Miliary Families Speak Out: Military Families to Bush: Provide for Our Loved Ones by Bringing Them Home
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29, 2008
11:49 AM
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CONTACT: Military Families Speak out (MFSO)
Nancy Lessin, Military Families Speak Out, 617-320-5301, mfso@mfso.org
Sean Donahue, Military Families Speak Out, 617-983-0710, sean@mfso.org
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Military Families to Bush: Provide for Our Loved Ones by Bringing Them Home
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NATIONWIDE - January 29 - Last night during the State of the Union address to the nation, President Bush said, "Our military families also sacrifice for America. They endure sleepless nights and the daily struggle of providing for children while a loved one is serving far from home. We have a responsibility to provide for them. So I ask you to join me in expanding their access to child care, creating new hiring preferences for military spouses across the federal government, and allowing our troops to transfer their unused education benefits to their spouses or children. Our military families serve our nation, they inspire our nation, and tonight our nation honors them."
While Military Families Speak Out, the largest organization of military families to oppose a war in the nation's history, was pleased to hear the President recognize the burden and sacrifice of our troops and their families, we are outraged that the Bush Administration simply equates honoring military families with the meager expansion of long-overdue benefits for them.
The only way that the President and Congress can truly honor our troops and the families who love them is by providing for the swift and safe return of all troops from Iraq, and for their care upon their return home.
Members of Military Families Speak Out were also appalled that President Bush did not discuss the failure of the veterans' healthcare system in his address last night. The heaviest burden many military families carry is that of watching their loved ones suffer from life-long injuries to their bodies, minds, and spirits. It is outrageous that these same families are also forced to fight the Pentagon and the Veterans' Administration to get adequate care for the men and women who have risked their lives and sacrificed their health in service to their country.
"How many more lives must needlessly be lost? How many more families must go through their hells of the tragic legacies of this war on their loved ones?" asked Kevin and Joyce Lucey, the parents of Cpl. Jeffrey Michael Lucey, a 23 year old USMC reservist who committed suicide upon his return home from Iraq, after being turned away by the V.A. Hospital.
Members of Military Families Speak Out and Gold Star Families Speak Out are available to comment.
Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) is a national organization of over 3,800 families who are opposed to the war in Iraq and have loved ones who are serving or have served in the military since fall 2002.
Gold Star Families Speak Out (GSFSO) is a national chapter of MFSO with members whose loved ones died as a result of the war in Iraq.
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