What has he done to My Army?
| By Ralph T - Jan 31st, 2008 at 10:17 am EST |
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Categories: Foreign Policy & Security, Effective & Ethical Government, Affordable Healthcare
Categories: Foreign Policy & Security, Effective & Ethical Government, Affordable Healthcare
This morning the Washington Post (and several other repeating news outlets) has shocked me into fully awakened disgust. Yet another report is out on the dismal treatment of soldiers by the current mis-administration.
I'm struck by this piece because it notes deplorable changes in a measurement that started in 1980; that's the year I enlisted. I retired in 2006, and it is becoming an almost daily event to see how badly my former comrades-in-arms are being abused.
Today the issue is suicide. The thought of rising numbers of soldiers taking their own lives after serving in combat because of poor and inadequate medical treatment at home is devastating. A "1-800" line for redeployed soldiers to seek psychological counseling...pathetic.
The knot in my gut is yet more proof the America needs a change. The legacy of the current occupant of the White House must be in the form of an eraser. What he has wrought on the US military by conducting a needless war "on the cheap" cannot continue past November.
The next Democratic President-Elect must lay a clear roadmap for erasing the coWH's endless war and un-ending occupation of Iraq. The remaining GOP Presidential caandidates are delusional in making any comment that says otherwise. Any Congressional candidate hinting at continuing the coWH's policies must be defeated.
Read the full story in the extended text. Then get on-board with any and every Democratic candidate that you can support.
I was a Lieutenant in the 1980s (the same rank as Elizabeth Whiteside). My task was to train and prepare an M-1 Abrams Tank Platoon in the III Corps to defeat the Soviet Operational Maneuver Group (OMG - we usually called it the "Oh My G**" looking at the templates of its massive cloumns of armor, artillery and attack helicopters).
Today those formidable adversaries pale in comparison to horrors America's young soldiers and their leaders are facing. This is made even worse by a mis-administration that has allowed and encouraged a compromised moral and ethical environment.
The US military is adept at recognizing and acting upon "implied tasks." You can't pass asdvanced officer training courses without correctly identifying and planning to accomplish "implied tasks." Remember that the next time the coWH, the Vice or another mis-adminstration toady dances around waterboarding, extraordinary rendition, Gitmo and Abu-Ghraib. Alberto Gonzales' White House memos are far from harmless advisories.
Soldier Suicides at Record Level
Increase Linked to Long Wars, Lack of Army Resources
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/30/AR2008013003106_pf.html
I'm struck by this piece because it notes deplorable changes in a measurement that started in 1980; that's the year I enlisted. I retired in 2006, and it is becoming an almost daily event to see how badly my former comrades-in-arms are being abused.
Today the issue is suicide. The thought of rising numbers of soldiers taking their own lives after serving in combat because of poor and inadequate medical treatment at home is devastating. A "1-800" line for redeployed soldiers to seek psychological counseling...pathetic.
The knot in my gut is yet more proof the America needs a change. The legacy of the current occupant of the White House must be in the form of an eraser. What he has wrought on the US military by conducting a needless war "on the cheap" cannot continue past November.
The next Democratic President-Elect must lay a clear roadmap for erasing the coWH's endless war and un-ending occupation of Iraq. The remaining GOP Presidential caandidates are delusional in making any comment that says otherwise. Any Congressional candidate hinting at continuing the coWH's policies must be defeated.
Read the full story in the extended text. Then get on-board with any and every Democratic candidate that you can support.
I was a Lieutenant in the 1980s (the same rank as Elizabeth Whiteside). My task was to train and prepare an M-1 Abrams Tank Platoon in the III Corps to defeat the Soviet Operational Maneuver Group (OMG - we usually called it the "Oh My G**" looking at the templates of its massive cloumns of armor, artillery and attack helicopters).
Today those formidable adversaries pale in comparison to horrors America's young soldiers and their leaders are facing. This is made even worse by a mis-administration that has allowed and encouraged a compromised moral and ethical environment.
The US military is adept at recognizing and acting upon "implied tasks." You can't pass asdvanced officer training courses without correctly identifying and planning to accomplish "implied tasks." Remember that the next time the coWH, the Vice or another mis-adminstration toady dances around waterboarding, extraordinary rendition, Gitmo and Abu-Ghraib. Alberto Gonzales' White House memos are far from harmless advisories.
Soldier Suicides at Record Level
Increase Linked to Long Wars, Lack of Army Resources
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/30/AR2008013003106_pf.html
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One of my best friends is still in...and my trips to Fort Cartoon, I see what a corrosive effect the GOP has had on the Army since it took over the White House.
The Army (and by extension, the rest of the military) needs a comprehensive and complete overhaul to meet the missions of the 2st Century. And while taking care of your troops is always job #2, accomplishing the mission is #1 - and since THERE IS NO MISSION in Iraq, (much less a OPORD) then we need to come up with a complete operations order that can accomplish getting our troops out, forces the Iraqi gov't (?) to get off their dead ass and come to political reconcilitation, and moves our forces to Afghanistan to kill the Taliban and get Osama bin Laden.
Congress should require the JCS and Dubya to present this plan before another dime of money goes into war funding.
At the Dem caucus, I'd like to introduce a plan I call "No Vet Left Behind." It includes making the VA a permanent entitlement, forces the military to provide ALL of a soldiers medical records in electronic form to the SM, and requires the Military to transfer those to the VA within 30 days of separation, or the Military has to provide free care at any Military medical facility until it does so.
Also, DANTES needs to be brought back, and as a part of that, all Military MOS's will be recognized by the Dept of Labor at Journeyman level. Also, family care needs to be a full-time mission of all branches, and needs to include full-time staff (military & civilian) to take care of them, and should have at least a 05 or above in charge of it, with a direct link to the Post commander.
As has been discussed on other blogs the money that he wants for his war should be transformed into operational funding for a full redeployment from Iraq.
As knowledgeable commentators have noted that the strategic problem has shifted to Pakistan/Afghanistan rather then the current theater of war- Iraq. By leaving this simmering mess, out of the public eye, Mr. Bush has created a nuclear nightmare scenario which the next president must either solve or ameliorate so that it is not a nuclear weapons proliferation problem for the entire world.
By pouring more fuel on the fire by extending U.S. Iraqi military operations into the far future the Republican candidates are no longer in sync to the will of the American people just like their current leader.
By breaking the system called the Army this is the reality that Mr. Bush has bequeathed to the next president: A military that cannot have "boots on the ground" if there is a real military threat.
By leaving veterans uncared for because the V.A. system has neither the money nor the personnel than it is a matter of critical national attention that the next president fulfill our obligation to those who have served our country to the fullest extent possible.