You Are Right, Martha Gillis

[Courtney Massengale]

This issue was red hot a couple years ago at the height of the anti-war protests…

I very much disdain the legal implications that Soldiers – like all government employees – are public figures and therefore do not have the same rights to privacy and protections that private citizens do. The idea that I have no control over my name, image, or the ability for my family to do the same in the event of my passing infuriates me.

I understand and sympathize with this mother who has lost a child. It must be horrible to have your grief running parallel to a famous person or coincide with any event that makes you remember. In total seriousness, the death of Michael Jackson is always going to be linked to the death of her son. That the media coverage is effervescent can only delay her journey through the grieving process.

However, I do think this is an important watershed. The media and the forces who oppose the military in general, the war in particular, have moved on from using dead Soldiers as endorsements for their cause. While I understand her pain, I’m also reassured that her son’s name and image aren’t being used for purposes he may not have endorsed.

In other words, I would rather there be too little coverage than too much of the wrong kind.

[Ken White]

Hopefully Mrs. Gillis saw this article LINK.

As for this:

I very much disdain the legal implications that Soldiers – like all government employees – are public figures and therefore do not have the same rights to privacy and protections that private citizens do. The idea that I have no control over my name, image, or the ability for my family to do the same in the event of my passing infuriates me.

I think all that -- and a lot of other things -- go with the job. Most of that is known up front. It's a voluntary service.

I can sort of sympathize. My Wife from a totally civilian background could never understand that I did not care a whit that everyone knew how much money I made from the items on my uniform, to her that was an invasion of privacy. I pointed out that war is really an invasion of privacy. Thus my pay and allowances didn't seem to be a big issue. Nor would my death be one; I figured I wouldn't care...

[Courtney Massengale]

As for this:I think all that -- and a lot of other things -- go with the job. Most of that is known up front. It's a voluntary service.

Nobody ever told me that by joining the military, I gave up the rights to my image and likeness.

[Ken White]

We're all different and have varying ideas of what's important and what's not. What I will say is that if you do it right, it's a jarringly, sometimes achingly selfless line of work. Obviously, not everyone agrees with that but in the end, no matter what they believe, it most always works out that way. That's okay.

I'm luckier than many -- haven't got regret one...

Oh, only thing I told my kids -- no funeral for me, throw the ashes from the cardboard box in the river and shoot any religious or news person that appears.

[IntelTrooper]

The media and the forces who oppose the military in general, the war in particular, have moved on from using dead Soldiers as endorsements for their cause. While I understand her pain, I’m also reassured that her son’s name and image aren’t being used for purposes he may not have endorsed.

Well, the soldiers are acting on behalf of a different political party now, so it's not en vogue to dance on their graves.

[Tom Odom]

Thank you, CPT Adair and MSG Riley!

A Soldier Comes Home

On July 5, The Post published a letter from Martha Gillis of Springfield, whose nephew, Lt. Brian Bradshaw, was killed in Afghanistan on June 25, the day that Michael Jackson died. The letter criticized the extensive media coverage of Jackson's death compared with the brief coverage of Lt. Bradshaw's death. Among the responses was the following letter, written July 9 by an Air National Guard pilot and a fellow member of the crew that flew Lt. Bradshaw's body from a forward base in Afghanistan to Bagram Air Base. Capt. James Adair, one of the plane's pilots, asked the editorial page staff to forward the letter to the Bradshaw family. He and Brian Bradshaw's parents then agreed to publication of these excerpts.

Dear Bradshaw Family,

We were crew members on the C-130 that flew in to pick up Lt. Brian Bradshaw after he was killed. We are Georgia Air National Guardsmen deployed to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom. We support the front-line troops by flying them food, water, fuel, ammunition and just about anything they need to fight. On occasion we have the privilege to begin the final journey home for our fallen troops. Below are the details to the best of our memory about what happened after Brian's death.

[George L. Singleton]

Outstanding honors for Lt. Brian Bradshaw.

Thanks for sharing this WASHINGTON POST letter to the editor with us.

George L. Singleton, Colonel, USAF, Ret.
Regular USAF, Tennessee Air National Guard & USAF
Reserve (USSOCOM)

[Greyhawk]

There's an email floating around that supports many of the points being made here - while claiming that Ed Freeman passed without notice on the very day Michael Jackson died. Snopes has already set that to rights, but [sigh] the irony is obvious and painful. Meanwhile 'Shifty' Powers (Band of Brothers) passed on June 17th. Apparently now there's an email comparing him to Jackson circulating, too.

A father who lost a son in Afghanistan at about the same time - and who was a user of Twitter - began a campaign to get his son's name into the top ten hot list there, alongside Jackson, Miley Cyrus, et al.

I pass no judgment on any of these actions. I can only imagine I feel the pain.

Notices of the passing of heroes, on the battlefield or years later, immediately bring to my mind final scene from Private Ryan - the film that led to Band of Brothers: "Tell me I have led a good life." Each of us must ask and answer that question of ourselves in our own way. Whether consciously or not, for many fine folks Michael Jackson's death answers that existential question the fictional Private Ryan posed when confronted by the ghosts of men known but to him.

People like stories about untimely celebrity death, especially when the cause was avoidable - it demonstrates they are better off than celebrities, that while their life isn't lived in a mansion maybe that isn't so bad after all.

Soldier stories make them question whether they deserve what they have.