Thursday, June 17, 2010

Arlington National Cemetery cannot keep bodies sorted

Running a cemetery is a a lot more difficult business than numerous people assume, particularly a cemetery like the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Unfortunately, Arlington National Superintendent John Metzler and his deputy Thurman Higginbotham are being fired also as swapped out after a series of scandalous mix-ups involving mislabeled graves and at least one service member’s body being buried on top of one more, the Pentagon told MSNBC. In addition, Higginbotham is being investigated for very maybe hacking computer files of a previous Arlington National Cemetery employee.

Resource for this article: Arlington National Cemetery can’t keep bodies sorted

Arlington National Cemetery didn’t possess a body database?

Metzler and Higginbotham were belittled heavily for not having an electronic database of the gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery and instead relying upon paper records. This weighed heavily on Secretary of the Army John McHugh’s mind while he made the move to write off the two people. A new position is being created to be the person to oversee Arlington National procedures.

For 42 years, John Metzler has been a government employee. He served for 19 years as the Arlington National Cemetery superintendent. His father preceded him as Arlington National Cemetery superintendent.

’Does everyone run a perfect organization?’ questioned Metzler

John Metzler admitted mistakes, but he clarified to the media that they are not malicious. While military rank and salary are not easy to come by, some would indicate that John Metzler, with a lot more than 18 years of service within the military, would make at least $3,454 each month according to the standard military pay table (if he is the equivalent of at least O-1, first-level officer rank). He probably makes at least $2,000 to $3,000 a lot more per month as the equivalent of a higher officer rank, although this is speculation.

Was John C. Metzler Jr. earning his pay?

No matter what the case many actually be, from John McHugh’s point of view, Metzler had failed to earn his salary, in light of the surprising events. Not only that, but John Metzler saying that “nobody’s perfect” and telling the media that some of the difficulties occurred before he started working at Arlington National Cemetery are errors that are simply inexcusable in such a high-profile position funded by taxpayers. That doesn't even consider the responsibility to tend the honored military dead.

Is the Arlington National Cemetery running out of room for individuals?

Is this because of burial anomalies? In its 200 acres, Arlington National has more than 300,000 buried. That does not take into account the special vaults that carry more than 40,000 total niches for cremated remains and will soon be expanded to 100,000. As Arlington National averages 28 funerals per day, 6,900 per year, it’s very likely that space will become an issue. Burr Oak Cemetery, a privately owned cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, had this exact same problem, and some employees resorted to less-than-respectful means of dealing with the situation Burr Oak Cemetery, a privately owned cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, had this problem, and some employees resorted to horrible means of dealing with the situation. Here’s hoping that Arlington National Cemetery will fix any administrative problems and continue to s! erve The US within the honorable fashion it has given that its official designation on June 15, 1864, by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

A lot more details on this topic

MSNBC.com

msnbc.msn.com/id/37612199

Arlington National Cemetery

arlingtoncemetery.org/visitor_information/anc_facts.html

WashingtonExaminer.com

washingtonexaminer.com/nation/arlington-cemetery-superintendent-retiring-95922519.html

Military pay chart

docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/militarypaytables/2010WebPayTable34.pdf



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