Posted on 10/13/2013 4:32:42 AM PDT by IbJensen
My heart is just sick over this.
The Pentagon just admitted that those heart-rending “arrival ceremonies” at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, wherein an honor guard carries off a cargo plane the flag-draped coffins supposedly containing the remains of soldiers killed in battle ARE ALL STAGED.
The coffins are empty. Even the cargo planes are fake — they don’t fly.
~Eowyn
(Just phony theater: An honor detail comprised of joint military members prepares to escort the remains of fallen servicemembers who died during World War II and the Vietnam War during an arrival ceremony April 26, 2013, hosted by the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. (Photo by Sean Furey/U.S. Navy))
The Department of Defense unit charged with recovering servicemembers’ remains abroad has been holding phony “arrival ceremonies” for seven years, with an honor guard carrying flag-draped coffins off of a cargo plane as though they held the remains returning that day from old battlefields.
The Pentagon acknowledged Wednesday that no honored dead were in fact arriving, and that the planes used in the ceremonies often couldn’t even fly, and were towed into position. The story was first reported on nbcnews.com.
The ceremonies at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii are held up as a sign of the nation’s commitment to its fallen warriors. They have been attended by veterans and families of MIAs, led to believe that they were witnessing the return of Americans killed in World War II, Vietnam and Korea.
In a statement sent to NBC News, the Pentagon wrote:
“Part of the ceremony involves symbolically transferring the recovered remains from an aircraft to a vehicle for follow-on transportation to the lab. Many times, static aircraft are used for the ceremonies, as operational requirements dictate flight schedules and aircraft availability. This transfer symbolizes the arrival of our fallen servicemembers.
“It is important to note that recovered remains ceremoniously transferred from the aircraft to the [bus] have been in the lab undergoing forensic analysis to determine identity. When remains first arrive in Hawaii, JPAC cannot confirm if the remains are those of an American servicemember.”
NBC writes that the ceremonies have been known among some of the military and civilian staff at the base as The Big Lie.
The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, has come under intense scrutiny in recent months after two scathing reports were released this summer.
In July, The Associated Press ran a story exposing a 2012 internal JPAC report that found the agency to be “acutely dysfunctional” with some missions that amounted to little more than paid vacations for staffers.
A second investigation released weeks later by the Government Accountability Office found that Pentagon efforts to account for fallen troops missing overseas were inefficient and in need of overhaul, according to congressional sources.
In 2010, lawmakers mandated JPAC to reach an annual goal of recovering at least 200 fallen troops from overseas battlefields by 2015, but it had failed to build the capacity to do so, the GAO found. Currently the Hawaii-based command averages less than 70 individuals per year.
Much of the inefficiency found by the GAO researchers comes down to a turf war between JPAC and the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, which shares some of the same responsibilities, Congressional sources said.
The show
According to the NBC report, here’s what the audience was shown:
A C-17 military transport aircraft was parked, its ramp down, outside a hangar at the base. After generals and dignitaries were introduced, a military chaplain said a prayer, the audience sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and “Taps” was played. Then an honor guard carried flag-draped transfer cases, which look like coffins, down the ramp and placed them in the back of blue buses, which were driven away.
The emcee thanked the audience for “welcoming them home.” The script continued, “After removal from the aircraft, the remains will be taken to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command’s Central Identification Laboratory. There, JPAC scientists will begin the identification process.”
Citing eyewitnesses and photographs taken behind the scenes, NBC wrote that what actually happened is very different:
Before 6 a.m., the honor guard assembled behind the JPAC headquarters on the base. They loaded transfer cases onto the buses and drove to the hangar.
The honor guard loaded the transfer cases into the pre-positioned C-17, then rehearsed for the ceremony. They then returned to the plane, and waited.
The public was allowed in for the 9 a.m. ceremony: invited politicians, media, families of the missing and veterans. Employees from JPAC were bused over to fill out the crowd.
Then the show began, with tears and salutes as the remains were marched to the buses, then driven off to the lab to “begin the identification process.”
Jesse Baker, an 81-year-old Air Force veteran of World War II and Korea living in Honolulu, told NBC News that he has been to more than 50 of these ceremonies. He said he’s always been under the impression that the plane had just arrived carrying recovered remains.
Baker tried to make sense of why the DOD would work so hard to trick him and other veterans. “That’s disturbing. I don’t know when they stopped being honest and switched over to this Mickey Mouse, but whoever did it, I hope they find him a new job somewhere.”
John Molloy, Chairman of the National Vietnam & Gulf War Veterans Coalition, whom I am honored to call my friend, wrote this email:
Compatriots,
Phony ceremonies for 7 years.
