Your Son, John Doe, Served & Died Heroically.

January 8, 2009

Article from CNN: Army sorry for ‘John Doe’ letters to relatives to war dead

Being a former servicemember myself I can’t help but feel a sense of guilt about having young men and women give up their lives for their compatriots and not being there myself to pitch in. Because when it comes down to it, our brave men and women are fighting to protect each other, the actual cause is somewhat muddied at this point and holds meaning only when focused on fighting terror. However, it should come as no surprise the US Army has gone and fucked up a shitload of grievances letters to families of those who have fallen.  Of course, the Army has repondend…

“”There are no words to adequately apologize for this mistake or for the hurt it may have caused,” Brig. Gen. Reuben D. Jones, Army adjutant general, said in the statement. “It is important the original intent of the letter is not lost. The organizations mentioned are dedicated to honoring loved ones and recognizing their sacrifice and commitment,” the apology continued.”

So, nevermind we put no thought into actually adding your son or daughters name into the letter - I mean come on now, you would be a complete idiot to think we typed up 7,000 individual “custom” letters and had them signed by a real person rather than a stamp. Bah!

The truth is, we totally forgot about sending these out and needed to get them in the mail prior to the Christmas break. Since we were rushed, the stupid private tasked with inserting each soldiers name spent his time licking envelopes rather than typing your sons or daughters real name into the “Dear” block. His sergeant was already deployed to Iraq and Specialist John Doe, the guy who was supposed to double check his work got killed in Afghanistan the week prior. So, you see, it is really the fault of our non-commissioned officers and we will be punishing them accordingly - Article 15’s for the lot - 60 days extra duty and confined to the barracks.