Enlisted valor-award recipients often don’t get ‘full’ ceremony.

An enlisted service member killed in battle and posthumously awarded the Silver Star for heroism is rendered lesser honors at Arlington National Cemetery than an officer who dies in a car crash the day after being commissioned.

That statement took officials at several veterans’ organizations by surprise. But it is true: Burial honors at Arlington, the nation’s most storied military cemetery and home of the Tomb of the Unknowns, are accorded strictly by rank, not by the circumstances of death.

"That is the custom that has been prescribed," said Jack Metzler, the superintendent at Arlington for the past 17 years.

Most enlisted troops receive "standard honors" — military pallbearers, a firing party led by a noncommissioned officer, a bugler and, on request, a chaplain.

All others receive variations on "full honors," which also include a horse-drawn caisson, a band and, if requested, escort troops. The only enlisted troops who may receive full honors are those in the highest enlisted grade, E-9.

Medal of Honor recipients, regardless of rank, also rate the caisson in addition to standard honors.

That custom is due for a change, Sgt. 1st Class Robert Durbin wrote in an e-mail to Military Times:

"The two types of funerals are dramatically different," said Durbin, referring to standard versus full-honors military funerals. "In a place our nation considers to be the ‘most hallowed grounds in America,’ a place that demands our respect, I think this issue deserves to be looked at.

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At the outset of the Iraq war, the Bush administration estimated that it would cost roughly $50 to $60 billion to oust Saddam Hussein and set that nation on the road to democracy. Five years later, the price tag is $600 billion and counting. As the economy sours, it becomes clear that one overlooked casualty of this war will be America’s creaking infrastructure.

Free markets may be the only way to save the nation’s roads and highways. They might even be the best way to save them. The Department of Transportation, under this Administration, has made no secret of its desire to lease highways to private companies, to use tolls and congestion pricing, to auction off fast access to those willing to pay and to otherwise let free markets drive transportation. Under this view, breaking up the government monopoly on transportation could lead to innovation and more choices for the public. Let those who use a resource pay for it, without burdening everyone else with the costs. Let the pain of price ease gridlock. It will reduce both fuel consumption and emissions. Heck, it might even drive down your insurance premiums.

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The American Flag as you’ve never seen Her fly!

SAN DIEGO — A Marine was charged Tuesday with murder and dereliction of duty in the death of a detainee in Fallujah, Iraq, after authorities say his involvement came to light during a lie detector test for a job with the Secret Service.

Sgt. Ryan Weemer is the third person charged in the case, which centers on allegations that a Marine squad shot a group of unarmed captives during heavy fighting in November 2004.

Investigators claim Weemer, 25, described the killing during a polygraph test that included a question about whether he had participated in a wrongful death.

Weemer had completed his active duty and was in the Marine Corps’ Individual Ready Reserve until the Marine Corps reactivated him this week, said Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Marine spokesman. The move allows the military to court-martial Weemer.

Weemer, of Hindsboro, Ill., has been assigned to Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division, while he awaits trial at Camp Pendleton. He was not being held in the brig.

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