Army's rule on funerals straining honor guards

[question everything]

Army's rule on funerals straining honor guards

Veterans' adult children barred from using rifles

By Patrick Condon
ASSOCIATED PRESS

January 13, 2006

DULUTH, Minn. – Already stressed by the pace of funerals for aging veterans, the leader of an honor guard is incensed by the Army's refusal to allow him to replenish his ranks with the adult children of vets.

The problem is a little-known federal statute that bars the Army from giving ceremonial M-1 rifles that are fired during a poignant part of most military funerals to honor guards with non-veteran members.

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An estimated 1,800 military veterans die every day across the country, and honor guards such as the one in this northern Minnesota city are struggling to keep up with serving at as many as three funerals per day.

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Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060113/news_lz1n13read.html

[Miss Chybil]

1. Adult children of vets aren't honor guards. Make more guards. nt

[MADem]

2. This has been a problem for YEARS, and the strain is not helped

by Bush's War. The WW2 population is dying off in larger and larger numbers, too, and right behind them are the Korean War vets. Next up to bat will be Vietnam servicemembers...

They aren't going to resolve the problem by continuing to shuffle around and do the job badly. They either need to change the regs, or outsource some other area and dedicate service personnel to this task.

Already, they've shoved as much as they can off on veteran's organizations like the VFW and American Legion, who are doing the best they can, but they're old, most of 'em, a bit fat, many of 'em, and a bit lacking in military bearing. Next thing ya know, they'll be asking the Paralyzed Vets to step up to the plate.

If it really is important, they'll find a way to dedicate the resources to it. Otherwise, it tells us what they really think of us once we're dead and gone--and so far, they don't seem to think too much of us.

[Orsino]

3. Why in the heck is the Army issuing weapons to vets?

I spent one of my last months in the Army on funeral detail, and took the charge seriously. We felt the strain even then, though, usually having to use a hidden boom box instead of a live bugler. We never had more than one funeral a day, though; I don't think we ever had funerals on consecutive days.

We were active duty soldiers. We never pushed the responsibility onto veterans' groups.