Family of Marine Killed in Afghanistan Stuck with $60,000 Bill After Pentagon Policy Change
In what must be the lowest blow that Joe Biden’s Pentagon can deliver to one of our fallen heroes, the family of a Marine who was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan had to pay to ship her body to its final resting place because the Pentagon wouldn’t foot the bill.
The family of Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, one of the 13 U.S. soldiers killed during Joe Biden’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan, has come forward to explain that they were stuck paying thousands of dollars to have her body shipped to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia after her funeral in California.
This horrific situation was brought forward by Florida GOP Rep. Cory Mills, who told Fox News that he was “enraged to learn that the Department of Defense had placed a heavy financial burden” on the Gee family, which was stuck paying the tab for the final flight of their loved one’s body.
The family wasn’t just on the hook for a few grand, either. The final bill to have Gee’s body moved to Arlington was “a staggering $60,000,” Mills said.
The family resorted to starting a GoFundMe page to help cover expenses.
Mills discovered that the Department of Defense declined to pay for the fallen hero’s body to be moved from California to Arlington Cemetery.
Gee’s remains were flown to her hometown of Roseville, California, for a ceremony, but the DOD refused to pay the costs to have her casket moved from California to Virginia. The family was faced with paying the bill themselves until they discovered Honoring Our Fallen, an organization dedicated to helping the families of fallen service members.
Mills noted that the Pentagon has the option to refuse to pay for such expenses, thanks to a recent amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which states that the department may provide a fallen soldier’s next of kin “a commercial air travel use waiver for the transportation of deceased remains of [a] military member who dies inside a theater of combat operations.”
“May” is the key word, because it also gives the Pentagon the option to refuse to fund the transportation of a fallen soldier’s remains.
Mills said these costs should fall on the DOD, not aggrieved family members.
“Typically, our fallen heroes are flown back home for a solemn service and then laid to a final rest at Arlington Cemetery with the utmost respect and honor,” Mills said.
“It is an egregious injustice that grieving families were burdened to shoulder the financial strain of honoring their loved ones. This is an unacceptable situation that demands immediate rectification,” the congressman added.
Gee’s family also told supporters that after her expenses were satisfied, any money left over from the GoFundMe page would be donated to the 18 other service members who were injured by the bombing in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, as Biden’s Pentagon was refusing to pay the costs to fly Gee’s remains to Arlington, the DOD has been happily funding drag queen performances to “promote diversity and inclusion” in Ecuador, of all places.
Per Libs of TikTok:
The Biden admin is funding drag shows in Equador but refused to pay to bring a dead Marine’s body home. pic.twitter.com/MWNXaex4OE
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 26, 2023
Joe Biden’s bungled bug out from Afghanistan was a mess that is still reverberating with negative consequences all across the world. Now it is even making life harder for the families of our fallen heroes. Joe Biden has to rank as the worst commander in chief in U.S. history.
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