Army has to apologize for ‘John Doe’ letters to kinfolk of war dead

Published on January 8th, 2009

General Casey gets to send another letter, now

The U.S. Army is apologizing to thousands of Army families who received letters beginning “Dear John Doe” after losing a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Some 7,000 letters were sent in late December to notify families of services or gifts surviving family members can receive from nonprofit organizations that help families of fallen soldiers. The letters also had improper address information at the top of the correspondence. Instead of the receiving family’s name and home address, the letters said “Army Long Term Case Management.”

The letters were printed by a contracting company and sent by the U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Center in Alexandria, Virginia. The center has issued a formal apology.

Ain’t outsourcing grand?

16 users responded in " Army has to apologize for ‘John Doe’ letters to kinfolk of war dead "

Subscribe to this post comment rss or trackback url

# 1 Ah_Yea said, on January 8th, 2009 at 7:20 am

“Ain’t outsourcing grand?”

That’s, of course, assuming the army could have done any better.

# 2 Dallas said, on January 8th, 2009 at 7:51 am

Just more incompetent government from an incompetent leadership. It’s actually all quite routine by now.

This will all begin to improve with our new more responsible administration.

# 3 Angel H. Wong said, on January 8th, 2009 at 8:42 am

You can’t blame Democrats for this kind of mess, the Army has always been a conservative institution.

# 4 morram said, on January 8th, 2009 at 8:44 am

“Dear John Doe” we apologize.

# 5 Paddy-O said, on January 8th, 2009 at 8:45 am

# 3 Angel H. Wong said, “You can’t blame Democrats for this kind of mess, the Army has always been a conservative institution.”

True. If you want to blame Dems look to screw ups by the IRS, which has always been a socialist institution.

# 6 Dallas said, on January 8th, 2009 at 9:10 am

#4 LOL Good one

# 7 Mr. Fusion said, on January 8th, 2009 at 9:17 am

#1, Ah Yea,

That’s, of course, assuming the army could have done any better.

As I recall, the Army did quite well when they were tasked with this job.

BTW, the Army would probably still be doing this if they didn’t have to send all the clerks to Iraq due to the need for warm bodies.

# 8 Mister Mustard said, on January 8th, 2009 at 9:22 am

Heck of a job, Contractors. With track a record like this debacle and “our” mercenaries fighting the war in Iraq, why should anyone hesitate to outsource Social Security to the Bush Administration’s Wall Street pajama pals?

# 9 bobbo said, on January 8th, 2009 at 11:14 am

Everybody wants their asses kissed.

# 10 Paddy-O said, on January 8th, 2009 at 11:19 am

# 7 Mr. Fusion said, “BTW, the Army would probably still be doing this if they didn’t have to send all the clerks to Iraq due to the need for warm bodies.”

Exactly, and now that we are on the verge of pulling out some idiot wants make the same mistake in Afghanistan.

# 11 Mr. Fusion said, on January 8th, 2009 at 4:53 pm

#10, Cow-Paddy,

There was a reason for us to go into Afghanistan. There wasn’t a reason to attack Iraq. Thus why so many NATO countries are also in Afghanistan and everyone else has left Iraq.

# 12 Steve said, on January 8th, 2009 at 7:52 pm

I remember a story about a condolence letter written by Abraham Lincoln. Sure, he didnt write all the letters. But at least all the letters were written by people who had business writing such letters.

# 13 enki said, on January 8th, 2009 at 9:11 pm

At least it didn’t say ‘Dear Joe Plumber’….

# 14 Uncle Patso said, on January 9th, 2009 at 3:15 am

S.N.A.F.U. was, after all, originally a military acronym. These messes now brought to you even more efficiently by independent contractors.*

* “Independent contractors” means no health insurance. The database mailmerge specialist probably had the flu that week…

# 15 Paddy-O said, on January 9th, 2009 at 5:48 am

# 11 Mr. Fusion said, “There was a reason for us to go into Afghanistan.”

Actually not. There was a reason to get rid of the gov’t, which was accomplished with almost no troops on the ground. Any further commitment is another Vietnam, as you can plainly see by the results.

Fools NEVER learn from history.

# 16 Mr. Fusion said, on January 9th, 2009 at 8:47 am

#15, idiot Cow-Paddy,

I seriously wonder if you are really that stupid or just troll to get a raise out of people.

You are such a fucking asshole.

Leave Your Reply Below...

Comment Moderation is Active, so if your comment doesn't
show up immediately, please don't submit it again.

Special Deals 4U

25% off eHarmony subscription with code EHTECH
12-percent discount forever with code TECH
10-percent discount and free month using TECH10
10-percent or 30 dollars off weekly car rental!
Get 10-percent discount on car rental!
Get 10% off rental cars!
Get 10% off Dollar rentals!
Discounts on domain names!