What say you?

Blueyed228

Ok its dead and I said i would start a thread:

So I heard today (and am too lazy to find the link), from a military guy that lost his dad (also an army guy) that they recently changed the "thank you for you service" speech that they give to families of military people who pass away. Its usually said when they hand over the flag.

It used to be "On behalf of the President , the people of the United States, The US Army, etc, we are sorry for your loss and thank you for your service"

Now it only says "On behalf of the people of the United states and the US Army, etc".

About 2 years ago the "President" part was taken out.  This was a big discussion today on local talk radio. Some people said they were not surprised since they feel like Obama does not like or support the military, others say its coincidence and since it cant be proved that he had it changed it doesnt mean anything.

What say you?

sweetpea0911

When my army friend passed away this summer, they still said "on behalf of the President, the people of the united states, etc." to his mother.  I didn't know they had officially  taken that out.

jennylove810

I say...
#1- If I were a grieving widow, I probably wouldn't even register one word this person was saying to me so I wouldn't care one way or another if "The President" was in or out
and #2- I think people overthink this type of stuff.

This coming from someone who is married to a vet, and who is pretty neutral on Obama as a president.

rhodesign

I think it sounds like crap made up to further smear the President by people who don't like him/don't think he likes America

AllAboutTheBenjamin

...I don't know how I feel about this.  I wonder why it was changed?  I do think that things do get read into a little bit sometimes, but... I can see why people might think this is a little weird.

Blueyed228

Rho- thats possible.  And probably likely.  But its what the guy said they said to him mom.  He said he asked another military friend who said it was taken out.

rhodesign

Was it officially taken out, or accidentally omitted? That's the question for me.

rhodesign

All presidential opinions aside, do you really think any president would bother to change something like that? Seems petty.

Blueyed228

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_say?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:777f380e-c8a1-4aec-853c-597ab7ec85b2Post:952f8e96-18a1-4d03-ba38-b54c8d866207">Re: What say you?</a>:
[QUOTE]All presidential opinions aside, do you really think any president would bother to change something like that? Seems petty.
Posted by rhodesign[/QUOTE]

Im not entirely sure you want me to answer that question...... :P

I dont know if it was official or not.  But from what he said it was well known in the upper levels of the military that it was taken out on purpose.

But its alot of "he said he said"

thesuninherhead

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_say?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:777f380e-c8a1-4aec-853c-597ab7ec85b2Post:e83ee2a7-978a-4018-8120-71680fa5dd15">Re: What say you?</a>:
[QUOTE]I think it sounds like crap made up to further smear the President by people who don't like him/don't think he likes America
<p>Posted by rhodesign[/QUOTE]</p><p>This.</p><p>*eta: wouldn't this have made the news if it had officially been removed? It doesn't seem like the type of thing which would just slip under the radar in the states. Not to mention that there's absolutely no mention of this 'change' on wikipedia etc, and every website I've seen in my two minute google search seems to suggest that the line is still there. Why would you believe this on face value? It sounds like you know the source is quite biased.</p>

Blueyed228

Sun- I didnt say if i believed it or not.  I just said it was what I heard today on the radio.

I thought it would make for an interesting thread.  If it is true, holy crap.  If its not, then really what is next with the conspiracy theories? 

LessThanZero

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_say?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:777f380e-c8a1-4aec-853c-597ab7ec85b2Post:e83ee2a7-978a-4018-8120-71680fa5dd15">Re: What say you?</a>:
[QUOTE]I think it sounds like crap made up to further smear the President by people who don't like him/don't think he likes America
Posted by rhodesign[/QUOTE]

Yeah this.

thesuninherhead

<p>In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_say?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:777f380e-c8a1-4aec-853c-597ab7ec85b2Post:87dbb7e8-b6ed-4527-a9bd-deba913fc56b">What say you?</a>:
[QUOTE]It used to be "On behalf of the President , the people of the United States, The US Army, etc, we are sorry for your loss and thank you for your service" Now it only says "On behalf of the people of the United states and the US Army, etc". About 2 years ago the "President" part was taken out.  
Posted by Blueyed228[/QUOTE]</p><p>You stated it in a rather fact like manner if you didn't actually believe it to be true, but alrighty then... </p><p> </p><p>I really have no clue if it's true or not given that I did the tiniest search ever, but it just seems like an odd thing to have been changed two years ago yet not have any major fuss around it or a record of the change online.</p>

K Byte

Well technically, Bush was still president two years ago today. Obama was just president-elect. So if this is true, the wording could have been taken out under President Bush's administration.

BecW2be

I think it's a BS story because we have nothing better to slam the President for right now. I highly doubt he removed those words.

Once he's fucking us straight up the asshole with tax increases and deductions disappearing, even as every federal employee gets a yearly raise, then I'll have something to say against him. That's a real problem.

kimheartsscott

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_say?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:777f380e-c8a1-4aec-853c-597ab7ec85b2Post:e83ee2a7-978a-4018-8120-71680fa5dd15">Re: What say you?</a>:
[QUOTE]I think it sounds like crap made up to further smear the President by people who don't like him/don't think he likes America
Posted by rhodesign[/QUOTE]

<div>I 100% agree with this.</div>

K Byte

Ok, I found this on a United States .mil domain, so this should be accurate right? It was linked on Wikipedia in the article on military funerals:
http://www.mfhcmdrs.osd.mil/mfhcr_edu_present.htm

Army: On behalf of the President of the United States and the people of a grateful nation, may I present this flag as a token of appreciation for the honorable and faithful service your loved one rendered this nation.

