Asking for Soldier’s Money Back Unacceptable
Here’s a quote from an Associated Press report dated Nov. 26, “Service members seriously wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan after they received a $10,000 bonus for enlisting are being asked by the Pentagon to repay portions of the incentive money.”
The mind just fills with words when you hear something like that. Words like abusive, pathetic, repulsive, disgusting, ignorant, ungrateful and downright insulting.
Ironically, after you get the invectives and the expletives off your chest, the whole idea of a roadside bomb partially blinding Jordan Fox and the Pentagon ordering him to pay back $2,800 of his enlistment bonus leaves you pretty much speechless.
For more details you can Google the Associated Press story about Jordan Fox and, as the AP refers to them, the “hundreds of other wounded veterans” who “have also received letters demanding repayment.” You’ll learn that the Pentagon finally decided that Jordan’s case was a “clerical error” - but only after it was brought to their attention by veterans advocates and only after his family was hit with the $2,800 bill they thought they had to pay and only after their insult was added to his injury.
You know something wild? I went to a Hannaford in New York state last month. I used a personal check from my bank in Maine. Not only did my purchase get processed just as quickly as at home, but this New York Hannaford computer knew who I was and approved my check without need for additional identification. Am I supposed to believe that with the billions upon billions that we spend on our current wars, that the Pentagon couldn’t electronically designate our tragically wounded service personnel so that they don’t get billed for repayment of their bonuses?
What’s the vice president doing? He’s back at work after this weekend’s electric shock. Can’t we set him in front of a computer to put a check mark in a column on some spread-sheet when soldiers get injured or die in Afghanistan or Iraq? Can’t some member of the current administration donate a few hours and assure that these clerical errors don’t happen to the heroes fighting their war?
Nah, it’s hard to believe that the current administration cares about these men and women at all.
And what does this do for morale? The grizzly numbers from war must be tough enough to hear when you are standing in Tikrit or Mosul or on the Pakistani border. More than 3,800 U.S. soldiers dead, tens of thousands wounded, those statistics have to chill even the bravest soldier’s heart. But when they read that the federal government - instead of giving soldiers the balance of their enlistment bonus as soon as they’re wounded - actually asks for it back: that’s got to make a person want to … well, want to … quit!
You know, quit! Shirk their duty! Deny their commitment! Head for the hills! Run for cover! Get while the gettin’s good! Am I not making myself clear? You know “cut and run” as the worst president in history likes to say. Oh, I have it! Here’s an analogy that’s fresh and bound to resonate: Pull a Trent Lott!
Or should we make that a Dennis Hastert?
Don’t get me wrong, my initial reaction to Lott and Hastert quitting was a foolish grin and an audible “good riddance.” But former Senate President Lott bailing out on his six-year re-enlistment with more than four years left and Hastert quitting Congress halfway through his two-year term is just plain desertion. Their ship-jumpings are the most recent and abrupt of a long line of elected Republicans leaping overboard since the 2006 elections - but most of the other guys had the decency to wait for their terms to end. Guys like Congressmen David Hobson from Ohio and Michael Ferguson of New Jersey, and more than a dozen other Republicans can’t abandon us fast enough with our unwinnable wars, decrepit mortgage industry, sky-rocketing oil prices and exploding national debt.
And you know what? These congressional cut and runners - even Lott and Hastert who quit in the middle of their terms - have their pensions and compensation in tact.
Those guys, not our soldiers, should be paying us back!
Pat LaMarche of Yarmouth, Maine is the author of “Left Out In America: The State of Homelessness in the United States.”
© 2007 The Bangor Daily News
Asking for the soldiers money back doesn`t sound like supporting the troops to me. Of course, neither is sending them over to Iraq to die with poor equipment while they witness the Blackwater forces with the best money will buy.
As for Hastert and Lott, can you blame them? For six years they were heroes, passing every stupid thing they or the administration thought of with no need to debate it or worry about the consequences. They deserve their fat retirements for all they have given us.
Think of how much money we could save if we just didn’t pay the soldiers at all? Just provide minimal food, shelter and clothing and weapons, but no armor. What else could they need? Their families should just get jobs so they don’t have to depend on the Federal teat for sustenance. Talk about welfare queens! Of course, it is the women who are identified as welfare queens. The men are corporate icons and can procure billions in defense profits, but take a few thousand for inadequate food, shelter, clothing and “healthcare” and you are a welfare queen. I bounce between a pacifist activist and an angry VietNam vet who wants these cowards prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law, from which they seem to be exempt. If a congressperson leaves office before they term is up, we just deny them their pension and benefits. Let them be like the rest of us. If I quit my job without notice or good reason, I may not collect unemployment. If they quit their jobs, treat them the same. They usually have some better paying job to go to, anyway, so it won’t be felt.
