RE: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,163036,00.html
Another glaring example of USA viewing her child WARRIORS as cannon fodder.
Put your bonnet on,buckle your chinstrap and SADDLE UP. Veterans have to fight another war just to receive benefits promised them by our government.

Warriors fight our wars because as children Warriors are told that USA needs them to enable Americans to live,for the few, a lavish lifestyle.

Our troops aren't taken care of in USA wars. It is time for VETS to come together and help each other. Congress and the President is responsible for taking care of WAR VETS.

Veterans must quit fighting the bureaucrats because they are only doing what the President and Congress tells them to do. We need to let the President and Congress know what being a Warrior is all about.

SEMPER FI AND GOD BLESS AMERICA

The sad truth is that Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have always been viewed as expendable assets by those in power who owe their allegiance or have any political connection to interests or corporations who can profit from conflict of any kind.

Face it - war is big business - make no mistake, war profiteers will create conflicts and enemies to keep their markets thriving, and as long as people can get rich from it, then Plato was sadly correct - "only the dead have seen the end of war".

What is even more despicable is that veterans of these conflicts only serve as uncomfortable and expensive reminders of the human cost of doing business...something those who have never served would prefer to forget.

SNAFU! Is this realy a surprise to anyone?

I for one would like to know how investigating war profiteering would “inhibit the President’s ability to execute his authority as commander in chief.” Unless of course, the President believes that his executive authority includes protecting those making excessive profits from the blood of our troops.

Two Words- Unverisal Health Care. Just becuase the looks like a mistake does not mean that. This author of this has sold his self to Dems. We always talk about failures of Bush admin. what about the Clinton admin failures to do something about this. Bureaucrats dont lose their jobs when something goes wrong. So we are promise thing like Universal Health care, Bureaucrat Dream job. When it fails like Social Security and Medicaid, it wont be just soldier and Marines dying.

quote:

Originally posted by DIRTYLODOWN:
Two Words- Unverisal Health Care. Just becuase the looks like a mistake does not mean that. This author of this has sold his self to Dems. We always talk about failures of Bush admin. what about the Clinton admin failures to do something about this. Bureaucrats dont lose their jobs when something goes wrong. So we are promise thing like Universal Health care, Bureaucrat Dream job. When it fails like Social Security and Medicaid, it wont be just soldier and Marines dying.

Who's WE? I have never seen a posting by a republican on this site that talked about Bush's Failures. Bush doesn't make mistakes (mistakes are made) but not by GW. As far as why didn't democrats try to address health care, you have a very short memory. Republicans like to attack Hillary for her attempt to address it during the Clinton administration. But your strangest statement of all was the failure of Social Security and Medicare. These have been two of the most successful government programs in history, even with the republican attack on Medicare and both parties raiding Social Security funds.

This author evidently has never heard of nor studied history...
the exact same thing happened is happening to Vets from Viet Nam Korea, and WWII...this isn't just a BUSH administration problem...it has been a problem through every administration...to simply blame this on the current shows a lack of intelligence, knowledge, and proper investigation by the author...

What better medical care; privatize it. Get it out of the hands of the federal gov't. The money spend on the current VA system can be better used by individuals making the best health care choices for themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by RBruce:
What better medical care; privatize it. Get it out of the hands of the federal gov't. The money spend on the current VA system can be better used by individuals making the best health care choices for themselves.

Thank you John McCain. Unrestricted corporate enterprise is not the solution to our insurance problems. If you took the annual budget for the VA, divided it by the number of veterans, only wealthy veterans could afford medical care. You must be doing quite well.

quote:

Originally posted by TheOnlyTink:
This author evidently has never heard of nor studied history...
the exact same thing happened is happening to Vets from Viet Nam Korea, and WWII...this isn't just a BUSH administration problem...it has been a problem through every administration...to simply blame this on the current shows a lack of intelligence, knowledge, and proper investigation by the author...

Did you read the article?

