Day 64: Cutting Troops

With the budget being such an issue, there are a lot of politicians talking about cutting the pay and benefits of the troops. I am so incensed over that issue that I can't even bring myself to write about it. I've been trying for two weeks, but I get so angry that I start to shake. I don't want to let it ruin my day, so I've just put it aside.

However, this week I am furious about the level of exhaustion my husband is experiencing. He has been run ragged for the past few months. By ragged I mean twelve to sixteen hour days followed by pulling all-nighters on paperwork. He has done this so much, that he goes days without sleeping. He is surviving on energy drinks that he has to pay for. He has gone so long on so little sleep, it is a wonder it isn't affecting him mentally (if it isn't). His body is going to suffer the affects of lack of sleep soon.

I don't need to debate the dangers of sleep deprivation. Being tired causes more fatal accidents than being drunk. We wouldn't let soldiers drink and fight/drive/patrol, but we send them out not just tired, but literally past what humans can actually bear because there aren't enough troops to do what Iraq needs us to do. We made a timetable for getting out that was set on a calendar and not on actual success. Now the insurgents are creating a volatile environment that is requiring combat troops plus all sorts of administrative jobs. But we don't have enough soldiers there because of the withdrawal timetable.

Now the DoD is talking about cutting personnel. I don't see how they can possibly consider cutting back personnel when we're now fighting on three fronts. We have action in Iraq and Afghanistan but also Libya. If they are trying to cut the budget so much, why don't we stop fighting all these nation's wars for them?

My husband has gone on deployment essentially every other year since he joined the army at the current troop level. How in the world do they plan to continue the cycles of deployments with fewer troops? Take them away even more from their families? News articles are springing up everywhere about the toll the deployments are taking on soldiers, marriages, spouses, children, families. There has been a meteoric rise in alcoholism, abuse, divorce and suicide. They need to deploy less, not more.

I just don't see how they can consider cutting personnel or pay for that matter. As the economy worsens, spouses are struggling to find work and now the DoD is going to ask the soldiers to accept cuts in pay and benefits? How are we supposed to manage to survive, much less plan for college funds and retirement? We don't even have life insurance outside of our work because of the cost. We just can't take on another bill. If we try to downsize in a year since I will most likely be unable to find work at his new duty station, I don't know what we'll do to make ends meet. Then if they make the soldiers spread even thinner than they are now? ? ? ? I'll be trying to make ends meet alone for the fifth deployment.

Soldiers are working on their sixth and seventh deployments. Even some of the younger soldiers are on second and third deployments. My husband is finishing his fourth. If he doesn't get assigned a duty that is stateside, he will be training up to leave again in less than two years, maybe 15-18 mos. home with 6 mos. of that being away from home training or schooling.

If we continue to police the entire world, cutting our troops and/or incentive to join or stay, we're going to end up handing the reins over as we crash. We need to have a money makeover for our government. Cut government staffers, presidential door openers, chauffeurs, chefs, etc. Cut the number of bombs we're dropping on Libya. Raise taxes. Most developed nations around the world pay much more in taxes than we do. Raise taxes and force the government to run on less than taxes bring in. Lower our deficit until it is gone. Then maybe we can realistically create a budget that runs our country and not into the ground.

Day 293: Go back

I don't feel good tonight, so short and sweet. If you didn't read yesterday's blog, PLEASE GO BACK and read it and contact your congressmen, senators and the White House.

Below is a website where you can find your officials at every level and be informed about what is happening in the House and Senate any given day.

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

When you see something that is unfair and ridiculous, write them. When you see people being mistreated, falling through the cracks, write them. When you know there has to be a better way, write them.

Our government is a democracy so that one voice does not overpower the many. Let the many rise up and take a stand for things that matter. Like keeping our military strong and properly compensated for the immense sacrifices they make for us!!

