Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 Profile picture
Sep 5, 2020 24 tweets 5 min read Read on X
The straight line distance between Washington, D.C. and Dover, Delaware is less than 85 miles. It takes a helicopter about 40-45 minutes to make the trip. I was 19 years-old, and it was my first time riding a helicopter. I barely remember any of it. I was distracted. (thread)
I was more nervous than I've ever been in my life about what was to come next, and so, as this Black Hawk floated above the earth with my casket team--me being the youngest and most junior--I could only think: "What if I mess this up? What if I fail? How will I live with myself?"
That's how it should be in a moment like this. You should be nervous. You should let that sharpen your focus. Because there is no room for error when handling the remains of a service member returning to the U.S. after being killed in combat. You should strive for perfection.
The helicopter landed, and my anxiety spiked. In retrospect, I recall noticing the silence of the rest of the casket team. These were young men, mostly early 20s, loud and boisterous and chests puffed. Now, they were quiet. It was unnerving.
When you're a new enlisted soldier in an infantry unit--the FNG--you're treated like you know nothing. Because you don't. Everyone around you is older and vastly more competent and confident. Yet, in this moment, despite having done this before, they were all nervous, too. Scary.
We were brought into a holding area near the tarmac on Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the remains of service members who have died in a theater of operations arrive on a C-17 transport plane. We rehearsed our steps. And did it again. And then again. No room for error.
The plane arrived. The ramp was lowered. The transfer vehicle that would complete the next leg of the journey was parked. Our casket team was positioned. We were now each wearing ceremonial white cotton gloves we had held under the bathroom faucet. Damp gloves have a better grip.
We’re a casket team, but these are not caskets. They're transfer cases: rectangular aluminum boxes that bear a resemblance to a crate for production equipment. Yet, the dimensions are obvious. Any given civilian would take only a few moments to realize that's for carrying bodies.
It's called a "dignified transfer", not a "ceremony", because officials don't want loved ones to feel obligated to be there while in mourning, but it is as highly choreographed as any ceremony, probably more so. It is done as close to perfection as anything the military does.
I was positioned in formation with my casket team, and I could see the transfer cases precisely laid out, dress right dress, in the cavernous space of the C-17, each draped with an American flag that had been fastened perfectly. I remember my stomach dropping.
There is simply no space for other thoughts. Your full brain capacity is focused on not screwing up. The casket team steps off in crisp, exact steps toward the plane, up the ramp (please, oh god, don't slip), aside the case, lift up ceremonially, face back and down the ramp.
During movement, everyone else is saluting: the plane personnel, the OIC (officer-in-charge), any senior NCOS and generals, and occasionally, the president. The family is sometimes there. No ceremonial music or talking. All silent, save for the steps of the casket team.
You don't see the family during this. You're too focused. There are other distractions. Maybe they forgot, but no one told me there'd be 40-60 lbs. of ice in the transfer case to prevent decomposition over the 10-hour plane ride. You can sometimes feel it sloshing around a bit.
Some of the transfer cases feel slightly heavier, some slightly lighter. The weight is distributed among six bearers, so it's not a big difference. But then you carry a case that's significantly lighter, and you realize those are the only remains they were able to recover.
It probably takes all of 30-40 seconds to carry the transfer case from the plane to the mortuary vehicle, but it felt like the longest walk ever each time. The case is carefully placed in the back of the mortuary vehicle, and the casket team moves away in formation.
I don't know how to describe the feeling after you're done and on your way back to D.C., but it's a mixture of intense relief that you didn't screw up and profound sobriety over what you've just done and witnessed. I wouldn't call it a good feeling. Maybe a numbed pain.
From the outside, the most egalitarian place in America is a military transfer case. They all look exactly the same: an aluminum box covered with the American flag. We didn't know their names, rank, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation--none of it. All the same.
Whatever cruel and unfathomable politics had brought all of us to that moment--from the killed service member in the box to those of us carrying it to the occasional elected official who attends to pay respects--there were no politics to be found during a dignified transfer.
The fallen service members I helped receive and carry during this part of the journey to their final resting place were not "losers" or "suckers". They were selfless and heroic, and I had the honor of being among the first to hold them when they returned home.
There are service members around the world involved in caring for our war fatalities. The mortuary specialists, the casket teams, the family liaisons--so many people who work to ensure that this final act is done with the greatest amount of dignity and honor, seeking perfection.
I suppose the one thing we all took for granted is that dignity would always be affirmed by all our civilian leaders to those service members who gave everything. I never would have predicted any official, let alone a sitting president, would insult fallen service members.
I cannot adequately describe my anger at Donald Trump for being so willing to send service members halfway around the world to die on his own behalf and then call them "losers" for doing so. This coward is unfit for his office and the power it holds. He needs to go. /thread
POSTSCRIPT: I always feel bad when I can't thank everyone who says kind things for something I write because the mentions simply get overwhelming, but I appreciate all of you. When I get angry, I channel it into writing. I'm grateful it resonated. <3
UPDATE: tomorrow on news stands, this will appear in the print edition of @USATODAY (and online), in case you have relatives and other loved ones who don't do Twitter.

