The Knuckleheads of the Day award (Wizbang)

Today's winner is The United States Army Human Resources command and Colonel Carl M Johnson. They get the award for the following-

The U.S. Army is apologizing to thousands of Army families who received letters beginning "Dear John Doe" after losing a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. is sending a personal letter to the families who received the letter.

Some 7,000 letters were sent in late December to notify families of services or gifts surviving family members can receive from nonprofit organizations that help families of fallen soldiers, according to an Army statement Wednesday.

The letters also had improper address information at the top of the correspondence. Instead of the receiving family's name and home address, the letters said "Army Long Term Case Management."

The letters were printed by a contracting company and sent by the U.S. Army Human Resources Command's Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Center in Alexandria, Virginia. The center issued a formal apology Wednesday, according to the statement.

Here is the letter in question.

The Army has since issued an apology and Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr is sending a personal letter to all the families. Since we're talking thousands, it sounds like more form letters to me.

Some smart guy or woman decided to save money by leaving names off the letters. Probably the same people who take shortcuts when it comes to tending to our wounded soldiers when they come home. They and their families deserve better than this stupidity and that's why I name The United States Army Human Resources command and Colonel Carl M Johnson today's Knuckleheads of the Day

Hat tip- Greta at Hooah Wife and Friends

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Comments (2)

One moment of true actions ... (Below threshold)

1. Posted by epador | January 13, 2009 8:39 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

epador:

One moment of true actions and they have to apologize for it. The veil was only removed temporarily, it seems.

Posted on January 13, 2009 08:39

Some smart guy or ... (Below threshold)

2. Posted by Anon Y. Mous | January 13, 2009 9:46 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)

Anon Y. Mous:

Some smart guy or woman decided to save money by leaving names off the letters. Probably the same people who take shortcuts when it comes to tending to our wounded soldiers when they come home.

Sigh. No, that's not the case at all. It was just an unfortunate error:

The Army is apologizing to family members of fallen soldiers for sending thousands of letters that all began with the placeholder "Dear John Doe."

In December, Army Human Resources Command sent about 7,000 letters about private organizations that help families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army announced Wednesday.

But the names of the families did not transfer when the contractor that printed the letters combined them with a list of the families' addresses, said Human Resources Command spokeswoman Shari Lawrence.

Is it really necessary to attribute the worst possible motives to those in command of our armed forces, without even bothering to do a simple Google search for more details of a story "reported" by CNN?

Posted on January 13, 2009 09:46

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