Oh, good another Biden
As if one Biden wasn’t enough, now his son, Beau, a member of the Delaware National Guard, is campaigning for the President and he started in Norfolk, the heart of Veteran Country in Virginia, which, according to WVEC is home to 823,000 vets;
“We’re a group of veterans who believe very strongly that the president should remain our commander in chief. They think he’s been an exceptional commander in chief. I’m one of them. I served in Iraq a couple of years back, and this is a president who understands what it means to be commander in chief,” declared Beau Biden.
If the presidential candidate can get veterans on board, he has a pretty good shot of winning Virginia’s 13 electoral college votes in November. But not all Hampton Roads vets agree that Obama should be re-elected.
“I didn’t think he was qualified to take the presidency to begin with, and that was four years ago. And I don’t think he’s gotten any smarter. He’s gotten slicker or slyer, but not smarter,” said retired Naval officer Chris Vatidis who also is not happy with the Obama administration’s proposal to increase Tricare medical fees for vets.
Biden calls that change “modest.”
Yeah, if I was rich like the Bidens, I could call the increase “modest”, too, but who’s going to tell those veterans who depend on their meager pensions and live from check-to-check on disability that the increase is “modest”? And any amount of an increase is a broken promise to veterans, no matter how modest.
“Tricare hasn’t increased in over 16 years. At a time when health care costs are skyrocketing, there’s been no increase in Tricare,” Biden stated.
That’s why we invested 20 years of our youth into the military system, because we thought it was a good deal. Now that you’ve decided that it’s a good deal too, it’s fine to pull the rug out from under us…all the time smiling and telling us how Obama is doing us a favor. F*ck you very much.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Veteran Health Care, Veterans Issues
HUH? Who is he talking about? I can’t think of any president’s we’ve had in a few years that really knew what they were doing as far as “Commander and Chief” related to the military.
Obama- Never in
Bush- was in, but didnt’ do anything
Clinton- Never in
I think it should be a requirement that a president must have served in the military…and not just played a video game.
I wonder how much crap lt. Biden has gotten trying to shovel this crap?
Got a serious problem with members of the military, even those for whom the military is a part time job, actively campaigning for (or against) a political candidate. It rather falls into a “you say you speak for me?” kind of thing, and it skirts the law in many ways.
I have no problem at all with veterans doing so. We are not bound by military law any more and cannot be intimidated by persons of rank telling us how to vote. A suggestion made by a superior NCO or officer is simply much different than one coming from a civilian.
Beau Biden is a JAG-off, what did you expect? Here’s a little hint about why this particular veteran luuuvvvvsss him some Obama: http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/9-05bgb&b.asp . Methinks he might be riding Daddy’s coattails and/or smelling some Holder blood in the water.
Is he on active status right now? if so, he’s in violation of regs and needs to be reported.
Guard members are allowed much more latitude in campaigning than are active military members because it is a part-time job and they are more directly connected to their communities. Still…
But, is anyone going to censure the son of the veep? Seriously??
World’s Shortest Book- “Intelligent Quotes from Joe Biden”
I’m shocked there isn’t more Democrat outrage.
Wasn’t this a cpmplaint about President Bush? That he worked on someone’s political campaign while in the Reserves?
I cant help but think of Marine Sgt. Gary Stein here, but opposite. Double standards much?
That first quote gives me a pretty good idea of junior Biden’s mental capacity, and it’s not very different from that of his father. Did someone coach him to stick “Commander in Chief” into every sentence? Bah, politicians and their progeny: 99% (being extremely generous)giving the other 1% a bad name.
OWB is correct. If he did this out of uniform, not serving on Federal active duty, and didn’t overtly reference or otherwise use his current ARNG status, it’s legit. It’s arguably in poor taste – but legit.
Has he deployed?
Has he? Huh?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I’m betting NOT. Since, he’d be saying ‘while I was there…’ type shit…
If he hasn’t, TSTFU.
Don’t quote me widely on this, but it seems that he was? Seems like the senior made some sort of mention of that some time past?? But if he is indeed a JAG perhaps he is/was part of those pesky ROE’s that have gotten so many killed.
Oh, and Hondo, this blatant a display of “I’m in the military and blah, blah, blah” would not have been tolerated in my Guard units. It was finally decided at one that we would be allowed to have campaign bumper stickers on our cars, but it was discouraged.
An exception was allowed for members who were themselves candidates for office.
@1
You mean like Al Gore and John Kerry? 😉
@12
I seem to recall Beau Biden going to Iraq in 2008… I vaguely remember that both Vice Presidential candidates had sons deploying.
think that was both parties, was McCain’s relative – don’t recall any Palin related service folks. At least the kids signed up, even if they weren’t necessarily at the sharp end of the spear. Can’t say I have much good to say about Biden, the Democratic Dan Quayle. Only reason he is VP is to keep Obama alive. No matter what kind of sick CoC hating jerk anyone is, no one wants Joe’s ass in the hot seat.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Sounds just like his dad … there might be a genetics study in this, by jimminy!
Or at least the beginning of one, especially if Bonehead … er, I mean Beau manages to BS his way in getting some air-head granola-girl to say “I do” and gives us another dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks Biden. Three generations should be enough to track down the Box-of-Rocks Gene, que no?
@16
Palin’s oldest son Track was in the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. I remember her getting grief for wearing a “deployment bracelet” from people who said bracelets like that should only be worn for KIAs.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_strykerdeployment_091108w/
His son should know better. It may be legit, but it most definitely isn’t ethical.