In a few days, deer season will open. For most of you reading this blog, it will pass you by without a thought. For Chad, deer season is his Indy 500, UFC, Superbowl and World Series all rolled into one. Other than for me and his children, my husband lives to hunt. I currently have half my garage devoted to his various hunting paraphernalia. Every year that he is home, he goes hunting and brings home his limit. He tans the hides, mounts the skull, butchers the meat. He has missed hunting season for 5 out of the last 7. Now he has been creative and found ways to get to hunt, bow hunting and muzzle loaders, and hunting Axis deer which are not regulated in Texas, but 5 out of 7 years!?!? Ridiculous. That is just one of many sacrifices he and his fellow soldiers make.

They deserve the salaries they earn. They and their families deserve the health care. If they serve for 20+ years, they deserve the best retirement and health care we can give them. Make your voice heard today.

If you don't . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  whose voice will they be hearing and what will it be saying. Please GO BACK and read yesterday's blog, get involved!

click "cool" if you write to an elected official about this issue.

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 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!

Day 362: the news

I check my email first thing and spam, spam, spam, Chad! Yay! While I knew he was safe, it is nice to hear the details. He has his first cold of the deployment. I don't know if he gets sick more often in Iraq or is more aware of it because he has nothing to take his mind off of it. Poor baby. When he is sick enough to take medicine, I know it's bad. I wait to reply until I can get to the computer. Typing an entire email on my cell is less than ideal. But even reading his email puts me behind schedule and I must have spaced out in the shower, because at 7:30, I am just running out the door. Why do I do this to myself, try to fit ten activities into five minutes? and schedule myself down to the last second? I don't know why I keep doing it when I know it makes me run late, but I can't seem to stop. I do make it to work on time, but barely.

I take a second to catch up on Facebook and see several military wives are hearing some of the same things I am. "Why is your husband going to Iraq? I thought all the combat troops were home." It feels like a punch in the chest when I hear that, like somehow my husband's sacrifice this year won't count as much because people don't know about the troops that are still there and still transitioning INTO country.  I make it a point NOT to watch the news while he is gone because every roadside bomb sends my heart into a tailspin until I hear his voice again, so I don't know if it is ignorant reporting or crappy listening, but why don't most people know that no one extra came home. Soldiers scheduled to finish their tours came home, but all the hoopla over bringing the last combat troops home is ridiculous. All they did was say some of the troops are now support personnel. I know people who were combat troops one day and "not" the next. We are still sending people over there. It is still dangerous. They still need rifles, pistols, hand grenades, but are primarily supporting and training the Iraqi army and police to take over fighting the insurgents. I guess I am partially angry at the blatant propaganda that is deliberately slanted to misguide the American people into feeling good that that Iraq war thing is over and partially upset that people continue to talk about things of which they are ignorant. I don't understand the details of many things and sometimes am guilty of complaining about how things are done, but when people criticize the army or the soldiers and don't have a clue what they are talking about, it makes my blood boil!

Yes, they get paid and we do get free health care during active duty, but that doesn't change the fact that these men and women were not drafted into the military. They volunteered to put themselves into harm's path for the rest of us, just like a police officer or fire fighter. The pay they receive seems to be pretty average overall and the extra combat/hazardous duty pay is a few hundred dollars a month. We couldn't live on just his salary without cutting back significantly but he makes about what I do. Of course that could just mean both teachers and soldiers are REALLY underpaid.

I hear more people say ignorant things about soldiers than anything else. Like someone close to me suggested, not to my face luckily for her sake, that my husband must want to be away from his family all the time to keep getting deployed. They don't have a choice. Some duties do not deploy and there are circumstances under which a soldier ends up non-deployable or in a garrison post, but if your unit is slated to go, you go, whether it is your first, third, or fifth deployment.

Not all soldiers are perfect or even good people, but a majority of them are heroic by nature and heroes by choice just for going over there so we don't have to. Take a second to mentally or physically thank a soldier or his/her family today. I am sacrificing the day to day moments with my husband that most people take for granted. He is risking his life and leaving behind most of the things that the rest of us would consider elemental to our cores. He doesn't get to hunt or fish or eat dinner with his family. He doesn't get to sleep in on the weekends, or ever. He works 19 hour days without relief with basically frozen dinners for every meal. He misses his favorite TV shows and Christmas every other year. It is a sacrifice you wouldn't make, so don't disrespect those who do. Disagree with the politics all you want, but thank a soldier for the right to do so.