLEASE NOTE - this is a sensitive subject matter. And one that is personally close to my heart - if you are offended... well... I'm sorry. But please, try to understand this is my life, this is my blog...
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Media allowed to cover another casualty returning
By RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer Randall Chase, Associated Press Writer
DOVER, Del. – On a cold April night, under a bright moon, the body of Army Specialist Israel Candelaria Mejias arrived at Dover Air Force Base in a flag-draped aluminum case. Mejias, of San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, was killed by an improvised explosive device Sunday while serving in Iraq.
His return Tuesday marked the second time this week members of the media were allowed to witness a U.S. combat casualty being brought back from overseas, ending the Pentagon's 18-year ban on such coverage.
Mejias' body arrived in Delaware shortly before 8:30 p.m. aboard a C-17 military cargo jet from Ramstein, Germany.
A little more than hour later, an eight-member team from the Army's Old Guard in Washington, D.C., slowly walked up the rear ramp of the C-17 and into the cargo hold, where an advance team from the military mortuary at Dover stood quiet sentinel over the fallen soldier's body.
Following the white-gloved carry team were Col. Robert Edmondson, commander of the mortuary affairs operations, chaplain Maj. Klavens Noel, and Brig. Gen. Walter Davis, director of Army aviation.
Davis and Edmondson bowed their heads as Noel recited a brief prayer. The carry team then gently picked up the case bearing the soldier's body and carried it to a waiting vehicle for transport to the mortuary, where it will be processed and returned to the family.
Tuesday's event took only about 12 minutes, roughly half the time needed for the dignified transfer of the body of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers, which arrived Sunday aboard a contract Boeing 747 and had to be lowered about 20 feet to the tarmac. Myers, 30, of Hopewell, Va., was killed by an IED in Afghanistan.
While both families consented to media coverage of the return of their loved ones, neither consented to be photographed or interviewed.
The media ban was put in place by President George H.W. Bush in 1991, during the Persian Gulf War. From the start, it was cast as a way to shield grieving families.
But critics argued the government was trying to hide the human cost of war. President Barack Obama asked for a review, resulting in a new policy under which families of fallen servicemen will decide whether to allow media coverage of their return. If several bodies arrive on the same flight, news coverage will be allowed only for those whose families have given permission.
Mejias was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment in Task Force 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Grafenwoehr, Germany.
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At first I have to tell you that when I read this article I was totally outraged! How dare they! The death of a soldier is such a private and emotional event. How could they even think it was ok??? And then if you count the shadows at the bottom of the photo there are at least eight reporters there.... such a media spectacle!!! For the death of a HERO!!! Are you kidding me!!!
But then.... after I sat here for a while (yes it truly is 2:30 AM in the morning while I am writing this) - I though maybe the public NEEDS to see this - maybe some people need to realize that it truly is people lives on the line to defend our freedoms, our rights. Their right to go drink Starbucks coffee on the way to work, the ability for their children to be able to walk to school with out someone shooting at them or bombs going off around them......
Our society in my own humble opinion is such a greed society - we only think of ourselves.... I think people have become very complacent since 9/11. They don't see "the need" for us to be in Iraq, to be in Afghanistan. But yet these are the same people that were effected, hurt, outraged that someone would possible even thinking of attacking us 6 1/2 years ago. So maybe this IS what people need to see. What will make them understand. What will make them appreciate what they have and what some people are willing to sacrifice. For them... for our way of life... for our country.
I don't know.... I'm really torn.....
But even more than that... I'm really sad.
Read more...
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