Harkin; military should enlist the disabled
That phony Vietnam veteran, Tom Harkin had a brainstorm the other day, according to the Army Times. This generation of legislators have made it possible for gays and transgendered people to serve in the military, women are going to have the same opportunity to give their lives for the country as men, but do you know who is being left out? The disabled.
“The military now permits individuals to remain on active duty if they acquire a disability while serving their country,” Harkin said during an appropriations hearing July 17. “However, for a person with a similar disability who wants to enlist in the military and be a part of our defense establishment, they would not allow that, even if they needed the same reasonable accommodations.”
The Defense Department already follows federal law mandating “reasonable accommodations” for disabled civilian employees, but no such exceptions are made for enlistees.
Well, here’s the thing, Senator Harkin, the people who are allowed to remain on active duty after they’ve been disabled have already been trained. They’ve been through Basic Training as well as their advanced training. There’s a reason that basic training is called that – it’s the things that folks need to know to be in the military. Are disabled enlistees going to be able to complete that training?
Granted, Harkin thinks that they should only be assigned to non-combat type jobs, but does he understand the impact that would have on the military healthcare system? They already complain about the costs of healthcare for aging veterans, so they want burden an overburdened system even more?
By the way, I’m disabled for those of you readers who don’t know. Having been on active duty and now not being able walk without assistance, I think I have a clearer perspective than some fellow who lied about his military service for decades.
Category: Military issues
They’ve already started…..
Cornelius Davis
Terrell Anquoe aka Paul Dean Fultz
etc. etc.
Fuck
Let’s just get it all out on the table and have veteran status for those that almost served. I mean they sacrificed hard earned money and time buying medals and coming up with fakes stories.
They risk their lives facing people while dressed.
Get it all out there.
Give them their own platoon or company, or whatever.
But the “Peyote Platoon” was held to be unlawful punishment…
Cause everyone knows there’s wheelchair access all through the mountains of Afghanistan.
obama’s “Rules of Engagement” has senslessly killed and disabled too many of America’s Warriors.
harkin should concentrate on caring for the wounded and disbabled veteran warriors first and foremost.
And all those submarine hatches are no doubt ADA compliant.
Jesus, Harkin. Just retire already.
Thankfully, he is retiring. We will elect someone else this year. And, we are trying to replace him with my old company commander, now my son’s battalion CO., rather than our hopeful lefty congress critter.
yeah joni ernst! a lite colonel who hasnt been involved in a sarc scandal! although she’ll never make 0-6 without groping someone, im pretty sure that’s a requirement.
anyway she has my vote!
Command Sgt Maj Cornhole Davis:
He already has a jazzy uniform, an excuse, “special classes” and training and high level media exposure.
Send him to a major command in a E-9 billet as a pilot program.
Get back with results in 2 days.
I really don’t have any words to convey the stupidity of this…
This is also a guy that wants to ban E Cigarettes.
This is also a guy that wants to ban E Cigarettes.
Isnt he basically proposing the advent of DoD civilians?
Not really, JAGC. Most DoD civilian positions have associated physical requirements. Most grade out as the equivalent of “office/sedentary work”, but some don’t.
To quote a favorite band of mine from the 90’s (Local H):
That’s it
I quit
I don’t give a shit.
How much more stupidity are we going to have to endure before the adults are in charge again?
To answer your question — until corporal punishment becomes legal again.
I said it when they lifted DADT and then they started making noise about letting transgender serve. Now it’s the disabled. Soon it’s going to be the mentally retarded and the lifting of all weight standards. They want to make the military like any other federal job. 10 years from now our military is going to be a joke.
Anyone remember McNamara’s Project 100,000? Circa 1966 the Sec Def ordered that the army start accepting draftees that could not meet the minimal physical or mental standards. He wanted to let 100,000 substandard soldiers in to do support activities. It made the news at the time but I never knew how it turned out.
seems they were called the “Moron Corps”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_100,000
Or as Obama calls them the “Moron Corpse”
As one with a s/c injury aquired after boot and tech school. I have mixed feelings about this subject. I cloud do my assignments . Pas everything on the PFT except the 3 mile run,never quit the run,just not finish in time. My duties were UH34D crew chief, F-8 plane captain and mechanic,collateral duty safety inspector,4th Maw’s General personal plane captain(a story for a another time. Yet I was med. retired. So part of me thinks if they can pass boot camp,why not? Joe
Joe, first of all thanks for your service.
As to disabled passing boot camp, as a former drill instructor, I say unless standards are lowered to a laughable level, there is no way a disabled person is passing. Plus it is hard enough training the able bodied, the time consumed dealing with the challenges a disabled person would present would take the focus away from entry level training and put it on accommodating the disabled. Non starter in my book.
