Obama pays his respects to slain troops at Dover Air Force Base
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LUKE IBUDIRE
Aug 10, 2011, 6:29:15 AM8/10/11
to VICTORYBASECOMPLEXSOLDIERS
DOVER, Del. — President Obama traveled to Dover Air Force Base on
Tuesday to pay his respects to the 30 U.S. troops who were killed
Saturday when their Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.
According to White House staff accompanying him, Obama was taken in a
motorcade down the tarmac to the location of the two C-17s containing
the remains of the fallen service members. He was escorted to the
planes by Col. Mark Camerer, the 436th Airlift Wing commander. He
boarded the planes with his military aide and spent time on board each
plane paying his respects.
Beforehand, White House staff said, Obama had been driven to a
building on the base where about 250 family members and fellow
servicemen and women of the fallen had gathered. He spent
approximately 70 minutes in a large community room called The
Landings, meeting informally with family members, offering his
condolences for their loss and his gratitude for their sacrifice and
service.
Other visitors in the room with the family members included Secretary
of Defense Leon Panetta; Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff; and Admiral William McRaven, head of U.S. Special
Operations Command.
Van Williams, public affairs chief for the Dover Air Force Base
mortuary affairs operations, said the helicopter crash “was so
horrific” that the remains of the servicemen could not be easily
identified. They will be identified at Dover by the mortuary team
through DNA, dental records and fingerprints.
The bodies, Williams added, were loaded into the plane “all together”
in the transportation cases, rather than in the usual single container
for each service member.
Williams said at least three family members for each service member
were invited to attend Tuesday’s ceremony, so at least 90 family
members were there. Usually, the families stay at the Fisher House,
which has nine suites, and they are offered chaplain and mental health
services. The president and other military dignitaries would normally
pay respects to the families in the Center for the Families of the
Fallen, Williams said, but he added that there were so many family
members that Dover officials were forced to make alternative
arrangements.
After Obama met with the families and visited the C-17s, he and other
members of the official party lined up on a red carpet to watch the
cases containing the remains removed from the planes in a transfer
ceremony, according to a Whiter House official accompanying the
president. They saluted as the cases passed, carried by members of
various military branches.
The fallen were first transported from Afghanistan to Ramstein,
Germany. The usual procedure is to transport them from Ramstein to
Dover on the fastest possible flight, whether that is a military
flight or a commercial cargo flight. As is customary, they were
transported in flag-draped containers, not burial coffins, he said.
Mortuary examiners generally try to make a positive identification
within three days, Williams said. He added that the large number of
bodies should not delay the procedure because more staff can be
brought in for the examination.
The services provided at Dover are a “very big source of pride,”
Williams said. “There is a sense of duty and honor we give to fallen
service members and families. We represent the nation, and a grateful
nation at that.”
After the identifications are made, Williams said, the bodies are
dressed in whatever clothing the families have requested for transfer.
Some want full military uniforms, others business suits and others T-
shirts, jeans and cowboy boots, Williams said.
“We are there for families,” he said. “We don’t tell them what we will
give them. They tell us and we accommodate.”
If the remains are too damaged to be clothed, Williams said, the
clothes are laid on top.
Pentagon officials continued Tuesday to withhold the identities of
those killed in the crash early Saturday in the remote Tangi Valley in
eastern Afghanistan.
Family members have revealed to reporters some of the names, but
Pentagon officials declined to say why they have not followed suit.
“We are not prepared at this time to release the names, that’s all I
can tell you,” said Marine Col. David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.
The president canceled a scheduled appearance in Northern Virginia to
be present for the arrival of the troops’ remains, which was closed to
the media. His helicopter landed at the base at 12:30 p.m.
The Defense Department ordinarily makes public the identities of all
troops killed in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Lapan said that
policy remains in place. But most of those killed in the helicopter
crash were commandos from the secretive Special Operations Forces,
which usually craves anonymity in its work.
Twenty-two of the commandos were Navy SEALs and three were from the
Air Force. The other five U.S. casualties aboard were Army aviators.
There were also eight Afghans killed in the Chinook crash.
The troops were on a mission to rescue other commandos who had been
hunting a Taliban leader in the Tangi Valley but came under fire from
insurgents, U.S. military officials have said. The crash is believed
to have been caused by an insurgent firing a rocket-propelled grenade
as the Chinook tried to land.
The dead included members of Navy SEAL Team Six, the same unit that
helped carry out the mission that killed Osama bin Laden in May. None
of those killed Saturday were involved in the bin Laden mission.
Obama has visited Dover as president once before, saluting grimly in
the pre-dawn darkness as he witnessed the return of 15 soldiers and
three Drug Enforcement Administration agents who also were killed in
Afghanistan.
Unlike Tuesday’s arrival, family members of the dead were in
attendance for the arrival of their remains in October 2009, and a
pool of reporters was permitted to witness the ceremony.
In addition to Panetta, Mullen, and McRaven, other Pentagon officials
who attended Tuesday’s “dignified transfer” ceremony included: Navy
Secretary Ray Mabus; Adm. Gary Roughhead, Chief of Naval Operations;
Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army; Gen. Philip
Breedlove, vice chief of staff of the Air Force; Air Force Under
Secretary Erin Conaton; Army Secretary John M. McHugh; and Air Force
Col. Thomas Joyce.
