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16 October 2013

The State of the Union: DOD: We're Not Sure If We Would Allow A Chaplain To Administer Last Rites During The Shutdown




'We are currently litigating the matter.'


Via CNS News:

Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman in the Office of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, is refusing to say whether the Department of Defense would attempt to stop a civilian Catholic priest, who had been a contract chaplain for the military, from administering the last rites to a serviceman on a U.S. military base.

“I feel no particular compulsion to answer outlandish, hypothetical questions in a yes/no fashion nor does the Department, generally, answer hypotheticals at all,” Breasseale said in an email.

“Further, it is a matter of long standing Department policy to not address matters that are currently under active litigation,” Breasseale continued.

Prior to Breasseale sending this email declining to say whether DOD would try to stop a priest from administering the last rites to a serviceman, a spokesman for the National Security Staff at the White House, had responded to the question, by saying: “We’d refer you to our colleagues at DOD for comment.'



Of course, the Department of Defence did prevent priests, who were willing to volunteer, from conducting mass or otherwise serving their congregants.  Does anyone believe that THIS administration would not prevent contract chaplains, the ones that they just prevented from even hearing confession, from administering last rites?  The same administration that denied death benefits, such as mortuary services, even though they were covered in POMA?  Puhlease.

By the way, THIS was Chuck Hagel's FIRST visit to Andrews Air Force Base as Secretary of Defence.  He is welcoming home, allegedly, the bodies of the fallen troops to whose families he had just shafted...


From left, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Army Secretary John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno watch the remains of Pfc. Cody J. Patterson, not pictured, get carried off a military plane at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. According to the Department of Defense, Patterson, 24, of Philomath, Ore., died Oct. 6, 2013 in Zhari district, Afghanistan of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, right, watches an Army carry team move a transfer case containing the remains of Pfc. Cody J. Patterson Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. According to the Department of Defense, Patterson, 24, of Philomath, Ore., died Oct. 6, 2013 in Zhari district, Afghanistan of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, left, and Army Secretary John McHugh, right, watch an Army carry team move a transfer case containing the remains of Pfc. Cody J. Patterson Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. According to the Department of Defense, Patterson, 24, of Philomath, Ore., died Oct. 6, 2013 in Zhari district, Afghanistan of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)