Soldiers being told to Pay own way home????

[Mari333]

www.bringthemhomenow.com
Letter from military wife: (story at left of page)


August 30

Now the Army is giving the soldiers 3 weeks leave to come home, but they have to buy their own ticket from Kuwait to home, in my husband's case, to Atlanta. The ticket is $1200, and I will gladly pay it, but what about those guys that can't afford it? First we were told, that they would fly them to Boston. What is so hard about flying these soldiers home all the way with no out of pocket expense to them?

[E_Zapata]

1. Outlandish. Outrageous. A-moral.

and unbelievable.

[wuushew]

2. If the military absentee ballots results are not significantly different

than in 2000 I am going to honesty question the sanity of our military personnel.

[MuseRider]

3. Aren't they internet voting?

The results will be an overwhelming vote for Chimpy.

[Booberdawg]

4. What the fuck??

That is OUTRAGEOUS!! Since when??

[bearfartinthewoods]

14. errr...since always??

if you couldn't catch a ride unofficially, you had to pay your own way to wherever you wanted to go on leave.

[leftofthedial]

5. they need the seats on the planes

for Bush's Saudi business partners.

[lcordero]

6. leave time is considered vacation time

Unfortunately, the guy is probably taking vacation time in order to handle family business like a family death or maybe to see somebody that is deathly sick. These are probably the only type of circumstances in which a person may be able to take leave in a combat zone.
The only way that moving back to the United States from Kuwait would be paid(by the govt) for is if the unit's tour was coming to a conclusion.

[tokenlib]

7. Active military get the shaft like veterans!

It is long since time that the military and veterans wake up to the fact that republicans are two-faced, hypocritical, traitorous scum who represent the military contractors and not the soldiers.

I am so sorry to hear this. A lot of us are ashamed to hear such a thing.

[lazarus]

8. no MAC flights?

Heck, I can fly to Hawaii on military flights for 10 bucks.

Or are there no military flights from Kuwait to the states? Is it that privatised?

Maybe a medical flight to Germany, then MAC to the US?

[pfitz59]

11. Medevac flights are full.........

of the wounded they won't talk about!

[Brucey]

9. Wow, Stumphead and company certainly support the troops!

Unbelievable how they say one thing and do another. Repugs learned a long time ago how easy it is to fool the public. You simply say you believe something or support something... environment, working people, public schools, etc. Then they go about their usual business of lining their pockets with the national treasury.

[izzie]

10. Lets e-mail congress and ask them this????

Since they all got a pay increase let them buy the tickets home. This should show the service just what the GOP thinks of them.

[Cocoa]

12. did Bremer have to pay his plane fare?

serious question, and I think I can guess the answer.

He was on vacation when the mosque blew up in Najaf, and contrary to some press reports, he did NOT cut his vacation short to deal with that.

[Karenina]

13. Just another item in the L-O-N-G list

of outrageous abuses. Viet Nam Vets on the streets. Gulf War I Vets sick and dying, benefits cuts, pay cuts, mandated, health-endangering vaccines, Veterans forced to PAY to get their possesions returned to the U.S. No big deal if they are homeless and have no place to which they can be sent, injured soldiers being BILLED for hospital food they were unable to consume.... Such horrific ABUSE. WHAT WILL IT TAKE? :shrug:

[Tinoire]

18. I couldn't believe that when I read it!

"injured soldiers being BILLED for hospital food"

This generation of soldiers returning is going to be TOTALLY messed up and ANGRY. I hope, truly hope, that whoever wins will immediately FUND the programs they rely on for help.

A friend of mine in 2ID told me they barely have any support/counselling availabe for those who returned.

Unf&^%ingbelievable!

[Tinoire]

15. This is nothing new- sorry to say

The military has never paid for flights home either in peace or war time. The only time the military will pay for your flight is if they are directing you somewhere. Those are just the rules and every soldier knows this.

If a soldier wants to go home and can't afford the flight, the Red Cross and Army Emergency Relief Services (Navy, Marine, AF also) will either lend the money, defray the cost, or pay for such flights- depending on the need AND, more importantly, thier availability funds.

So if people care that much, they should donate here: http://www.aerhq.org/


During Gulf War I, AER and the Red Cross had so much money that yhey gave a TON of it away and even soldiers who had borrowed money for some of the flimsiest reasons had their loans totally excused because so much money had been donated that all loans were wiped out. Soldiers in Germany who never got anyhwere near the Gulf who'd borrowed money and spent it on stereo equipment had their loans excused.

When it rains it pours...

Having been a soldier for so long, this doesn't concern me as much as the reports about troops not having the proper equipment and having to buy their own equipment (boots, uniforms) in the middle of a war. THAT is obscene!

Chimp boy and Halliburton have really out-done themselves this time.

[JohnKleeb]

16. thats terrible that is happening

[Tinoire]

17. It really is- a crying shame!

Hope the compassionate conservatives are enjoying their TAX cuts!!!!!!!!!!

[JohnKleeb]

21. I bet they are probably spending the money on their mistresses

fucking bastards
I hope DK or someone finds out about this and speaks out.

[bluestateguy]

19. Despicable.

Oh! But don't question the Right's support for the troops! Oh No! They put FLAGS ON THEIR SUV'S!! And they sing GOD BLESS AMERICA before football games! Their patriotism as an issue must therefore be off the table!

Seriously, the Democrats could win more military households by making things like this an issue: promise to pay for the return flights, and like that story from the Tampa Bay Tribune the other day, wounded soldiers should NOT have to pay for their own hospital food! Conservatives like to think that military voters vote Republican only because Republicans always promise more and more money for weapons and hardware, but quality of life issues are just as important to the average enlistee.

[Tinoire]

20. Wow- Check out this letter :(

Soldiers' families are being destroyed for this?!
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
------------------------
<snip>

We are a communications unit and I thought we would be providing communications support for units that needed it. We of course did this but almost 99 percent of the communications we provide are calls home and internet so people can check their AOL email. Almost none of what we do is actually military related. There is also the problem that there is TOO much signal units here in theater, we have teams providing phone support for 1-2 people. Do the taxpayers know that there are units here that are so under utilized that their missions are hard to come by? If we were actually providing a real mission, I would have no problem with this but to extend us to the point that our unit will have been gone for 15 months total and we have active duty units going home in half that time is ridiculous. We are over here sleeping to the sounds of mortar rounds and gunfire on our perimiter several months after our President declared the end of the "war."

Now to make matters worse, our President wants twice the amount of money to help rebuild Iraq, while our spouses deal with the shambles of a formerly powerful economy. I have seen friends lose their jobs while over here in Iraq. My wife is losing her job due to the economy and there are a fraction of the jobs there used to be. We are supposedly protected under the Soldiers Sailors Act to protect our jobs, but what about the long term harm long term and constant deployments will impact our future employment? An employer cannot discriminate against National Guardsmen and Reservists but just like overweight people, and minorities or women might suffer from, how can you tell you were not called for an interview because your in the military part time? My employer alone has had 8 of us called up and is trying to deal with the shortage. Then to have to hear on the news that there is little or no evidence of weapons of mass destruction, Americans getting killed or wounded ever few hours will there be any support from America? To add further insult we are never told when we are coming home and that the U.S. is having problems getting support from the International Community for a war we went against the international community in the first place.

www.bringthemhomenow.org/sound/main.html