New Policy Delays Arlington Burials

There is nothing so impressive or sobering as a burial at Arlington National Cemetery. The caisson, the gun salute, the bugler, and the folded flag — all reinforce the absolute sacredness of the cemetery itself and the massive weight of sacrifice made by those buried there.

It is an amazing honor to be buried at Arlington, but it’s one that has become increasingly difficult and delayed.

Like many others around the country, the family of Capt. Ronald G. Luce will have to wait a bit longer for the active duty 20th Special Forces Group National Guard soldier to reach his final resting place at Arlington. Luce, who was 27 years old, died in Afghanistan on Aug. 2 after insurgents attacked his vehicle with an IED. Within a few days his body was brought to Fort Bragg and a memorial service was held for him there on Aug. 13. His funeral at Arlington National Cemetery is scheduled for Oct. 21. Until then, Capt. Luce’s body waits in a funeral home in Fayetteville, NC as his family waits to make the final leg of a miserable journey.

Funeral directors say that it currently takes about two months to schedule a burial at Arlington and they say they typically have to spend thirty to forty-five minutes on hold just to talk to Arlington officials to schedule a burial there.

“They’re doing about 30 funerals a day there, with people from all over the country. They are busy,” said Harry Carter, a funeral director with Rogers and Breece Funeral Home in Fayetteville, NC, the city which neighbors Fort Bragg. Carter said this is not a problem for his funeral home, as they typically only arrange four or five Arlington burials each year.

Arlington officials are well-aware of the long delays and they are quick to express their regrets and apologize for keeping military families waiting.

“No one wants these families to wait a day longer than they have to,” said Dave Foster, a public affairs officer for Arlington National Cemetery. “This is closure for them. These men and women have paid the ultimate price and they deserve these honors.”

In fact, granting full honors to service members is one of reasons for the long delay, Foster said.

A policy change in January now allows any service member who dies from wounds as a result of enemy action to receive an Arlington burial with full military honors. Before the change, some of these honors were reserved for Flag Officers. Enlisted soldiers, regardless of the circumstances of their death, were granted pall bearers, a firing party and a bugler, but not the caisson, band and escort troops — though some additional honors were available for certain E-9’s depending on their branch of service.

But the change has brought a glut of requests for a full honors burial. Coordinating the caisson, band and escort troops takes time, Foster said. He said the increased op tempo in Afghanistan has also led to more requests for full honors burials. Foster is quick to add, however, that the majority of the 27 to 30 burials that take place each day at Arlington are not for troops killed in present-day military actions.

“We have all of these veterans from past wars — World War II, Korea, even Vietnam — they also made the ultimate sacrifice and are deserving,” Foster said.

Scheduling services can be a delicate balancing act as Arlington officials strive to plan each service so that the ceremonies don’t intrude on one another. There are 70 sections in the cemetery so many times it is not a problem to have two services occurring at once. But, he said, most of the time the families of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan want their loved ones to be buried in Section 60 with other veterans of those wars. Scheduling those burials so they don’t conflict can be tough.

“The key point,” Foster said, “is that each service member deserves our utmost respect and everyone here understands and strives to give that. We will do everything in our power to make that happen.”

Source: http://www.military.com/news/article/new-policy-delays-arlington-burials.html?col=1186032310810