VFW Says Army Should Lose Arlington Cemetery

AOL News:

WASHINGTON -- The secretary of the Army vowed today to clean up the management mess at Arlington National Cemetery, but a spokesman for the nation's largest organization of combat veterans said it may be time to consider transferring the hallowed ground to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Read the whole story: AOL News

Comments

[Carlos Manuel]

03:48 PM on 07/01/2010

Surrender it to the VA? What idiot came up with that one? The VA just infected 1800 Veterans with HIV, that is more than the number of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan to date. They can't take care of the living let alone the dead... A Vietnam Veteran

[javajava]

05:15 PM on 07/01/2010

You are wrong. You ought to try a little more accuracy when relating stories easily sourced.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/30/va.hospital.hiv/index.html

[Carlos Manuel]

09:17 AM on 07/02/2010

You are right, in addition to HIV, they may have been infected with hepatitis, what great consolation

[CemOps]

01:50 PM on 07/01/2010

I understand the frustration on the part of the service club, however, a most important question: What makes them any more qualified to manage Arlington than the Dept of the Army? The answer is, they aren't. So far, those offers of assistance by those of us that are experts in cemetery operations have gone ignored by the Department of the Army, Congressional Leaders, and others of authority. Cemeteries are not toys to be played with, they are complex businesses that require knowledge of law and sound operating principles to be successful and trouble free. It takes years to obtain such expertise, and a cemetery the sheer size and magnitude of Arlington, is not operable by just anyone. We know of probably 4 or 5 truly qualified professional cemeterians capable of bringing the operational integrity back to Arlington and two of those are with us. God love the service organization for their heartfelt desire, but they are just as disqualified to take on such a task as the bungling group that has had control up to this point. It's all about personal accountability and appropriate credentials. Our country requires a higher level of competitency in such hallowed grounds. http://www.cemops.com

[Dunkleberger Karl]

05:44 PM on 07/01/2010

Your posting was articulent and informative, thank you and god Bless you for this task of Love and Mercy!I have heard of Cemeterians, but never realized there may be more than one in a property,or site? Thank You again

[Catch 22]

01:31 PM on 07/01/2010

I have been accused by some Conservative types of not liking the Military. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have the greatest respect for those who put their lives on the line. I am not concerned about their motives. But this post disturbs me greatly. You see I am in construction, and on a large project, there are hundreds of disciplines working. Plumbers, electricians, riggers, masons, and on and on.The all can't be working at the same time, or they will be tripping over each other. It is important from a logistical standpoint, that you control the flow. This is what I see here. There was a marked failure to pay due dilligence to what was happening. And so the Military should be criticized. One poster even said, stuff like this happens all the time at smaller cemeteries,so get over it. I am having a difficult time doing that. This is not tactical warfare. This is record keeping. Get it right, because if we don't, how are we going to get it right in Afghanistan. Our Vets deserve better, and if I am unpatriotic for being critical of the Military for this, well so be it.

[Opus Loki]

03:45 PM on 07/01/2010

I have your post to be as patriotic asit gets. Take care of our fallen and dedicated but giving those duties to the VA may not make it any better. I am a disabled vet and am not impressed with the VA as it is. The medical care is great but the record keeping is terrible. I have been a DAV since 1998 and have yet to receive a compensaton check due to lost records on more than one occassion. The VA is not the best choice.

[Catch 22]

03:59 PM on 07/01/2010

I thank you for your service Opus Loki, but your comments does not make me feel any better. I don't care if it's the VA, Uniformed Service, or Civilian.This is unacceptable.Something has to change.I know that if I was in charge of this, somebody would be looking for a job. And if the new one does not do better, he/she would be joining the first. This is outrageous.

[Dunkleberger Karl]

03:56 PM on 07/01/2010

Get over it, I have never been so offened by these 3 little words!but also these words, uttered by a poster, have made me realize the shame I feel for not educating more peaple about honor and duty,and the care of those who return, whole,broken crippled, damaged, or dead!If we tne Nation cannot get it right, We need only to sweep the floor turn out the lights and lock the door,and Put a for sale sign on the front lawn of this once great Nation, this once great land!

[Catch 22]

04:05 PM on 07/01/2010

Karl, I am starting to feel the floor is already swept, and the door is ajar.Quite frankly, right now, I am not a happy camper

[sueno]

10:16 AM on 07/01/2010

I didn't know that the VFW
still exists.

