[account deactivated]
c_man
c_man
Post rating:
+
they almost gave the job to tpaine but he couldnt keep a straight face when delivering the news
jiroemon1897
jiroemon1897
YUNG JIRO AKA SHOWA STUNNA AKA
Post rating:
+++++
Very eye-opening article. Sometimes we focus on the harm of the country the war is taking place in, but families at home suffer every day because of the war.
Flying_horse_in_saudi_arabia
Flying_horse_in_saudi_arabia
Post rating:
~
wow. War really is shit
Superabound
Superabound
Not Your S.H.I.E.L.D.
Post rating:
+
"Sir...Madam.....I regret to inform you that your dead gay son has officially joined the United States Marine Corp"
gyrofry
gyrofry
Kurdt
Post rating:
~
captain dick semon
Superabound
Superabound
Not Your S.H.I.E.L.D.
Post rating:
~
more like US Marine CORPSE lmao
[account deactivated]
tourgon
tourgon
Post rating:
~
can we get an SA admin in here? tell them to unpermaban me for a sec, i should change my SA password. i think i should change it
karphead
karphead
Post rating:
~
thank you for your service, tp
palafox
palafox
Post rating:
+
front page please
palafox
palafox
Post rating:
+
I sent this to my dude who's an Actual Troop and i guess he found the line about "the browns" funny but i don't think he read much further because he thought it was a serious article. good work tpaine
tourgon
tourgon
Post rating:
~
i was just trying to figure out if i have to change any passwords connected to my 3DS Mii character (who is black), so that's probably why he found it funny. i think i don't have to change any further passwords. phew
Crow
Crow
Post rating:
+++++
RBC
RBC
Post rating:
~
Crow posted:
Very nice
ilmdge
ilmdge
Online
Post rating:
~
front page
palafox
palafox
Post rating:
+
Crow posted:
hahaha dude uploaded one of his videos to worldstar and the comments rule
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh61D84l059y39ZXMq
jiroemon1897
jiroemon1897
YUNG JIRO AKA SHOWA STUNNA AKA
Post rating:
~
lol
FAILAIDS
FAILAIDS
Post rating:
+++++
ilmdge
ilmdge
Online
Post rating:
+
tree bro, from twitter
Meursault
Meursault
Post rating:
+
Now that's paper
piss
piss
Post rating:
+
getfiscal
getfiscal
Mike Nelson here.
Post rating:
~
change the username "piss" to "r. kelly's sheets" in honour of macklemore
palafox
palafox
Post rating:
+
macklemore? Why, I hear that guy appropriated queer identity in the context of a pop song! thanks but no thanks, if you ask me. Just a word to the wise, Piss, in case you were actually thinking of taking Getfiscal up on his well-intentioned but misguided suggestion. He's a good guy but I don't think he thought this one through all the way. Good guy though. Anyway that sums it up on my end, just hoping you do the right thing on this one. Alright? Get back to me when you get a minute. Good talking to you.
NoFreeWill
NoFreeWill
Post rating:
~
I want his job. Delicious public tears.
Superabound
Superabound
Not Your S.H.I.E.L.D.
Post rating:
~
mye coumtry tizerby
skweet lamd ob limberdy
oh three eye sea
skweet lamd ob limberdy
oh three eye sea
swampman
swampman
Dont Mess With Sucess
Post rating:
+
Death's Messenger: One Soldier's Job Delivering the Best News Imaginable
“There’s still a war going on,” Captain Richard Siemion began. “There are still people dying—not as many as before—but it’s still happening. And when it does, the Army sends somebody like me to spread the good news.”
Captain Siemion was recently honorably discharged but was one of several casualty celebration officers serving in upstate New York. Whenever a soldier’s death was reported, the CNO on duty would have four hours to track down the deceased’s family and deliver some of the best news they would ever hear.
CNOs have been the focus of some interest over the last decade of American war. In 2006, the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News published a Pulitzer Prize–winning series about the Harlem Globetrotters tasked with the same job as Captain Siemion, and in 2008 Woody Harrelson starred in the independent film Surfer, Dude. He played a CNO.
I sat down with the 22-year-old Siemion to talk about his first-hand experience telling families of active-service soldiers that their black sheep children have gone to slaughter.
VICE: Did you volunteer for the job?
Captain Siemon: I like to say I voluncheered. I had narrowly escaped justice over my first tour in Afghanistan when my Battalion Commander sent me to the training course.
What did you learn there?
You learn that there’s no wrong way to tell someone that their creepy gun-obsessed cousin is not returning from war, but there are a lot of boring ways to do it. If you look at history, the way they used to tell families about a death: You had skywriting, you had singing candygrams, you had parades. Through trial and error, the United States Army got it as close to right as they can. I was always the kind of leader who didn’t go 100 percent by the book, but in this case, I binned all the books, because there is a reason why people just wanna cut loose and dance. Not much room for reading.
What do you think they got right?
One thing is the idea that no job is more important than this job. So, if you’re in the middle of an important brief with a Colonel and you get called to give a notification, you say, “Gotta go.” Another thing is that you go in person. It shows the importance. Obviously you’re never going to see that individual again, or be their best friend, but if my psychopath cat-torturing grandson died, I’d want to be told by someone with easy access to party supplies.