As a former tech school instructor, I could not agree more.
Navy EOD School instructors concur as well!
Navy Nuke Power instructors …
Navy UNREP Teams …
And the list goes on …
As a mountaineering instructor I also agree wholeheartedly…
As an amputee wounded on month 11 in Afghanistan after 27mo in Iraq and 15 in Korea. (I’m 30) I can finally do anything and everything better physically than most Americans can ever dream of. I opted out, I support females in the military and My x-wife has served the same amount of time deployed in “heaven” as I have. My 6Y/O daughter was concieved in Iraq after her and I’s 12th/15th month, Her 1sg tried to court marshal her. She was part of the lioness team. To hell with anyone who tries to minimize or degrade our service and dedication with cowardly attempts to mass generalize Soldiers by saying anyone can do it.
I am soooo glad I retired in 2005.
Last time I checked the DAC side of things was still an EOE.
Okay, I’ve read up on Harkin and I must say, he and Iowa both suck. Harkin is the very definition of a career politician. He started on the Hill in 1969 as a staffer and, three years later, had his own staff there. From the House to the Senate and, now, 45 years later, he’s still there. Doubtless, he’d call it life spent in public service. I call it something else. So, screw Harkin and Iowa which, by the way, loved B. Hussein Obama so much that the state’s popular vote and all of its lousy six electoral college votes went to The Emperor in 2012. Did I say screw Iowa?
Iowa is a very strange state. I grew up there and while I don’t live there anymore, I have seen that in a lot of ways Iowa is more conservative than some red states. I have held concealed carry permits in 3 different states, Iowa was the first one that I got a permit in. The other two were Tennessee and Kentucky. Iowa was the easiest, by a long shot, to get a carry permit in. And a lot cheaper too. In the small town in Iowa that I grew up in, it was also far easier and cheaper to get plates for your car. Is is a very strange duality that exists in Iowa. They have a tendency to elect a lot of Democrats into offices from city up to state level. But in a lot of ways the citizens are more free than in a lot of red States. Since leaving Iowa I have been a resident of Tennessee and then Kentucky, and I feel like Iowa has spoiled me with how easy and cheap it was to get things done, particularly when it came to guns and concealed carry.
Ouch!! What’s with all this Iowa hate?? There were a lot of us who didn’t vote for Homey the Clown, either time, or Harkin, any time. Please don’t condemn the entire state for the actions of the many mis-guided, confused, idiotic POSs here.
Another Iowan here, asking not to be lumped with the morons in the cities, even though I live in one. Voted against Harkin six times, Obama twice. Really glad to have him leaving, and hoping to see a change in that seat. Good chance of it, too.
How about giving this “social experiment” to the cops and firefighters first and see how it plays out.
We are cutting forces of competent service members who meet all the phyical requirements and numbnuts wants to hire handicapped?
To progressives, every governmental department and agency is, at bottom, a ‘social program.’ Nothing more.
This is at the heart of the matter. Are we excluding able-bodied Soldiers to meet quotas? If so, WHY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?
How about a pilot program first, Harkin? Let’s put those folks in charge of Congressional and Presidential security first and give those Secret Service guys a rest. If none of you assholes get killed within four years then maybe pass the program to the military. How about Harkin? Put your money where your mouth is.
I second the motion
Once again just goes to show that Democrats think the US military should be used simply as a jobs program.
And once again, people like him fail to understand that standards exist for a reason.
Just in case it has not been stated already; Harkin is an absolute mental midget with this brilliant idea.
The whole idea about the standards was to have a Military filled with abled and sound minded bodies capable of handling the rigors of Warfare. It is not a social agency! Fucking nuts are running the insane assylum.
Ever here of douglas bader or moshe dayan?
Neither of whom were disabled prior to serving their countries, way to miss the point entirely.
VWP we have position for you:
Commander of Fire Base Retardo!
I say we issue an MOS specifically for fleabags like VWPissbucket, 69F – Shrapnel Interceptor, they get to sniff their glue and sing “Kum-ba-yah” just outside the wire and they get fragged first!!
Moshe Dayan would kick your scruffy butt just on general principle.
VWP, the only reason I can think of that you keep posting here is because your stupid meter fills up and you have to spew your moronic shit or die. Sort of an idiot release valve.
As usual, you come on here and totally miss the point of the discussion and then spend a couple more posts doubling down on your stupidity.
Democratic Underground has plenty of open slots in their loser parade. Why don’t you head on over there and spend your days lazily talking gibberish with like minded tools.
Or GFY.
Better idea:
Let’s start at the barber shop on Capital Hill.
