Silence in Santa Fe

[welch]

Recently, my niece flew home to Santa Fe. She told me (approximate quote):

"We were waiting and grumbling because the luggage was late. Nothing from our plane. Longer wait, more grumbling about airline sloppiness. Then the loudspeaker announced 'Luggage from Flight XYZ will be unloaded soon. A fallen soldier comes first'. The terminal went silent. We just looked at each other...and I started to cry when I thought of my cousin, even though he's safe...this was someone who wore the same uniform. Santa Fe isn't a big town, and I thought, maybe I knew him, or his parents, and then I thought about how rarely the rest of us really notice it all."

[Mursilis]

Recently, my niece flew home to Santa Fe. She told me (approximate quote):

"We were waiting and grumbling because the luggage was late. Nothing from our plane. Longer wait, more grumbling about airline sloppiness. Then the loudspeaker announced 'Luggage from Flight XYZ will be unloaded soon. A fallen soldier comes first'. The terminal went silent. We just looked at each other...and I started to cry when I thought of my cousin, even though he's safe...this was someone who wore the same uniform. Santa Fe isn't a big town, and I thought, maybe I knew him, or his parents, and then I thought about how rarely the rest of us really notice it all."

A soldier's remains are shipped cross-country as luggage on a commercial flight?

[welch]

Something like that. Everyone is flown to Dover AFB, which has the military mortuary (I think that's the right term).

There are strict handling rules to honor the Soldier (sailor, Marine, etc) -- for instance, the soldier's head always faces forward. The casket is never treated like "baggage". A family will sometimes ask a serving family member to fly to Dover and escort the fallen soldier home. The escort, of course, wears their dress uniform...in the Army, I think it's called the "Class A dress uniform".

[DEHog]

I can tell you first hand that doesn't happen (anymore) DOD has hire a contractor to fly the bodies directy to the hometowns of our fallen.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3017379

Recently, my niece flew home to Santa Fe. She told me (approximate quote):

"We were waiting and grumbling because the luggage was late. Nothing from our plane. Longer wait, more grumbling about airline sloppiness. Then the loudspeaker announced 'Luggage from Flight XYZ will be unloaded soon. A fallen soldier comes first'. The terminal went silent. We just looked at each other...and I started to cry when I thought of my cousin, even though he's safe...this was someone who wore the same uniform. Santa Fe isn't a big town, and I thought, maybe I knew him, or his parents, and then I thought about how rarely the rest of us really notice it all."

A soldier's remains are shipped cross-country as luggage on a commercial flight?

[welch]

DE said

I can tell you first hand that doesn't happen (anymore) DOD has hire a contractor to fly the bodies directy to the hometowns of our fallen.

I'm glad that the DoD has begun to fly bodies home by special plane.

However, what struck me is how distant we are from the military unless we happen to live near a base or have family involved. Life goes on as if there is no war.

[Redskin in Canada]

However, what struck me is how distant we are from the military unless we happen to live near a base or have family involved. Life goes on as if there is no war.

Part of it can be explained as a psychological mechanism of self-defense against a tremendously depressing and stressful situation. Some people find it easier to cope with problems putting some (psychological -and- physical) distance in between at least over some periods. I do not judge them. It can be a mechanism of survival.

Some people face some tough situations and that is the only mechanism to survive sometimes. Some could not live a "normal" life among family and friends otherwise.