Tuesday to pay his respects to the 30 U.S. troops who were killed
Saturday when their Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.
According to White House staff accompanying him, Obama was taken in a
motorcade down the tarmac to the location of the two C-17s containing
the remains of the fallen service members. He was escorted to the
planes by Col. Mark Camerer, the 436th Airlift Wing commander. He
boarded the planes with his military aide and spent time on board each
plane paying his respects.
Beforehand, White House staff said, Obama had been driven to a
building on the base where about 250 family members and fellow
servicemen and women of the fallen had gathered. He spent
approximately 70 minutes in a large community room called The
Landings, meeting informally with family members, offering his
condolences for their loss and his gratitude for their sacrifice and
service.
Other visitors in the room with the family members included Secretary
of Defense Leon Panetta; Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff; and Admiral William McRaven, head of U.S. Special
Operations Command.
Van Williams, public affairs chief for the Dover Air Force Base
mortuary affairs operations, said the helicopter crash “was so
horrific” that the remains of the servicemen could not be easily
identified. They will be identified at Dover by the mortuary team
through DNA, dental records and fingerprints.
The bodies, Williams added, were loaded into the plane “all together”
in the transportation cases, rather than in the usual single container
for each service member.
Williams said at least three family members for each service member
were invited to attend Tuesday’s ceremony, so at least 90 family
members were there. Usually, the families stay at the Fisher House,
which has nine suites, and they are offered chaplain and mental health
services. The president and other military dignitaries would normally
pay respects to the families in the Center for the Families of the
Fallen, Williams said, but he added that there were so many family
members that Dover officials were forced to make alternative
arrangements.
After Obama met with the families and visited the C-17s, he and other
members of the official party lined up on a red carpet to watch the
cases containing the remains removed from the planes in a transfer
ceremony, according to a Whiter House official accompanying the
president. They saluted as the cases passed, carried by members of
various military branches.
The fallen were first transported from Afghanistan to Ramstein,
Germany. The usual procedure is to transport them from Ramstein to
Dover on the fastest possible flight, whether that is a military
flight or a commercial cargo flight. As is customary, they were
transported in flag-draped containers, not burial coffins, he said.
Mortuary examiners generally try to make a positive identification
within three days, Williams said. He added that the large number of
bodies should not delay the procedure because more staff can be
brought in for the examination.
The services provided at Dover are a “very big source of pride,”
Williams said. “There is a sense of duty and honor we give to fallen
service members and families. We represent the nation, and a grateful
nation at that.”
After the identifications are made, Williams said, the bodies are
dressed in whatever clothing the families have requested for transfer.
Some want full military uniforms, others business suits and others T-
shirts, jeans and cowboy boots, Williams said.
“We are there for families,” he said. “We don’t tell them what we will
give them. They tell us and we accommodate.”
If the remains are too damaged to be clothed, Williams said, the
clothes are laid on top.
Pentagon officials continued Tuesday to withhold the identities of
those killed in the crash early Saturday in the remote Tangi Valley in
eastern Afghanistan.
Family members have revealed to reporters some of the names, but
Pentagon officials declined to say why they have not followed suit.
“We are not prepared at this time to release the names, that’s all I
can tell you,” said Marine Col. David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.
The president canceled a scheduled appearance in Northern Virginia to
be present for the arrival of the troops’ remains, which was closed to
the media. His helicopter landed at the base at 12:30 p.m.
The Defense Department ordinarily makes public the identities of all
troops killed in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Lapan said that
policy remains in place. But most of those killed in the helicopter
crash were commandos from the secretive Special Operations Forces,
which usually craves anonymity in its work.
Twenty-two of the commandos were Navy SEALs and three were from the
Air Force. The other five U.S. casualties aboard were Army aviators.
There were also eight Afghans killed in the Chinook crash.
The troops were on a mission to rescue other commandos who had been
hunting a Taliban leader in the Tangi Valley but came under fire from
insurgents, U.S. military officials have said. The crash is believed
to have been caused by an insurgent firing a rocket-propelled grenade
as the Chinook tried to land.
The dead included members of Navy SEAL Team Six, the same unit that
helped carry out the mission that killed Osama bin Laden in May. None
of those killed Saturday were involved in the bin Laden mission.
Obama has visited Dover as president once before, saluting grimly in
the pre-dawn darkness as he witnessed the return of 15 soldiers and
three Drug Enforcement Administration agents who also were killed in
Afghanistan.
Unlike Tuesday’s arrival, family members of the dead were in
attendance for the arrival of their remains in October 2009, and a
pool of reporters was permitted to witness the ceremony.
In addition to Panetta, Mullen, and McRaven, other Pentagon officials
who attended Tuesday’s “dignified transfer” ceremony included: Navy
Secretary Ray Mabus; Adm. Gary Roughhead, Chief of Naval Operations;
Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army; Gen. Philip
Breedlove, vice chief of staff of the Air Force; Air Force Under
Secretary Erin Conaton; Army Secretary John M. McHugh; and Air Force
Col. Thomas Joyce.
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