That means that both Obama and Bush administrations are complicit.
The Secretaries of Defense Panetta and Gates are complicit. And DASD’s [Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense] Newberry, Ray and General Tom are too.
So they have all followed in the footsteps of liars Kissinger, GHW Bush, Powell, Cheney, Carter, Clinton, Armitage, et al.
Someone needs to break out the rope. It’s time.
John John Molloy Chairman National Vietnam & Gulf War Veterans Coalition
IbJensen,
You are not alone.
Not alone, but I fear, just outnumbered.
The worst part isn’t that empty boxes were given ceremonies, with Americans saluting them and praying over them. The worst part is, our patriots weren’t.
The country will be taken back, just as the rest of the world will settle its score with the muslims and the socialists.
And this time, there will be no wimpout Nuremberg to let most of the swine go.
But first, we’ll have to make war for awhile, which may well be somewhat asymetric.
It is time for whistle blowing everywhere in the military; government at all levels; educational systems. Everywhere.
I see some jobs that can be performed by military, but definitely not all of them, not with how military service is structured. There are some high-level IT jobs that require years and years of training and experience. Quite often, service members receive that training, do their minimum time, then leave for a higher-paying civilian job. Now the military has to pay for another person to receive that training and allow for several more years of experience.
Or they can just hire a DAC or contractor and have the expertise there, in that position, for as long as they’re willing to pay for it.
Who will birth the babies?
Quality folk are being outnumbered.
Deep down we all know that women don’t belong in foxholes with dirty GI’s. In Israel, and in the U.S., women are required to fill in due to the size of the current standing army.
When Easy company's CO (Captain Richard D. Winters) and his troops were heading into Bastogne.
The 101st Airborne went in to relive the battered divisions pulling out from the German onslaught. When he was told that they would be surrounded, he casually replied, “We're paratroopers, we're used to being surrounded”.
That's the spirit. we may be outnumbered, but we are not giving up.
Winters used to say when things were difficult, “HANG TOUGH”.
The Israeli Army is tiny and the manpower demands high. They are up against millions of drooling, scumbag Arab Muslims who are as cruel as they come.
When you’re defending your homeland and you know that IF you lose, your people are obliterated (Arab style) then you fight like a madman...or woman.
You think the world, Europe and the West are ready for some more wars? I do not think so. We’re too busy shopping and drink Expresso...
I don't know what disturbs me more. The fact that Presidents have been involved for years or the fact that uniformed, if they're real, are duping their compatriots?
And that’s exactly the reason for placing women in the Israeli military.
Use force, get the job done and beat the enemy, just as in days of old...what is the problem? Human shields? Take down the building as long as our guys remain safe. Very quickly, the enemy will know that you mean business..
It just seems like s directive coming from top brass coming from way above.
What can a Private 1st Class Marine do if he/she is ordered to participate in these bogus ceremonies? Many people see themselves as a small screw in the huge machine. If they blow the whistle, their career might be over.
Maybe there needs to be an independent body for handling these kinds of scandals within the military, protecting the rights of the whistle blower and safeguarding their privacy?
“While true, The Big Lie of phony planes and coffins started under Bush.”
details?
IF it started before Obammy, I bet is was a rare, exigent event.
What disgusts me the most are all the illegitimate officers without Honor who allowed this. Add the enlisted who anonymously never reported it to the newspapers and we have a completely useless military that cannot be trusted to even handle our dead! The present day military sucks, BIG TIME !
My father is buried in Bushnell [FL] National Cemetery. I can almost hear him turning over now.
Public floggings are in order.
And I repeat what I have said before; those who think the US military is going to stand down if orders are given to imprison or fire on us should consider why in 7 years no one in the military leaked this information. Lotta people involved in this swill.
You think so? I served with some great guys - I also served with some complete goofs. The goofs were goofs the day they came in and remained so until they left (example: "shining" muddy combat boots with spray paint. Did not work, but the lumpy, shiny effect was interesting). Without a squad leader, or a platoon sergeant constantly standing on their necks, they had no discipline whatever. If there is no desire to better oneself, the military cannot issue one to you. I can only imagine this would be a vastly worse situation with coerced military service (barring a national emergency).
Furthermore, an obama-like administration would simply use the military as vast liberal indoctrination centers, a.k.a. re-education camps. I don't think instilling Republican civic virtues would be high on their agenda.
Boiling point
I made a possibly unwarranted comment based on the assumption that the article is not written by liars.
However, a "rare, exigent event" under Bush is all it takes to establish precident.
"Let's just do it this one time since we need to. We won't do it again."
Even good people get sucked under by that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.