(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) The Biden administration’s disastrous and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan continues to bring more shame and disgrace on the country’s alleged commander-in-chief.
The family of Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, who was one of 13 American troops killed during the 2021 withdrawal, reportedly was left with a $60,000 bill to have Gee’s body flown from California to Arlington Cemetery to be buried.
Gee’s body was originally flown to California for a family ceremony, but the Biden administration balked at transporting her body to Virginia. The Department of Defense was allowed the option to leave the Gees high and dry under an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which states that the secretary of defense may provide a fallen service member’s next of kin “a commercial air travel use waiver for the transportation of deceased remains of [a] military member who dies inside a theater of combat operations,” according to Fox News.
Absent financial help from the Department of Defense to fund transporting Gee’s remains to Arlington, the non-profit group Honoring Our Fallen, which helps the families of American service members, paid the cost to fly Gee’s remains via private jet for burial at the National Cemetery for fallen military heroes.
“Our service members are killed and we make the families responsible for the transportation costs?! That family lost a beautiful women and is forever changed,” tweeted a USMC veteran using the handle GILBERT. “Absolutely unacceptable. @POTUS you need to fix this. We need to do what’s right for the families of our fallen heroes!”
This is absolutely disgusting! As an army mom, I can’t imagine having to come up with money to transport my daughter’s body under these circumstances. This administration is beyond pathetic. 😡
— DollEsqRach (@DollEsq) July 26, 2023
Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., an Army veteran, learned of the Gees’ harrowing experience during a meeting with families of the “Fallen 13” and was “enraged to learn that the Department of Defense had placed a heavy financial burden,” he told Fox News.”
“Typically, our fallen heroes are flown back home for a solemn service and then laid to a final rest at Arlington Cemetery with the utmost respect and honor,” Mills said. “It is an egregious injustice that grieving families were burdened to shoulder the financial strain of honoring their loved ones. This is an unacceptable situation that demands immediate rectification.”
The USMC Twitter commentator provided one solution.
“Transportation from the war zone, back to America to the family for a private ceremony in their home town,” GILBERT wrote. “Then transportation to a final resting place should be the absolute minimum we need to do for our military members.”
