The Detail

When I left SOCOM (AF Special Operations Command) and went to SAC (Strategic Air Command), I volunteered for the base honor guard (SAC duty sucked and I took the opportunity to go TDY every chance I got). In two years I buried a lot of military, mostly of the older, retired variety, due the honors for prior service. The ones that got me though, were the active duty funerals, guys taken before their time leaving young wives and young children behind. It used to break my heart.

That said, our pal CAFKIA sent us this article (long but worth it) about the folks who pull the notification detail in the USMC. For those who can't grasp the secondary and ancillary consequences of war, let alone an illegal one:

...

Each door is different.

Some are ornately carved hardwood, some are hollow aluminum. Some are protected by elaborate security systems, some by loose screen doors.

During the past year, the 40-year-old Marine major in the white gloves has stood at the front doors of homes in three states, preparing to deliver the message no family wants to hear.

It is a job he never asked for and one for which he received no training. There are no set rules, only impersonal guidelines. It is a mission without weapons.

...

There have been close to 2400 notifications, every branch of the service is represented among the dead, since this war began. It's about time we said 'no more'.