Time’s Swampland; Are Veterans Selfish?
Mark Thompson asks that question today in Time’s Swampland, which, in effect, is an answer in the affirmative. In regards to the Cost Of Living Allowance (COLA) cuts to veterans pensions, Thompson writes;
Then last week, a new storm arose when the Pentagon said it was considering cutting the subsidies it pays to military commissaries—on-base grocery stores boasting lower prices that are reserved for military personnel, including many veterans—that could force many such facilities to close their doors.
“This is yet another undeserved blow to our men and women in service—and their families—in the name of ‘necessary cutbacks’ to reduce an ungainly national deficit,” American Legion National Commander Daniel Dellinger said, after learning of the commissary proposal. “Like the trimming of expenses to be made by reducing military retirees’ pensions, this is an inexcusable way of attempting to fix a fault by penalizing the blameless.”
The notion that vets are seeking more than their fair share upsets some of their leaders. “Vets are anything but selfish!” says Norb Ryan, president of the Military Officers Association of America. “If anything, vets are too selfless. They are also idealistic…Vets are fair and therefore, they expect others to be fair.”
Yeah, that’s kind of the point. We planned for our later years based on what Congress and the White House promised us for our loyal service, and sometimes asking of us more than would be considered reasonable by most of the people in this country. But we remained loyal and did what we were told. And this is the thanks we get;
It suggests that the nation is developing a military caste, separate and apart from the nation. It seems the military is in danger of becoming just another special interest group.
Yeah, well, we took it in the ass after Vietnam, we took it in the as in the 90s and now we’re expected to take in the ass again. Like it’s our job to take it in the ass. We didn’t become “another special interest group” all on our own – we were pushed. We were pushed by congressmen who won’t cut spending for illegals and criminals, but won’t blink an eye to slash a cost of living allowance for a widow or disabled veteran who gave as much as they could give. Those are people who can’t just go out and find a job to supplement their pensions, they depend on their pensions and and the cost of living increases. But the votes are what count, and military spending, especially personnel cuts are popular ecause it doesn’t cost them much politically.
You’re darn tootin’ we’re another special interest group, but we were forced into it. We’ve always sat quietly we bore the burden of politicians’ vote buying frenzies. We’ve also watched the cost which always pays for the electioneering in blood and lives. We were treated like a special uninterest for centuries. Now because we won’t take it sitting down, somehow we’re filthy special interest beasts.
Just because the 99% don’t accept us unless we’re fighting their wars, or digging them out from avalanches, or pulling them from the roofs of their flooded homes, or bringing them chow during power outages, or marching in their pretty parades so they can feel good about themselves, well, that doesn’t mean we will remain silent when they threaten our livelihoods. Unlike the illegal aliens who want a tax break, we only want what we earned for doing what the country wanted us to do, and we only want what we deserve, not a penny more. Is that really too much to ask?
Thanks to ChockBlock and ANCCLT for pissing me off with the link.
Category: Media, Military issues, Veterans Issues
Let’s not forget that these politicians also stop at nothing to enjoy whatever perks and luxuries they want at the time, like Nanny Lugosi’s use of a USG Boeing 737 while she/it was Speaker as well as spending $100,000+ on booze, and look at how often Congressclowns and Senators go on “fact-finding trips” which are little more than wine, dine, shopping, and brothel visits! B. Hussein 0bama & family’s vacations,…
Yes, there is a creation of a caste, and it isn’t the military.
It’s politicians, who see themselves as up above it all, looking down their noses on the military while we’re all down here roiling around in the mud.
And it applies to voters, too. As soon as these carpetbaggers get what they want (your vote), they develop selective hearing and temporary place memory lapse, as in forgetting where they came from and who put them there.
I’m no more selfish than the working age folks demanding COLA increases in their Social Security disability and welfare checks, with the exception that I will get my check based on being employed every day for 20 years vice finding a way not to be employed. If it’s good enough for me to lose my COLA, it should be good enough for everyone collecting some form of payment from the government.