[Opus Loki]

03:47 PM on 07/01/2010

Yes we do and very proudly though our ranks are growing smaller as veterans are not coming in like they used to.

[Rand]

03:53 PM on 07/01/2010

Perhaps it's because you have become a partisan political organization

[Dunkleberger Karl]

03:59 PM on 07/01/2010

Still puts out a mgazine as well! in the 1990's the post commander were complaining about the loss and lack of membership, Today the Halls are full, eventhough membership has still droped off!

[trainer3]

09:38 AM on 07/01/2010

We're in the Army now
We're not behind the plow,
We'll not give air support,
we'll have to file a report,
We'll dig you a ditch,
you better not B^^ch,
what was your last name?
complaining's a shame,

Oh man, it's not funny. We can afford the guns and the backpacks, let's get it right when they pay with their lives. I love my country. My father was a ball turret gunner on B-24s. There is a poem about a ball turret gunner. It is about 2 lines. The last line I remember is, "They scraped me out with a hose."

[Sharon1951]

10:20 AM on 07/01/2010

It is a great poem. Read it again. It compares the ball turret gunner to a fetus in utero, to illustrate his vulnerability. Anyone who served in that capacity should have received a special medal for extraordinary bravery.

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
by Randall Jarrell

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from the dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

[trainer3]

10:40 AM on 07/01/2010

Good Lord. Thank you so much.

geesh, ya got me all misty. may God bless your day. me father thanks you, from Irish heaven.

(so...my father survived, he didn't like to talk about his experiences, he cried as he poured a drink. But I had his coat, the 'wet fur'. I had his headset, his silk map. thanks.)

(You must be an English major kind of person. Peace.)

[Opus Loki]

03:49 PM on 07/01/2010

Ball Turret Gunner!!! That took guts! BIG ups to your pops!!!

[trainer3]

01:08 PM on 07/04/2010

Thank you so much. I mean it, I am misty today. The old man and I had our battles, but I now know it was noble to raise 5 kids.
As a bit of an aside, my younger brother work with munitions in the 70s, in The Air Force. Well, one day Matt decided it would be cool to send the old man (dad) twenty 50 cal. rounds, in the mail. The old man knew 50 cal.
A knock on my father's door. FBI. "Mr. McGuinness, we found these in the mail."
"That is my son, I was a ball turret gunner...etc... Oh heck, don't get him in trouble, he just loves me."

No repercussions, on Matt's side, on the old man's side. So, we don't live in a bad country. We have a heart.

I still marvel at that story.

[Vindictive]

09:06 AM on 07/01/2010

I don't see a point to making peoples lives miserable by doing a "100% survey" of the cemetary. That being said, I for one hope that whatever decisions they make about who is in charge at Arlington, they put in place people who have respect for fallen heroes.

I'm not a cheerleader for American imperialism or the recent use of our military in... lets call it a questionable capacity, rather than make this into a discussion of Afghanistan/Iraq, but the men and women who have died honorably following the orders they were given deserve respect.

Honestly, I don't much care if the bodies are in the right place for the sake of having bodies in the right place. A corpse is a corpse. If you believe in God, one would assume he doesn't need a nametag to match up the right soul with the right body come the rapture, and if you don't believe in god, then a corpse is nothing but dirt waiting to happen.

But if the staff at Arlington doesn't care if they plant you in the right hole, what else are they screwing up?

[Sharon1951]

10:47 AM on 07/01/2010

While I agree with most of your post, I disagree with you on the "corpse is a corpse" comment, as the placement of the dead has nothing to do with the rapture, but everything to do with those left behind, who would prefer to be mourning at the gravesite of their loved one, rather than a stranger. I know that if I discovered that my Vietnam-vet brother and my mother were not where I thought they were -- together -- I would be furious. It is an important symbolic reunion, and a great comfort to those of us left behind that they are together forever, not as "dirt" or dust, but as two spirits joined forever both here on earth and wherever it is that we go after death.

[elijah24]

08:21 AM on 07/01/2010

Right. Cuz the VA never screwes anything up. I've spent literally 17 hours in a waiting room at a VA hospital waiting for treatment for regular migraines.

