Day 294: Military: Cut Pay or Cut Troops?

Seriously?? This week's Military.com newsletter came out with this as the primary article. I generally skim the headlines and read articles that seem pertinent to me or my husband and family. I came across a headline that suggested the current administration is looking to cut military pay and benefits or decrease the size of the military.

I immediately was concerned on several fronts. For one my husband's current tour is already demonstrating to me what happens when you decrease troop presence in a hostile environment. He has not told me much due to security reasons, but has been in country for two months and has seen more this tour than the past three, according to him. One country, one war - one troop withdrawal and our soldiers are seeing the results of that action. What happens to our nation's security and our troops if we decrease the number of soldiers active and prepared to defend us?

One, doesn't that just paint a large target on our backs? We've been fighting the insurgents since 2001 and been in the Middle East since 1990? If we're at this level of "success" with our current troop levels, what can we expect if we decrease in size. We can't be everywhere we are needed if we close up ranks and lower numbers to appease the budgetary concerns of congress. I have no problems admitting that we need to do something to shore up our economy. ENDing the wars would be much more effective than decreasing the number of people left fighting them.

Secondly, my husband is on his fourth tour now. Some of his platoon are on number five or six. What happens to these guys? They just keep getting cycled up for deployment? Deployment is unbelievably hard on a soldier and his/her family. Yes, they/we signed up understanding this possibility, especially those who signed up post 9/11, but that doesn't make it any easier to create a life. Being absent for year after year isn't a life. My husband has missed 4 years of his sons' lives, a minimum of 1/3 of their lives. Being married to an absent man, doesn't feel much like a marriage all too often. So many soldiers are suffering great depressions and are suicidal because their home lives have been completely destroyed and their work lives take them away over and over and over. One year was hard, the second was tough, but the third starts to feel like the norm is to be alone and is absolutely devastating emotionally as a couple. We are crazy about each other and are doing great given the circumstances, but what I wouldn't give to have him home for three years in a row. That seems like a pie in the sky dream at the current troop level, what would happen if we cut enough troops to make a difference in the national economy? How many more times can the same soldiers go?? Just the thought of another tour after this one makes me see red.

And if we're trying to cut troop levels to decrease costs, will they start looking for reasons to drop soldiers as they get close to pension time? "Ooh, you have a bad back? Well, yes, we do understand it is from serving your country in war zones faithfully over the past 18 years, but we'll have to separate you from the military at this time because you aren't fit for combat any more. Yeah, sorry about that pension you worked so hard for." If we as a society are judged by how we treat our weakest members, how much more harshly should we be judged if we mistreat those who protect us at great personal sacrifice.

Another option the government is apparently considering is cutting benefits for veterans and retired soldiers. Well, I can't speak for anything other than my personal family members, but they joined for the medical and retirement benefits. They served understanding the rewards "waiting" for them. But whoops, when they went to collect . . . nada. Oh, someone told you that you would get free health care from the military for serving during Vietnam? Sorry, no insurance for you! My father signed up when others were being drafted. He served willingly and now has no medical coverage at all. My husband and I are counting on his military retirement and medical benefits. We have bet our lives on it. If they cut what my husband is putting his ass on the line for, we don't have a future. My pension is worthless, a few years teaching here another few teaching over there, not enough to support myself on and little hope to build anything with another 8-12 years of frequent relocating.

Also, because of the frequent PCSing (permanent change of station, meaning being assigned a new home base) and deployments, many military families are single income because of the stresses of being a "single" parent regularly and holding a full-time job and because it is hard to move every three years and maintain gainful employment, much less a successful career of any kind. That salary and benefits supports the people who support the people who protect and support our country. My husband can do his job better when he knows all is well at home. Having a salary that can support all of us when necessary is part of keeping him focused on his job and keeping him and the men around him safe.

If you can't tell, totally riled up here. Breaking promises to our military professionals isn't right when millions of dollars get spent in Washington and around the country campaigning to keep their phony baloney jobs. I vote they make all campaign funds illegal. All candidates get the same air time, the same press time and the same coverage at rallies, etc. People hear them on the issues, not who can make a more creatively manipulative ad. No more fancy inaugural balls. No more voting themselves pay raises. No more junk! If we have to cut somewhere, cut the fat, not the meat of our nation. Our army, our educational system, our health care = these sustain us and maintain our people.

Lets work on creating a budget that makes real sense in every way, so we can keep the military getting pay raises at least commensurate with the cost of living if not with their sacrifice, and keep our promises to our veterans. Because the people who really serve our country deserve better than the government fat cats are offering.

