Cadets react to Dover scandal.

Last month on Nov. 8, the Washington Post broke news on the Dover Air Force Base Mortuary’s mishandling of troops’ remains.

Dover Air Force Base is the port of entry for all service members killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

According to recent reports by the Washington Post, a probe of the mortuary shows incidents ranging from the misplacement of a soldiers ankle bone, to a mortuary worker sawing off the arm of a Marine in order for him to fit into his uniform for burial.

Even more shocking, was the way remains were disposed off. In the instance that portions of a service member’s body are identified after burial, the remains are to be cremated and honorably buried at sea. 

Federal investigations revealed that these cremated remains were instead dumped in a Virginia landfill.

The cadets of Utah State University’s ROTC programs were outraged upon hearing this news.

“It is absolutely appalling that the bodies of soldiers would be misplaced or mistreated,” said David Kitchens, a senior Army cadet.

The fifth Army ethos states, “I will never leave a fallen comrade.” Troops take every means necessary to ensure a soldier killed on the battlefield is returned home.

Service members have faith that their fallen comrades will be handled with the utmost respect throughout the process.

“It’s just wrong; I think it’s cheating the respect. Our ethos is never leave a soldier behind and that’s definitely leaving them behind. Throwing them away like trash is just wrong,” said Benjamin Cox, a junior Army cadet.

Kitchens agreed with Cox on the ethos.

“If there is one thing you believe in the military, it’s never leave a comrade behind and that includes all of their body,” Kitchens said.

Senior Air Force cadets Bruce VonNiederhausern and Matthew Haddock have been following the story in the news since it first broke.

“I read about the widow. She said it was 'disgusting,' that puts it best. It’s kind of amazing that could be going on for so long and it just now comes up,” VonNiederhausern said.

"It’s a huge oversight and disrespectful. It’s one thing to be approved by someone, but there is no way this was just miscommunication. This is the biggest mess up that has happened recently,” Haddock said.

Not all cadets had heard about the incidents at Dover, but once they were told by senior cadets, they read the news for themselves.

Freshmen Air Force cadets Elyse Hobbs and Tyndall Taylor were two cadets who hadn’t heard of the incident until yesterday.

“It’s shocking and shameful to hear all that,” Hobbs said.

“I believe that if people are over there serving us, they deserve more respect than somebody half-assing their job,” Taylor said.