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More from @cmclymer

Sep 13
I've lived in D.C. for the better part of two decades. Nearly my whole adult life. Something folks aren't talking about--a giant elephant in the room--is the amount of "brand protection" going on right now.

(thread)
I don't mean fear of Trump or political persecution, although those can overlap.
When I say "brand protection," I mean the things someone in the political arena does to preserve their career longterm. It's not even necessarily "reputation protection," which is a somewhat different vibe.
Read 14 tweets
Sep 6
Since 1958, West Point has honored one U.S. citizen annually with the Sylvanus Thayer Award for embodying the values of "Duty, Honor, Country."

Tom Hanks was set to receive the award later this month. His ceremony was just abruptly canceled by the Academy.

(thread)
Recipients of the Sylvanus Thayer Award are a Who's Who of American icons.

Presidents, Supreme Court justices, Secretaries of State and Defense, astronauts, journalists, etc. have been honored.

It's basically the Academy's version of an honorary doctorate. It's a big deal.
There's always a military parade for the recipient and a ceremony and a formal dinner with the entire Corps of Cadets and Academy staff.

It's one of the biggest days on the West Point calendar.
Read 11 tweets
Sep 2
"Why should I care about U.S. Space Command being transferred to Alabama? I hate the military-industrial complex."

There are a number of reasons you should care, but you really only need one.

(thread)
An ICBM launched from Russia can reach the U.S. in 27 minutes. An ICBM launched from North Korea takes about 30 minutes; some estimates have it as low as 24 min. That doesn't mean we all get a text alert on our phones saying an ICBM is gonna hit in a half hour.
In reality, most of us wouldn't get much of a heads up at all. Because the ICBM needs to be properly identified and confirmed and reconfirmed. Then it has to be imperfectly tracked. Then agencies have to be notified. Then the press. Then the rest of us.
Read 14 tweets
Aug 7
This is being somewhat misreported, and I think it's important to correctly frame it, so that folks don't sound clownish when they're advocating for the retirement benefits of trans service members.

(thread)
The Air Force is denying *early retirement* to trans service members who have served 15-18 years and are being forced out.
As most folks know, Active Duty members of the military are eligible for retirement at 20 years. This is a separate thing from medical retirement, by the way.
Read 8 tweets
Jul 10
Yet again, we're in one of those moments when a college offers an interesting elective course, and clowns online get all huffy about it and whine that college education has become trivial and ask what job a student will get with this course.

So, a quick explainer.

(thread)
The typical undergraduate education, a bachelor's degree, is 120 credit hours over four years. Just about every degree program at every college or university in the country leaves at least 9-12 of those credits open as free slots for other subjects a student wants to explore.
That usually works out to at least 3-4 courses over the entire four years. Some degree programs have more. Some students will opt to use those elective slots toward a double major. Some will use them toward a joint degree program (bachelors and masters) over four or five years.
Read 25 tweets
Feb 28
The criticism over Zelenskyy not wearing a suit is not only foolish but more importantly: completely fails to understand why he doesn't. Of course the man own suits. That's not the point.

Here's why Zelenskky is not wearing a suit...

(quick thread)
His clothes are intentional symbolism. A country and its leader under immediate and existential threats from a tyrannical force have no time for suits and neckties.
Notice, too, that he's not wearing a formal uniform.

He has no visible rank or medals or nametapes. He has no commander’s cap or mirror-shined shoes. He has no epaulets or brass buttons or starched creases. He isn’t even wearing patches.
Read 6 tweets

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