Cuts to veterans' benefits: Austerity only for some

Veterans are angered by the thought that benefits could be cut. What else can you do, though, when there's a segment in Congress that wants austerity. You can't have austerity without deep cuts that effect everyone.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52629820-78/military-says-pay-percent.html.csp

 

"Terry Schow, executive director of the Utah Department of Veterans Affairs, says the current pensions do not provide a life of ease for service members. "Every retired enlisted person I know has to have another job after they retire," he says."

Beyond the fact that *lots* of retirees take jobs in retirement, most armed forces are what, 38-40 when they retire. What else would they do?

$200 a year for health care doesn't sound like a bad deal to me, either.

 

Vote for different people.

 

I wouldn't normally think that Congress would try to cut veterans benefits, regardless of the economic situation, but given what's happened with the 9/11 responders and the delays there, I wouldn't put anything past them.

 

Call John Beohner (202-225-6205) and Mitch McConnell's (202-224-2541) office and urge them to pass the president's American Jobs Act.

 

Heck, any gay soldier is eligible to receive a booing at the next GOP debate. Act now!

 

My thoughts, as if anyone asked, are pretty simple. If they cut my pay and benefits to those similar to civilian jobs, I'll go be a civilian. I can fly for Channel 5 News and not have to worry about bullets.

 

It's a fair question. TRICARE - the program in question - rivals Medicare in coverage. It's also available for enrollees in most countries overseas.

Outside of government, what job provides an extensive, low-cost health plan decades after you've left it? And before you get on me for attacking the veterans, "who've sacrificed and died for our country," is that really so? The vast, vast majority who've served in the armed forces now alive never saw combat. In Vietnam itself, on average, only about 3 out of every ten soldiers fired a shot in anger.

So, what's the difference between a public high school teacher and some guy who drove a truck on a stateside military base? The mere fractional possibility of going into battle?

 

Don't mess with the veterans...

Ever.

 

"[N]ow alive" includes a few decades post-Vietnam and pre-9/11, so a majority not seeing combat is plausible.

The last 10 years? National Guard units, let alone regular Army, have been deployed multiple times.

 

Because you need those guys to drive the trucks at the state military base. It may not seem like an important job. But how else is stuff like food and supplies supposed to get moved?

Sure, there are jobs that may not be absolutely critical to defeating an enemy, such as recreation jobs. Joe DiMaggio playing baseball didn't help win the war. But it gave the other soldiers a few hours break from worrying that they were going to be shot. Same with Joe Louis visiting bases and posing with his muscles, which probably helped recruiting efforts.

But they're still helpful to the soldiers to be in better mental condition, which helps them fight.

 

When the teabaggers scream about "starving the beast," this is part of the beast.