Wording is a little different for the other branches, but they all include "President of the United States."

Blueyed228

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_say?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:777f380e-c8a1-4aec-853c-597ab7ec85b2Post:36199f2b-3df0-4b14-8ac6-bf153bddef47">Re: What say you?</a>:
[QUOTE]I think it's a BS story because we have nothing better to slam the President for right now. I highly doubt he removed those words. Once he's fucking us straight up the asshole with tax increases and deductions disappearing, even as every federal employee gets a yearly raise, then I'll have something to say against him. That's a real problem.
Posted by BecW2be[/QUOTE]

You should come to Ma.  They have been doing that here for years ;)

mehgank

I'm a member of our area's Honor Guard team, and we still say "On behalf of the President...". I just did funeral honors for a fallen shipmate back in April and that's what we said when we presented the flag to her parents.

allisong23

This is like the "$200 million a day for the President's trip to India" story. Someone makes up a story and exaggerates it, and the media starts spreading the story like wildfire, making it sound worse and worse each time. When they are proven wrong (like it seems this has been from people's experience above), they never come forward and say "Yeah, I had the wrong info. What I said wasn't true". They just leave it out there and let it become gospel. So there are still people who believe that Obama is spending $200 million a day to see an Indian festival.

Mass media sucks.

Y I Oughta

Could it be that the person saying it at that moment either forgot to say the whole thing, was new and didn't know it all, was frustrated and stumbled, or just doesn't like the Prez. so HE decided to take it out for personal reasons.

AllAboutTheBenjamin

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_say?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:777f380e-c8a1-4aec-853c-597ab7ec85b2Post:46842aac-85af-499f-a01b-7c4d41aa6634">Re: What say you?</a>:
[QUOTE]Let's face it: the media in the states sucks.  It's all slanted.  I don't believe unbiased reporting happens anymore.  For example, during the Bush years, he was bashed for all his mistakes. Then he's on Oprah yesterday and she has all this respect for him NOW?  Media reports what they want without regard to the truth.  Is that an absolute? No, but that's mainstream.
Posted by jcbsjr[/QUOTE]

Dude - I could not agree more with this statement.  And as a reporter for a smaller market, the networks seriously disgust the shiit outta me.  As an aspiring journalist in college, it was a dream of mine and all my classmates to make it to CNN or something - but there is no way in hell I'd ever work for a network now.  I seriously believe that FOX and MSNBC singlehandedly (or, since its two of them... would it be doublehandedly?  whatever) ruined the country's opinion of journalism, which is sad, because I know a lot of really awesome, respectable journalists who would rather remove their own limbs with a rusty handsaw than write a slanted story.

When I worked on election night, I was at Republican headquarters and they watched FOX the entire night.  My colleague was at the Dems, and they had on MSNBC.  It's all so entirely stupid to me when we hear whining from <em>both</em> sides about how this media isn't fair and the other party says this or acts like that - it's like, c'mon guys.  You're even watching your "friendly" station for results.  Rise above, dammit.

...and now I shall step off my soap box.

zippityb

I like to get my news from BBC, because I feel like it's less skewed. I will, say, however, that the British media will not publish anything negative about the royal family. I was studying in Scotland when the whole Prince Charles gay scandal was going on in 2003, and none of the news outlets would go into detail about it.

ebonyivory10

I highly doubt it was changed - just more stuff to make Obama seem anti-military.

K&J64

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_say?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:777f380e-c8a1-4aec-853c-597ab7ec85b2Post:966fc19c-5a0c-41f1-ab7c-4ffea7a081e6">Re: What say you?</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm a member of our area's Honor Guard team, and we still say "On behalf of the President...". I just did funeral honors for a fallen shipmate back in April and that's what we said when we presented the flag to her parents.
Posted by mehgank[/QUOTE]

This, I asked my friend who's active service in the Army and she agreed it has not changed.

Add this to the list of stupid Obama rumors. I'm not 100% in his corner but some of this stuff is just ridiculous.

Bkseller13

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_say?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:777f380e-c8a1-4aec-853c-597ab7ec85b2Post:966fc19c-5a0c-41f1-ab7c-4ffea7a081e6">Re: What say you?</a>:
[QUOTE]<strong>I'm a member of our area's Honor Guard team</strong>, and we still say "On behalf of the President...". I just did funeral honors for a fallen shipmate back in April and that's what we said when we presented the flag to her parents.
Posted by mehgank[/QUOTE]

Total side note...Thanks for what you do!  I have a brother and cousin in the military (Navy/Army) and think that your duty is one of the least recognized but most important in the service.  Thank you for making sure that the families have a friendly face during the worst time of their lives.  You have my admiration!