Air Force dumped ashes of more troops’ remains in Va. landfill than acknowledged

The Washington Post ^ | 12-7-2011 | Craig Whitlock and Mary Pat Flaherty

[bimboeruption]

The Air Force dumped the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops in a Virginia landfill, far more than the military had acknowledged, before halting the secretive practice three years ago, records show.

The landfill dumping was concealed from families who had authorized the military to dispose of the remains in a dignified and respectful manner, Air Force officials said. There are no plans, they said, to alert those families now.

The Air Force had maintained that it could not estimate how many troops might have had their remains sent to a landfill. The practice was revealed last month by The Washington Post, which was able to document a single case of a soldier whose partial remains were sent to the King George County landfill in Virginia. The new data, for the first time, show the scope of what has become an embarrassing episode for vaunted Dover Air Base, the main port of entry for America’s war dead.

The landfill disposals were never formally authorized under military policies or regulations. They also were not disclosed to senior Pentagon officials who conducted a high-level review of cremation policies at the Dover mortuary in 2008, records show.

Air Force and Pentagon officials said last month that determining how many remains went to the landfill would require searching through the records of more than 6,300 troops whose remains have passed through the mortuary since 2001.

“It would require a massive effort and time to recall records and research individually,” Jo Ann Rooney, the Pentagon’s acting undersecretary for personnel, wrote in a Nov. 22 letter to Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.).

Holt, who has pressed the Pentagon for answers on behalf of a constituent whose husband was killed in Iraq, accused the Air Force and Defense Department of hiding the truth.

[xzins]

Like the blood being washed down the drain, these parts weren't considered significant enough to warrant special treatment.

Sorry, Mr R, but I have a funeral manual with the coordinates of wartime body parts, found after the body had been recovered and shipped, buried at sea with prayer and all respect.

I am not saying anything about you or your experience; I'm saying those persons did not handle their responsibilities correctly.

[xzins]

see post #61

[Cvengr]

Hard to tell from the story exactly what happened.

From the CBS story at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57339029/274-soldiers-ashes-dumped-in-va-landfill/

This week, after The Post pressed for information contained in the Dover mortuary's electronic database, the Air Force produced a tally based on those records. It showed that 976 fragments from 274 military personnel were cremated, incinerated and taken to the landfill between 2004 and 2008.

An additional group of 1,762 unidentified remains were collected from the battlefield and disposed of in the same manner, the Air Force said. Those fragments could not undergo DNA testing because they had been badly burned or damaged in explosions. The total number of incinerated fragments dumped in the landfill exceeded 2,700.

There is a difference between sanitary waste and biohazardous waste. For example, in an operating room, if an appendage is cut off due to gangrene or other physical cause, the remains may not be treated as sanitary waste, but must be disposed of as biohazardous waste. Generally they are incinerated with procedures to document their proper disposal.

Blood and excretia from funeral mortuaries are disposed in compliance with OSHA regulations 29 CFR 1910.1030.

Biohazard disposal is generally regulated at the State level, but operations aboard military facilities might not always be state supervised or inspected.

Other issues arise regarding the permitting of the landfill. Generally explicit measures are taken at landfills regarding biohazardous waste. Additionally, full human corpses are not legitimately allowed in landfills.

Since cremated remains of servicemen already have provisions for burial, it seems bureaucratically it would be more cumbersome to dispose of the remains at a landfill than through mortuary services.

From the CBS report, it appears there were a large accumulation of human remains, which were body parts, blown apart in war, set aside to DNA test to identify the remains, but then discovered some percentage were no longer so identifiable by those procedures with certainty. The volume of such human parts accumulated to the point that they then were disposed of as bio-hazardous waste.

Once incinerated, as opposed to cremated, they were then disposed of as bio-hazardous waste vice human ashes from a crematorium.

It's a tough call.

For most situations, had the body parts been identified or even suggested as to their original identities, the surviving family members had probably already gone through a funeral and grieving period. Ressurrecting the disposal of remains would likely cause more grief than resolution with loved ones.

Meanwhile, if a family member simply isn't accepting the death and proper dedication to handling the situation, I suspect no amount of due diligence nor responsible action of those associated with it would escape accusation and angst from the family member as a substitute for their grief.

[DoughtyOne]

I would submit there has probably been more crap bureaucracy in military leadership over the decades, than either you or I would like to admit.

While it has taken a turn for the worse, I’m not sure how much worse. Under the Clintons we saw some very troubling situations.

I’m inclined to agree with your premise.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for your contribution to the discussion of the actions that took place. I appreciate you adding in what you did. I would have to agree with your conclusion.

[DoughtyOne]

I appreciate your comments. My take on it would be that it would be respectful to place these body parts in a common form of a repository on hallowed ground, with the explanation for why it was done to be documented for public review.

