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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-07-21-52-14

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A published report says the remains of many more troops have been dumped in a Virginia landfill than the military originally acknowledged.
The Washington Post says the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops were sent to the King George County Landfill in Virginia. The report was based on database information at the Dover Air Base mortuary, where the remains of most war dead return.
The families of the dead authorized the military to dispose of the remains respectfully and with dignity. They were unaware of the landfill dumping, and Air Force officials told the Post they have no plans now to alert the families.
Military policy or regulations did not formally authorize the practice. The mortuary has handled the remains of more than 6,300 troops since 2001.

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...What. The. Fuck.

.....................

There are not enough words in the English language to express the amount of WTF I am feeling right now.

I mean...

No. Fuck it. I'll come back later, after the hate and vitriol have had enough time to curdle.

Congratulations, USA, you are well on your way to truly disposable troops. There's going to be a congressional inquiry into this. There better be.
Added at: 11:48
Here's a bit more information:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...edged/2011/12/07/gIQAT8ybdO_story.html?wprss=

Are they giving a reason as to why it's been happening? I'd love to hear the excuse. I mean, for a year or two you can blame it on someone being lazy and not wanting to process the bodies. But it's been going on for a decade! That means it's not something that is based on the actions of an individual but is a systemic breakdown in the standard operating procedures of this area.

I'd like to see an inquest into this as well, if for no other reason than to see the reasons why they felt they needed to do it this way.

Why isn't there some sort of monument or memorial for these remains? Hell, you could have turned those ashes into bricks to BUILD a memorial and it would have been more respectful than just dumping them in a landfill.

stienman said:

Congratulations, USA, you are well on your way to truly disposable troops. There's going to be a congressional inquiry into this. There better be.
Added at: 11:48
Here's a bit more information:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...edged/2011/12/07/gIQAT8ybdO_story.html?wprss=

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Damned well better be. That is just fucking disgusting. They deserve respect, deserve better, and whomever was responsible needs to end up in a land fill.

There's some confusion for me - they keep talking about fragments, and the washington post article mentions that in some cases there are remains that are unidentified - for instance when they recover multiple bodies from one explosion, there are body parts that are also collected which they cannot ID. These are cremated, though I'd expect them to go to a military cemetery, not a landfill.

Are they cremating whole, identified bodies then dumping them in the landfill?
Are they dumping cremated remains of unidentified body parts?
Are they dumping the non-ash remains (ie, incomplete cremation) into the landfill while providing a burial for the ash remains?

The mortuary in question has handled the cremation of over 6,000 soldiers in the last decade - that's two per day, every day. I could understand them making a one-time mistake, but this suggests that they were doing something wrong, and then trying to hide it.

Further, the article suggests this was an issue 3 years ago, that was quietly hushed up, but recently the extent of the issue has been discovered to be far greater than originally explained. They maintain that today this does not happen.

It's ridiculous that we even have to have this conversation. Who in their right mind would rationalize this?

I went to a cemetary in Sicily that held Allied remains from WWII. Several of the graves were labelled as "An unidentified British soldier," or in a couple cases "Several unidentified British Airmen."

How fucking hard would it be to mill out a few headstones for these poor guys.

Also, all military personnel are entered into a DNA database. How the FUCK do you have enough to dump into a FUCKING landfill, but not enough to do a God-damned DNA test?

Whoever authorized this shit needs to be court-martialled back into the Stone Age

There have been a few cases over the years of mortuaries doing stuff like this with human remains. It is always bizarre when I hear about it. Pretty much what were they thinking? Saving money I guess. Some people just don't care or they don't think dead bodies have any right to certain treatment. I understand they are just bodies but still. Sigh I don't know. I am done being surprised by the weird awful things people do.

makare said:

There have been a few cases over the years of mortuaries doing stuff like this with human remains. It is always bizarre when I hear about it. Pretty much what were they thinking? Saving money I guess.

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Yeah, those cases get to me as well. I have stated to my family several times that on the off chance that I died I wanted to be cremated, put in the cheapest receptacle possible (I even said they could use a coffee can a la The Big Lebowski) and scatter them in the wind. But I think everyone is entitled to their opinion and lying to people in their moments of grief is such sickening.

I personally would like to have my remains shot out of a cannon into the air over Washington DC, with such force that it vaporizes my corpse. I can happily embrace oblivion knowing that at least for one day my gritty remains would give the federal government sinus problems and an odd taste in their mouths all day.

Just like Nick's prom night?

Dave said:

Just like Nick's prom night?

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Whuh-HOA!

My dad said he wants to be cremated and his ashes used to fertilize a sapling, so eventually he'll grow into a big Dad tree.

My mom wants her ashes to be made into a li'l diamond and made into jewelry, so I can have a little Mom ring.

doomdragon6 said:

My mom wants her ashes to be made into a li'l diamond and made into jewelry, so I can have a little Mom ring.

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"So will you marry me?"
"This ring is beautiful... where did you get it?"
"Oh, it's my mom."
"Oh, so it belonged to your mother? That's sweet."
"No... it IS my mom."
"..."

and if she says yes you are truly meant to be

On the one hand, it is disrespectful.
On the other, it is an utter waste of reusable materials.
Either way, it is errantly irresponsible.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

On the one hand, it is disrespectful.
On the other, it is an utter waste of reusable materials.
Either way, it is errantly irresponsible.

--Patrick

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Welp, I'm sold. Time to go dig up my mother.

Too late.

HEY I KNOW THAT LANDFILL

When I die I really don't care what they do with my body, whatever makes them feel better I guess. It's just my body not like I'll have much to say about it.

What a bunch of idiots. Cheap yet beautiful burial grounds are not hard to make!

Step 1: Designate a park, preferably one connected to a graveyard. Doesn't have to be big at all. Make a walk way, plant some flowers, bushes and trees. Have a designated area for people to place flowers and candles. Add a fountain if you want to be fancy.
Step 2: Roll up a strip of the lawn, dig a ditch, dump all the cremated remains in it. Roll the lawn back over it.
Step 3: Repeat step 2 when needed.

In Sweden these are called Minneslund and are probably the most popular form of burial.

Siska said:

Step 2: Roll up a strip of the lawn, dig a ditch, dump all the cremated remains in it. Roll the lawn back over it.

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It would probably be better to mingle the ashes into the mulch/fertilizer and then spread it around the park that way. The nutrients would be excellent for the plants and it would symbolically allow the unknown remains to become a part of the memorial itself.

Siska said:

In Sweden these are called Minneslund and are probably the most popular form of burial.

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They sound very practical.

--Patrick