Free tombstones! Plus bonus inscription: "Operation Iraqi Freedom"!

[npincus]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/america_at_war/article/0,1299,DRMN_2116_4028542,00.html

Come and get 'em, Young Patriots!

All you need to do is enlist in our Armed Forces and find yourself on the receiving end of an Iraqi roadside bomb! Or an insurgent's sniper fire, or if the mood's right, a suicide car bomb. Just say "BRING IT ON"! Yippeee! Yessir, your tombstone, courtesy of the DOD, is waiting for you complete with the inscription of the glorious mission for which you gave your life... all for FREE!

SO WHAT if there were never any WMDs... you can get a FREE TOMBSTONE! Of course, don't expect a presidential greeting when you arrive back at Dover, nor should you expect a personal thank-you from our Commander-in-Chief when you are stretched out at the funeral parlor (if you are still whole)... but best of all, YOU can have "Operation Iraqi Freedom" or "Operation Enduring Freedom" engraved on your own, personalized marble door prize...uh, tombstone!

Does it get any better than this?


"Unlike earlier wars, many military-issued gravestones for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are inscribed with the operation names the Pentagon selected to promote public support for the conflicts.

Families of fallen soldiers and Marines are being told they can choose to have the government-furnished headstones engraved with "Operation Enduring Freedom" or "Operation Iraqi Freedom" at no extra charge, whether they are buried in Arlington or elsewhere. A mock-up shown to many families includes the operation names.

<snip>


The vast majority of military gravestones from other eras are inscribed with just the basic, required information: name, rank, military branch, date of death and, if applicable, the war and foreign country in which the person served.

Families are supposed to have final approval over what goes on the tombstones. That hasn't always happened.

Nadia and Robert McCaffrey, whose son Patrick was killed in Iraq in June 2004, said "Operation Iraqi Freedom" ended up on his government-supplied headstone in Ocean-side, Calif., without family approval.

"I was a little taken aback," Robert McCaffrey told the Associated Press, in describing his reaction when he first saw the operation name on Patrick's tombstone. "They certainly didn't ask my wife; they didn't ask me."

He said Patrick's widow told him she had not been asked, either.

"In one way, I feel it's taking advantage to a small degree," McCaffrey said. "Patrick did not want to be there, that is a definite fact."

<snip>

It wasn't until the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 that the department instructed national cemetery directors and funeral homes across the country to advise families of fallen servicemen and servicewomen that they could have operation names like "Enduring Freedom" or "Iraqi Freedom" included on the headstones. "

[Jara sang]

1. I saw a banner at a funeral home that said "Support Our Troops"

Seriously, it was huge across the roof of the place. i could not believe the insensitivity of these idiots.

[npincus]

2. I'm surprised they didn't have a "Discounts for Vets" or

"2 for 1 Sale While Supplies Last" caption below.