There seems to be a familiar pattern in the way the Guard representatives handled this mishap. They took ownership of it, and said they wished they could undo the problems caused to everyone involved. Isn't that pretty much the way everything is handled from the top down in this war? Mess up, take the blame, and repeat. That's called insanity. It may be difficult to get family members to speak up about how the absence of their soldier is affecting them, but not having that kind of ... More »

This is actually very important journalism, if only because it publicizes the concerns of the very people who are paying the heaviest price for the war in Iraq--the soldiers and the families. Full disclosure: I had served with the Army, and know some of the servicepeople personally. That said, the article does not explore some of the obvious questions of what this means. Rumsfeld just was fired, and Gates has full responsibility for the Pentagon, even though he is travelling overseas ... More »

There's a pattern here - see NPR story (linked below) about the same thing that happened to the Minnesota National Guard.

this is why small picture journalism matters. This is little story that goes mostly unnoticed by the general public and does a fine job of illuminating the frustration that military families feel just getting information about what is going on with their loved ones. Wonderful quote: At the Bordentown meeting, families asked whether the jobs the soldiers were doing would remain the same, about help with tax preparation, and about what they should say when their loved ones called ... More »