I would also respect these remains being burring at sea with full honors. I do lean toward the land based resolution, because I think it would be edifying for people to be able to see how much we cared even for the remnants of those lost.

Thanks for the response.

[xzins]

I like your repository idea. It would not be hard to erect a building or monument for these ashes. I even like your word: it could be called “The Repository of the Services”.

It would hold ashes of anyone from any service.

[jazusamo]

I'm saying those persons did not handle their responsibilities correctly.

I couldn't agree more, Chappy. Those that work there of all people should have known better and probably did.

Thanks for the ping.

[DoughtyOne]

Thank you.

How about...

The Repository of the American Will and Dedication to a Free World.

Memorializing the remnants of our service members in connection to such a lofty goal, would seem almost unavoidable.

[DesertRhino]

Lazy enlisted personel huh? Let me hip you, going to a landfill is a LOT of trouble if there was an alternative. Also landfills arent free. A Zero set up that system, not any enlisted man. And are you admitting that the o-4s actually set up a system where a body is just given to “lazy enlisteds” for disposal, with NO accountability?

You are clueless. Lazy would be a liason sugar britches officer who thinks being a commissioned “liason” between base commanders is just like being a grunt. And i don’t know how to explain it to you, but “my wife, who is an 0-4 in the AF, just finished M-16 training” is exactly what i meant.
College girls and MBA type officers who have “just finished training” and who look like they should be holding a laptop or an Ipad, that is exactly what i was referring to. The people who actually use the M-16 for real, in firefights, who carry it everywhere they go for months, would be offended at their carcasses being taken to the dump. And the enlisteds you disparage so freely, would be the last ones to do what you suggest. This has REMF carrerist officer written all over it. The same mentality of Officer just tried to ban wounded at Walter Reed from being given a Bible by family. I suppose you thin an enlisted dreamed THAT up too. Tool.

[Soothesayer9]

Didn’t the AirForce just acknowledge wiccans and satanists? Do I have this right? If so this is what you get.

And landfills of faggotry as well. Pathetic.When God disappears, demons have a party. They always fill the vacuum.

[americanophile]

I'm appalled. I didn't think I could have less regard for the federal government than I did before reading this.

This is how we treat our fallen soldiers? If I was president I would order the joint chiefs our there with shovels to personally find the remains before firing anyone remotely connected with this outrage. No more of these foreign wars until we learn to treat our soldiers right; as heroes who should be called upon sparingly to defend this nation, not disposable grist for our imperial adventurism. Disgusting.

[americanophile]

Ugh! You’re right. How wretched.

[wastedyears]

The Washington Post actually doing investigative journalism?

[man_in_tx]

The current USAF leadership is the left wing of the US military.
///////////////////

You have a point, but I believe I might instead give the trophy to the Navy leadership who authorized their chaplains to perform sodomite “marriages”(sic) in their chapels BEFORE the repeal of DADT was finalized. (Of course, they walked it back when it hit the light of day, but they were the first to throw in pubilicly with what Michael Savage has called the “purple mafia.”

But, yes, you are correct: AF leadership continues to disappoint, as well.

[dools0007world]

The loons that pass for senior military leadership today.

Who would order our troops who’re being attacked by ununiformed terrorists to hold fire if anything resembling a “civilian” is in the area of the terrorists?

Who would order aboard ship “sentries” to carry unloaded weapons in potentially hostile ports? Remember the Cole?

Who would issue policy that family members of wounded warriars not be permitted to bring religious material—including Bibles—into Walter Read Medical Center?

There are a lot more of these stories out there.

[chargers fan]

I guess you struck a nerve. It’s cool to hate on Officers all day but don’t you dare speak against the enlisted.

[af_vet_rr]

When I first heard about this, I thought, “who the he// are these families?”

Exactly. I would never let the military dispose of the remains of any of my family members. If I have to drive to Virginia and claim the remains or ashes in person, and then drive back to Texas, tell me who I need to meet when I show up in Virginia.

Very odd.

Also not very happy that these were apparently civilians doing the worst of it. There are a lot of places where I don't like civilian contractors being heavily involved, and this is one of them.

[Does so]

They can’t find a dignified way to despose of those remains and ashes? How about burial at sea? Ships constantly depart. How about one common repository at Arlington?

I hear you... :( ...but the article's first line indicates,

"The Air Force dumped the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops..."

I read that as "limbs".

Families may not desire having "the partial remains"...

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

MedTrace Inc. of North East, Md., had Air Force disposal contracts between 2004 and 2007, records show. Don Holland, a manager for the company, said his employees picked up boxes of sealed containers from the Dover mortuary. “They were certified as medical waste that had been properly treated — that’s it,” Holland said. “We don’t go looking at what’s in there. It’s sealed.”

How would this company know it wasn't used syringes and similar stuff hospitals throw in the "medical waste" bin? Maybe the blame goes at a higher level.