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SAN DIEGO -- There's controversy over how the military is transporting the bodies of service members killed overseas, 10News reported.
A local family said fallen soldiers and Marines deserve better and that one would think our war heroes are being transported with dignity, care and respect. It said one would think upon arrival in their hometowns they are greeted with honor. But unfortunately, the family said that is just not the case. Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard. But in reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners -- stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo. John Holley and his wife, Stacey, were stunned when they found out the body of their only child, Matthew John Holley, who died in Iraq last month, would be arriving at Lindbergh Field as freight. Matthew was a medic with the 101st Airborne unit and died on Nov. 15. When someone dies in combat, they need to give them due respect they deserve for (the) sacrifice they made, said John Holley. John and Stacey Holley, who were both in the Army, made some calls, and with the help of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, Matthew was greeted with honor and respect. Our familiarity with military protocol and things of that sort allowed us to kind of put our foot down -- we're not sure other parents have that same knowledge, said Stacey Holley. The Holleys now want to make sure every fallen hero gets the proper welcome. The bodies of dead service members arrive at Dover Air Force Base. From that point, they are sent to their families on commercial airliners. Reporters from 10News called the Defense Department for an explanation. A representative said she did not know why this is happening. Previous Story: Army order soldiers to get rid of better body armor or lose death benefits Army Orders Soldiers to Shed Dragon Skin or Lose SGLI Death Benefits
By Nathaniel R. Helms Two deploying soldiers and a concerned mother reported Friday afternoon that the U.S. Army appears to be singling out soldiers who have purchased Pinnacle's Dragon Skin Body Armor for special treatment. The soldiers, who are currently staging for combat operations from a secret location, reported that their commander told them if they were wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin and were killed their beneficiaries might not receive the death benefits from their $400,000 SGLI life insurance policies. The soldiers were ordered to leave their privately purchased body armor at home or face the possibility of both losing their life insurance benefit and facing disciplinary action. The soldiers asked for anonymity because they are concerned they will face retaliation for going public with the Army's apparently new directive. At the sources' requests DefenseWatch has also agreed not to reveal the unit at which the incident occured for operational security reasons. On Saturday morning a soldier affected by the order reported to DefenseWatch that the directive specified that all commercially available body armor was prohibited. The soldier said the order came down Friday morning from Headquarters, United States Special Operations Command (HQ, USSOCOM), located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. It arrived unexpectedly while his unit was preparing to deploy on combat operations. The soldier said the order was deeply disturbiing to many of the men who had used their own money to purchase Dragon Skin because it will affect both their mobility and ballistic protection. We have to be able to move. It (Dragon Skin) is heavy, but it is made so we have mobility and the best ballistic protection out there. This is crazy. And they are threatening us with our benefits if we don't comply. he said. The soldier reiterated Friday's reports that any soldier who refused to comply with the order and was subsequently killed in action could be denied the $400,000 death benefit provided by their SGLI life insurance policy as well as face disciplinary action. As of this report Saturday morning the Army has not yet responded to a DefenseWatch inquiry. Recently Dragon Skin became an item of contention between proponents of the Interceptor OTV body armor generally issued to all service members deploying in combat theaters and its growing legion of critics. Critics of the Interceptor OTV system say it is ineffective and inferior to Dragon Skin, as well as several other commercially available body armor systems on the market. Last week DefenseWatch released a secret Marine Corps report that determined that 80% of the 401 Marines killed in Iraq between April 2004 and June 2005 might have been saved if the Interceptor OTV body armor they were wearing was more effective. The Army has declined to comment on the report because doing so could aid the enemy, an Army spokesman has repeatedly said. A U.S. Army spokesman was not available for comment at the time DW's original report (Friday - 1700 CST) was published. DefenseWatch continues to seek a response from the Army and will post one as soon as it becomes available. Yesterday the DoD released a news story through the Armed Forces News Service that quoted Maj. Gen. Steven