The funeral of Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene.

General Greene was laid to rest during a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. The burial followed a private memorial service at Joint Base Myers-Henderson Hall.

Private. Memorial. Two very key words. Where the President goes, the media flocks. The logistical piece alone is a huge footprint. It would require the 800 mourners in attendance to be vetted in advance. "Sorry Uncle Tim. You're not allowed to attend this funeral because the Secret Service did not clear you or your family." Think, honestly, of the nightmare of burying your spouse. Now imagine holding that service at a time and date convenient to the POTUS schedule, with ample planning to allow for the PSD sweeps, the security, the vetting. Now, take your private ceremony and open it up to a media circus, with Nancy Grace herself narrating a play-by-play as TAPS is sounded.

We've yet to hear from the family, but everybody is assuming his absence was a slight. How do we know it wasn't by request of the family? Or that they were told he'd attend but - for security and protocol - they would have to jump through dozens of flaming hoops and that his widow didn't simply decline? This is the first combat death of an O8 since Vietnam - a very different time. What IS customary for this? A lot of assumptions are being made here, and sadly, instead of remembering a hero with dignity and honor, his death is being used as a political poster to say "Ah ha! Gotcha! This President doesn't honor our military's fallen." I wish they would let MG Greene rest in piece and latch on to ANY other example.

Chief, I don't think that there is a message that we as service members should take away from their absence at MG Greene's funeral service. Below is something that I read the other day and it is attributed to Matthew Joseph Myer Greene, MG Greene's son. Now I have no way of verifying that he said these words, but it does offer a different perspective to the topic.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, while the president and vp were welcome to attend my father's funeral and burial lets make a few things clear.
1) my father is no more important than any other soldier lost in war. What message does it send if he attends one funeral over another? Does it make that soldier more important than another? What does it say to families?
2) do you think the president being at the service helps bring my father back or make us feel any better that he is gone? The answer is no.
3) If the president or vp had been there, there would have been more stress on our family simply in terms of logistics let alone security. More people would have had to stand outside or not come at all due to the security requirements .
I am happy the president or vp did not come because the ceremony was more personal, more intimate and better because we got to share it with the people who meant the most to us.
Do not allow news outlets to make a political soapbox out of my family or my father."

I take away that they treat all fallen members the same. Seems to be a lot of finger pointing because they didn't go. What about all the other fallen? Was their sacrifice not as important as MG Greene's? I bet their families would argue otherwise. I just don't see where their lack of attendance should gain so much media attention.

I read this statement the other day. It is attributed to Matthew Joseph Myer Greene, MG Greene's son. I have no way to confirm that he actually said it, but I thought it would add something to the discussion here.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, while the president and vp were welcome to attend my father's funeral and burial lets make a few things clear.
1) my father is no more important than any other soldier lost in war. What message does it send if he attends one funeral over another? Does it make that soldier more important than another? What does it say to families?
2) do you think the president being at the service helps bring my father back or make us feel any better that he is gone? The answer is no.
3) If the president or vp had been there, there would have been more stress on our family simply in terms of logistics let alone security. More people would have had to stand outside or not come at all due to the security requirements .
I am happy the president or vp did not come because the ceremony was more personal, more intimate and better because we got to share it with the people who meant the most to us.
Do not allow news outlets to make a political soapbox out of my family or my father."

LTC Yinon Weiss, I mistakingly marked it as spam, but it's a duplicate post

The message we should take away is, "Do not let the left-wing or right-wing media do your thinking for you!" Some may think it would be a great sign of respect for the President, VP, etc to attend. However, for once I agree with the fact they didn't attend. The funeral was the last moment that his family would have with him. It was not the ocassion for a political statement to be made, and yet by him not attending, the media choose to make a political statement out of that. I am not a fan or supporter of much this President does or has done, however, this time it was a good decision not to attend the funeral.

I think it would show preferential treatment to one Soldier over all the others. Yes, he was the highest-ranking Soldier to die in combat since Vietnam, but the three folks you listed can't go to every funeral so I think it is best that they go to none (Unless they know the person personally). The President personally calls or visits with the family of the deceased Soldiers for fatality. He has done so since he took office, and while not all Presidents have done that in the past, most have tried to do so if they were able.

I'm not sure if they are purposely avoiding it to NOT show preferential treatment when they have avoided all the others like the plague. He was the highest ranking member to die since Vietnam? To me, that will make a note in the history books. POTUS et als. could easily work something into their speech to honor everyone previously who gave their life in these conflicts. I know the media will play on the left and right and see how riled up they can make us.

I'm glad you refrained from the non-pejorative phrases; from the post (and the extracted quote) below, neither Presidents Bush nor Nixon attended the funerals of flag officers who died in combat, which the author knew. You were manipulated.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2552095

"Davis stated definitively that Nixon had attended the Dillard funeral in 1970 and Bush had attended the Maude funeral in 2001, a "tradition" of presidential attendance that Obama "bucked" by ignoring the Greene funeral. As it turned out, none of that was true, and Davis, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who played an important role in the War on Terror and who today teaches law at Howard University, knew it when he wrote it."

This article (written during the Bush Administration) addresses the historical record of Presidents and military funerals:
http://hnn.us/article/1784

There are valid reasons to criticize President Obama, as there were President Bush (and pretty much any President). The question of military funerals is not one of those - unless a President was attempting to use the funeral for political purposes.