God, I’m angry!!!
peace,
st john
I’ve not the tiniest-bit of ‘economic-sympathy’ for anyone willing to ’sell their soul’ if/when the scoundrels they dealt-with screw them with the same avarice they use these ‘Nimrods’ as enforcer-for.
“Lay with dogs, wake with fleas”.
This, after-all, refers to Contract-killing, signed with full-knowledge that they would harm-others (who had done no-harm to them) for x-period of months — if/when those so-targeted unexpectedly defend themselves, and these mercenaries then are unable to ‘do the harm, promised’, the Blood-Money should, of-course, be re-paid in-Full (preferably, with-Interest).
Having said that, I would of-course ‘dig-deep’ to help almost-any repentant/’newly-informed’ victim of class-warfare in their adjustment to his/her Fate-or-disability after they have fallen-as-prey to become more ‘mis-used cannon-fodder’. We ALL were young/foolish/myopic at some point-in-time…and ‘what doesn’t kill you, can make you stronger’.
The only reason Trent Lott is quitting RIGHT NOW is because on January 1,2008 a new law goes into effect that he will have to wait 2 years instead of 1 year to register as a lobbyist.
As for the “clerical error”, that was no clerical error. That was an effort to wipe the shit off their faces. Their philosophy if the lifeboat is overloaded, the first thing you do is throw the widows and orphans overboard. Have they ever shown any inclination to care about anything but themselves?
{quote}: “But when they read that the federal government - instead of giving soldiers the balance of their enlistment bonus as soon as they’re wounded - actually asks for it back: that’s got to make a person want to … well, want to … quit!”
It’s all part of the world-elite’s plan, my friends. The world-elite slowly infiltrated every ‘opposition’ political party with their buddies who agreed never to walk the talk. The world-elite slowly took over the media so that the public would never know how deep their infiltration went until it was too late. Now, in the U.S. - controlling the media and the congress - the world-elite get a never ending supply of money for their wars, which just makes them all richer at the expense of, well, you and me.
The elite have slowly been changing the U.S. military system (i.e. the ‘volunteer’ military) by not providing adequate supplies, asking for money back, denying medical care, etc. so that those who do join want to quit or, better yet, fewer want to join in the first place. But, since they control the congress and the purse strings, they will never ‘declare victory and leave.’ By destroying the ‘volunteer’ military, what recourse is there except to use the very highly paid mercenary force? Gotta keep fighting – a war on terror is, by definition, never ending.
How much more evidence do we need to see that the entire world we live in today is all about greed – reallocating everything - clean water, food, land, money - from the masses to the few? It’s ALL according to their plan. No news here.
The masses need to stop thinking that the world-elite have the smallest iota of good intentions. There is NOTHING about the world-elite that can see beyond their insatiable greed for more, more, more. We need to stop applying ANY sense of humanity to them.
What good would it do to get rid of the elite that are killing us and keep the system that produces them?
why are the republicans trying to bring down the system?
BE FOR KIDS: Right on. You know these bastards are 101% about self-interest alone!
I am deeply disturbed by the lack of humanity in this stream for the soldiers who are the victims of this adminstration’s policies. Just as they were in Vietnam, the soldiers fighting this war are being used and abused by OUR govenment.
Please write your congresspeople demanding that all Americans serving in the region are given the complete medical care they derseve. When one serves our govt we are not given a choice about whose policies we serve.
Please, dear readers, separate Bush policies from those federal employees who are boundby law to serve whichever Presient is elected.
Well, we know there’s no shame. These are psychopaths running the show. That means when you’re no longer of service to them you’re trash. Remember this is not a war of national defense. That’s a sham. This is a war to make war profiteers and petroleum mongers richer and richer. In that regard the military is only a tool; not patriotic people serving in a national cause. They don’t even have to be deluded patriots. Mercenaries do fine. Witness Blackwater. At least those guys know they’re just disposable employees.
“Support the troops”… l guess that means holding them up by thier wallet…-
I live in Hastert’s district and our local paper reported that our county will have to pay between $400,000-800,000 to run a special election, & the total could be as much as $2.2 million…Should we ask him to pay?
http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2007/11/28/news/local/doc474d07835b2b8536567535.txt
a gun magazine I saw today- “The AR-15, America’s gun”
The AR-15 is the civilian equivalent of todays US military rifle. It is available to and being rabidly marketed to rednecks, alcoholics, wife beaters, the KKK, retired Blackwater security evangilists, etc.
I predict that after the present administration leaves office, that US soldiers/veterans of the Iraq war, disabled or not will assassinate dumbass 1 and dumbass 2 for dragging them into a war for OIL and Profit, and leaving them a mess.
Disclaimer for the government spooks that haunt this site…I neither know of any- US combat veterans of Iraq, present, or to be, nor do I know of any person or plot, present or future to maim or kill a dumbass or any other human.
