Soldier: Honor troops like Va. Tech dead

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

Soldier: Honor troops like Va. Tech dead

KABUL, Afghanistan - 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.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070423/ap_on_re_mi_ea/afghanistan_flag_complaint;

---

and link to Stars and Stripes:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHANISTAN_FLAG_COMPLAINT?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[tabasco]

1. So sad and so true.

I agree with the Sergeant.

[jobycom]

2. Doesn't he understand the difference between dying tragically for a madman's delusions

And the Virginia Tech massacre?

[Monkeyman]

3. Is there a difference with Bush in charge Madness of a President

[krkaufman]

20. Well-phrased. n/t

[President Kerry]

46. you could argue that applies in both cases.

I agree with him.

[LibDemAlways]

4. Lowering the flag in honor of fallen soldiers would mean that

the flag would be lowered everyday, and the last thing the chimp wants is for people to have a constant reminder of how he's screwed up in Iraq. Thus the coffins arrive without fanfare and soldier's funerals aren't mentioned except by local papers.

Out of sight. Out of mind.

[treestar]

13. You have hit the nail on the head

This is how the right wing "supports" the troops.

[Canuckistanian]

21. I was going to say that

If that were the case, has there ever been a time during the war when the flag would be at full mast?

[Roland99]

37. Bingo! Flags were lowered here recently when a serviceman from this area was killed.

[UrbScotty]

41. We do it in Michigan every time one of ours dies.

I know that a few other states do so as well.

[Bluzmann57]

5. I agree with Seargant Wilt

The VT shootings were tragic, but so are soldiers dying for no apparent reason, except to take over countries and their oil. By the way, where is Bin Laden anyway? Wasn't that the stated mission for Afghanistan?

[saigon68]

12. Chuck Scumer has other priorities

As he disarms america

But to hell with the war dead

[TommyO]

31. What the F does this have to do with Chuck Schumer?

[w4rma]

6. No kidding. And Smirk showed up at the VT funeral but still hasn't shown up for any soldier's. (nt)

[jasmeel]

7. Recommended! Rate this story up on Yahoo!

Maybe more people will see it and become aware of the indifference with which we treat the death of so many.

[DrZeeLit]

8. Exactly. Bravo for someone to say this aloud.

I have said this and more, with no disrespect to the Va Tech dead. I don't understand the flag flying at half staff and the national day of mourning (if that was set in motion/I've heard not much more about it).

I like what Bill Maher said.
There's a difference between volunteering to be in harms way and randomly finding yourself in harm's way.

With the exception of any of those at Va Tech who died saving others, I also do not understand the use of the word "hero." Sad they died, yes. Heroes? No.

One word: media spin

Sad to say what sells is violence, keeping viewers in the seat, through the commercials.

[modrepub]

9. I work in PA

Gov orders flags at half staff for all PA soldiers killed over seas. There's usually a small piece that goes out over our network with a name, age and when the person was KIA. Flags in state offices in the county where the person resides also lowered. It's the least we can do...

[Sabriel]

17. Wisconsin also orders half-staff for fallen Wisconsinites

Even my five-year-old has come to notice and point them out. Last week he said, "It looks like another soldier got killed."

[jwirr]

30. What a sad commentary from a little 5 year old. Out of the mouths

of babes. This is the state of our country.

[Thew]

27. Oregon as well n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. That ain't going to happen. We're not even supposed to notice

that there's a war going on.

[Doctor_J]

11. Il Dunce' went to Va Tech, but hasn't yet been to a GI funeral

No photo-op = no Smirk.

[paparush]

14. This is the kind of shit that is going to come home to roost in a NASTY way...

These troops, volunteers, are getting fucked over left and right and then this government treats them like dog meat.

These folks are coming home seriously fucked up and sooner or later, are going to take out their rage.

[anotherdrew]

15. IIRC, bush ORDERED that flags not go to half-staff for soldiers

his reason... well, I think we all know.

[gordianot]

16. I completely agree, perpetual 1/2 staff while at war.

One day lowered flag for each soldier who dies in theater of operations.

[DeleteRepublicans]

18. U.S. flags should fly half-staff for our troops!

The U.S. flags should fly half-staff for as long as our troops
are dieing in these two wars.

[krkaufman]

19. How the frick about it!!! Was watching CNN just a few minutes ago...

... and was astounded that they're still wallowing in "tribute" to the VT students killed during last Monday's shooting, putting up pictures of some of the lost, along with short comments on each. It immediately hit me that we've likely lost the same number of soldiers since last Monday, yet NO attention is given to them. No bios. No pictures. Nothing.

[FiddlersGreen]

22. we are the human race

People dying in war is not a big deal to warrant lowering flags.