He based HIS opinion on, There are roughly 7,200 service members or veterans waiting on their citizenship applications, despite a 2002 pledge from the Bush administration that acknowledges the PROBLEM existed prior but it also infers they (current one) were going to FIX it and illustrated why he believes it hasn't been fixed?

Casualties could have been reduced by half among Marines in Iraq if specially armored vehicles had been deployed more quickly in some cases.

That’s according to a new blockbuster report to the Pentagon. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/26/iraq.main/index.html

The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act http://www.iava.org/2008-legislative-agenda established a new Wartime Contracting Commission to investigate fraud and waste by defense contractors. But in his signing statement, President Bush has objected to this new “Truman Commission” http://webb.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=291449& on the grounds that it might tie his hands as Commander-in-Chief.

Senator Webb, a decorated Vietnam veteran whose son served in Iraq, championed the new commission, and has sworn the commission will go forward. He rammed it home on the Senate floor stating:

“If the Administration would like to explain to us what their constitutional issue is with a piece of legislation that the President has just signed, we would be happy to hear that. In the meantime, we are moving forward with this Commission. It is vitally important to accountability in the government, and I’m very proud to have introduced it. We are marching forward.”

Troops and veterans will be marching alongside Senator Webb on this. And we need the American people to do the same.

Don't see how he didn't make HIS case? He's not saying HE dislikes the Administration, he only opinined to what THEY've (administration) stated they'd do for Veterans and what HAS/hasn't happened.

Even put quotes, studies, links... to back it.

My question is this..... why are service members still being killed by roadside bombs if we have MRAPs in country(way too many this month). Why do comanders still send their soldiers out in humves?

quote:

Originally posted by TheOnlyTink:
This author evidently has never heard of nor studied history...
the exact same thing happened is happening to Vets from Viet Nam Korea, and WWII...this isn't just a BUSH administration problem...it has been a problem through every administration...to simply blame this on the current shows a lack of intelligence, knowledge, and proper investigation by the author...

Well I have studied history, in fact I teach it. This is a completely different situation than the one I faced in 1975 when I was discharged and spent 3 months in VA Hospital(and got excellent care), and my own father was a WWII Veteran who used the VA to buy his 1st home, get a college education(and master's degree) and get health care for all but 20 of his 77 years there.

Was it all good? Of course not, and I had to fight for 3 years to get a disability-rating myself. But is it anywhere near what we have today?

No way. It is now so difficult as to be almost impossible, and so most returning service members do not even bother to go out there, and that is exactly what the government WANTS you to do. Get lost.

Excellent column as usual from Paul Reikopf.

"Rieckhoff"

Yeah right ... exqueeze me.

quote:

Originally posted by geehaw:
RE: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,163036,00.html
Another glaring example of USA viewing her child WARRIORS as cannon fodder.
Put your bonnet on,buckle your chinstrap and SADDLE UP. Veterans have to fight another war just to receive benefits promised them by our government.

Warriors fight our wars because as children Warriors are told that USA needs them to enable Americans to live,for the few, a lavish lifestyle.

Our troops aren't taken care of in USA wars. It is time for VETS to come together and help each other. Congress and the President is responsible for taking care of WAR VETS.

Veterans must quit fighting the bureaucrats because they are only doing what the President and Congress tells them to do. We need to let the President and Congress know what being a Warrior is all about.

SEMPER FI AND GOD BLESS AMERICA

Just what is a "Child Warrior?" I joined the military shortly after my 17th birthday and I did not consider myself to be a child. The VA is charged with taking care of wounded vets, not the POTUS. Congress passes laws that provide entitlements to veterans, and the money to support the VA (which, by the way, is at an all time high) Honorably discharged vets should get the care that they earned, but those who got a "less than honorable" disacharge did not earn any entitlements. To claim that they are "Veterans" is a slap in the face to every veteran who served his country honorably and cheapens the sacrifices that our "Real" veterans made.

quote:

Honorably discharged vets should get the care that they earned, but those who got a "less than honorable" disacharge did not earn any entitlements.

