Military Burial Law to Be Re-Evaluated

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081001365.html ^

[conshack]

The right to burial in Arlington is based on honorable military service, not on your life after the military. Though I don't agree with this guys actions(murder), he still earned the right to burial there.

[Will_Zurmacht]

in theory, couldn't Lee Harvey Oswald have been buried at Arlington too?

yikes!

[Will_Zurmacht]

never mind, google informed me that he was changed to dishonorable post his defection to USSR...

going to commie land tends to do that

[dakine]

agree...

[PzLdr]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. In theory, Teddy Kennedy, who never served as far as I know [too busy cheating on Spanish tests]can be buried at Arlington as a member of Congress-and he's got one dead woman, and accesory to the rape of another under his ever burgeoning belt.

[A.A. Cunningham]

The swimmer served in the Army, briefly, after being expelled from Harvard.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Seems like the McVeigh Act already settled the matter.

"Congress passed a law in 1997 prohibiting people convicted of federal or state capital crimes and sentenced to death or life imprisonment without parole from being interred at Arlington and other military cemeteries. Wagner would have become eligible in 2017 for a review that could have led to parole, according to the Maryland Division of Corrections.

The law was aimed in part at preventing convicted Army veteran Timothy McVeigh, who carried out the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, from being buried in Arlington."

[LauraleeBraswell]

I'm sure an exception can be made for murderers. Our military stresses honor and valor. Murdering two people is despicable. Should those who received dishonorable Discharges be buried in national military cemeteries because at one time, they served their country. The Military certainly doesn't think so and doesn't allow it. I don't care if at one time in this guys life, he did something decent. He's a criminal.

[Treader]

As I understand the protocals, Arlington is not a guaranteed burial plot, regardless of service record. By the by, your wapo link took me to an ACLU ad/spam.

[conshack]

I'd have to ask for an exception for Chapi-Teddy to not be buried there. Besides, I bet Chapi-Teddy would want to be buried in Kentucky, next to one of the distilleries.

[dakine]

Times/things change in a person's life (not condoning); he served, received honorable...cased closed....

[conshack]

The right to be buried there is earned by doing honorable military service. In my case, I did that for 20 years. If I were to commit a capitol crime, that doesn't make my 20 years of service any less honorable. By the way, I have no plans to do anything of the sort.

[lunarbicep]

Ted probably WILL be buried in Arlington, along side John & Bobby. He rode their coattails all through life.... why not on into death?

[LauraleeBraswell]

We bury individuals in that cemetery to honor them. THEM. If military service was an over and done thing, we wouldn't have a special place to honor them AFTER they died. They would be buried in a normal cemetery like everyone else. Clearly, we're saying, your life meant something good to this country.


Because to fight for you country, is to fight for your people. To murder two people completely negates everything our military stands for.

[LauraleeBraswell]

It doesn't make your service less honorable, but it does make you DIShonorable and not worthy.

[ShadowDancer]

You're wrong.

[dakine]

Wouldn't be the first time....

I do stand by what I typed....

[ShadowDancer]

Military service doesn't trump what you do in civilian life. It isn't a free pass. He may have served his country well but he negated all of it when he killed two people just because. In lieu of that, burying him there is a slap in the face to all the men like my father in law, and yourself, that put their lives on the line and never use that as an excuse to be amoral.

My father in law is buried in a local cemetery. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He then lived a decent, moral life even when I know for sure he would have liked to cut loose and done otherwise.

That man should not be buried there. Period.

[commonasdirt]

"Teddy Kennedy, who never served as far as I know [too busy cheating on Spanish tests]can be buried at Arlington as a member of Congress."

Thank you for making my gag reflex kick in