[fr33d0mhawk]

09:28 AM on 07/01/2010

VFW, different organization. The VFW has become a front for FOX News. Just try to go to a VFW hall and accidently let it slip you are a Democrat, and watch the Teabags of fury become unleashed. The VFW has come out against benefits for veterans because helping injured veterans is just too liberal.

[VietVet67]

02:18 PM on 07/01/2010

Precisely why I canceled my membership with the VFW.

[TommyJackson]

08:15 AM on 07/01/2010

They should give it to the Marines, it'll being running right in no time at all.

[Schoolgirl666]

07:58 AM on 07/01/2010

Let the Army focus on preventing the use of Arlington Cemetery and stop saving prime space like pre-schoolers. VFW would serve these fallen warriors with more respect.

[PotsieWeber]

07:48 AM on 07/01/2010

My dad is a WWII vet. I've been to his grave twice in 15 years. His grandchildren haven't been there since the funeral and probably never will be again. His great grandchildren are likely to never go.

While I am all for honoring the sacrifices of veterans, does it really matter that Joe Smith lies just beneath the marker with his name rather than ten feet away? Or 200 feet?

Given one more dollar to spend on honoring the dead or assisting the living, I'll choose the living every time.

[llisa]

11:58 AM on 07/01/2010

Thank you!!!!

[Opus Loki]

03:54 PM on 07/01/2010

Sorry your family doesn't honor your father more but it does matter to most of the family members that have people there. Just as it would in a regular cemetary if some member was placed 200 feet away from where you wanted them to be.

[IzzyIdol]

07:02 AM on 07/01/2010

The Army is too busy chasing homosexuals to care about the honored dead. Got to stick to the important things.

[Loggietoad]

08:02 AM on 07/01/2010

Nice change of subject. Unforunately, the Army has to play by the rules has been given. And as far as honoring the dead goes, people like you use the fallen as a punch line in your snarky remarks. Get a life.

[CDRUSNret]

08:18 AM on 07/01/2010

Fanned and Faved!!

[Rand]

11:47 AM on 07/01/2010

Faved!

Sign me: rapidly aging Navy brat

[CDRUSNret]

08:26 AM on 07/01/2010

Other than the honor guard from Ft Myer......nearly all of the folks involved in the process are civil service....what does that tell you? Go bash the active duty military on some other topic.

[IzzyIdol]

08:38 AM on 07/01/2010

The Army is IN CHARGE of Arlington. That makes it the Army's call and the Army's responsibility.
Love people like you. It is always somebody else's fault. What was Harry Truman said?

[Dunkleberger Karl]

07:02 AM on 07/01/2010

Have Boehner or,Cantor proposed a bill privatising Arlington? what could go wrong?{{{{{{{{{{{{Private contractor dumping toxic waste in national cemeteries Have Reanimated the Dead,RePeat THE ZOMBIES ARE COMMING< THE ZOMBIES ARE COMMING!}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}ERRRR! BRAINS YUMMIE! EERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

[CDRUSNret]

08:20 AM on 07/01/2010

Nice job.....always a way to make it about evil republicans than the topic of properly honoring our dead.

[fr33d0mhawk]

09:33 AM on 07/01/2010

This happened during Bush, but the VFW was too busy playing Jeff Gannon to the Bush admin to care about Arlington, but now a Democrat is in the White House, the phoney outrage crescendos.

[Dunkleberger Karl]

07:25 PM on 07/01/2010

And?!

[Puller58]

06:27 AM on 07/01/2010

The sad truth is that for all the posturing about the military, the fools on the Hill couldn't care less. Challenge any cretin in Congress and they'll either mouth platitudes, scream ambush, or leave without comment.

[WhatDaBleep]

05:42 AM on 07/01/2010

First it was Walter Reed that was a mess, now its Arlington. With all the billions that go to our military the are sure screwing the little guys - our soldiers. It sure seems like everything is corrupt these days.

[IzzyIdol]

07:04 AM on 07/01/2010

We get the government we deserve. A democratic republic cannot exist without active responsible citizens. Everybody needs to get out there and get to work. Do something.

[georgiegirl]

05:04 AM on 07/01/2010

Yes, it should be under the Department of Veterans Affairs.....this should not, cannot ever happen again.

[Puller58]

06:28 AM on 07/01/2010

I'd wonder if the DVA is any better...

[Loggietoad]

08:03 AM on 07/01/2010

Because DVA has been so helpful in the past.