Speaks, the Army's director of force development, who countered critical media reports by denying that the U.S. military is behind the curve in providing appropriate force protection gear for troops deployed to Iraq and elsewhere in the global war against terrorism. The New York Tiimes and Washington Post led the bandwagon of mainstream media that capitalized on DefenseWatch's release of the Marine Corps study. Both newspapers released the forensic information the Army and Marines are unwilling to discuss. Those headlines entirely miss the point, Speaks said. The effort to improve body armor has been a programmatic effort in the case of the Army that has gone on with great intensity for the last five months, he noted. Speaks' assessment contradicts earlier Army, Marine and DoD statements that indicated as late as last week that the Army was certain there was nothing wrong with Interceptor OTV body armor and that it was and remains the best body armor in the world. One of the soldiers who lost his coveted Dragon Skin is a veteran operator. He reported that his commander expressed deep regret upon issuing his orders directing him to leave his Dragon Skin body armor behind. The commander reportedly told his subordinates that he had no choice because the orders came from very high up and had to be enforced, the soldier said. Another soldier's story was corroborated by his mother, who helped defray the $6,000 cost of buying the Dragon Skin, she said. The mother of the soldier, who hails from the Providence, Rhode Island area, said she helped pay for the Dragon Skin as a Christmas present because her son told her it was so much better than the Interceptor OTV they expected to be issued when arriving in country for a combat tour. He didn't want to use that other stuff, she said. He told me that if anything happened to him I am supposed to raise hell. At the time the orders were issued the two soldiers had already loaded their Dragon Skin body armor onto the pallets being used to air freight their gear into the operational theater, the soldiers said. They subsequently removed it pursuant to their orders. Currently nine U.S. generals stationed in Afghanistan are reportedly wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin body armor, according to company spokesman Paul Chopra. Chopra, a retired Army chief warrant officer and 20+-year pilot in the famed 160th Nightstalkers Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), said his company was merely told the generals wanted to evaluate the body armor in a combat environment. Chopra said he did not know the names of the general officers wearing the Dragon Skin. Pinnacle claims more than 3,000 soldiers and civilians stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan are wearing Dragon Skin body armor, Chopra said. Several months ago DefenseWatch began receiving anecdotal reports from individual soldiers that they were being forced to remove all non-issue gear while in theater, including Dragon Skin body armor, boots, and various kinds of non-issue ancillary equipment. Last year the DoD, under severe pressure from Congress, authorized a one-time $1,000 reimbursement to soldiers who had purchased civilian equipment to supplement either inadequate or unavailable equipment they needed for combat operations. At the time there was no restriction on what the soldiers could buy as long as it was specifically intended to offer personal protection or further their mission capabilities while in theater. hearing a lot Reporters do hear a lot. What they don't do is think a lot. A corporation, lobbyist or politican speaks, and they faithfully write it down without ever questioning the truth or intent of the information they've been given (scrunching up your brow to look like you're "asking the tough questions" doesn't count). They're the best transcriptionists in the business! One of the reasons you are not hearing as much sm about the Republicans, especially the current administration, is that they have been very effective at almost completely shutting up any voices of dissent. When Clinton was in office we heard about him nonstop. I'm hearing that a lot today I've been all over the internet today and everywhere I go I'm seeing woman who feel like McCain is being condescending to women by throwing out this nobody who is ruby red as they come and expecting to get women voters just because of it, especially Hillary followers. These women are insulted and now finally have both feet firmly on the Obama train. I read this too after hearing that he had...sm orchestrated the negative ads this last week, now he is saying he disapproves? Maybe this is a tactic to deflect our attention? Very suspicous. Since when does he have a consious? Well, instead of hearing why don't you read xx sick of hearing he was only 8 years old when Ayers was making bombs. I was about 8 when Charles Manson and his goons killed Sharon Tate and others. I don't feel like sending old Charley a birthday card let alone sitting in his living room or jailcell in his case.As far as I am concerned Ayers should be in jail too! Actually, what I remember hearing about was ....sm that it would be like our own personal savings account. I would much rather have that, than have the govt have their hands in my SS pocket, using my SS as they have been doing, and putting the IOU away in a drawer somewhere. Not sure what his current plan is or if it has changed, but if I get to control my own SS money, I'm all for it. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/17/mccain-social-security/ There is no hearing today. Your statement here is patently inaccurate. The SC is not taking the case. For the sake of not wasting too much time on this fairy tale, I am posting this article link that can explain that better than I can. http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/12/05/supreme-court-not-considering-obamas-birth-certificate-case/ You will notice that the article clearly states that the merits of the claims will not be heard (essentially because there are no merits). For an excellent explanation on the Supreme courts porn king/sexually harassing above-the-law judge's motivations for his "lone wolf" move to attempt to shove this nonsense down the throats of his fellow jurists, read this: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/83953 Here is an excellent article that discussed the underlying pathology of conspiracy theorists: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/12/05/birth_certificate/ You are mistaken about the timing of this "knowledge." Unfortunately, the citizens of this country learned of this lunacy long before the Nausea or vomiting 4 election. In fact, Berg's lawsuit emerged the minute it became apparent that Hillary was not going to win in the primaries (08/22/2008). Andy Martin's failed action occurred 10/17/2008. Steven Marquis' impotent attempt occurred on 10/18/2008. David Neal's action fell flat on its face 10/24/2008. Your delusional statement about "many people" is a fabrication that I notice you have not backed up with any sort of credible source. There is no truth to fight for, fool. The conspiracy theorists who are the driving force behind this abomination are scam bags who are picking your pockets to keep this stupidity alive....and you are marching lock-step alongside one another and coughing up. The rest of the stuff you have included in your post is nothing more that regurgitation of garbage that has been answered at least a thousand times already. My advice to you is not to hold your breath waiting for the SC justices to show the same sort of self-serving interest in usurping clean and legitimate election results as Clarence the porn king Thomas has in these actions. Out of 842 cases in the last 8 years, they have dismissed 782 of them and heard only 60....and not all of those heard succeeded. If that was true then there would be no hearing "The Supreme Court does not want to touch this with a 10 foot pole"?????? Hellooooooo, are you keeping up on current events. They are taking this case on. They are listening to the people who have the lawsuits in action. They are demanding that Barry show his original vault BC (which he has sealed so nobody can see it) and he is defying the Supreme Court. The citizens of this country did not find out about all this stuff until the election was over, and a lot are saying if we knew this back then, we would not have voted for the guy. It's time to wake up, just because you don't want anything to happen and want your god in there there are others who don't. Others who are fighting to find out the truth. All they keep saying is "If you are legal and were born in Hawaii SHOW US YOUR CERTIFICATE". He has not done so and he had it (along with school records and other stuff) legally sealed. That speaks volumes in telling the public there is something seriously wrong here. I myself will wait for the decision of the Supreme Court. BTW, just in case you haven't heard the news, they are meeting about it and listening to the cases. And if a certain number of the justices believe there is validity to it then the electorates will not be allowed to vote until the issue is resolved. I have been hearing that O plan of sharing the wealth will put us in the GREAT DEPRESSION just like back when Hoover was in office, exept this time, it will be worse because many more people make more than 100,000 a year than they did years ago. So basically it will be spreading the wellfare around. I"m hearing it and why shouldn't they get money for a bailout? Wall Street and the banks did, but WS and the banks are HOLDING ONTO the money for BONUSES, not to bail themselves out. GM and Chryler need it to KEEP JOBS. The bailout was wrong in the first place because everyone would want money, but that's the only thing they could come up with at the time. What's done is done but I don't think we ought to keep throwing money out there. NP and Barney Fife are too free with money that's not theirs and they should be thrown out of office. Where are you hearing this mess? It's absolutely not true. What, 1 or 2 whackjob republican electorates are nervous about it? LOL. The BC is a NON-ISSUE, he won by a large margin, and he will be inaugurated. This has all gotten so SILLY. They obviously are hearing voices..... their take on the President's speech last night had some pretty funky twists...... Personally....I'm tried of hearing it from both sides. I'm tired of