Soldier: Honor troops like Va. Tech dead

[annihilation]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/afghanistan_flag_complaint;_ylt=Avkpn8wNDV1xm60AJGV0Tv0DW7oF




An Army sergeant complained in a rare opinion article that the U.S. flag flew at half-staff last week at the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan for those killed at Virginia Tech but the same honor is not given to fallen U.S. troops here and in Iraq.
In the article issued Monday by the public affairs office at Bagram military base north of Kabul, Sgt. Jim Wilt lamented that his comrades' deaths have become a mere blip on the TV screen, lacking the "shock factor" to be honored by the Stars and Stripes as the deaths at Virginia Tech were.
"I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member," Wilt wrote.
He noted that Bagram obeyed President Bush's order last week that all U.S. flags at federal locations be flown at half-staff through April 22 to honor 32 people killed at Virginia Tech by a 23-year-old student gunman who then killed himself.
"I think it is sad that we do not raise the bases' flag to half-staff when a member of our own task force dies," Wilt said.
According to the Defense Department, 315 U.S. service members have died in and around Afghanistan since the U.S.-led offensive that toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001, 198 of them in combat.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force said that the flags of all its troop-contributing nations are flown at half-staff for about 72 hours after the service member's death "as a mark of respect when there is an ISAF fatality."
Sgt. 1st Class Dean Welch, who works with Wilt at the U.S.-led coalition public affairs office, said the essay is a "soldier's commentary, not the view of the coalition and not the view of the U.S. forces."
Welch added that such outspoken opinion pieces are rare.
Wilt suggested that flags should fly at half-staff on the base where the fallen service member was working and in the states where they hail from. He said some states do this, but not all of them.
He wrote that the death of a U.S. service member is just as violent as those at the university last week, but it lacks the "shock factor of the Virginia massacre."
"It is a daily occurrence these days to see X number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan scrolling across the ticker at the bottom of the TV screen. People have come to expect casualty counts in the nightly news; they don't expect to see 32 students killed," he wrote.
"If the flags on our (operating bases) were lowered for just one day after the death of a service member, it would show the people who knew the person that society cared, the American people care."


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Has a valid point and i thought the same in the days after VT. I was tired with the news and thought this is going to drag on longer than it should.

[Abolith]

the old vet down the street from me has had his flag at half-staff since the first report of a KIA. He says not until the job is done and they come home will it come up from that position.

[LEGEND]

I also thought about this, how they made an article for each victim and stuff on news sites, and it was front page all over the news. At the same time news like "14 marines killed in a roadside bombing" dont even make it to the front pages.

I guess it would be too depressing to see in depth casualties reports every day for the general population.
They only difference that I can think off is that the victims in this case were 1) closer to home. 2) defenseless 3) It was a tragedy that should have not happened while soldiers in Iraq volonteered for the job knowing the risks.

[Lazuris]

Unfortunately it’s for a very simple reason, outa sight outa mind. Our brave men and women in combat are no longer front page news. If I recall the same day of the shooting a bomb went off in Baghdad and took out somewhere near 200 civilians and that was last page news over here. I’m 50/50 on whether the news media should censor the images from Iraq like they do. On one side I don’t want to see our fallen portrayed in negative light, but on the other side it would open American’s eyes to the realities of war.

[SOG]

when you have assholes who hate our soldiers, then lesser assholes who dont think we should have soldiers so they dont care about them, them smaller assholes who just hate guns that go boom, on top of non stop stories about death and chaos, go figure, a lot of people in the US dont give a **** about the troops. period. yes, a crazy korean who shot a bunch of students is more important than our soldiers lives and there work. so is coverage of ****ing anna nicole smith. thats the way a lot of sick people in our country think and will continue to do so. **** em. they wont know we are at war till someone blows up the local ****ing starbucks. then IT WILL BE ON!

[Firetxmi]

Official U.S. Rules on when to fly Half-Mast:



Only the President and state Governors can decide when and how long the flag should be flown at half-staff.

Thirty days after the death of a president or former president

Ten days after the death of a vice president, the chief of justice or a retired chief of justice or the speaker of the house of representatives.

Until the burial of an associate justice of the Supreme Court, secretary of a military department, a former vice president, or the governor of a state, territory, or possession.

On the day of and the day after the death of a member of Congress.

On Memorial Day, the day set aside to honor all the people who have died while serving the United States & originally called Decoration Day, the flag is flown at half-Staff until noon, then raised to full staff until sundown.