I believe veterans are a “Special Interest Group”. The most special of ALL groups in America and of the HIGHEST interest. Their service was far beyond the word SPECIAL and they have a VESTED INTEREST in the promises that were made to them. So the other “little special snowflake interest groups” can just sit in the back of the damned bus for a while, so we can keep the nation’s commitment to the loyal “interests” of those who gave a life of service to protect this country. Stop supporting illegals in ANY way. Stop giving money hand over fist to nations, some of whom are our enemies. Stop giving welfare out like it is owed instead of needed, as it was originally conceived. In other words, f@ck all the other, “special interest groups” and KEEP YOUR DAMNED WORD TO THE VETERANS AND RETIREES WHO EARNED WHAT THEY HAVE COMING! Obama and all your minions this is for you. GFY and then GFY. That goes for the pansy assed butt kissers in the Pentagon as well. You General Officers, get off your knees for a while, stand up like true men and women and TAKE CARE OF YOUR TROOPS WHATEVER THEIR STATUS, CURRENT OR RETIRED! Sh!t…this makes me mad!
If expecting the government to uphold it’s end of the contractual bargain I agreed to years ago is selfish of me, then I am indeed selfish. If my understanding that there is distinct difference between an earned benefit and an unearned benefit makes me selfish, then, yes, I am guilty of being selfish. If calling those who extract money from my retirement checks for frivolous expenses because think of themselves as a ruling elite is selfish of me, you bet, I am selfish.
On the other hand, when I stand up and speak not just for myself but for millions of Americans who are not veterans when I say that stealing from Peter to bribe Paul is wrong, then I am hardly selfish.
Sorry for the foul language in my post #4. My apologies to the ladies in the audience.
Why is the first family so selfish? Why no outcry for his & hers seperate AF1 flights on vacays (sometimes we’re talking SEPERATE his/hers vacations altogether)…AF1 operating cost appx 183K per hr. Add in the military airlift for Marine One copter/Army One Presidential limo, secret service, staffers, lodging, per diem expenses to accomodate both Emperor & Moochelle, and you can only guess what the price tag is.
Seemed like every other first family I can recall traveled/vacationed together…even the Clintons.
“Vets are fair and therefore, they expect others to be fair.” Makes me think of a saying my old boss used to have when he got shafted, “Makes you feel like a fool for being honest”.
Well, Jonn, you really didn’t leave any room for additional commentary. But that’s okay. My first thought regarding the special-interest group tag was, “Yeah, you’re damned right. Veterans ARE a special-interest group!” But then you covered that too, in spades. Veterans are complaining, Thompson’s article says. That’s some cute word choice. Other groups take exception, protest, oppose, and even reject this or that proposal. But not Veterans. We complain. We whine. Farking bastage.
Fools in Politics are going to have to realize that you are going to get exactly what you pay for. I don’t care what profession you are talking about, when you stop making the benefits worth the effort and sacrifices, you will get a shortage of qualified people. That they are pulling a mulligan and trying to rescind benefits awarded decades ago is sickening.
@7, Devtun, let’s not forget about the 0bama’s Maine vacation where they used a separate USG Aircraft JUST FOR transporting their dog! Come to think of it, their dog is a lot like B. Hussein 0bama himself, half black, half white, and NEUTERED. He’s a water rescue dog, something very handy if you were to ride with the late Ted *HICCUP!* Kennedy, who gave him to them!
@7 Devtun you are right on the money. The Emperor holds himself and his personal whims above ALL other people in America. His wife is the spitting image of the “entitled” mentality, as is HE. They truly, I believe, in their hearts could not give one good blessed damned about the military or the men and women who have given their lives or given their lives in service as a career, for THEIR FREE country. This POS would not be in office if we were not a free nation, payed for with the lives of the military. That is a FACT. Any other form of government would never have elected the POS or would have gotten rid of him in six months or less. That freedom for him to sit his worthless ass in the oval office, has come at the cost of blood and lives. But not the blood and lives of illegal ass holes or muti-generational, “Obama Phone” welfare scum. No, the military gives life and blood to protect THOSE ass holes as well and keep them free to suck off our tax dollars for generation after generation as well as the illegal, criminal, border jumpers (and all the f@cking family they can get here and all the babies they can have once they are embedded). Again and again, this sh!t makes me fume.
*Once again, my apologies to the ladies in the audience for language.
Thompson needs to spend a deployment to some very undesirable place, and not even necessarily Afghanistan, and then he might appreciate what he has and not be so quick to criticize those who gave all of it and more up when they volunteered for their country.
