Ben Kesling Profile picture
Aug 29 5 tweets 1 min read Read on X
1/ The Trump campaign at Arlington controversy can be confusing. Here it is, broken down simply.

You can’t bring your own photography crew to Arlington without permission…
2/ You can’t have your photo crew take photos even if one family consents.

That’s because other graves are included in those photos. And those families haven’t given permission.

More importantly, grieving families shouldn’t feel pressured by powerful people to give consent.
3/ Section 60 is noteworthy because the graves are those of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. People visiting those graves aren’t distant relatives.

It’s moms and dads and wives and husbands and kids and friends and fellow troops. The grief is still very present.
4/ The staff at Arlington aren’t being political when they prevent photo crews from taking unauthorized photos.

The staff is being apolitical.

They’re being professional.

They’re upholding the dignity of Arlington.
5/5 I have been to Arlington many times and I have never seen someone grinning and giving a thumbs up for a photo.

I’ve never seen it because it’s not something you do at Arlington if you know anything about the place, and the men and women who are buried there.

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More from @bkesling

Aug 29
1/ A quick observation about Trump and Arlington...

and why it reminds me of a little-known rally in Waterloo, Iowa years ago.
2/ I covered the Trump campaign (the first time around) and was on the campaign trail when then-candidate Trump was a long-shot candidate.

And that's why I was in Waterloo, Iowa on Feb. 1, 2016.
3/ I was there for a Trump campaign rally at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center.

The convention center was no great thing, looked just like any other convention center in any other town.

Except the sign out front. That was exceptional.
Read 11 tweets
Apr 10, 2023
1. Check out my latest story in @WSJ about how military medics are heading to civilian hospitals for training.

wsj.com/articles/in-a-…

But why would soldiers have to get combat-medical training from civilians?

Here comes a thread!
@WSJ 2. Trauma medicine, what you expect to see whenever you walk into a major hospital in the United States, has its roots on the battlefield.

The triage system for treating soldiers first came about during the US Civil War, according to the American College of Surgeons.
@WSJ 3. President Lincoln actually drove the creation of the first trauma manual.

It was in WWII that researchers were taken to the battlefield to study trauma, and to track patients' outcomes after the war.
Read 29 tweets
Feb 27, 2023
1. Exclusive: New inspector general report documents years of problems that led to the collapse of the Afghan military and Taliban takeover of the country soon after American forces abandoned the country wsj.com/articles/watch… via @WSJ
@WSJ 2. The Special Inspector General for the Reconstruction of Afghanistan will soon be releasing a report on the reasons for the sudden collapse of Afghan security forces just over a year ago.
@WSJ 3. Some key takeaways from the report (which should be publicly available soon)...
Read 26 tweets
Dec 14, 2022
1/

I'm getting an incredible amount of feedback on this story:

The Transition Assistance Program designed to help U.S. troops prepare for civilian life faces low participation and accountability issues, a government watchdog says wsj.com/articles/trans… via @WSJ
@WSJ 2/ The TAP program is something that most civilians don't know about and which gets relatively little attention.

But EVERYONE who's served has an opinion about the program and most everyone talks about its shortcomings

bit.ly/3BveOzl
@WSJ 3/ For those who don't know the TAP program is a mandatory series of classes that all troops must take before leaving uniformed service.

But like anything else emanating from the Pentagon, there's waivers and caveats.

As they say in the military, let me "orientate" you.
Read 10 tweets

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