When supporting our troops is more than just a catchphrase:
PROLOGUE: About a week ago, after my physical therapy appointment at our local VA clinic, I was in the grocery store shopping. I walk with the aid of a cane these days, and wear a ball cap that says USAF Veteran on it; I am proud of my nine and a half years of military service. Any way, some good Christian folk who were apparently roving around through the store looking for people they could pray for, coming upon me offered their services. I politely declined, explaining my non-theist stance with respect to religious observance, and then noting the dejected expression on their faces said: "But their is something you can do for me." The twinkle came back to their eyes as anticipation of what I was about to say welled up within them. I continued, "what you could do for me and all my veteran comrades, and all those men and women in uniform today representing our country around the world, is to make sure you vote for the candidate for president this fall who is going to bring our troops home so you won't have more of them to pray for in the future." They agreed, and we talked for a while;.they seemed like very kind hearted folks.
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It goes without saying, that I would be one of the first to volunteer in the defense of our country and its people, but the war in Iraq has hardly been about that, nor about terrorism either. The latest scuttlebutt, coming from tell all books written by Bush Administration rats that have jumped ship, is that the plan to attack Iraq was on the table long before 9/11. Since Halliburton and the oil companies seem to have made out like bandits from this fiasco, my money would be on oil as the real impetus for this war; and of the egregious waste of American and Iraqi lives it has perpetrated. Let's not waste any more lives, bring our solders home, and let the Iraqis figure out how to get along with each other.
I don't think you can drive around in your automobile these days, that is if you can afford to, without noticing the little "I support our troops" stickers that a lot of people have pasted on their cars. I'm sure that these folks are well intentioned, and perhaps just trying to demonstrate their patriotism, but in reality those little stickers don't really do a whole lot as far as actually supporting the troops. In fact, it would not come as a surprise to me, if some printer in China was not getting rich off the sale of these stickers, and the taxes he pays on his profits being used by the Chinese government to produce the very RPG's that are being sold to terrorists, and targeted against our troops.
Yes, as the title of this article suggests, "Supporting our troops" has become little more than a catchphrase bantered around by politicians in an election year. They all say they support our troops. But John McCain for instance, has a track record of voting against veterans benefits, body armor for the troops and other appropriations which would be beneficial to our veterans and men and women on the field of battle. (For more info in this vein, see the helium article: "Why are some Vietnam veterans against John McCain?" - http://www.helium.com/items/937309-why-are-some-viet nam-veterans-against-john-mccain)
Before I descend my soap box, let me get to the heart of the matter, and my purpose in writing this article. You see, there is something that you and all of us can do to support the troops and make these words more than a catchphrase. More than 60,000 troops have already returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan, whose bodies and minds have been damaged. For these Americans, as has been the case for past generations, the war will never be over. They will live with the battle scars inflicted on them for the rest of their lives. We can't make them whole again, but we can help. Unfortunately, the Bush administration instead of getting our veterans the care that they need has created a bureaucracy designed to deny them the benefits they have earned. Believe me, I have first hand personal knowledge of what it takes to process a claim with the VA, and with the appeals process. I know some Vietnam vets that have been tied up in limbo for 10 to 15 years, and their cases have yet to be resolved. My own case was a "slam-dunk," to borrow a euphemism that Bush would understand, and it took several years and appeals. Fortunately, there are some organizations like the American Legion that help us out by doing the complicated background research and preparing most of the reams of paper that is required to file a claim. I acknowledge the Legion here because they handled my case, but the VFW, and probably some other organizations do this important work too. So if you want to really support our troops, when thinking about who to make your tax deductible contributions to this year, think about giving a little something to these organizations. They truly are on the front line of the final battle for our troops, which starts when the war is over, to get our veterans the care they need and are certainly deserving of.
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EPILOGUE: As a final note, I wantd to donate the residuals from this article to the American Legion, but Helium doesn't support any Veterans Organizations. Maybe we can get that changed but I hereby pledge to contibute $1 for every penny this article generates to the American Legion, and encourage you to do the same. Please join me in "supporting our troops"