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Soldiers mugging around empty casket sparks furor
AP via Charter ^ | 2/19/2014 | M.L. JOHNSON - Associated Press

Posted on 02/19/2014 8:22:41 AM PST by Pan_Yan

[snip]

The Wisconsin National Guard responded Tuesday by announcing that it had suspended the soldier who apparently posted the photograph online from her honor guard duties. The photograph was taken at a guard training facility in Arkansas and included soldiers from other units.

The National Guard also was taking steps to protect the soldier after she received death threats.

The photograph originally posted on Instagram shows about a dozen soldiers around a casket. Several hug playfully. One flashes a peace sign. Another has his back turned and is pointing off in the distance.

The caption reads, "We put the FUN in funeral -- your fearless honor guard from various states."

(Excerpt) Read more at charter.net ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Arkansas; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: honorguard; nationalguard
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To: Mr. K

Yeah this seems a little too contrived. For example the two guys on the right hugging as if some leftist was trying to make a comment on gays in the military.


21 posted on 02/19/2014 9:53:09 AM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (Hitlery: Incarnation of evil.)
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To: Pan_Yan

I don’t get it. Whose ox is being gored here?


22 posted on 02/19/2014 10:06:57 AM PST by steerpike100
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To: steerpike100

Empty casket. Bad taste, yeah.

And a country full of people looking for something, anything, to be offended about.


23 posted on 02/19/2014 10:19:06 AM PST by stinkerpot65 (Global warming is a Marxist lie.)
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To: steerpike100
I don’t get it. Whose ox is being gored here?

I guess it's a matter of what standards people are expected to adhere to. At one end no one is really surprised that a sailor or marine who pulls into a foreign port after four months at sea might get drunk in public. At the other end of the spectrum a guard from the Tomb of the Unknowns can have his Tomb Guard Identification Badge revoked even after he becomes a civilian if he does something deemed dishonorable.

I guess people expect soldiers assigned to an honor guard to always be respectful around a flag draped coffin, even an empty one.

24 posted on 02/19/2014 10:54:21 AM PST by Pan_Yan (Who told you that you were naked? Genesis 3:11)
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To: Jeff Head
I agree. Sometimes gallows "humor" isn't funny. Apparently the Army is no longer drumming dignity into soldiers' heads. Back in the day, if we'd pulled some kind of stunt like this, the NCOIC of the honor guard would have chewed wholesale a**, after getting his head ripped off by the chain of command. The homosexual actions portrayed in the pic only make it more disturbing, even if they're just "joking around".

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

25 posted on 02/19/2014 10:58:39 AM PST by wku man (We are the 53%! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUXN0GDuLN4)
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To: Pan_Yan

“We put the FUN in funeral”

I already hate myself for this, but that’s funny...

“Vote Progressive, We put the “U” in Gulag!”


26 posted on 02/19/2014 11:07:01 AM PST by Organic Panic
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To: Pan_Yan

People, especially young people, often don’t think about the repercussions of posting things like this online.

Probably the biggest problem for them is not that they behaved badly, but that someone posted it online and that reflects on their superiors. Now reprimands won’t do (where one might have sufficed had this been found in a scrapbook or on a desk), but heads will have to roll—especially since the Internet Rage Machine is in full swing.

It was disrespectful to behave as they did and they should be held accountable, but I also think it’s unfortunate that careers will probably be over because of this.


27 posted on 02/19/2014 11:09:46 AM PST by Nickname
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To: Jeff Head

I disagree.

There is NOTHING I will not joke about, including the deaths of close friends and relatives.


28 posted on 02/19/2014 12:48:12 PM PST by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th (and 17th))
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To: WayneS
Bully jests immune! Strange sword to die on. Petty god.
29 posted on 02/19/2014 2:26:31 PM PST by cornelis
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To: WayneS
Sharing funny stories about a relative who has died is not joking about them...it is remembering them.

These soldiers are doing nothing remotely like that. They are displaying, through their "jokes," a gross disrespect regarding the death of American servicemen and they should be not only called on the carpet for it...they should be transferred to other duty.

30 posted on 02/19/2014 8:06:21 PM PST by Jeff Head
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To: Jeff Head
I disagree.

I do not think they showed gross disrespect regarding the death of American servicemen. I think that is a massive overstatement from someone who appears to be actively looking for reasons to be offended and outraged.

31 posted on 02/20/2014 6:00:00 AM PST by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th (and 17th))
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To: WayneS

Oh, I see...so now you use this sterling judgement of yours to somehow jump to a conclusion that I am looking to be offended and outraged?

Well...I rest my case.

I am not “looking,” for anything. I just expressed my opinion about soldiers, who are assigned to an “Honor Detail,” making a joke out of a coffin draped with an American flag that represents the death of a US soldier.

You have every right to your opinion, and to disagree with mine. However, as I stated, in my opinion, such behaovior is dishonrable, direspectful, and hholly uncalled for and out of character for any Honor Detail.


32 posted on 02/20/2014 3:48:56 PM PST by Jeff Head
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