the name calling from both sides. This debate is getting nowhere and yet some of you people just cannot let it go and just agree to disagree. There will never be a middle ground found on this discussion. So let's just drop it and stop all the vicious attacks. First I'm hearing of a divorce. What's your source? And, sm if her protesting is ending her marriage, there wasn't much there to begin with. Bush's hearing problem.sm THE DIAGNOSIS Maybe it’s the newly appointed speech writer. Maybe Peter Feaver has been locked away in some windowless sub basement of the White House, without access to the outer world. Maybe he can do little more than recycle earlier speeches about the war in Iraq. Maybe he and everyone else in this administration have become trapped in a bizarre and crippling time warp. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s that George Bush is hard of hearing. That has to be the explanation. After listening to his delirious portrayal of progress today and of victory tomorrow in war-torn Iraq, there is only one conclusion: the President of the Untied States is nothing more than a deaf man, talking. It’s not as if anyone in this administration has ever listened with a discerning ear. Standard operating practice at the White House has been to listen only to those who furthered their agenda, and to absolutely no one else. But this time, the man at the helm of a sinking nation has gone a bit too far. This time he has gone stone, cold, deaf. George W. Bush and his handlers have a lengthy history of hearing problems. For more than five years, they selectively closed their ears to those who knew things they chose to ignore. For more than five years, they dismissed the advice of the experienced, and the knowledgeable. They heard nothing that was critical or challenging. They heard nothing that questioned their ill fated policies or their inaccurate conclusions. They heard nothing but their own applause. George Bush developed a severe hearing malady early in his presidency. From day one, he turned a deaf ear to warnings that his policies were dangerous and destructive. Fortunately for the administration, the corporate media under-reported or simply ignored the advice of experts with as much disdain as the White House. Just think about how the President absolutely and intractably refused to listen when:
And yet, George Bush chose to hear the words of the most extreme voices on the religious right and the most self indulgent arguments of corporate America. His selective hearing set the standard for every one of his regressive and injurious domestic policies. No matter. George Bush was president and he knew better even without his hearing. He had the answers before the questions were ever raised. He was right. Everyone else was wrong. He had no reason to listen. It was an outrage for the President and his henchmen to totally ignore the advice and expertise of anyone who disagreed with their self-serving agenda. It was, in effect, an irresponsible surrender to special interests and supporters who would help keep George Bush in power. But, perhaps, it was politics as usual. Perhaps it was. Domestic policies often deteriorate into partisan food fights, regardless of the toll on the people at large. But in the wake of 9/11, George Bush’s hearing took a far more serious turn for the worse. His festering malady became a chronic affliction. In time, his condition became more and more noticeable and more and more debilitating. Looking back, we now can see that 9/11 was the prelude to a long planned war against Iraq, When it came to the attacks or to the march to his war, George Bush found himself unable to hear a great many voices. Once again, the media were cooperative and complicit by selectively underreporting the warnings as well. Consequently, among the voices that went unheeded by the President were:
Instead, George Bush listened intently to the words of his PNAC partners who had waited so patiently for the chance to invade Iraq. And yet, he listened to Ahmed Chalabi, a felon convicted of embezzling millions in absentia, who said that an invasion of Iraq would be a cake walk. Instead, he listened to people who had no clue as to the realities of war, or the cultural and tribal entanglements of the Iraqi people. Instead, he went to war. And the war became a quagmire. And the quagmire became a nightmare. And the nightmare began to show in the polls. And so, something had to be done. That something was another series of speeches by the President to shore up support for his war. That is why George Bush came before the American people once again to introduce a redundant and meaningless National Strategy for Victory in Iraq. When George Bush gave the first of his scheduled speeches, his otic infirmity could no longer be hidden. Sadly, his second address to the nation simply reinforced the obvious: the President of the United States is completely and totally deaf. No matter how he tried, there was no way to conceal it. In his effort to regain public support for his invasion and occupation of Iraq, George Bush made it perfectly clear that he was incapable of hearing anything even remotely related to reality. In order to distort his failed war policy, he turned a deaf ear to the devastation and chaos that define his war of choice. He closed off any and all warnings that a military victory in Iraq is not possible. But, in a really bad move, he also turned a deaf ear to the American people. The American people are asking questions, and George Bush refuses to hear them. Instead, he offers public relations sound bites to a nation that is beginning to demand the truth. So far he has refused to give the nation any explanations about what is really happening in Iraq. So far, George Bush has refused to address:
