There has been a lot of talk this election cycle about the 1 percent, the richest people in this country. But there’s been very little said about the other 1 percent — the 1 percent of Americans who have put their lives on the line and their blood in the sand for the past decade.
We will end up spending somewhere north of $2 trillion — that’s trillion with a T — on the wars that followed 9/11. What will we spend on the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines we sent to fight them?
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Here's a stupid idea. How about changing the rules of the Veteran's Administration to allow them to treat those with less than honorable discharges. The inhumanity of turning our backs to those that served no matter how they left the service is appalling. But of course I can already hear the hand wringing that this idea will bring 1) Undermine the chain of command 2) A slap in the face of those that have been honorably discharged 3) Another bleeding heart cause to add to the deficit. But then again I don't think Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Condelezza Rice or George Bush were considering any of that when they rushed into these wars with blind blood lust. I wonder what conclusion Mr Romney's famous coldly calculating cost benefit analysis of this enterprise would be. What and who exactly did this $2 trillion dollar expenditure protect. Was it REALLY the 47% (of which I say account for %99.9 percent of the servicemen) or more like the 1% (who if they served in country, served a Brownie type tour). Whose interests were more at stake. my little house in suburban Boston or Donald Trumps various Manhatten properties or to put it in a more local terms, Herb Chamber empire of auto dealerships.
Good article.
Great article. I'm grateful to Brig.General Hammond for his efforts to inform the public about the needs of all returning servicemen. People can support organizations such as the USO that provides counseling and training to all veterans.
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I am reminded of the WWI poem "Have you forgotten yet?" by 2nd Lt. Siegfried Sassoon, VC, DSO, British Army.
Too many have forgotten the sacrifices made by all in the Armed forces, both living and dead.
Reach out on November 11, next Sunday, and seek out and Thank a Veteran and then Stop for one minute, just one minute and say a prayer for those that made the ultimate sacrifice around the world so we can all live the way we do,,,,, in Freedom!
David Koch gave $100 million for cancer research at MIT; Bill Gates gave $28 billion to promote global health; Mark Zukerberg gave $100 million to revitalize public education in New Jersey . . . and the list goes on. According to Foster Friess (NewsWeek, 2012), we need more "Fat Cats," and he points out that the 1% got there with ingenuity and hard work.
Bet none of the above fought though. Don't forget the Kochs subverting democracy to make those millions!
I propose to help our heros we give congress a 90% pay cut. We can cut their $174000/yr salery to $17884/yr or about the same pay a U.S Army private recieve. This way the members of congress can experence some of the financial hardships and choices our soldiers and the rest of us have to make every day and this will also help these career fatcat politicians get back in touch with other 99% of us. Plus we can use the savings to fund programs for our veterans.
President Obama is the first President to really pay attention to veterans, especially disabled veterans. As one myself I have seen the new and improved actions by the VA. It's not perfect but it certainly is better.
As to the top 1 percent, my sympathy only goes so far for a billionaire.