Running into Red Tapes
According to Webster, red tape is an “official routine or procedure marked by excessive complexity which results in delay or inaction.” There are many circumstances that may lead to a red tape. Searching for someone unaccounted for in a war or searching for someone’s records are two good examples of such situations. Needless to say, the military is one institution that strictly upholds its chain of command and the hundreds of internal and external procedures that allow the institution to ran as smoothly as possible. Ordinarily, these procedures are respected too by civilian people, but there are not-so-ordinary times when a civilian wants nothing more than to hasten a process. Again, such is the case when searching closure. Understandably, decades after a war, records may get lost, replaced, or moved to another area. Understandably, people who once oversaw the needs, questions, and what-nots of families may no longer be in the same place or the same position. Understandably, the sympathy for those still MIA may wane some. After years, those are all unfortunate yet understandable turn of events, but nobody wants them and the red tape that is sure to slow processes even more. Some families who lost a soldier in a war launch their own search in hopes of speeding up the process. Oftentimes, this is a costly and taxing endeavor, but when you want to find someone, dead or alive, you prod on. In recent history, veterans of the Iraq war found themselves up against red tapes when claiming benefits. There were or still are long waits for disability and other similar benefits that veterans are entitled to. There are thousands of backlogged claims that have been waiting for results for more than four months. Society obviously needs to follow rules and proper procedures to ensure systems run smoothly, but when those are not working anymore, perhaps it is time to rethink them. *** This is one lesson from The Lost Ranger that is so important. The family of Staff Sergeant Hull had to and continues to endure the pain of what was first thought as a suicide for some seventy years. This pain caused by that original assumption permeated the lives of his entire family. Other families have likewise suffered horribly due to this topic across history, all wars, and all countries. Care for and love each other. Read the full article