Column: Open Up Army Funerals To Public

This story was written by Hans Wuerflein, Daily O'Collegian

Since the start of the Iraq war, the Pentagon has sought to limit or prevent press coverage of the funerals of service men and women killed in Iraq, even when the families of these soldiers were fine with members of the press being present. In some cases, reporters were told where to stand and what they could or could not film.

Shortly after being hired as the public affairs director at Arlington National Cemetery, Gina Gray felt bothered by some new media limits on funeral services.

The new limits didnt seem to fall under army restrictions, so she sought to open funerals up to the media, with the deceaseds familys consent of course.

Now it appears that for her efforts, Gray was first demoted and then fired. In an article published by the Washington Post, Gray said,

Had I not put my foot down, had I just gone along with it and not said regulations were being violated, Im sure Id still be there.

Army Secretary Pete Geren has started an internal investigation into Grays firing.

With support for the Iraq war already low, it is understandable, at least from their point of view, why military officials would like to keep coverage of these funerals to a minimum. Theyre depressing.

Americans dont like seeing our soldiers shipped back in coffins.

A few people would get mad at the media over that, but really it would do more to turn many of the wars already dwindling supporters against it. Showing people the true cost of war never helps that wars continuation. Theres a big difference between a picture of a pile of rubble, and one of a mother crying over her sons casket.

This issue isnt just limited to Iraq though. Take Pat Tillman for example. As you may remember, Pat Tillman was a linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals who gave up playing in the NFL after 9/11 to join the military. Sadly, Tillman was killed in action in 2004. Even sadder is the fact that his death was caused by friendly fire.

Members of his unit attempted to cover it up and have since been removed from the Army Rangers. The problem is that the Army originally told everyone, including his family, that he had died from enemy fire after his unit was ambushed, even after evidence to the contrary had surfaced.

Why? Because now the Armys super-patriotic, feel-good recruitment story now had a tragic ending. Join the Army and get shot three times in the head by your own troops doesnt exactly have a nice ring to it.

Yes, war is tragic. War is horrible. No one wants war. That doesnt mean we should ignore or be prevented from seeing how bad it really is though. In fact, the opposite is true. People should know how bad it really is before we decide to send a few hundred thousand young men and women to war with a place almost two thirds of us cant even find on a map.