Transportation of remains of service members who die outside the U.S. would become the responsibility of those troops' military commands under legislation pending in Congress that seems almost certain to become law, according to an Army Times story.
The initiative was proposed in reaction to the mishandling of remains by the military mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Its aim is to have a uniformed service member be accountable for remains from the initial death or recovery of the remains through burial or interment, unless a family requests otherwise. The designated member would be subject to disciplinary action if something goes wrong.
Does that mean few, if any, responsible for the Dover mishaps have been “subject to disciplinary action”?
And why cannot the military recipients of the shipped remains be the responsible parties in instances like what occured at Dover? As the ones in charge of final prep they should be held accountable for any
mess-ups, period. You don’t need an act of congress to cause that to happen. To make one person responsible from the battlefield to final resting by some “law” is passing the buck. Typical military reaction from higher-ups.