As a side, off topic note, I just read the following from NRA news,
“Major League Baseball is requiring all teams to implement TSA-like screening at all stadiums, guaranteeing that all venues will be gun-free zones by 2015.”
Great, just great. I feel better already. More gun free zones, like schools. I guess since it has worked out so well thus far…
Don’t worry, Jonn, I’m sure those same politicians and leftist progressive writers, thinkers, etc. will be sniffing around for Veterans and military types to come to their rescue when the SHTF, again, or when that politician wants a photo op for an agenda item or reelection campaign. I say; fuck ’em. Tell them to pound sand when they come a sniffing around. Let them get some illegals to protect them or get them elected.
Also; who is more selfish, those that earn their way by sacrificing their youth and carrying the scars of those sacrifices, or those given it for doing nothing but shitting out kids left, right, and sideways, or coming here illegally?
This is a continuation of the civilian-military disconnect. Movies like The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now,GI Jane etc. adds to the confusion. The lack of wealthy and privileged men choosing not to serve in our armed forces puts the everyday veteran at risk. A solution is the reinstatement of the draft.
This reminds me of militant atheists who rail on and on about Christians but refuse to aim that same ire towards other religions groups for fear of being labeled bigots. And just like this situation its cowardly attacks on groups they think are ‘safe’ to attack and will just take whatever they throw at them.
So when a car dealer offers you a deal that turns out to be unavailable he can be prosecuted and imprisoned under bait and switch rules, but when Congress offers you a pension and benefit that they will later make unavailable it’s business as usual in Washington DC?
No wonder folks think Congress sucks and the people running the country are actually stealing our future from us to enrich themselves today.
On the bright side, the vast majority of the comments are in support of the veterans and our benifits.
“Just another special interest group.”
Is there another interest group that we ask to die for us?
http://www.uea.ac.uk/menu/acad_depts/edu/learn/braysher/tommy.htm
I am perfectly willing to call the military a “special interest group” — if all the other interest groups drop the word “special.”
This has been your weekly mandatory cerebral vascular pressure integrity test. If you can read this, you have not had a massive hemorragic stroke secondary to rapid, transient spikes in mean arterial pressure secondary to increased environmental levels of bigotry, vindictiveness, and stupidity directed at you and your brethren in arms.
You may now resume normal activities.
ANCCPT, Out.
Thank You Valerie. Every time I hear or see Congress and the military together Tommy starts loudly in my head. Joe
True story.
I wouldn’t share my chocolate sports bar with peanut butter.
Then again it’s not like I could go to the store and buy on anytime I wanted either.
Why are you trying to steal my fair share, Mark Thompson?
So I sent in a link to a story from the National Journal last week and the summary is essentially this: members of Congress-from both parties-have introduced bills to restore the COLA cuts, but hey have done so as riders on bills that they know are unacceptable to the opposition party which they know their opponents will have to vote against. They have done this essentially so that they can portray the other party as having “voted against veterans” In essence they have made us political footballs, this is how our political class shows it appreciation. What does “animal mother” say on Full Metal Jacket-“clean out your headgear”, yeah that’s how I feel.
I also find it interesting that the news media has been very quiet about the fact that Military Casualties in Afghanistan have skyrocketed under B. Hussein 0bama & Company!
MEMORANDUM FOR: POTUS
SUBJECT: Breach of contract
Sir;
In regards to your intent to balance the budget by reducing the benefits of military veterans, I offer the following statements.
1- The aforementioned veterans pledged their lives, their fortunes, and sacred honor to the preservation of these United States. Can you say the same?
2- These veterans contracted with the government of the United States of America to serve for a specified amount of time and provide a specified service. Having completed their portion of this contractual obligation, Said veterans legitimately expect the government to make good on their portion of the aforementioned obligation.
3- The President, currently one Barack Obama, in the event of failing to comply with the terms of this contract, is cordially invited to kiss my pasty white Irish ass, at high noon (local) in front of the White House on the day of his departure from said residence.
4- This order shall remain in effect until revoked, remanded, or superseded by the undersigned.
AMERICAN VETERAN
SFC D – “POTUS” and “honor” in the same sentence constitutes an oxymoron.