That is not necessarily true...

Those who have served 180 continuous days in uniform but get a "General Discharge" are still eligible for many benefits, especially if they have been wounded or disabled during those 180 days. Also, any discharge not "Dishonorable" can and often are appealed, and changed to "Honorable". Happens all the time.

Another column highlighting the excellent work by Senator Webb on behalf of both our country and its veterans. I listened to the Armed Services Committee hearings last week, featuring General Casey in the witness chair. Senator Webb subjected General Casey to a grueling series of questions about contractor liability, the UCMJ, the lack of prosecutions of criminal contractors, and then followed up with a series of questions about the resistance of the Bush Administration to the New GI Bill.

Webb has a bulldog's tenacity and inevitably brings up the GI Bill every time he has any DoD or military representative in front of him. The Bush Administration will not make it easy for this Bill to pass and has already signaled its intention not to cooperate with the work of Webb-McCaskill's Truman Commission. But yellow car magnets? Yep, the Administration loves 'em.

quote:

Originally posted by TheOnlyTink:
This author evidently has never heard of nor studied history...
the exact same thing happened is happening to Vets from Viet Nam Korea, and WWII...this isn't just a BUSH administration problem...it has been a problem through every administration...to simply blame this on the current shows a lack of intelligence, knowledge, and proper investigation by the author...

Sorry, I have to disagree with you. Certainly and most definetly the blame goes to the Bush Administration and to the President himself. Heres why: If you lie or mislead the country to start a war, the least you can do is give the troops everything they need AND MORE. Don't spend a billion dollars a week on the war on terror and then cut the VA by $400 million in your new budget.
Rumsfelds plan of war on the cheap is being paid for by our brave troops.FatCat contractors are raking in billions while the Wounded Warriors are waiting in vain for their proper care.How hard is it to figure that if you are going to create a situation where over ONE BILLION DOLLARS a week is being spent, at least don't skimp on care for the troops. And that includes proper body armor and mine and IED proof vehicles and any other goddamned thing our troopers need.
I am sick and tired of the President, Vice President and the whole Republican party because they wrap themselves in the flag and act like they have a monopoly on patriotism.They are two draft dodgers that wouldn't hesitate to send good men where they would never go. They laugh at Al Gore, call him a tree-hugger. They laugh at Kerry and 'Swift Boated' him. Well, whatever you think of Gore and Kerry, they put on the uniform and WENT to Vietnam. They didn't have Daddy pull strings.Not only did GW hide in the Air Guard, he didn't even show up for that.
Forget about politics, or who you vote for, the bottom line is this: If Halliburton and KBR can buy gas in Kuwait for 25cents a gallon, pay a civilian $100k to haul it into Iraq and sell it to the US Army for $1.62/gallon and transfer it into Army and Marine fuel trucks, the same trucks that were in Kuwait before they came to Iraq,if all the Halliburtons and KBR's and Bechtels and Blackwaters can get Billions of dollars in NO-BID contracts then give our VA system twice the peacetime budget. Three times the budget. Why not?? What is too good for our Wounded Warriors?? It's the soldiers that allow politicians to have their wars that make the Corporations rich, so why skimp on ANYTHING they need. It makes me sick.

Mr. Rieckhoff is correct that we need to do better for our veterans, but he's one of millions of Americans asking that the govenment spend more money on their favorite cause such as veterans, transportation, security, education, etc. etc.

We have millions of other Americans asking for tax cuts.

I'm sorry people, but we can't have it both ways. The federal government is currently $9,000,000,000,000 in debt with more yet to come. (Yes, I have the correct number of zeros) The shock will come when China and the OPEC countries stop loaning us money.

I agree, we should take care of our vets. But you cant take care off everybody. I think we dont need welfare only for vets. Child Health care only for vets. Affordable Housing only for vets. Then you will see how our Deficent will come down. But the people running just want to sling Politcal Rheotric. What have the welfare family give to this country more that that vet?