by Sara Teasdale
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
Icon from a picrew by grgikau. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
This is a picture the military has never let anyone see until now.
This is a picture behind the scenes at Dover Air Force Base where the bodies of fallen soldiers are prepared for burial.
And that includes being properly dressed, all the way down to the smallest detail.
In this picture Staff Sgt. Miguel Deynes is making sure the uniform is just right for an army pilot recently killed in Afghanistan.
There is a very specific process once a fallen soldier is returned home.
The bodies are flown back to the U.S. on a cargo jet.
A team of service members wearing white gloves carries the coffins, covered with flags, to a white van that takes them to the Armed Forces Medical Examiner.
The remains are washed, the hands are scrubbed clean, and the hair is shampooed. If necessary bones are wired together and damaged tissue is reconstructed with flesh-toned wax.
Sometimes they will use photos, sometimes just intuition to recreate the wrinkles in faces, and the lines around the mouth or the corner of the eyes.
“It has to look normal, like someone who is sleeping.”
Once the body is ready then the uniform is prepared.
That includes putting medals in the proper order on the ribbon rack above the jacket’s breast pocket.
During the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan 10 to 20 bodies were arriving every day.
The embalmers often worked all night to get the bodies home on time. That can take an emotional toll so the mortuary has a large gym so workers can blow off steam.
Many say they are haunted by how young the fallen soldiers are, and by how many of them leave behind small children.
That’s why Sgt. Deynes says they are advised not to do research into the backgrounds of the soldiers.
“If I knew the story of every individual who went through here, I would probably be in a padded cell.”
The dress uniform being prepared in this particular case will be in a closed casket.
Even so, it will be perfectly tailored, starched and pressed. Everything will be checked down to the last detail.
Sgt. Deynes says, “They’re (the family) not going to see it. I do it for myself. It’s more than an honor it’s a blessing to dress that soldier for the last time.”
This story was reported by James Dao of the New York Times.
The picture is by Ashley Gilbertson.Oh my god I just cried.
“During the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan 10 to 20 bodies were arriving every day"….this crushed my heart. Unbelievable…:(
That part got me, too.
More people need to see this, they need to see the cost of war. It’s not just a story you can push out of your mind if you see pictures
As a feminist, I don’t think women should be drafted into war.
As a feminist, I don’t think men should be drafted either.
People should never have to be drafted to war. If not enough people believe in that war enough to fight, then that war is not worth fighting.
It disgusts me how people so naively hate American Sniper. If you don’t respect the men keeping you safe and protecting your freedom, be my guest to move to the Middle East…I’m sure they’ll give you the freedom you deserve.
Hello. My name is Damien and I am a two time combat veteran.
I was not there ‘keeping you safe’ or ‘protecting your freedom’. Iraq was never a threat to our freedom.
Your ignorance is a bigger threat to our freedom than anyone in Iraq ever was.
Fuck you. Fuck Chris Kyle and fuck the war mongering, money grubbing dick heads that sent young Americans to kill young Iraqis for nothing more than money.
Common terms of modern US military history as applied to the generations who fought our wars.
The enemy? His sense of duty was no less than yours, I deem.
