I bet you didn't know that due to the Republicans' government shutdown:
"Internments at National Cemeteries will be conducted on a reduced schedule"
according to the
VA's Veterans Field Guide to the Government Shutdown.
The Republicans will move heaven and earth to make sure my living veteran grandpa can get into the WWII Veterans Memorial but won't budge an inch to make sure my dead veteran grandpa can be buried on time in one of our National Cemeteries?
Ugly, hmm?
Just to be clear both my grandpas are long gone, my example is theoretical in my case. But it is still as valid, and dreadful, for anyone who had scheduled a burial at a National Cemetery beginning October 1.
My husband, a Navy vet, was buried three years ago at the National Cemetery in our area, Tahoma National Cemetery. It was a wonderful and moving experience for a new widow; at a time in my life when nothing in the world could replace the hole in my heart, I was overwhelmed by the courteous and respectful way they treated me and honored my dead husband.
I guess that's why I got to wondering if, because it's a national cemetery, it too was affected by the shutdown and that absolutely no one grieving a loved one should be subjected to any more pain, especially when it's caused by an unnecessary government shutdown.
Sure, the Republicans and the media are all over the vets getting into the WWII memorial:
"The RNC has put aside enough money to hire five full-time security personnel to keep the memorial open"-- Reince Preibus
"Every day there's a shutdown, we're going to be here to make sure the veterans get in, there'll be some members of Congress here to make sure they get in."-- Michele Bachmann
I'd like Reince and Michelle have to look into the eyes of a grieving family and defend why the WWII Memorial is open but the cemetery is not.
Or perhaps the Republicans could defend this:
Military cemeteries around the world housing American soldiers who died in key battles during the First and Second World Wars have been temporarily closed. Some 20 cemeteries are affected, in France, Belgium, Britain, Italy, Tunisia and Mexico which serve as the final resting place for troops who died in landmark campaigns such as the Normandy D-Day landings, the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) said on its website.
Or maybe they're feeling lucky they don't represent any vets in Alabama, whose National Cemetery in
Montevallo is pretty certain that it will be affected by the shutdown.