Air Force investigates Airmen's group photo with airman posing as dead in open casket

[High_Gravity]

First body parts being sawed off to fit folks in caskets, than Soldiers ashes being thrown into land fills, now this? the Air Force is fuckin up hard.

Air Force investigates Texas airmen's group photo with airman posing as dead in open casket

The Air Force said Thursday it was investigating a photograph of a group of airmen posing with another airman pretending to be dead and lying in an open casket with a noose around his neck.

Written at the bottom of the photo are the words: "Da Dumpt, Da Dumpt ... Sucks 2 Be U."

Though apparently unrelated, the photo is particularly sensitive because word of it follows revelations about the mishandling of remains of the war dead at the Air Force mortuary in Dover, Del.

Todd Spitler, an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon, said the airmen in the photo are from Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and were attending training at Fort Lee, Va., when the photograph was taken.

In the photo, 15 airmen wearing military fatigues surround another airman standing nearly upright in the casket. The airman in the casket has chains on his body and a noose around his neck. Most of the airmen surrounding him have their arms crossed in front of themselves in an "X" formation.

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said he was saddened the photo could cause further grief to families of the fallen.

"Such behavior is not consistent with our core values, and it is not representative of the airmen I know," he said in a statement.

Lackland spokesman Gerry Proctor said the photo was taken in August and appeared on Facebook in October. He said officials first learned about the existence of the photo on Monday after the military was contacted by the Air Force Times. The Air Force Times said it had been emailed the photo on Monday.

Air Force investigates Texas airmen's group photo with airman posing as dead in open casket - 12/15/2011 12:48:11 PM | Newser

 

[Leweman]

Very disrespectful ... I know there are certain ways people cope with being in stressful situations and witnessing things. They develop a sick sense of humor if you will. At the same time this takes it to far and really I don't understand it? It's nothing but disrespect here. It's the Air Force for God's sake. What are they trying to portray here?

 

[High_Gravity]

Very disrespectful ... I know there are certain ways people cope with being in stressful situations and witnessing things. They develop a sick sense of humor if you will. At the same time this takes it to far and really I don't understand it? It's nothing but disrespect here. It's the Air Force for God's sake. What are they trying to portray here?

The Air Force is slipping lately, at least thats the sense I get, with the latest scandals of sawing off body parts to fit bodies in caskets and the ashes of soldiers being dumped in land fills this is really the last thing the AF needs, and if you look the ranks of the Air men there ,there are several NCO's and Officers in that picture who should have known better, this kind of thing would be expected of the junior ranks maybe but some of the older Airmen and Officers really should have used their fucking heads. Who knows, maybe these multiple deployments are taking a toll on our troops mental capacities.

 

[old navy]

This particular unit is about as far from being placed in body bags as anyone who has deployed to that region. This shows a huge insensitivity to the over 4000 combat personnel that have lost their lives in Iraq not to mention A'stan. I know that there have been a hand full of AF folks that have died over there, but their attempt at gallows humor is way out of line. I'm sure the picture was not intended for viewing on the social media network and this does not rise to the level of Abu Graib, but inappropriate nevertheless. Maybe these airmen should visit a front line shock trauma platoon, fleet or field hospital to see what condition that warriors are in that actually are placed in these transfer cases.

 

[High_Gravity]

This particular unit is about as far from being placed in body bags as anyone who has deployed to that region. This shows a huge insensitivity to the over 4000 combat personnel that have lost their lives in Iraq not to mention A'stan. I know that there have been a hand full of AF folks that have died over there, but their attempt at gallows humor is way out of line. I'm sure the picture was not intended for viewing on the social media network and this does not rise to the level of Abu Graib, but inappropriate nevertheless. Maybe these airmen should visit a front line shock trauma platoon, fleet or field hospital to see what condition that warriors are in that actually are placed in these transfer cases.

A handful of deaths? the Air Force is right under the Navy in hostile deaths in the global war on terror.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

 

[Leweman]

This particular unit is about as far from being placed in body bags as anyone who has deployed to that region. This shows a huge insensitivity to the over 4000 combat personnel that have lost their lives in Iraq not to mention A'stan. I know that there have been a hand full of AF folks that have died over there, but their attempt at gallows humor is way out of line. I'm sure the picture was not intended for viewing on the social media network and this does not rise to the level of Abu Graib, but inappropriate nevertheless. Maybe these airmen should visit a front line shock trauma platoon, fleet or field hospital to see what condition that warriors are in that actually are placed in these transfer cases.

