Bart Stupak: “communities across our Nation have felt the effects of the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but rural communities…”

“communities across our Nation have felt the effects of the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but rural communities have been hit especially hard. A recent Associated Press story reported that nearly half the casualties in Iraq have come from towns of fewer than 25,000 people, and one in five come from towns of 5,000 or less. Rural States have had some of the highest per capita loss rates. I have certainly seen this in my own district. Each loss from a small town affects not only the family but the entire community. In light of these facts, we need to make sure that we are taking care of all the families who have lost loved ones in military service, whether those families live in cities or in small rural communities. In the past year, I have encountered several disturbing cases in my own district in which families had to fight to have the remains of their loved one flown to an airport near the intended place of burial. The military advised the families that the bodies of their loved one would be flown to the nearest major urban airport, which in some cases, as in my district, are hundreds of miles away. In order to meet the remains at the airport, one of the families would have been required to drive over 4 hours each way through a snowstorm. There is no reason to impose these kinds of burdens on a family that has already made the ultimate sacrifice. This kind of treatment is disrespectful and unfair.”