Freight

I know it's cheaper, but this is ridiculous.

For some reason, the government has found it fitting, instead of transporting fallen Marines back with the dignity and honor they deserve, to ship them in the cargo holds of commercial airliners, complete with suitcases and cargo. And the passengers on the plane -- these ARE commercial airliners -- don't know what lies below until they aren't allowed to deplane and look out the little, itty-bitty airplane windows to find out why they are still sitting there after an X-hour flight. I've not, to my knowledge, been in this situation, but I don't think I'd be too comfortable. Not with a dead person on the plane -- that happens all the time -- but with the dead person being a soldier who deserved better.

In the above referenced piece, the parents of a fallen Marine had to request a respectful greeting for their son -- something that should be SOP. And God knows our President and Vice President cannot be bothered. Perhaps it's that there are too many funerals to attend. Perhaps they're just too busy. Who knows?

What I do know is that freight is no way to send a soldier home for the last time. Many people won't put their pets through baggage check-in; why should we, as a nation, do that to our soldiers?

So, next time you hop on a plane, say a little prayer or whatever you do because there just may be US military personnel in the cargo hold who deserve a whole lot more.