A handful of deaths? the Air Force is right under the Navy in hostile deaths in the global war on terror.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

One is too many but yes it is more like a 2 and a half handfuls, not many but there are fewer Air Force members to begin with. That should have no bearing on whether or not the picture is right or wrong. It's wrong regardless.

 

[High_Gravity]

This particular unit is about as far from being placed in body bags as anyone who has deployed to that region. This shows a huge insensitivity to the over 4000 combat personnel that have lost their lives in Iraq not to mention A'stan. I know that there have been a hand full of AF folks that have died over there, but their attempt at gallows humor is way out of line. I'm sure the picture was not intended for viewing on the social media network and this does not rise to the level of Abu Graib, but inappropriate nevertheless. Maybe these airmen should visit a front line shock trauma platoon, fleet or field hospital to see what condition that warriors are in that actually are placed in these transfer cases.

A handful of deaths? the Air Force is right under the Navy in hostile deaths in the global war on terror.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

One is too many but yes it is more like a 2 and a half handfuls, not many but there are fewer Air Force members to begin with. That should have no bearing on whether or not the picture is right or wrong. It's wrong regardless.

I processed a handful of those casualties in Kuwait when I was the Casualty rep for PERSCO (Personnel support for contingency operations), we were responsible for processing the casualty reports for Airmen killed in southern Iraq who were riding on convoys with the Army, the Army doesn't have enough bodies for its mission and Air Force members are being augmented to assist with those, alot of people don't know that.

 

[old navy]

This particular unit is about as far from being placed in body bags as anyone who has deployed to that region. This shows a huge insensitivity to the over 4000 combat personnel that have lost their lives in Iraq not to mention A'stan. I know that there have been a hand full of AF folks that have died over there, but their attempt at gallows humor is way out of line. I'm sure the picture was not intended for viewing on the social media network and this does not rise to the level of Abu Graib, but inappropriate nevertheless. Maybe these airmen should visit a front line shock trauma platoon, fleet or field hospital to see what condition that warriors are in that actually are placed in these transfer cases.

A handful of deaths? the Air Force is right under the Navy in hostile deaths in the global war on terror.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

Yep, the Navy has had a hand full as well. I was a Corpsman with three Fleet Marine Force tours. The number of Corpsman deaths, wounds, and medals are proportionately more than most anyone else.

Anyway, more deaths by the Army and Marine Corps does not make it OK to put out stupid pictures, but a bunch of AF students who have not and chances are will not see direct action certainly should keep their camaras shuttered.

 

[old navy]

This particular unit is about as far from being placed in body bags as anyone who has deployed to that region. This shows a huge insensitivity to the over 4000 combat personnel that have lost their lives in Iraq not to mention A'stan. I know that there have been a hand full of AF folks that have died over there, but their attempt at gallows humor is way out of line. I'm sure the picture was not intended for viewing on the social media network and this does not rise to the level of Abu Graib, but inappropriate nevertheless. Maybe these airmen should visit a front line shock trauma platoon, fleet or field hospital to see what condition that warriors are in that actually are placed in these transfer cases.

A handful of deaths? the Air Force is right under the Navy in hostile deaths in the global war on terror.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

One is too many but yes it is more like a 2 and a half handfuls, not many but there are fewer Air Force members to begin with. That should have no bearing on whether or not the picture is right or wrong. It's wrong regardless.

Death does not have any bearing on whether it is right or wrong I agree. But seeing, smelling, and touching death puts it all in a different light, a light that these fools haven't yet been in.

 

[High_Gravity]

This particular unit is about as far from being placed in body bags as anyone who has deployed to that region. This shows a huge insensitivity to the over 4000 combat personnel that have lost their lives in Iraq not to mention A'stan. I know that there have been a hand full of AF folks that have died over there, but their attempt at gallows humor is way out of line. I'm sure the picture was not intended for viewing on the social media network and this does not rise to the level of Abu Graib, but inappropriate nevertheless. Maybe these airmen should visit a front line shock trauma platoon, fleet or field hospital to see what condition that warriors are in that actually are placed in these transfer cases.

A handful of deaths? the Air Force is right under the Navy in hostile deaths in the global war on terror.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

Yep, the Navy has had a hand full as well. I was a Corpsman with three Fleet Marine Force tours. The number of Corpsman deaths, wounds, and medals are proportionately more than most anyone else.

Anyway, more deaths by the Army and Marine Corps does not make it OK to put out stupid pictures, but a bunch of AF students who have not and chances are will not see direct action certainly should keep their camaras shuttered.

If you look at the rank of some of the people in the picture a few of them are Technical Sergeants (E-6) and I believe I see a LT in there somewhere, those guys have been in long enough to know better, this picture was approved by someone with rank much higher than an AF training student.