[2Sheds_Jackson]

On Memorial Day, the day set aside to honor all the people who have died while serving the United States & originally called Decoration Day, the flag is flown at half-Staff until noon, then raised to full staff until sundown.


Seems to cover it if you ask me. I don't remember old glory being put up on Mount Suribachi at half staff to honor the 7000 Marine lives it took to put her there...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Stars_and_Stripes_on_Mount_Suribachi_%28Iwo_Jima%29.jpg/300px-Stars_and_Stripes_on_Mount_Suribachi_%28Iwo_Jima%29.jpg

[Aerosoul]

I saw a picture taken at VT with a lowered flag in the background a couple days ago and thought it was peculiar. I do not think it should have been lowered there, and I do not think it should be lowered when service members are killed.

[Zmey]

With all due respect( and I mean it) - a lost life of a deployed Serviceman in the line of duty in the warzone is not the same as the life of an unarmed civilian student gunned down in the classroom by crazed madman.

[annihilation]

With all due respect( and I mean it) - a lost life of a deployed Serviceman in the line of duty in the warzone is not the same as the life of an unarmed civilian student gunned down in the classroom by crazed madman.

But isn't a life a life. They both are of the same age range.

[Aerosoul]

But isn't a life a life. They both are of the same age range.
What kind of logic is that?
There are guidelines for when the flag should be lowered, I see no reason to add anymore. People die, the flag should remain flying high.

[CPL Trevoga]

But isn't a life a life. They both are of the same age range.

It was ordered to fly half mast by C'n'C.

[8thidpathfinderpower]

when you have assholes who hate our soldiers, then lesser assholes who dont think we should have soldiers so they dont care about them, them smaller assholes who just hate guns that go boom, on top of non stop stories about death and chaos, go figure, a lot of people in the US dont give a **** about the troops. period. yes, a crazy korean who shot a bunch of students is more important than our soldiers lives and there work. so is coverage of ****ing anna nicole smith. thats the way a lot of sick people in our country think and will continue to do so. **** em. they wont know we are at war till someone blows up the local ****ing starbucks. then IT WILL BE ON!

I would have to agree totally. It makes you sick to see the lack of moral support our military recieves from the general population.

Instead our support goes to illegal immagrants, mayors who like to abuse their office(the creep rocky anderson comes to mind) american idol winners, and people wh have no business being honored like hereos because they are not one.

[8thidpathfinderpower]

With all due respect( and I mean it) - a lost life of a deployed Serviceman in the line of duty in the warzone is not the same as the life of an unarmed civilian student gunned down in the classroom by crazed madman.

Well, the arguement could also be for why make hereos out of unarmed college students,they were just casualties of another type of war.....

The big difference between the two, is the servicemen and women, died fighting a war that they were asked to go fight by the american people. And, the college students died because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.......BIG DIFFERENCE.....


Although the shooting at VT was tragic, and the victims deserved the right to be mourned, lets not forget those who lay their life on the line, fighting in a war because we asked them to. These guys in the military are the real hereos,and it is a disgrace to forget that.

[Durandal]

Both are U.S. citizens, first and foremost.

I think its a sad day in America when we argue whose life has more meaning.

[WARPIG]

Lowering the flag might not have been technically correct.. but it was the right call at the right time. The whole nation is in mourning over the tragedy.

As far as the Flag being lowered for troops.. I personally wouldn't want the flag lowered for my death. I serve this country and that flag and prefer to see it flying at full mast.

By the way.. there is only one Authorized VA Tech tragedy thread.. and this isn't it. I'm going to allow it for the time being. It is under close watch however.

[name already taken]

I also thought about this, how they made an article for each victim and stuff on news sites, and it was front page all over the news. At the same time news like "14 marines killed in a roadside bombing" dont even make it to the front pages.

I guess it would be too depressing to see in depth casualties reports every day for the general population.
They only difference that I can think off is that the victims in this case were 1) closer to home. 2) defenseless 3) It was a tragedy that should have not happened while soldiers in Iraq volonteered for the job knowing the risks.
Remember that for journalists to photograph the returing flag draped coffins is not allowed by this administration.

The president never goes to any soldier's funeral.

Add to this the Pat Tillman affair and the embellishment of Pfc. Jessica Lynch's rescue in Iraq of 2003, and you have a pretty good outline of the efforts made to keep up the nation's support for this war.

The discretion about soldiers' deaths would just fit right in these efforts.