The average pay for a soldier is $54,000 a year, including all his housing allowances, etc. This is for all soldiers as an average. Most enlisted make much less than this and bring home significantly less, while high ranking officers can make much more.  The average pay for a representative or senator is $174,000. Congress gets automatic cost of living raises annually, unless they specifically hold a vote to decline them. But every year decides if the military personnel get any raise at all, regardless of how much the cost of living has increased.

It took decades for the military pay to be equitable with similar jobs, we shouldn't take a step back. Quite literally, they have fought too hard for the little they have to be slapped in the face by the very government they are sacrificing their lives, families and bodies to protect!

Day 346: Autumn Promises

A former student of mine said she read this today and it was something special to her. It is a good reminder to me as well, that I need to take risks too. Life get shorter and shorter everyday. Hope you enjoy!

Autumn Promises
A crisp apple wind
causes rust colored leaves to stutter step
down graying blacktop
and across deep green lawns.
The September air is warm in the bright afternoon sun,
but betrayed by the undercurrent of autumn
trailing the heat,
and for a moment
I can almost feel an old flannel shirt
and hear the high school band over the cheers at the football game.
I feel myself tumbling
like the leaves
back to those minutes
where everything was as fresh and new
as I was,
new folders and notebooks
waiting for me to write in them,
a new year of promises
daring to be kept,
where life was something waiting for me
instead of a pathway of regret
trailing behind me.
I also remember
being afraid
of what life would bring after the safe cocoon of high school,
so I found cocoon,
after cocoon,
to encase myself,
as if I could protect myself from risk,
from failure
finding hollow victories in being just good enough
to get by
without putting too much of myself on the limb,
but realizing now that the regrets that trail me
are more the regrets of what I didn't do,
the risks I wouldn't take,
the life I was afraid to lead.
I pull the sharp, cool air into me
with all of its hope
daring to believe,
that I can now write the pages of my future,
breaking out of my safety chrysalis
and emerge the butterfly I was always supposed to be,
casting off the past,
its hurts and failures,
willing to risk what I am afraid to lose,
in the hopes that next fall
I will again be that girl with the cotton candy dreams
and tomorrows lining up before her
breathless for each challenge and
grateful for the wonder of each day
in the crisp apple wind.

Day 356: Rant

 I hope everyone reading this understands this is my opinion, and I don't always have all the information to form the most educated opinion about complicated military decisions, but today I am really upset about the safety of my husband and the rest of the "security" forces in Iraq right now.

Tuesday night, President Obama addressed the nation regarding the war in Iraq. I wasn't able to watch it because I had to greet parents at our open house. But I caught a news wrap up version and summary, immediately followed by a General talking about the increased violence in Iraq. Can we say I was less than enthused to hear that report right now. Chad is still transitioning INTO Iraq. His regiment is primarily still in Kuwait, training and unloading equipment for a few more weeks. His biggest fear right now are the Kuwaiti drivers who apparently make the drivers in Jamaica look calm. Let me tell you THAT was a cab ride! I will worry about him in the heat, in the traffic and miss him, but it is less stressful for the days or weeks that it takes for them to transition into country and back out for leave and redeployment than it will be when he is at his post in Iraq.

I am very happy that the President is making a sincere effort to follow through on the promises be has made to the American people; however, I am concerned that maintaining a set timetable in order to fulfill those promises may take precedence over protecting American lives.  When the troop numbers have decreased so dramatically, followed by an increase in violence, shouldn't that tell us something? Are we hanging these security forces out to dry? Do they have the numbers and resources to protect themselves? Are the decreased numbers just an invitation to terrorists?

I felt pretty secure during previous deployments that our soldiers had enough of a presence to discourage most of the opposition. What about now? Are the Iraqi police and military forces really allies? A friend of mine at school told me he was concerned that this conflict is showing many similarities to Vietnam. The soldiers can't always tell who the combatants are. They are outnumbered in a harsh environment and the battlefield is sometimes unclear.

I don't know if I was just delusional before and the danger level isn't much different or if getting older has made me understand the real risks. I just don't want the government trying to use our soldiers to accomplish diplomatic goals that perhaps are a tad optimistic. I will worry either way, but want him to have the best protection he can have around him to keep him and his soldiers protected. Just my humble opinion, but don't reduce the troop levels so much they can't continue to stand for what they are defending - us!