Bush/McCain: Leaving America's Troops Behind?

[ChristopherHall]

Support the Troops.

McCain, Military Oppose Expanding GI Bill
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=4652517&page=1

Bob Herbert: Today's troops deserve benefits from new GI bill
http://www.daytondailynews.com/searc...08herbert.html

Who wouldn't support an effort to pay for college for GIs who have willingly suited up and put their lives on the line, who in many cases have served multiple tours in combat zones and in some cases have been wounded?

We did it for those who served in World War II. Why not now?

Well, you might be surprised at who is not supporting this effort. The Bush administration opposes it, and so does Sen. John McCain.

Reinvigorating the GI bill is one of the best things this nation could do. The original GI Bill of Rights, signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1944, paid the full load of a returning veteran's education at a college or technical school and provided a monthly stipend. It was an investment that paid astounding dividends. Millions of veterans benefited, and they helped transform the nation. College would no longer be the exclusive preserve of the wealthy and those who crowned themselves the intellectual elite.

..........

McCain's office said on Monday that it was following the Pentagon's lead on this matter, getting guidance from Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Under pressure because of his unwillingness to support Webb's effort, McCain introduced legislation with substantially fewer co-sponsors last week that expands some educational benefits for GIs, but far less robustly than Webb's bill.

"It's not even close to the Webb bill," said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group.

.........

Bob Herbert is a columnist for The New York Times. Address: New York Times, 620 Eighth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10018.

[DividedThigh]

i am all for giving help to our boys and women out there doing a great job of defending and representing this country but to use this for propoganda to slam the president and senator mccain is a joke, they support the people in the armed forces and have there backs much more than the libs who try to say this stuff for political gain, that is all, dt

[scotty]

Na, don't want it.....they are right , retention would drop...

In 1988 the military ramped up the GI bill in order to ramp up enlistment, part of Reagans military build up...Many got in JUST for the college help, when their time was up they opted out...costing us millions.

the largest group of whiners in the service against the war are ones who signed up for the college benifits not the defense of our country.

When Clinton came into office he drasticly cut the military budget, including GI bill benifits...funny his wife is now for it...

It is a political card , nothing more , nothing less....it bring in recruits who will take it and leave...plus if Obama or Clinton get the White House they will cut the military again, after all , they are for diplomacy.

[DividedThigh]

Originally Posted by scotty

Na, don't want it.....they are right , retention would drop...

In 1988 the military ramped up the GI bill in order to ramp up enlistment, part of Reagans military build up...Many got in JUST for the college help, when their time was up they opted out...costing us millions.

the largest group of whiners in the service against the war are ones who signed up for the college benifits not the defense of our country.

When Clinton came into office he drasticly cut the military budget, including GI bill benifits...funny his wife is now for it...

It is a political card , nothing more , nothing less....it bring in recruits who will take it and leave...plus if Obama or Clinton get the White House they will cut the military again, after all , they are for diplomacy.

my thoughts exactly scotty, thanks for the back up, dt

[ChristopherHall]

Originally Posted by DividedThigh

i am all for giving help to our boys and women out there doing a great job of defending and representing this country but to use this for propoganda to slam the president and senator mccain is a joke, they support the people in the armed forces and have there backs much more than the libs who try to say this stuff for political gain, that is all, dt

Riiiigggghhhhht. Bush 'n' Company (and Bush III only) want to keep our troops indefinately committed to their globalist nation building experiment in Iraq.

[DividedThigh]

i consider the source, that is enough for me, i wonder about you ch, really, dt

[ChristopherHall]

Essentially these troops have been on an unbelievably long deployment. They deserve our best. Besides...anyone who's been in the military knows you can't just get out and go to college whenever you like, especially if on deployment. These troops can only use these benefits after their deployment. If we're going to have troops securing our interests in Iraq for the next 100 years...do we wait 100 years before honoring them for their service?

Frankly this is an insult to our troops.

In addition...excellent benefits would bring higher levels of recruitment...and the better the benefits the better the recruits signing up.

[DividedThigh]

frankly you swallow and spit out this propoganda quite easily, good grief for you insinuate that president bush, and john mccain a decorated war hero, legit i might add, dont support the troops is just the height of ignorance, but you just keep acting like you are conservative, i have seen enough, you want hear from me again, no matter how silly the things you say are, dt

[ChristopherHall]

Consider,

Recruitment of More People With Criminal Records Places Nation's Military in Jeopardy, Says Pitt Faculty Expert Donald Goldstein
http://mac10.umc.pitt.edu/m/FMPro?-d...&id=3322&-Find
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps recruited significantly more people with criminal records last year than in 2006, amid pressure to meet combat needs
PITTSBURGH-Leading World War II authority Donald Goldstein, a professor in the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, is concerned about the state of the U.S. military. According to data released Monday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps recruited significantly more ex-convicts last year than in 2006. The crimes included assault, sex crimes, manslaughter, and burglary.

GI Schmo
How low can Army recruiters go?
http://www.slate.com/id/2133908/
By Fred Kaplan
Posted Monday, Jan. 9, 2006, at 5:06 PM ET
Three months ago, I wrote that the war in Iraq was wrecking the U.S. Army, and since then the evidence has only mounted, steeply. Faced with repeated failures to meet its recruitment targets, the Army has had to lower its standards dramatically. First it relaxed restrictions against high-school drop-outs. Then it started letting in more applicants who score in the lowest third on the armed forces aptitude test—a group, known as Category IV recruits, who have been kept to exceedingly small numbers, as a matter of firm policy, for the past 20 years. (There is also a Category V—those who score in the lowest 10th percentile. They have always been ineligible for service in the armed forces and, presumably, always will be.)

[ChristopherHall]

Funny...they'd rather recruit ex-felons and rif/raf (that will weaken our military) than increase benefits to attract America's best and brightest thereby recruiting better troops.