Controversial Air Force casket photo prompts investigation

Again... didn't they learn anything from Abu Ghraib?!?!

No one's dumb enough to think stuff like this doesn't happen. DON'T TAKE PICTURES!!

Dear US Military: It's acts like this that resulted in the disbanding of the Canadian Airborne Regiment in '91. Put the damned cameras away, get back to work for and stop peeing on dead bodies!

Are you kidding me? This photo is poor taste of judgement and they should know better. I'm also in the military and you have to be so be very careful with what you say and do especially in war time.

it looks to me like they are saying no to what is going on...the crossing of the hands is a stop signing in airforce...probably telling the government to stop the appalling acts of disrespect etc

you are all imbeciles.
This is a training safety poster, it means (crossed arms=stop, da dump= sound of loose cargo pallets inside aircraft, rolling right at you will up to one thousand LBS of cargo, the rope is attached to a WHEEL CHOCK, to keep the airplane from rolling on humans, the chains secure cargo, the NOOSE! is actually a ratcheting cargo strap, for mooring cargo into the FLOOR ROLLERS ON THE AIRCRAFT DECK!, and the dead soldier CAN BE YOU if you do not follow safety protocol, STAY ALERT, STAY ALIVE, and under the poster is a caption that reads, not following cargo handling procedure can land you in a box, and then the proper Air Force Publication reference to the technical manual about how to use chains cargo straps and what to look for to assure the aircraft is safe to load and unload cargo,

THIS POSTER was meant for AVIATION GROUND CREWS, not for the general population, that is why it escapes you, you do not know the message because it was not meant for you, bureaucrats and civilian air force representatives, ARE NOT AVIATION GROUND CREW PERSONNEL, they cant even imagine where to put oil on an aircraft, or even about how to push the cargo from the carrier rack truck into the pop up rollers attached to the floor of aircraft.

all those guilty should be given a dishonorable discharged. many who lost their loves ones, have been sadden by these wierdos.

maybe this is their way of saying those people who dumped the cremated remains are #$%$ and this is their protest. and maybe this will make people talk about how the government don't give two cents about the dead soldiers. just dump them in a ditch. that is bad taste.

the casket and the dead soldier have to do with casulaties of war-that doesnt represent a c-130 cargo hold

I don't understand what they are trying to get across with this photo? I see nothing funny nor any rhythm or reason behind it. The photo looks like they are trying to get a point across but its lost on me. May be if we/i knew what they where trying to say we/i could better judge the photo.

It seems to me the message is loud and clear.... They are saying don't dump the bodies of dead soldiers in the dump. Message received loud and clear. It seems that more energy is being wasted trying to punish these soldiers than looking into the disposing of dead soldiers bodiers in a garbage dump. Look at the faces of all the soldiers, there is solidarity in that group.

This is nothing compared to the air force dumping bodies in a land fill.

Just sitn here discussing this picture and I hope that this picture was taken prior to the Dover AFB body dumping scandal for some unknown reason. After the fact someone added the caption and it went viral. I hope that is the case. If not, as a retired Master Chief Petty Officer, in the Navy, it is disturbing that anyone would: 1. Find something funny about this. 2. Be dumb enough to put yourself in this picture if you did find something funny about this. I guess we'll find out.

Before we start slinging charges and punishment let get the facts. In the Nam we did a lot of crazy stuff to help relieve the tension, even on ship after a month out. Most of you have probably never been in the military, let alone in combat. Don't be to quick to judgement.

Perhaps it is a lampoon on the military brass for placing the remains of our fallen soldiers in a landfill. What kind of respect was that?

Changed my mind on this one. it is an inside thing and not meant to be in anyway disrespectful. I can see how a leaked photo can be MADE controversial if taken out of context. In the USAF and in many branches of the services we need to watch out how pictures can be used. I hope these Airmen don't get burned by a senior officer who will do what is pc to save their career.

Just because you don't know what it means, doesn't mean its a bad thing. Someone else's interpretation of this pic makes it a bad one. If I saw this pic, I would not have associated it with the mocking of a fallen troop. Being in the Marine corps, we have traditions and such that outsiders would know nothing about especially being an aircrew member my self. We do take our job very seriously, especially knowing that if my bird goes down, potentially all of us are dying. I'm not pro war, but I am pro comradery. My next question would be, is it a coffin of a box in which an aircraft part came in? The old two blade helicopter hubs used to come in a similar box.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with Bradley Manning...

I look at this photo for a couple of seconds and I understand what it is. Some others have posted and I will re-iterate because they are right on the money. That Da Dump..Da Dump is exactly the sound of a 463L cargo pallet going over the rollers of an aircraft. This is a photo from their tech school, one of the main safety concerns of their career field is getting crushed between two pallets weighing (up to) 10,000 lbs. One of the huge operational emphasis in the air force is safety safety safety. So of course this is going to stick to them. They wanted a class photo the portrays something particular to the career field. The chains and devices are a symbol of their career field. Ask any Port Dawg 605/2T2 and they will understand the main concept of this photo. Not saying they thought it through, but they took a photo that had a meaning in mind, a simple one, not considering outside views. Getting squashed between two 10,000 lb pallets..#$%$ sucks to be you.....you can end up dead.

iT'S JUST DARK HUMOR. iT'S NOT REALLY APPROPRIATE, BUT IT'S JUST DARK HUMOR. Give them all a little extra duty for being-sick-while-slacking-on-the-job, and let it go.

I am a wartime vet and if this is the "best" America has to offer in an NCO then we are in trouble. While in the military, especially while in uniform, you should carry yourself with dignity and class. Who was the brainiac leader of this gang who thought this would be "funny" be it dark humor or military humor? Might have been less offensive to Americans if they had dressed up the person in the coffin as a Taliban..Now that would be dark, miltary humor. Bust them all to private for showing extremely poor judgement! And, make them notify the next of kin of a a deceased soldier and see how "funny" or how much dark miltary humor there is in that!!!