Casket photo sparks Air Force investigation, outrage

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By James Eng, msnbc.com

Air Force commanders are investigating the origins of aphoto of airmen posing around an open casket with another airman insidepretending to be dead.

In the photo, which has elicited disbelief and outrage frommilitary commanders, military wives and widows, and others, 15 airmen are seenkneeling or standing around a metallic casket, similar to those used to carrywar dead home. In the open casket is another airman, looking lifeless, withwhat appears to be a noose around his neck and chains across his body.


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“Da Dumpt, Da Dumpt … Sucks 2 Be U” is scribbled at thebottom of the photo, which apparently was taken in August but didn’t come tolight publicly until it was emailed to Air Force Times on Monday.

On Tuesday, Air Force Times published an article on the photoand the controversy it is generating.

The airmen in the photo are apparently from the 345thTraining Squadron in Fort Lee, Va., military officials said Wednesday. Theirunit is a detachment from a command at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Air Force Times said an investigation was launched after itforwarded the photo to Air Education and Training Command, the overall trainingcommand for the Air Force, for comment. Lackland is one of the bases assignedto the command.

David E. Smith, spokesman for the training command, told AirForce Times that the commander of the 37th Training Group at Lackland, Col.Gregory Reese, was “obviously displeased.”

Smith told msnbc.com on Wednesday: “I don’t know whether anyrules have been violated. What I do know is the photo apparently was taken inAugust, and the folks involved in it are under investigation by an Air Forceofficer.” He said he expects the investigation to be completed “in a week ortwo.”
Gerry Proctor, public affairs officer for 37th TrainingWing, said he couldn’t speculate on what potential violations might beunearthed.

“I can only tell you the wing commander was disappointed tosee something like that because it does not meet our values or ethos. That’swhy he determined to immediately launch an investigation,” Proctor toldmsnbc.com.

He said one officer from Lackland has been assigned to theinvestigation.

Smith said it’s unclear what the intent of the photo was. “Idon’t know what kind of message they’re trying to convey, but we were saddenedto see that display,” he said.

Air Force Times noted the photo surfaced one month after thepublic disclosure that the Air Force’s Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base,Del., had lost and mishandled the remains of hundreds of fallen troops. Doveris the first stop on American soil for troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.An investigation found "gross mismanagement" at the mortuary, and theAir Force later acknowledged it had dumped cremated partial remains of at least274 troops into a Virginia dump.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, in a statement Tuesdaynight to Air Force Times, expressed concern that the photo might cause moreturmoil for families of fallen troops.

"Such behavior is not consistent with our core values,and it is not representative of the Airmen I know. It saddens me that this maycause additional grief to the families of our fallen warriors,” he said,according to Air Force Times.
At least one soldier with the 82nd Airborne Division foundthe casket photo offensive.

“I cannot help but picture the faces of my dead [soldiers]that we drug out of burning vehicles, dug out from collapsed buildings,” StaffSgt. Elias Bonilla wrote in an email to Air Force Times.
•Purple Heart error:Gifts sent to dead troops

The photo also drew outrage from several Air Force Timesreaders. One, who identified himself as Mike Hayes, an Air Force policeofficer, wrote: “All these NCOs and Airman should be prosecuted and dismissedfrom the military. This is disgraceful and disrespectful to all the men."
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"HOW DARE YOU!" commented another reader, DeedySalie, who said she was a military widow. "My husband came home in one ofthose boxes, not on his own two feet like these disgraceful people will.. Younot only offend my husband SFC David J. Salie, but his children, his wife, hisfamily..........Hell, the entire nation. SHAME ON YOU."

[BrotherMick]

I would have to stongly agree with Mrs. Salie with her comment at the very end of the article.

HOW DARE THEY DO SUCH A DISCUSTING THING !!!!!!!

[Guide Plt.2129]

This IS the sickest thing I've heard to date.

[Marine_wannabe]

Wow, what were they thinking

[gobama84]

Wow, what were they thinking

Maybe they were not thinking. Just a guess here, but maybe some military members joke about death as a coping mechanism. Like I said, I don't know what they were thinking, but neither do any of us that were not there.

Loyd