And what better way to support the troops than raising fees for already substandard health care?
As long as Captain Biden doesn’t campaign in uniform, or on behalf of his unit or the Delaware Guard, he’s not violating any rules.
Major Biden served with the 261st TTSB from Oct 2008 to Oct 2009. He was a Captain in Iraq. While in the 261st TTSB, he served about 10 months at VBC. He currently is the Attorney General of Delaware. His deployment overseas was largely political as many members of the DENG went with the 261st in order to jump in on a deployment and many were dispersed to other units post-deployment. His Dad was photographed often with members of the DENG when VP Biden came to visit. While wikipedia says it was a year-long deployment, actual in theater time was less.
Also, he received special treatment to return home to the Presidential inauguration. 261st arrived in Iraq around late Nov-2008 to early Dec-2008. The rule was that you had to be in theater at least 60 days in order to be eligible for leave, the only other time was emergency leave (such as death in family, birth of child, etc.). He wasn’t in theater long enough to qualify for emergency leave, but they gave it to him anyways. Sure, the inauguration is special, but it did not meet the criteria for emergency leave and you can see how they bend the rules.
That rat bastard got goddamn emergency leave for an inauguration?! You can’t get emergency leave for a dead grandparent or your kid’s birth, but he got it for an INAUGURATION?! If I ever meet him I’ll be sorely tempted to kick him in the balls. Even if it was offered without asking he should do the fucking honorable thing and declined. I’d love to see him made to apologize to all his junior soldiers (who he is supposed to lead and set an example for) who missed their children being born, their birthdays, and deaths that fell outside of their immediate family. So much for leading by example, and putting the needs of your guys ahead of your own.
One of my Marine’s was really close to his Grandfather who died while deployed. Of course we plebeian enlisted don’t get the option to even request emergency leave in that situation. I remember trying to console him while he cried when his request was denied. I want to see Biden’s son look him in the eyes and explain why some stupid ceremony was more important than this kid being able to say goodbye to a dead loved one.
@22: Sorry to hear about your Soldier’s situation. I know in my unit, enlisted were always prioritized over Officers for leave.
As far as Biden, it had to be emergency R&R even though it did not meet the criteria of the PPG: http://www.armyg1.army.mil/militarypersonnel/PPG/PPG_27APR2012.pdf
The PPG has since been updated, but the theater rule for everyone was before you could take leave, you had to have been in country for at least 60 days. (see here for 60 day requirement: http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/leavetravel/a/iraqrandr.htm)
Here’s more proof that he wasn’t there 60 days to get the preferential treatment to come home (letter from the then, Deputy Brigade Commander of the 261st TTSB: http://www.doverpost.com/news/x426329992/Letters-from-Downrange-The-261st-settles-down-in-Iraq). It says they arrived around Dec 5th in Iraq.
Even if it was legal I can’t believe he’d put more work onto his fellow soldiers over a stupid inauguration that he would have seen hours and hours of footage. Too bad his son isn’t more like Prince Andrew. He actually put himself in danger, strictly refused any notoriety, and showed the maturity to leave Afghanistan once his presence was known so he wouldn’t put his men more at risk than they already would.
Does anyone else hear the call of the Blue Falcon?
@25: I don’t think he had any “men”. He was a prosecutorial JAG officer. AKA Staff Weenie.
SIGO: not all units managed their leave that way. I know of one unit whose HQ gave preference for R&R “slots” by rank – higher getting precedence. I’ll cut them a break by not shaming them here publicly.
I never could understand that. I intentionally timed my R&R at other than Thanksgiving or Christmas to free up a slot for one of my soldiers. I can’t understand why any senior officer or NCO would do otherwise. You take care of your troops first – then yourself.
@27: I’m aware, and that’s the way it should be. However, you should not bend the 60 day rule unless it’s an emergency. VP son or not.
“@25: I don’t think he had any “men”. He was a prosecutorial JAG officer. AKA Staff Weenie.”
This. JAG officers have the fewest Soldiers under their authority of any staff officer at that level.
For example, being a SIGO, you’d know that a BDE S6 shop is as big as some companies in certain units (50+)
@29: Very much aware that fact. I was a Company Commander of 145 Soldiers so BDE S6 shop was a blessing really.
@30, I’d almost say the opposite. Look up all of the Signal Officers who hold most of the CSL and GO positions and I guarantee you that the number that have “BDE S6” on their ORB as a Major KD billet is less than 5.
Lately, BDE S6, as opposed to BN XO or BN S3, is the quickest way to ensure you retire as a LTC and no higher.
That’s probably because they are typically two tracks in the Signal Corps: Technical and Command. I was able to traverse both successfully and simultaneously.
Unfortunately, my year group (2000) was the first one in which HRC decided that a Battalion S6 job was equivalent to a Company Command. Most of our senior leadership spent the bulk of their time in NETCOM units and not in BCTs, Divisions, etc.
This guy has very ably demonstrated that stupidity is a genetic trait in the Biden family. What a fucking idiot. At least he comes by it honestly.
White One Alpha – wrong answer in every possible way. Stein was an active duty Marine NCO, was given a lawful order to cease his criticism of the president, refused to do so, and as such fucked himself very adequately. He should have been court martialled and DD’ed out. The Corps instead went Army and let him pretty much slide compared to what they could and should have done.
@35,
Wasn’t he also in violation of DoD Directive 1344.10 (by using his rank/position to attempt to influence an election)?