Ft. Lewis general to decide today on limiting number of funerals
ARMY GENERAL SEEKS A MONTHLY SERVICE; FAMILIES OBJECT


By William YardleyNew York TimesSan Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:07/25/2007 01:30:42 AM PDT

FORT LEWIS, Wash. - Twenty soldiers deployed to Iraq from Fort Lewis were killed in May, a monthly high. That same month, the Army base announced a change in how it would honor its dead: instead of units holding services as casualties occurred, they would be held collectively once a month.

The anger and hurt were immediate. Soldiers' families and veterans protested the change as cold and logistics-driven. Critics online said the military was trying to repress bad news about deaths. By mid-June, the base had put the plan on hold, and its commander, Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby, is expected to decide today whether to go through with it.

"If I lost my husband at the beginning of the month, what do you do, wait until the end of the month?" asked Toni Shanyfelt, who said her husband was serving one of multiple tours in Iraq. "I don't know if it's more convenient for them, or what, but that's insane."

Military historians and scholars say the proposal and its fallout highlight the questions facing the armed forces as casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan mount, and some soldiers and their families come to expect more from military bases than in past wars.

In Vietnam and Korea, historians say, many bases were places for training soldiers and shipping them out, rarely to see them return, with memorial services uncommon. Now, in the age of the all-volunteer force, the base has become the center of community. The Army and other branches have fostered the idea that military service is as much about education, job training and belonging to a community as it is about national defense.

"It wasn't considered the Army's business in any of the other wars to conduct these services," said Alan Archambault, director of the Fort Lewis Military Museum, which is supported by the Army. "It was the hometowns of the soldiers that died that had these. Now, I think the Army bases are trying to be the hometowns."

Army officials said the idea to hold monthly services reflected a need to find balance between honoring the dead and the practical reality that the services take time to plan, including things such as coordinating rifle salutes and arranging receptions for family members who attend.

The Army emphasizes that the ceremonies held on bases are in addition to those held by the soldier's unit overseas as well as private family services, which usually include a military honor guard.



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