Did they teach you how to handle your liquor?
My bosses were really understanding that it could be rough on me. I mean, everybody handles it differently. I was told about a guy who had to give multiple notifications and eventually lost his life passing out on a train track. I think I handled it better than most people would given the same circumstance. I honestly really enjoyed it. There are so few things in the Army that give you instant gratification like that. The hangovers are painful and awful, but you’re doing a service.
What’s the sequence of events for delivering a notification?
You get briefed, you get your dress blues ready, and you go over the choreography. That’s when you realize how important choreography is, because each soldier is the DDR master in their zip code. Sometimes the family will challenge you to a game, assuming by my uniform that I love DDR. It can be a little frustrating.
What other ways do you track people down?
Well, for example, every soldier has an ERB or ORB which is a record of their career before the army—pet torture, bullying, drunk driving—so that helps. The other thing I started doing was posting an announcement to a soldier’s Facebook profile. I would use that as a kind of positive identification to see how popular the deceased was with his friends, his kids, his wife. You don’t want to drag it out by saying, “Hey, are you so-and-so?” because they'll think your one of his goony buddies looking for a date to rape. But if you have that Facebook announcement, you can skip that step and just move forward to asking if you can throw a party at the house. You want to get inside as quickly as possible. You don’t want to do it on the porch there in front of all the neighbors and blow up the spot.
What is the car ride there like?
Well, the protocol is that you travel with Sepultura, so there’s usually blast beats. Once we get a little drunk we start toasting just about any old thing. One time we watched, like, a Quentin Tarantino movie. It was really suspenseful, like the suspense that comes before the violence.
Only in this case the violence is emotional rather than physical.
That’s a good way of putting it. I can't remember what movie it was. Not Jackie Brown. Maybe it wasn't Tarantino.
What kinds of things did you talk about?
We’d make jokes and we’d laugh, you know, about the dead soldier. And in between breaks in the merriment, I would start rehearsing again what I was going to say. I’d recite it, and would typically slur the words. You can’t over-rehearse, though, because the important thing is make a joyous sound with your heart.
How would you actually deliver news of the death?
There’s a whole pie. There’s a certificate that I memorized. It’s the same for everybody—you just replace names and locations.
How does it start?
"The Secretary of the Army is pleased to inform you that your son, or husband, or brother—estranged, whoever it is—was killed in action as expected yesterday in such-and-such province or wherever it was, and then the details about their death. Typically you don’t have all the details. Sometimes you’ll know just a few things—whether it was small arms fire, or suicide, or a motorcycle crash. Whatever you say, they always ask for more details. The standard response is, “There is an ongoing investigation to make sure he is dead. Once the investigation is complete, you will have full access to the report.”
How do people react?
Relief is the best way to put it. But I've heard horror stories of people having an appointment they can't move, or where the wife was cheating on her taxes, and said, “I know what you’re here for. Cut the bullshit. How much money do I owe?” I didn’t experience that at all. You see the love there. I might’ve been a little more cynical about army wives before doing this job, but I realize now how they long to be free.
Did the families often know right away why you were there?
A lot of times, the family would know as soon I got out of the car. People with family members playing soldier overseas are nervous every day about the little monster turning up again. But sometimes denial is a very powerful thing. They hold onto that fear that he’s still out there somewhere. One time I started the spiel, “The Secretary of the Army is pleased to inform you that your husband…” And then the dog started barking, and the wife went over to do body shots with the dog, and was with the dog for a couple minutes and then I had to start again.
After you told them, did you try to offer comfort?
Uh yeah... Southern comfort
“There’s still a war going on,” Captain Richard Siemion began. “There are still people dying—not as many as before—but it’s still happening. And when it does, the Army sends somebody like me to spread the good news.”
Captain Siemion was recently honorably discharged but was one of several casualty celebration officers serving in upstate New York. Whenever a soldier’s death was reported, the CNO on duty would have four hours to track down the deceased’s family and deliver some of the best news they would ever hear.
CNOs have been the focus of some interest over the last decade of American war. In 2006, the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News published a Pulitzer Prize–winning series about the Harlem Globetrotters tasked with the same job as Captain Siemion, and in 2008 Woody Harrelson starred in the independent film Surfer, Dude. He played a CNO.
I sat down with the 22-year-old Siemion to talk about his first-hand experience telling families of active-service soldiers that their black sheep children have gone to slaughter.
VICE: Did you volunteer for the job?
Captain Siemon: I like to say I voluncheered. I had narrowly escaped justice over my first tour in Afghanistan when my Battalion Commander sent me to the training course.
What did you learn there?
You learn that there’s no wrong way to tell someone that their creepy gun-obsessed cousin is not returning from war, but there are a lot of boring ways to do it. If you look at history, the way they used to tell families about a death: You had skywriting, you had singing candygrams, you had parades. Through trial and error, the United States Army got it as close to right as they can. I was always the kind of leader who didn’t go 100 percent by the book, but in this case, I binned all the books, because there is a reason why people just wanna cut loose and dance. Not much room for reading.