The deprivation of care for many of our
injured and deserving veterans, who will now be scarred for the rest of their lives from this
ill-conceived and misguided war, is not only a
violation of trust, butcontemptuous.
As the world’s richest nation, we have always had
the means to avoid and
alleviate these dreadful injustices. The
unprecedented profiteering that
has accompanied their sacrifices only adds to the
outrage.
Responsible parties should be tried for criminal neglect — this includes those at the top.
I’m waiting for the day they charge the troops for their medical care. After reading this, I may not have long to wait.
Trent Lott is a water front pimp.
My Son got a serious back injury while serving in the Air Force and had to be operated on,they had to put pin’s in his back which he will have for the rest of his life,before they got around to operating on him(it took over a year) they gave him such strong medication that it affected his liver. When the board decided on his disability pay they are making him pay back the severance pay he received when he was (honorably) discharged so now he won’t receive any pay until September of 09.The politician’ who tell you they are for the troops are lying through their teeth all they want is your vote. they don’t give a damn about anything but getting elected.I despise them all.
That is almost unbelieveable Clyde. __ Almost. Why on earth doesn”t our ‘free’ press cover this daily, __hourly!? We are really in serious trouble, as we already were aware.
Support the Troops and Screw the Veterans
–exploitation taken to its logical extreme
WARJONE$: DEBAIT THE HOOK…
Points bitterly well-taken indeed.
Neocons, Whigs, & PNAC Gallery O-My…
If we can’t have a Perp-walk of these Free-Range Cakewalker$, a “Nuremburg-type” Event of Justice, can’t we at least press the point of ever-more searingly pertinent “Questionings” of “Fatal Authority exercised in Our Name”?
A good start to calling the moral bluff of those behind the most chickenhawked war in U.S. history–(brought to us no less by the most ‘Ba$e Elite’ , i.e., “wealthiest” war cabinet in U.S. history) is treated in Seattle P I editorial: Radical Ethics: No Bucks from War
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/25/5422/
This is an outrage, but what do you expect from these people? We do have all-volunteer armed forces. Too late for those who have been screwed, but not too late for others to see the light. DO NOT ENLIST and be a pawn for these bastards! Let these chickenhawks fight their own war if that’s what they want.
Actually, this sounds like good news to me.
First of all, it seems that they become so desperate to save money from this wasteful war that the whole war effort will soon collapse under its own weight. When they start to ask money back from the soldiers, it really sounds as if America is losing the war. That means good news for Iran, Venezuela, and other countries suffering from U.S. terrorism and war threats and good news for peace in the world.
Secondly, the army gets a bad name in this way. Maybe finally the American people start to realize that war is not a ‘noble thing to do’. It is all about the money and if you enlist in the army, you will possibly be killed, but certainly you will be screwed.
But of course, it is very sad for the victims of this whole scheme.
Kissinger said: “Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.” Having served during Viet-Nam, I have to agree…
The very-best way to ’smarten them up’ is to continue to raise-this-bar for attacking their wallets (since, in our fine/new All-Volunteer Military, “Money/opportunity” is what ultimately ‘gets those Contracts signed’).
Grabbing-back those ‘Blood-Bonuses’ (and charging them for their meals during the medical-care they selfishly-expect after they ’screwed-up’ and damaged the government-property of ‘themselves’) is just a “good start”. They may someday also be entirely charged for all/any medical-care, and then subsequently forced to repay the entire Costs of their fine-Training and past-pay, and any&all travel/administrative/incidental-expenses incurred — after-and-if allowing themselves to ‘become useless’ to our caring-Government’ — thanks to ‘realists’ like Kissinger/Cheney/Rummy/etc., who set our Policies today. No-doubt all-the-above will come-to-pass…
Folks like these ‘Neos calling the shots’ are entirely-capable of ‘extending this corporate-logic’ yet-further, and charging the parents of soldiers (who failed-them, by allowing themselves to be killed) to thereafter pay-back all these ‘wasted-investments’ in their progeny — since they can be found complicit and culpable, having raised that-child to be so-very careless/heedless, even after all that careful-training. [As for whether-or-not they should also pay for the required shipping/handling if they want their loved-one’s remains brought back-home — I imagine that could&will be endlessly-debated in diverse ‘Committees’].
Boy, those scumbags in the Pentagon sure are stupid! With all the billions of dollars they invested in their supreme headquarters under Waxahachie you’d think they’d know how to utilize technology to enhance their expenditure/return equation. All they’ve got to do is put cameras on their grunt’s weapons and they’ll soon be able to see who is giving them their money’s worth. That way they could apply a certain amount against each soldier’s advance according to how many women, children or old men they shoot. And, of course, they could be credited with a bonus for each person with a penis who is shot who they can claim to be an “enemy combatant” or “criminal”.
Let’s talk about what is unacceptable…
Sending soldiers to Iraq for corporate america is unacceptable. Having them follow the orders of the bastards in washington is also unacceptable.