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28 www.army.mil/publications DYING—it is the last thing on earth we want to do, and it is usually the last thing we are prepared for. This is evidenced in part by the fact that more than half of Americans do not have a written will. In the military, the Judge Advocate General’s Corps will readily assist servicemembers to draw one up, and servicemembers are asked if they have a written will prior to deployment. However, because it is not a re- quirement, many do not take advan- tage of this free service. That may be because wills have to do with dying, and dying is not a topic with which we are comfortable. Ernest Becker, in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Denial of Death,” suggests that death is the primary concern of the living, but that we cope with it by denying it will ever happen to us. How do you like that introduc- tion? I start out talking about death, and follow that with an assertion that it is something that we do not like to talk about. You may already be feeling squeamish, but you have no need for alarm. That is because the topic, rather than being dismal and macabre, is un- alarmingly practical. Someday you will die, and something will be done with your remains. Have you considered the option of being interred in a military cemetery? National cemeteries were intro- duced at the beginning of the Civil War, when in July 1862, President Abraham Lincoln obtained autho- rization through legislation enacted by Congress, to purchase “cemetery Story by Sgt. Maj. Cecil Edwards A lasting memorial & testament A Soldier from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, “The Old Guard,” positions the Army flag before a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arling- ton National Cemetery. Although Arlington is one of two national cemeteries maintained by the De- partment of the Army, the VA’s National Cemetery Administration maintains the other 128 national cemeteries in 39 states (and Puerto Rico) as well as 33 Soldier’s lots and monument sites. D. Myles Cullen
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