That may sound callous but can anyone name a day in human history when people were not dying due to conflict? I think it is just part of the human condition rather than a tragedy.

[Connonym]

23. I'd like to point out that last week when a DUer suggested this very same thought

a lot of people here took extreme offense and suggested that comparing the two was apples and oranges because you expect violent death in a war and not on a college campus.

[treestar]

25. But then flying half mast has to do with service to the country

for ex-presidents, etc., so maybe they should just leave it at that and not do it for civilians.

Because the problem with doing it for civilians becomes that you're doing it for them but not for people who served the country and in fact paid the ultimate price (which ex-presidents may not do, in fact, no president ever has died in battle).

So somehow it seems to be wrong.

Another issue is that Americans die all kinds of ways in all kinds of tragedies, and every day, so we really shouldn't lower it for people just because the way they died was rare.

[goddess40]

24. Write to your Reps and tell them to do it

I notified Rep Obey and Sen Feingold that they need to do the same for our men and women being sacrificed in the Middle East.
They could start by reading the names of the dead up to this point and then at the beginning of each session they could read the new names just prior to or after their opening prayer.

[maddezmom]

26. Bush should be required to read the dead and injured names each time

he speaks to the US public about the war. Or once a week he could do it...I don't even care if it's taped. Just read the names and recognize them.

[jwirr]

28. He is so right. The flag should be at half staff until the bloody war

is done with. I do think that individual states and communities often do fly it at half staff when a resident is killed in Iraq. At least our community does.

[BluePatriot]

29. He has an excellent point.

A point which I know is steadily gaining traction.

Has Keith O noticed this? I have no idea, as I went from watching Keith O every day to shutting MSNBC and all other MSM off. NBC's (and by proxy all the other networks) choice to air all that video Cho sent them was the last nail in the coffin for my relationship with TV news. There were and are so many other things going on. And to find them that week, I went straight to NPR.

Imagine me, a 23 yr old, going to NPR for news. But, you know what I have discovered? I LIKE it. Their calm recitation of facts is so soothing. You don't realize how much fear you're being fed until you drag yourself away from cable MSM.

[ProudDad]

32. That's because the VT students

are among the privileged elite.

You, my friend, along with your fellow troops are cannon fodder in an imperialist war for oil.

You shouldn't have "volunteered".

[Bentcorner]

33. The thing I don't understand

is that if you DO NOT want them in Iraq or Afghanistan in the first place, you are not supporting them or their mission. Now I'm being told that I must be in a perpetual state of mourning because they are in wars I have never supported or wanted them to fight in the first place. I just feel like you cannot win. Your are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[Bucky]

34. In defense of the Pentagon, let me point out....

if we were to lower the flag for just one day to mourn each soldier in Iraq that Bush sent off to die for no apparently reason (instead of the standard 30 day period of mourning), then the United States would be in a perpetual state of mourning for the next ten years--assuming there were no other deaths among troops from now until the end of the mourning period.

[sunyasi]

35. Here's the Hot Tip...

We should enter legislation to say that whenever we are at war the flag will fly at half mast in honor of the war dead. Then when we find out that we are killing people all over the world at all times the flag will NEVER fly at full staff. The republicans would probably just draft legislation to cut all the flagpoles in HALF!

[rocktivity]

36. It's your commander-in-chief, stupid!

He's so stupid that he thinks that if there are no cultural signs that we're illegally and immorally occupying a country for its oil, we'll find it easier to live with. On top of that, you've effectively sold your soul to him, and he's decided that he owes you nothing in return!

:headbang:
rocknation

[superconnected]

38. The VA tech dead didn't enlist and go shoot people.

As far as I've heard, they weren't even armed.

I just see that as a more respectable postion than murderer for the state, I mean bearers of our *gulp* democracy by shooting foreigners in a foreign land.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

44. So you're calling our troops murderers?

[superconnected]

45. Only the ones who shoot and kill people.

I don't care what your valor meter can handle, I'll call a murder, a murder no matter how *gulp* *sarcastic tear* defenders of amerikkka *patronizing voice* they are.

[GreenTea]

39. The mainstream media should be hounded on this fact....Calls, emails, letters

need to flood the TV & written media as well as our Representatives.

Because BushCo won't do shit...they want to hide these patriots/soldiers death's as much as possible, to continue their lying, sick war for our tax dollars...War for Profit!

[uppityperson]

40. Exactly. Flags at 1/2 mast so long as the occupations are going on.

[oneinok]

42. Vets are getting fu@ked

Troops dying in Iraq/Afgah conflict don't carry much news. We just fed over 200 homeless Vets in the Tulsa area this past weekend. Who cares?

[Kurovski]

43. K&R

I find it VERY WRONG to have flown the flag half-mast.

And it's more of the administration's policy of diversion and promotion of fear for the populace.