And George Bush refused, above all, to present a cohesive and specific strategy for ending the terrible war he began. People all across this nation wanted to know what went wrong and why. And they wanted to know how their President planned to fix it. But George Bush has closed his ears to the growing concerns of a majority of Americans. He simply refuses to hear them. He has chosen, instead, to revert to type. He has chosen, instead, to remain deaf to facts that had been revealed about his war. He has chosen, instead, to ignore the truth about the tragic and deadly catastrophe that was the war in Iraq. He has chosen, once again, to lie. George Bush speaks only before courteous audiences. Assured of applause at appropriate intervals, he can comfortably hold both hands over his ears and refuse to acknowledge that he had led the nation into an endless morass. He cannot tell the truth, we know that. So he did what he does best. He lied. But, the irony of it all is that more and more Americans are on to the lies by now. Just for starters, they know that:
But George Bush has no clue about what the public knows. The man is as deaf as a door post. But his impairment is one of choice, not affliction. He believes he can use his hearing loss as a cover for his ineptitude and his obstinacy. In his world apart from reality, George Bush continues to believe that he can fool all of the people all of the time. But this time, the American people are not buying it. THE REMEDY We are approaching day 1,000 of this outrageous war, and the mood of the nation is changing. The winds of opposition are gaining strength across the vast expanse that is America. George Bush and his PNAC handlers are pretending not to hear the calls for an end to this terrible war. But they hear it. They really do. The turning point, of course, was triggered by Congressman John Murtha, whose opinions can no longer be countered by the usual rhetoric from the White House. Murtha spoke with the tacit encouragement of his close friends in the Pentagon who cannot speak out personally, but who fully understand the hopelessness of ‘staying the course,’ His message clearly signaled the beginning of the end. But it won’t be easy. There will be distractions in the form of token withdrawals, and the war will go on. More people will die. The mayhem will continue. But the voices of protest will get louder and louder. And George Bush will continue to make speeches. He will recite the words of his new speech writer with gusto and sincerity. He will continue to sell his war as if it were a product on the open market. And he will remain deaf to those who oppose and those who criticize and those who demand that the war must end. He can do this because the voices of protest are still muted. They will only be heard if they become loud enough to penetrate the ears of the deaf man who is in charge. George Bush is the Commander in Chief. He calls the shots. He sits in the safety of the Oval Office and sends people to their death. The tragedy is that right this minute, as he still dreams of a glorious victory in Iraq, he doesn’t hear a thing. Maybe one day soon, before thousands more die, if their outcry is loud enough, George Bush will hear the voices of the people he once swore to serve; then again, maybe not. Me too...I thought I had lost my hearing or.. my mind, but a while back I started to find myself agreeing with Buchanan as well. I have put a link at the top of the page that I think is explanatory of this aberration of all kinds of un-like-minded people suddenly (not really, probably more slowly over time) becoming like minded. I even agreed with Newt Gingrich the other day on a couple of points and what was even more weird, he and Biden were on Meet The Press and saying pretty much the same thing. Myabe there is a silver lining in this fiasco after all; maybe this administration will alienate so many people that we find ourselves banding TOGETHER (what a concept!!!) to try to take our country back and bring it back to the status of a knowledgeable and compassionate super power who truly have the well being of all its citizens as its first priority and who respect and appreciate our friends and allies abroad. Anyway...check it out. I am hearing on the radio that it was her husband, not she... who was the member and it was several years ago. The jury is out on that one. Obama went to the dailykos convention and spoke to them. Does that mean he approves of the smarm on that website? Wright said God dam* America. Obama was in his pews for 20 years. Are we to attribute that comment to Obama? You can't have it both ways. 
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