Or galley in the White House.
Civilain contractors that provide maintenance support to AIR FORCE ONE and MARINE ONE.
And those protecting our nuclear weapons.
Just a few pilot programs to measure possibility of future success.
It will be a great day in the USA when the US Military and the VA has who and what they need to do their job correctly and B. Hussein 0bama & family will have to have a bake sale to raise enough money for their next vacation!!
Noooo, don’t pick on MARINE ONE or AIR FORCE ONE. There are military folks that fly in that plane and helicopter.
Let’s leave it with the barber shop and the kitchen staff as was suggested earlier.
I wasn’t picking on either of those aircraft, I was referring to the opulent multimillion dollar vacations that B. Hussein 0bama & family treat themselves and their entourage to every other month.
Rog that!
No, I think the pilot program should start elsewhere. Let’s see if Harkin has the courage of his convictions. Put those disabled in charge of Congressional and Presidential protection. I’m sure the Secret Service would enjoy the break.
Thank you , Top and Dennis.I did not say anything about special treatment. I want Boot camp to remain tough. Master Guns what is with no more spit shining and polishing brass. These were the times we recuits cloud relax a little? Joe
As with most quasi-liberal politicians, Harkin is hanging on to anything he can get to stay in office the next go-around.
To hell with common sense. Just stay in office. I have a strange feeling that votes are becoming scarce. Obummer and his boys did a number but Obummer’s coattails are not as long as they used to be. Most of these (his) clowns are scrambling for anything at this point to stay in office.
Change is coming.
And I am a democrat. Not a liberal, but a democrat.
Harkin isn’t running this time. I think maybe someone realized he is senile, and put the brakes on.
I know he is not running.
But you still have to keep the state with the party.
As I said, times are a changin’.
I have a better idea. Recall any vet to AD who has a service connected disability, offer the job to them that they used to do, with credit for time in pay grade if still working in the same rate/MOS. Especially my generation, we already have the experience and the discipline, and anyway, vets should have preference over nonvets. And some of us could use the cash.
Geez, it would mean Jonn could have his old job and and make tandem night jumps. He’d probably stop smoking cigars and drinking rum.
Oh, no, PH! Some of that makes entirely too much sense. These are the assignments they would want for the born disabled and/or those who become disabled prior to serving in the military:
Blind: Ranger master/Firearms Instructors
Pedophiles: JrROTC Instructors
Don’t read or speak English: Academy Instructors
Dyslexic: Air Traffic Control
No Hands: Surgeon or Aircraft Mechanic
IT: Contract out to prisons
Bulimic: Food Handlers
Agoraphobic: Survival Instructors
Morbidly Obese: Drill Instructors
Color Blind: Uniform Issue
Drug Addicts: Pharmacy or Payroll
Hippies: JAG Core, or wherever, dude
Deaf: Band Leaders and Chaplain Corpse
As long as we are at it, maybe contract out most pharmacy operations to the cartels.
I’d do it. They’d just need to make sure there was an elevator to the tower cab.
“Brainstorm”?!! More like a brainfart. And a rather vacuous and smelly one at that.
While I agree with much of what has been said here, I’d be lying if I also said I didn’t side with some of what the senator is saying. Me personally, I have a diabetes and thus, never got a chance to join the service which I wanted to do. There are countless stories of people injecting insulin in their body while in a foxhole according to various news sites and the ADA’s Web site over the past 10 years.
Yet, I could never join. I wish I could have and now am also barred due to age. You are right. Having people sign up with an ailment or a disability isn’t wise but at the same time, diabetes is completely treatable. Yes, I know, if you are in the field and don’t eat for too long, bad things can happen. Yes, I know, low sugar is a reality in the service. and yes, I know, that putting a person in a desk job and then shipping a healthy kid out to war also isn’t the best option.
Just saying, I can see his point. I wish there was some middle ground. I wish there was a way that I could have served or done something and hope in the future that the service branches are opened up to include more people.
The more who serve, the more will understand what it means to be in the service. And the more who serve, I think, will cut down, perhaps, on Stolen Valor as more people will understand how idiotic it is and how just wrong it is to pretend you are something you aren’t.
Like I said, just my thoughts. Means nothing on the sands of time but it is my thoughts.
Andy Kravetz, reporter
Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star
There is a newly-developed insulin pump with a gauge that eliminates the blood draw and notifies the user immediately if anything needs to be done. It is small and unnoticeable and is being field-tested now.
That should eliminate diabetes as a reason to not allow someone to serve.
Too late for me, I am afraid. Too old now, but if they ever raise the age limits back into the mid-40s, I’ll go. Might not survive boot camp 🙂 but I’d try
andy