Category: Veterans Issues

So this fresh-faced fellow, Erik Katz, who has never spent a day in uniform joins in with every other fucknut who thinks they know about military service and decides that he knows how to save the Pentagon from sequestration. Of course, his intellect is mud-puddle deep, so like all of the other dorks, goes straight to personnel cuts;

The most significant compensation reduction option, CBO found, would come from cutting retirement pay for veterans already receiving disability payments from the Veterans Affairs Department. Prior to 2004, military retirees — former personnel with 20 years of service — had their retirement pay reduced by the amount of any VA disability compensation they also received. Moving back to that system would save Defense $108 billion over the next decade, according to CBO.

The non-partisan budget office said the current system compensates disabled veterans twice for their service, but the two payments reward “different characteristics of military service.”

We, in the business call it “concurrent receipt”, Erik, and it took decades to straighten that stuff out. What baby-face GWU-grad here wants to happen is veterans who are more than 50% disabled would be made to fund their own disability from their retirement pay because people who have a disability less than 50% already have their retirement pensions reduced by the amount of their disability payments.

You know what I would do if I was looking to save money for the government and I wanted to look like a smart guy (instead of throwing in with the rest of the hacks)? I’d stop trying to hammer the little guy. I’d write about how much money could be saved if we cut retirement benefits for Congress members. I’d figure how much could be saved if we cut costs on the lavish lifestyle of flag officers and their staffs. I certainly wouldn’t go after disabled veterans who can’t work and depend on every penny they get in return for their service and sacrifice. But, hey, how can I expect some pimple-faced, snot-nosed journalism student to understand what sacrifice means, right? Shame on me.

Oh, GFY, Erik.

The Washington Times reports that the Veterans of Foreign Wars is calling for a boycott on travel to and products from Mexico until former Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi is released from his imprisonment there. He was arrested by Mexican authorities when he accidentally crossed in Mexico carrying firearms and ammunition.

“This combat Marine has been languishing away since he was arrested March 31 for allegedly crossing the border accidentally with three personal firearms that were legally registered in the [U.S.] but not in Mexico,” said VFW National Commander William A. Thien. “It was a mistake, but so is the Mexican government’s reluctance to release him unharmed back to the U.S.”

Mr. Thien added that the VFW has already attempted to negotiate the release politically, asking President Obama to contact Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, but said that that phone call never took place.

Did I mention that Mexican police regularly cross the US/Mexico border “accidentally”?

According to Homeland Security numbers, there have been 300 incursions by Mexican police or troops since Jan. 1, 2004. The Mexicans were armed in slightly more than half of those incidents, totaling 525 people. There was a verbal or physical altercation between U.S. authorities and the Mexicans in 81 instances — totaling 320 Mexican police or troops.

Captain Benjamin Summers is an Aviation officer at Fort Campbell, KY and he felt a need to tell us in the pages of the Washington Post that not all veterans are heroes;

Over the past decade, a growing chasm between military and civil society has raised the pedestal upon which the United States places those who serve in its military. Too much hero-labeling reinforces a false dichotomy that’s commonly heard in our political discourse: You’re either for the troops or you’re against them. We badly need to find ways to bridge this civilian-military gap to cultivate a more nuanced appreciation of service and to produce better policy in Washington.

[…]

[T]he widening civil-military divide intensifies the aura that attaches to military service, especially when the country is at war. Over the past decade, veterans did many things that the general public didn’t do and doesn’t necessarily comprehend fully: deploying, being away from home for a year, serving in war zones. During these years, it’s undeniable that veterans have received a hero’s embrace from their nation….

I know the Captain probably has the best of intentions, and that he’s trying to make the public debate over the future of the military in the country a bit more clear, but he’s not being helpful, especially when he writes in the Washington Post. Let me explain to the pup about my perspective on the issue.

I say “pup” because he’s not old enough to remember the post-Vietnam Era when the complete opposite was true – whether you were a Ranger in the bush rooting out the Viet Cong or you were a sailor floating off shore, and never saw a single Vietnamese tree, the American public thought of you as a “baby-killer”. Despite what the Left would have you believe, there were soldiers returning to this country to a shower of spittle.

There was no discussion of veterans getting the benefits they deserved. The war was over and no one wanted to talk about them. There really were homeless and substance-abusing veterans, and no one really cared. The Veterans’ Service Organizations shouted about the problem, but no one was listening. Some of the VSOs didn’t even recognize them as real veterans. Families were divided over their service. Hollywood portrayed them as lunatics who played Russian Roulette in their spare time. One movie used a legless veteran whose wife was cheating on him with a 4Fer as the villain.

No beggar on the street would tug at your purse strings with a sign that identified him as a veteran. Being a veteran was worse than being a homeless bum in that particular America.

Our military budget was slashed to the bone with no debate, so that we trained to fight with Korean War-era equipment and weapons. When I got promoted from E-4 to E-5, my pay shot up $22/month. We practiced assembling on the drop zone by jumping from the back of a duece-and-a-half as it drove down Sicily Drop Zone because there was no money for the 82nd Airborne Division to jump from aircraft.

On the other hand, just the other day, the “for or against the troops” thing saved the A-10 Warthog from the scrap yard for another year. I’d say that was a good thing…for the troops, those ground pounders who you admit really are heroes.

So, yeah, the pendulum is swinging wide in the opposite direction as it did after Vietnam, but you tell me, which direction is better in regards to our national defense? The American public that doesn’t go to war will never understand those who do…there will always be a divide. But the way it is now is a damn-sight better than it has been in our history. So, just leave it be, young buck.

And, the Washington Post is not your friend. The Post and their readers don’t need your help to bring the troops down off the pedestal.

Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.