Group Memorials - Last straw? Probably not.

Group Memorials

Fort Lewis will shift to monthly group memorials -- rather than individual services -- for fallen soldiers, a change that reflects the mounting number of deaths as the post fields more than 10,000 soldiers in Iraq.

Source: Fay Observer (Complete Article)

Just when you think the troops have had their last insult, another rears its ugly head.

Soldiers, after having to pay for their own supplies, the provision of inadequate body armour, inadequate armoured vehicles, extended tours, budget cuts and the Walter Reed scandal where soldiers were found to be treated in infested medical facilities, then censured from speaking about it, to 7:00 am inspections while still recovering and under heavy medication, to name a few, this final insult in death is beyond condemnation.

"As much as we would like to think otherwise, I am afraid that with the number of soldiers we now have in harm's way, our losses will preclude us from continuing to do individual memorial ceremonies," wrote the post's acting commander, Brig. Gen. William Troy, in a May 22 memorandum, which was first made public on the Web site of United For Peace, Pierce County, a peace activist group."

It is abominable enough that the wounded who barely survived this travesty of a war were treated dreadfully, but now it seems that those who died for their nation do not deserve their rightful reverence. The excuse? Too many soldiers are dying. Such an inane response doesn't even dignify a rebuttal.

With massive funds being diverted to this "war effort" there should be absolutely no excuse for this sort of behaviour. After all, this is the administration that claims to support the troops, that claims they need to give the troops whatever they require to be successful in the war - all the while cutting their legs out from under them.

In part, the citizenry and the media must also share in the blame. One thing that just struck me: we've been distanced from the war. We don't really see what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. All the news we get tends to be anecdotal. Whether the directive comes from up on high, in the form of a mandate of censorship, or by not seeing it in its reality, there is no way we can fully appreciate the damage happening there, nor can we personalise the war or the dead; and it's difficult to care about what seems like an abstract notion, at least for those of us with no direct or indirect involvement.

When a person chooses to fight and die for their country, their sacrifice must never ever be diluted by amalgamating it with others who choose to fight and die for their country. I hesitate to imagine how the powers that be can outdo this calamity, but if this trend continues, I fear they will find a way.