Sgt Nicole Gee laid to rest; Honoring Our Fallen steps up

[allen-1]

Nicole Gee, 23, was one of 13 service members who died in a suicide blast at Kabul Airport in 2021 alongside 170 desperate Afghans seeking to leave the beleaguered country.

…

Gee's body was first flown to her hometown of Roseville, California for a ceremony.

But her family was told they would be responsible for taking her body to her final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery, Florida Representative Mills claimed.

Honoring Our Fallen, a nonprofit which helps the families of fallen American service members, paid for the family to move Gee's remains to Virginia using a private jet.

Another Layer to the Nation Humiliation at Kabul

everyone OK with this?

cdrsalamander.substack.com

 

[Picton]

...a bit overdue?

Normal practice is for the DoD to fly the remains to the home of record, then bury them at the nearest national cemetery at public expense. Nothing I read in that article suggests they tried to do anything other than that.

If the family wanted to choose a different cemetery, I'm not surprised the onus fell to them to transport the remains.

 

[smokey-seven]

Normal practice is for the DoD to fly the remains to the home of record, then bury them at the nearest national cemetery at public expense. Nothing I read in that article suggests they tried to do anything other than that.

If the family wanted to choose a different cemetery, I'm not surprised the onus fell to them to transport the remains.

Family should have had the remains flown directly to Arlington and flown the family there for the burial.

Honoring Our Fallen

 

[Picton]

Family should have had the remains flown directly to Arlington and flown the family there for the burial.

Hard to tell what the sequence was, since the article has just about zero information. It's mostly meant to stoke outrage.

I'll hold my fire until I hear what actually happened. So far, I don't see anything egregious here. Burial at Arlington is not by any means guaranteed to any service member, and in fact it can be fairly hard to get. If the family still lives in Roseville, there's a National Cemetery just the other side of Sacramento; it's a very reasonable assumption they'd have wanted her buried there, where they could visit her grave in half an hour instead of having to fly across the country.

If this system works the way it used to when I had to deal with it, they ask the family where to send the remains IF NOT the home of record; there's every possibility the family wanted her at Arlington, but there was no space available at that point. Which might be why this is all happening now, years later? And if so, I certainly don't think it's the DoD's responsibility to schlep remains all over the country at the parents' whim. What happens in a few years, when they decide they were wrong and want her back in Roseville, because mom's got arthritis now and can no longer fly to Virginia? Is it reasonable to move her again at taxpayer expense?

It's hard to form an opinion when the article is so clearly one-sided.

ETA: Ah. And now there's more info out. Seems the article the OP posted was (SHOCKER!) not the full story... This is a great example of how the legacy media is not the only one posting biased info to shape opinion.

 

[allen-1]

Hard to tell what the sequence was, since the article has just about zero information. It's mostly meant to stoke outrage.

I'll hold my fire until I hear what actually happened. So far, I don't see anything egregious here. Burial at Arlington is not by any means guaranteed to any service member, and in fact it can be fairly hard to get. If the family still lives in Roseville, there's a National Cemetery just the other side of Sacramento; it's a very reasonable assumption they'd have wanted her buried there, where they could visit her grave in half an hour instead of having to fly across the country.

If this system works the way it used to when I had to deal with it, they ask the family where to send the remains IF NOT the home of record; there's every possibility the family wanted her at Arlington, but there was no space available at that point. Which might be why this is all happening now, years later? And if so, I certainly don't think it's the DoD's responsibility to schlep remains all over the country at the parents' whim. What happens in a few years, when they decide they were wrong and want her back in Roseville, because mom's got arthritis now and can no longer fly to Virginia? Is it reasonable to move her again at taxpayer expense?

It's hard to form an opinion when the article is so clearly one-sided.

ETA: Ah. And now there's more info out. Seems the article the OP posted was (SHOCKER!) not the full story... This is a great example of how the legacy media is not the only one posting biased info to shape opinion.

Pretty much all media these days is biased. This one came into my echo chamber. It struck a nerve.

 

[Andy in NH]

A Republican congressman from Florida has walked back his claim that the Defense Department "placed a heavy financial burden" on the family of a Marine killed in a suicide bombing during the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Rep. Cory Mills, an Army veteran, told Fox News on Tuesday that after meeting with the families of 13 U.S. service members killed on Aug. 26, 2021, at Hamid Karzai International Airport's Abbey Gate, he learned that the family of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee was stuck with a $60,000 bill from the Pentagon to transport her remains to Arlington National Cemetery.

But Gee's family said they were not billed by the Pentagon at all. Since the article was published, Mills issued a statement saying the family was confused in its grief, and Fox News edited its headline and story without noting a correction. On Friday, it appeared the article had been removed entirely.

'Truly Very Sorry': Family of Fallen Marine Apologizes After Congressman Claims Pentagon Charged Them for Remains Transfer

Honoring Our Fallen, a nonprofit that supports families of deceased service members, paid for Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee's remains to be transported by private flight from California to Arlington National Cemetery.

www.military.com

 

[Skysoldier]

When my older brother passed away in 2001, he was buried in Tampa FL. When we finally got a space in Arlington a couple of years later, we had to pay to have him removed and sent to Arlington, but we were reimbursed about 15 months later.
He was a retired Army major, with 4 Bronze and 2 Silver Stars, and a DSC. He did 3 tours in Vietnam as enlisted, and another as a 2LT after getting a Field Commission.

 

[Andy in NH]

Gold Star Family Gets Fox News Apology After Military.com Reports on False Story

The Military.com coverage on Aug. 23 showed how the Marine Corps confronted Fox News in July over its story on Sgt. Nicole Gee, one of 13 service members killed during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan two years ago.

www.military.com