DoD: Rules for Dover AFB media circus
I wrote yesterday that the ban on the media at Dover Air Force Base will officially be lifted on Monday. The Stars and Stripes writes this morning that the Pentagon briefed members of the press on the rules for their anticipated Keystone Kop antics;
When the military notifies a family that a servicemember has died, they will be asked if they consent to media coverage of the return and “dignified transfer of remains” at Dover. Dover public affairs officers will post notice on their Web site and send an e-mail to journalists with the name, rank, service, hometown and logistics of the inbound remains.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters to expect logistical challenges — the average time between family notification and the arrival of remains is six to eight hours, he said, and come at all hours of the day, in any weather. Family members and media will have to get into the base and onto the flightline in time for the 15-minute honor guard ceremony as flag-draped coffins are unloaded onto the tarmac.
Families rarely have come to Dover, he said, so the military recently offered to pay for relatives to make the trip, and military personnel will take photographs and record video of the event should families later wish to obtain those records.
“The core of the policy is built around the desires of the family members,” said Whitman.
It had better stay that way, too.
Reporters raised some concerns about the process.
Screw ’em. There are enough stories that the media isn’t telling about our troops who are still alive, to Hell with them if they can’t accept a family’s wishes for the ones who aren’t. If this grisly concession is what they need to sell their pathetic little rags to the public, maybe they ought to take a look at what they’ve done to their profession.
Added: Thunder Run has the entire DoD press release.
Category: Media, Support the troops
And the congregation said, “Amen!”
If there was a little more coverage in the mainstream media about all of the Silver Stars and DSC’s being awarded that you can only read about on milblogs, then maybe this new policy would be okay.
Which makes me wonder, can families specify which media will have access to Dover?
The Boston Globe has a nice album of photos from Afghanistan:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/04/recent_scenes_from_afghanistan.html
Included in these photos are a fair amount of shots of fallen soldiers from the US, UK and Canada on their final homecoming. Looking at these moving photos that include the families of the servicemembers, it made me wonder about why the media was so hot to gain access to Dover? Could it be that they want to be able to take photos of caskets without the families present? Most families will not be able to make it to Dover in time for the arrival flights, so that would allow the media to take photos of the caskets without emotion seen in the Boston Globe photos. Is this all an attempt to de-personalize photos and show the military as emotionless?
Maybe if we’ve been showing that war leads to death this whole time, more of our young soldiers would be better prepared mentally to deal with going to war, lessening the severity and denial of psychological and emotional disorders that follow the stress.
The fallen coming home are this country’s biggest heroes, I don’t understand why there was ever a media blackout in the first place, and not a solemn hero’s welcome.