What do you think they got right?
One thing is the idea that no job is more important than this job. So, if you’re in the middle of an important brief with a Colonel and you get called to give a notification, you say, “Gotta go.” Another thing is that you go in person. It shows the importance. Obviously you’re never going to see that individual again, or be their best friend, but if my psychopath cat-torturing grandson died, I’d want to be told by someone with easy access to party supplies.
Did they teach you how to handle your liquor?
My bosses were really understanding that it could be rough on me. I mean, everybody handles it differently. I was told about a guy who had to give multiple notifications and eventually lost his life passing out on a train track. I think I handled it better than most people would given the same circumstance. I honestly really enjoyed it. There are so few things in the Army that give you instant gratification like that. The hangovers are painful and awful, but you’re doing a service.
What’s the sequence of events for delivering a notification?
You get briefed, you get your dress blues ready, and you go over the choreography. That’s when you realize how important choreography is, because each soldier is the DDR master in their zip code. Sometimes the family will challenge you to a game, assuming by my uniform that I love DDR. It can be a little frustrating.
What other ways do you track people down?
Well, for example, every soldier has an ERB or ORB which is a record of their career before the army—pet torture, bullying, drunk driving—so that helps. The other thing I started doing was posting an announcement to a soldier’s Facebook profile. I would use that as a kind of positive identification to see how popular the deceased was with his friends, his kids, his wife. You don’t want to drag it out by saying, “Hey, are you so-and-so?” because they'll think your one of his goony buddies looking for a date to rape. But if you have that Facebook announcement, you can skip that step and just move forward to asking if you can throw a party at the house. You want to get inside as quickly as possible. You don’t want to do it on the porch there in front of all the neighbors and blow up the spot.
What is the car ride there like?
Well, the protocol is that you travel with Sepultura, so there’s usually blast beats. Once we get a little drunk we start toasting just about any old thing. One time we watched, like, a Quentin Tarantino movie. It was really suspenseful, like the suspense that comes before the violence.
Only in this case the violence is emotional rather than physical.
That’s a good way of putting it. I can't remember what movie it was. Not Jackie Brown. Maybe it wasn't Tarantino.
What kinds of things did you talk about?
We’d make jokes and we’d laugh, you know, about the dead soldier. And in between breaks in the merriment, I would start rehearsing again what I was going to say. I’d recite it, and would typically slur the words. You can’t over-rehearse, though, because the important thing is make a joyous sound with your heart.
How would you actually deliver news of the death?
There’s a whole pie. There’s a certificate that I memorized. It’s the same for everybody—you just replace names and locations.
How does it start?
"The Secretary of the Army is pleased to inform you that your son, or husband, or brother—estranged, whoever it is—was killed in action as expected yesterday in such-and-such province or wherever it was, and then the details about their death. Typically you don’t have all the details. Sometimes you’ll know just a few things—whether it was small arms fire, or suicide, or a motorcycle crash. Whatever you say, they always ask for more details. The standard response is, “There is an ongoing investigation to make sure he is dead. Once the investigation is complete, you will have full access to the report.”
How do people react?
Relief is the best way to put it. But I've heard horror stories of people having an appointment they can't move, or where the wife was cheating on her taxes, and said, “I know what you’re here for. Cut the bullshit. How much money do I owe?” I didn’t experience that at all. You see the love there. I might’ve been a little more cynical about army wives before doing this job, but I realize now how they long to be free.
Did the families often know right away why you were there?
A lot of times, the family would know as soon I got out of the car. People with family members playing soldier overseas are nervous every day about the little monster turning up again. But sometimes denial is a very powerful thing. They hold onto that fear that he’s still out there somewhere. One time I started the spiel, “The Secretary of the Army is pleased to inform you that your husband…” And then the dog started barking, and the wife went over to do body shots with the dog, and was with the dog for a couple minutes and then I had to start again.
After you told them, did you try to offer comfort?
Uh yeah... Southern comfort
[account deactivated]
wasted
wasted
Post rating:
+
I liken VICE to a bunch of kids wandering into innocence shattering situations and running to their parents for comfort and meaning.
MindMaster
MindMaster
Post rating:
+
North Korean Subways Are So WEIRD
fleights
fleights
Toronto
Post rating:
~
the wierd ones is us
[account deactivated]
MindMaster
MindMaster
Post rating:
+
isnt vice owned by murdoch anyway? it's probably a conscious ploy to reduce everything to stupid "narratives"
peepaw
peepaw
Post rating:
~
pretty sure murdoch only has a minor stake, but still lol
MindMaster
MindMaster
Post rating:
+
i absolutely hate most of western north korea reporting/that GBSlike north korea fascination
[account deactivated]
[account deactivated]
[account deactivated]
[account deactivated]
gyrofry
gyrofry
Kurdt
Post rating:
+
discipline posted:crow and I had an idea to get all gussied up and go up to williamsburg with a camera, then pretend to be VICE journalists and ask hipsters what they think of "the regime" and ask them if it's true that everyone has to get the same haircut as obama. and when they blow us off we'll say that they're too scared to talk to bona-fide real life credentialed journalists like us.
im in, but only if its colonial williamsburg