A Wisconsin National Guard member has been suspended from funeral honor guard duties after she cracked jokes on the Internet about burials.
Spc. Terry Harrison, a Madison-based Guards member, sparked outrage after she posted two photos online that the National Guard called “controversial and distasteful.”
In one, Harrison takes a selfie of herself in her car, with an American flag in the background and the caption, “It’s so damn cold out….. WHY have a funeral outside!? Somebody’s getting a jacked up flag.”
This Instagram selfie of Spc. Terry Harrison, of the Wisconsin National Guard, contributed to Harrison’s suspension.
In a second, Harrison and 13 other soldiers in Army Combat Uniforms, are posing around a flag-draped casket making silly poses. The casket, used for honor guard training in Arkansas, was empty, but the caption, “We put the FUN in funeral — your fearless honor guard from various states…” prompted fury from several Facebook users, who flooded the Wisconsin National Guard’s page.
“Funeral Honor Guard — the name says it all,” wrote one user. “HONOR — if you display yourself in any dishonorable way — you should be completely removed! You are to HONOR the sacrifice that brother/sister in arms made with the utmost RESPECT.”
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AP
This photo posted to the Instagram account belonging to Spc. Terry Harrison shows a dozen soldiers clowning around a casket, sparking an uproar on social media.
In suspending Harrison, the Guard said it expected those “who carry out this sacred detail to handle it with professionalism and honor.”
“A military funeral is the final show of respect for our veterans and their families, and we take that solemn duty very seriously," Maj. Paul Rickert, a Guard spokesman, said. "The very name 'military funeral honors' underscores the importance we ascribe — both as the military and society — at large to such solemn occasions. These photos and comments do not appear to align with those values."
The viral photos reached the desk of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who told WISN-TV the images and comments were “an outrage.”
WISN
Spc. Terry Harrison of the Wisconsin National Guard has been suspended from honor guard duties after two insensitive postings on Instagram.
“It's unfathomable to me that people who are not just service members, but who were picked to be in this highly specialized area, wouldn't be sensitive enough to realize just how awful that is," Walker said.
The insensitive pics sparked death threats to Harrison, who has since deleted her Instagram and Facebook accounts. The Guard has promised to safeguard Harrison, who has been suspended from her funeral duties but not kicked out of the service.
An investigation into the pictures is ongoing.
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