 

[old navy]

A handful of deaths? the Air Force is right under the Navy in hostile deaths in the global war on terror.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

Yep, the Navy has had a hand full as well. I was a Corpsman with three Fleet Marine Force tours. The number of Corpsman deaths, wounds, and medals are proportionately more than most anyone else.

Anyway, more deaths by the Army and Marine Corps does not make it OK to put out stupid pictures, but a bunch of AF students who have not and chances are will not see direct action certainly should keep their camaras shuttered.

If you look at the rank of some of the people in the picture a few of them are Technical Sergeants (E-6) and I believe I see a LT in there somewhere, those guys have been in long enough to know better, this picture was approved by someone with rank much higher than an AF training student.

That makes it an even bigger deal. Very embarrassing.

 

[High_Gravity]

A handful of deaths? the Air Force is right under the Navy in hostile deaths in the global war on terror.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

One is too many but yes it is more like a 2 and a half handfuls, not many but there are fewer Air Force members to begin with. That should have no bearing on whether or not the picture is right or wrong. It's wrong regardless.

Death does not have any bearing on whether it is right or wrong I agree. But seeing, smelling, and touching death puts it all in a different light, a light that these fools haven't yet been in.

I can agree with what you are saying but I don't think that holds true 100% of the time, that Army unit acted the fool in Abu Ghuraib and they were right up in the mix in Iraq in 2004, not to mention the recent US Army Kill team in Afghanistan who went around killing innocent Afghans and taking pictures and trophies, I'm not saying this is the same thing as this picture but experience with combat doesn't necessarily mean a person will make better smarter decisions than people who have not seen it.

 

[High_Gravity]

Yep, the Navy has had a hand full as well. I was a Corpsman with three Fleet Marine Force tours. The number of Corpsman deaths, wounds, and medals are proportionately more than most anyone else.

Anyway, more deaths by the Army and Marine Corps does not make it OK to put out stupid pictures, but a bunch of AF students who have not and chances are will not see direct action certainly should keep their camaras shuttered.

If you look at the rank of some of the people in the picture a few of them are Technical Sergeants (E-6) and I believe I see a LT in there somewhere, those guys have been in long enough to know better, this picture was approved by someone with rank much higher than an AF training student.

That makes it an even bigger deal. Very embarrassing.

I agree.

 

[Mr. President]

Eh I say let them have fun. It's a unit picture. Probably an inside joke.

 

[geauxtohell]

Well that's just stupidity among the enlisted men and women.

Punishment should be swift and just: One month with the Infantry. Falling out of runs or marches results in a loss of food and extra duty.

 

[old navy]

One is too many but yes it is more like a 2 and a half handfuls, not many but there are fewer Air Force members to begin with. That should have no bearing on whether or not the picture is right or wrong. It's wrong regardless.

Death does not have any bearing on whether it is right or wrong I agree. But seeing, smelling, and touching death puts it all in a different light, a light that these fools haven't yet been in.

I can agree with what you are saying but I don't think that holds true 100% of the time, that Army unit acted the fool in Abu Ghuraib and they were right up in the mix in Iraq in 2004, not to mention the recent US Army Kill team in Afghanistan who went around killing innocent Afghans and taking pictures and trophies, I'm not saying this is the same thing as this picture but experience with combat doesn't necessarily mean a person will make better smarter decisions than people who have not seen it.

True. As usual, you make some good points.

I was looking at it as a perspective thing.

 

[old navy]

Eh I say let them have fun. It's a unit picture. Probably an inside joke.

You're probably right but the inside joke got out.

 

[rdean]

Bad taste but hardly a crime.

 

[geauxtohell]

Bad taste but hardly a crime.

The beauty of the military: It doesn't need to be a "crime" to be actionable.

I am sure it was a unit joke. If they used a normal coffin, it would be one thing.

However, everyone knows what the "metal box" is for. Service personnel should really know it. And they were also apparently stupid enough to employ the ramp of some sort of aircraft.

It was stupid. It wasn't a high crime, but it was really stupid. I am sure people will be reprimanded over it.

Unfortunately, they will all have black marks on their records that could ruin their career, which is just silly IMO.

I like my solution better. It's always fun to torture the weak and faint of heart.

 

[High_Gravity]

Eh I say let them have fun. It's a unit picture. Probably an inside joke.

Perception is very important in the Air Force, sometimes even more so than reality, with all these scandals with people in the Air Force dumping soldiers ashes in landfills and sawing off body parts to fit in caskets, this looks bad. I see peoples careers being ruined and some early retirement paperwork being drawn up.