Funny- except, as it turns out, I know a guy that is not Saddam that lost everything. I do family counselling and therapy on returning troops. Real funny joke until you talk to a parent that has actually lost everything.

It is actually worse than the poem. The guy I know who lost his son, was in retirment, now working at Wal-mart to help his daughter in law, that has no family of her own, feed and cloth her kids, his grandkids. He tried to attempt suicide, to let her cash in on the life insurance policy. She saved him before he died, good thing, he would have not collected due to him being caught trying to kill himself.

All well and good until you know someone that actually has these problems.

 

CruisingRam,
I don't doubt your word, but something is wrong with this picture, or no one is helping these folks get assistance.

* Was the guys son killed in the military?
* In most cases, if a life insurance policy has been in effect for three years, the company will pay in a case of suicide. I'm still glad he didn't do it.
* Where do they live that they can't get some kind of social services help?

 

Oh, he has help, sure, after all, he was able to come to me for counselling, right? LOL- he is not homeless, and niether are his grandkids- but SGLI for a private is not very big money is it?

To quote Robert Hienlien "It is not the guy that loses everything that has to do without, it is the guy that is just barely making it"- so this guy is out of retirement and depressed when he thought he had it all and life was great, then comes this war, takes away his son and his son's ability to help raise his family.

Quite frankly, the vets and surviving family of our vets aren't done very well by our country, don't you agree? Especially the lower ranks, where the God's of war exact thier greatest toll.

There are lower rank Reservists that have been called up from here that have lost thier house, as thier military pay doesn't come close to the private sector pay they were recieving. Top that with the fact that these servicemen's family members left behind essentially become single parents. Top that with the fact that these folks DON"T live on post (reservists usually don't ) and have the support networks that full time members have. Add that to stop loss which means these guys are on duty longer than the tour of Vietnam from that conflict.

There are a lot of folks that are in a world of hurt due to this war, good hard working Americans and thier families, and they bear the brunt of this "sacrifice"- NOT GW Bush!

 

Careful Gentlemen.
This post was originally posted in humor and WILL NOT be turned into a political bash.
Keep it in order please.

Thanks.
Rich.

 

Sorry- I frequent a large amount of political debate siites - and this is obviously not a political debate site LOL

But this is also a sore subject for me, as my job in the Gaurd is to wear many hats, and the one I seem to get more and more is to counsel either grief stricken families or soldiers having a hard time coping outside the combat arena.

My "real" job is a counseler at the only state facility in our state, and normally I only work with rapists and serial killers, and quite frankly, I don't have a lot of empathy or respect for those folks. That can not be said for our returning and thier families.

 

yep

 

Veterans being counseled by an Officer who openly bashes their Commander in Chief in a public forum......A truly sad story indeed......

God help our returning heroes.

 

What should we do? Sit on our hands and let a bunch of Islamics blow up our country because some of us might die? Who got blamed for 9-11? GWB. Why? Because he was president. Now, he puts the gears in motion to plug the loopholes that were there when he took over a couple months before that and he gets blasted for taking away freedoms. He cleans up Afghanistan and Iraq, two hotbeds of terrorism, but he is wrong there, too. Some people have the idea that everything that happens is the president's fault.

Something wrong with this picture. Don't blame the president because someone falls through the cracks. The systems at work were there long before he became the president. And, I think he has a couple pretty important items on his desk since becoming president to think he personally can fix all the ills we might perceive in how certain people are treated. We need to get our senators and representatives accountable for some of these items we feel strongly about and quit thinking everything is the presidents fault. He has done a magnificent job and I am proud to have dubbia as my president.

Now I hear the complaint that only 400 million of the 80 billion allocated for the rebuilding of Iraq has been spent. They are blaming that on Bush. Now, let's see some logic in that - - just go blow the money on something even if you don't need to so people will not complain. DDUUUUUHHHHHH. I would be tickled to death if we never had to spend another penny of that money and the oil revenue could be geared up quick enough to pay for the rebuilding. But, that would probably be wrong, too. Where do we see the facts about what has been accomplished in Iraq? They actually have the first sewer treatment plant the country has had in some 20 years up and running. The water supply is the best it has been in many years. The electrical service is better and more consistent than in many years. Who is telling these things? It sure is not the liberal press - - they dwell on a few of our soldiers who disgraced themselves and our country mistreating prisoners.

Oh shut up Bob before you get mad.

God Bless GWB and God Bless America.

ProudBob

 

Wow Bob!

I'm impressed! Well spoken!

CR

 

We need to hope that Johnnie Cochran and Bob Bennett do not catch the next flight to Baghdad! Me thinks the Guardsman has not done his duty, because there IS help out there, he just hasn't found it! The squeakiest wheel gets the most grease.

Thanks, Larry, we needed a laugh!

Alan's Other Half.

 

Actually, SGLI is $250k whether you are an E-1 or an O-6. Top that off with the additional survivor benifits, and there is no reason in the world for her parents or her in-laws to be helping her except with moral support.

That is rarely, if ever, been truly the case. I don't know of many lower rank reservists who make enough money in the first place for a house that their housing allowance couldn't pay for. Heck, if their unit is based out of some cities in California, they can make anywhere from $900-$1500 in their housing allowance alone.

Fewer than 50% of all active members actually live on a military base in this day and age anyway. And living on base has no bearing on a support network being in place. The network is in place whether you live on base or 1000 miles from it.


For the most part, very little of your argument holds any water at all. I was a drilling reservist at the time of the events of 9/11, and was not going to be called up. I left my reserve unit and ENLISTED again for 4 years. I left a fairly well paying job, and am making approximately 2/3's what I was on the outside. But my family is doing quite well...heck, I am going to get a new truck in a few weeks. The only thing that really was effected was my leisure time activities, since that was the first thing cut when my pay went down.

Nice try, but it is obvious that if you know as much as you claim to about the military, you know your argument is

Get off your horse, most of us in the military are proud of what we are doing, whether we are regular active duty, reservists, or National Guardsmen.

 

Stingerpup (Brad),

You can bet your brass that I'm proud of you!

Your situation and actions are about the same as my brother-in-law. He re-enlisted and volunteered to go to Iraq. He don't like it over there one bit, but he understands that it needed to be done. Him and guys like you are true hero's.

It's too bad the liberal left can't see down the road. I may not have lived long enough to see the involvement and Saddam and others, but there is not doubt that my kids and grandkids would. He was a time bomb that needed to be defused!

Thanks for being you,
CR

 

Well I'll be darned, thought the draft was over. George W. did not make that decision for them. They went down and signed up all on their own. Serving is what they signed up for.

 

Perhaps you'd be happier if we had kept all our soldiers here and ended up fighting this war in your backyard instead of in a desert on the other side of the world.