Flag at half-staff

[Soxy]

Story

 

Soldier: Honor troops like Va. Tech dead

 

By ALISA TANG, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago

 

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Army sergeant complained in a rare opinion article that the U.S. flag flew at half-staff last week at the largest U.S. base in

Afghanistan for those killed at Virginia Tech but the same honor is not given to fallen U.S. troops here and in

Iraq.

 

In the article issued Monday by the public affairs office at Bagram military base north of Kabul, Sgt. Jim Wilt lamented that his comrades' deaths have become a mere blip on the TV screen, lacking the "shock factor" to be honored by the Stars and Stripes as the deaths at Virginia Tech were.

 

"I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member," Wilt wrote.

 

He noted that Bagram obeyed

President Bush's order last week that all U.S. flags at federal locations be flown at half-staff through April 22 to honor 32 people killed at Virginia Tech by a 23-year-old student gunman who then killed himself.

 

"I think it is sad that we do not raise the bases' flag to half-staff when a member of our own task force dies," Wilt said.

 

According to the Defense Department, 315 U.S. service members have died in and around Afghanistan since the U.S.-led offensive that toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001, 198 of them in combat.

 

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said that the flags of all its troop-contributing nations are flown at half-staff for about 72 hours after the service member's death "as a mark of respect when there is an ISAF fatality."

 

Sgt. 1st Class Dean Welch, who works with Wilt at the U.S.-led coalition public affairs office, said the essay is a "soldier's commentary, not the view of the coalition and not the view of the U.S. forces."

 

Welch added that such outspoken opinion pieces are rare.

 

Wilt suggested that flags should fly at half-staff on the base where the fallen service member was working and in the states where they hail from. He said some states do this, but not all of them.

 

He wrote that the death of a U.S. service member is just as violent as those at the university last week, but it lacks the "shock factor of the Virginia massacre."

 

"It is a daily occurrence these days to see X number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan scrolling across the ticker at the bottom of the TV screen. People have come to expect casualty counts in the nightly news; they don't expect to see 32 students killed," he wrote.

 

"If the flags on our (operating bases) were lowered for just one day after the death of a service member, it would show the people who knew the person that society cared, the American people care."

[RockRaines]

Well, the obvious debate is that the VT students didnt sign up for possible death, the servicemen did.

[kapkomet]

Well, the obvious debate is that the VT students didnt sign up for possible death, the servicemen did.

I disagree with your assessment... but as you said, that's another debate.

[Jenksismyhero]

I disagree with your assessment... but as you said, that's another debate.

 

How can you disagree?

[Steve9347]

Well, the obvious debate is that the VT students didnt sign up for possible death, the servicemen did.

 

I voted "No" mainly for this reason... It's a known possibility when one signs up, though tragic all the time.

[RockRaines]

I voted "No" mainly for this reason... It's a known possibility when one signs up, though tragic all the time.

Well lets say one guy signs up to be an ice cream man, and a Lion eats him. Another guy signs up to be a lion tamer, and a lion eats him. Which one is more tragic and surprising?

[Middle Buffalo]

The flag would be at half staff almost constantly if we lowered it for servicemen who died in combat. It's a nice thought, but I think it should probably be done locally. For instance, if a soldier from Illinois dies, lower the flag in Illinois.

[Queen Prawn]

The flag would be at half staff almost constantly if we lowered it for servicemen who died in combat. It's a nice thought, but I think it should probably be done locally. For instance, if a soldier from Illinois dies, lower the flag in Illinois.

 

I agree with this idea.

[StrangeSox]

The flag would be at half staff almost constantly if we lowered it for servicemen who died in combat. It's a nice thought, but I think it should probably be done locally. For instance, if a soldier from Illinois dies, lower the flag in Illinois.

 

This seems like a more reasonable idea.

 

If we lowered it for every serviceman that died, we'd be at half-mast constantly and it'd lose its meaning. The lowering of the flag was never meant to honor those who died fighting bravely.

[CanOfCorn]

Don't we lower the flag to half-staff on Memorial Day? If not, we should and then it does what it's supposed to do.

 

Although I agree with Mid-Buff, too.

[Rex Kickass]

I think we ought to do it on Memorial Day and Veterans Day every year.

[Middle Buffalo]

Don't we lower the flag to half-staff on Memorial Day? If not, we should and then it does what it's supposed to do.

 

Although I agree with Mid-Buff, too.

It's half-staff until noon, then raised on Memorial day.

[Texsox]

Well, the obvious debate is that the VT students didnt sign up for possible death, the servicemen did.

 

I have heard many servicemen speak of why they signed up. They sign up for many reasons, patriotism, education, adventure, job security, sense of duty. I never, ever, heard one say they signed up for possible death. That is possibly the most ignorant comment I've read on these boards in a very long time,

 

They understand that their job involves risks, as does every job. Police, firemen, Alaska Crab Fishermen, but to trivialize their sacrifice because of a belief that they signed up for death is just so wrong.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Alaska Crab Fishermen,

 

I get the sentiment, but the green is unnecessary for Alaskan crab fishermen. They have a work-related mortality rate that is way up there. 296 work-related deaths occurred among Alaska's fishermen between 1990-2005. That's a fatality rate 23 times the overall U.S. work-related rate.

[Texsox]

I get the sentiment, but the green is unnecessary for Alaskan crab fishermen. They have a work-related mortality rate that is way up there. 296 work-related deaths occurred among Alaska's fishermen between 1990-2005. That's a fatality rate 23 times the overall U.S. work-related rate.

 

The green was for them signing up for death as well. No one, outside some suicidally depressed sign up for death. I was grasping for a dangerous profession, not of the "serve and protect" variety.

 

Maybe violet would have been a better color?

 

BTW, Sig on the Northwestern is my favorite Captain.

[FlaSoxxJim]

BTW, Sig on the Northwestern is my favorite Captain.

 

I assume that is a Deadliest Catch reference. Only seen bits and pieces here and there.

[mr_genius]

I voted "No" mainly for this reason... It's a known possibility when one signs up, though tragic all the time.

 

so anytime someone dies, that didn't expect to die, the flags should be at half-staff? if there's a big car accident and a bunch of people die should all flags be at half-staff?

 

[santo=dorf]

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Apr 23, 2007 -> 10:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

so anytime someone dies, that didn't expect to die, the flags should be at half-staff? if there's a big car accident and a bunch of people die should all flags be at half-staff?

 

Perhaps we can get some input from an Oswego poster from a month ago.

[Texsox]

so anytime someone dies, that didn't expect to die, the flags should be at half-staff? if there's a big car accident and a bunch of people die should all flags be at half-staff?

 

Unless it's a member of the armed services . . .

[Queen Prawn]

BTW, Sig on the Northwestern is my favorite Captain.

 

 

Him or Phil from the Corniela Marie are my favorite captain.

[Texsox]

 

Him or Phil from the Corniela Marie are my favorite captain.

 

My guy is cuter

[whitesoxfan101]

To compare troops and the Va. Tech victims at all is nuts. There is a difference between 32 murders in cold blood out of nowhere, and soliders who volunteered their services to their country dying in a war. However, the flags at Va. Tech aren't even at half staff anymore, so they shouldn't be across America either. Time to move on.

[Texsox]

It is nuts to compare someone who choses to defend this country and all our asses to someone who decides to courageously go off to college. We really should honor college students over soldiers. Our nation owes it to them.

 

 

[Queen Prawn]

My guy is cuter

 

Personally I think Sig's brother, Edgar, is the best looking of the group.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Personally I think Sig's brother, Edgar, is the best looking of the group.

 

Meh, I bet he smells like fish.