Amer. Airlines to charge $1thou each to fly R&R soldier - Balt to Bangor

[donsu]

http://www.buzzflash.com/mailbag/03/09/29.html

from the mailbag

Subj: Another insult to troops!!!!

A friend in Bangor, Maine sent this letter from their daily paper.

Karen Webb

* * *

Letter to editor in today's BDN...G

$1,000 insult to troops

My husband is with the 112th medical unit stationed in Iraq. He has been away since February. Recently the president announced that the troops will have to stay away for a full year. This means my husband will not return until March 2004. However, the Army is granting leave so that the troops may visit their families for about two weeks.

In order to visit home they are required to use civilian transportation. Since the Army cannot give them a specific date (after all, they are in the middle of a war), American Airlines is going to charge them in the neighborhood of $1,000 to travel from Baltimore, Md. (where the Army will drop them off) to Bangor.

Since all these soldiers are from Maine, this is unfair. How much are these men and women going to be required to give in the service of this country? Can't something be done to get these people back to Bangor so they can see their loved ones for at least two weeks?

It is a sorry state of affairs that the people of Bangor greet troops who are only stopping by and our own men and women, due to the exorbitant fees charged by American Airlines, have to be shifted to another state and their families have to drive to Manchester, N.H., to pick them up.

Cheryl Thibeault
Hermon
---------------------------------

$1,000 each! we are not in Kansas anylonger.

[quispquake]

1. That is so sick...

The audacity of this administration!!! This is on top of water rationing (only 2 liters a day), and food rationing in Iraq because instead of the army doing the food/water distribution, HALLIBURTON (Kellogg & whatever, their subsidiary)...does it now...and feeding & giving water to our troops obviously cuts into the profit margin...

[Bunny]

2. I heard on the news last night

that one of the airlines will start charging our servicemen and women $200.00 for trips from Baltimore to anywhere, so they can more cheaply get to their families. While I commend this, don't you think they could just give them a free ride? I mean, how much money would they lose? And wouldn't they gain a huge amount of good PR if they just let them ride free?

[Karenina]

5. There are NO WORDS to express my contempt

for those able to "support our troops" who are UNWILLING to do so unless their palms are greased. :puke: :puke: :puke:

I know EXACTLY where that 15B bailout went and have 2 examples of VERY EXPENSIVE advertising I can describe to anyone interested.

These kids are getting 15 days R&R. The jet-lag over there is almost bearable, although "coming down" from the angst of being a target requires time. MY classmates were flown out of the fuckin' jungle one day and dropped in San Francisco the next. THOUSANDS of them are still on the streets suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, homeless, hungry, FUBAR, these 30, count 'em 30 YEARS LATER. Yeah, who cares.

The REAL test will be when these kids, whose families must assume debt and wait DAYS to see them on the doorstep, are returned to the HELL of Iraq. Jet-lag in THIS direction is a BITCH. Never mind those thrill-seekers who get themselves killed in auto accidents or other T-type behaviour before they are returned to the slaughter. Once returned to the pit they will require 2 weeks for their body clocks to adjust. They'll be sent out on "patrol" the morning after they arrive. The casualties that will ensue will all be written off as "non-combat" to protect the *gub'mint from paying benefits.

This is DISGUSTING, GROSS, HORRIFYING, UNCARING, I FUCKING DON'T HAVE THE WORDS.

The following is a repost of a reply I made to a thread in LBN this morning:

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!!! Every airline corp. HQ and ticket outlet should be greeted each morning by patriots who believe "support" consists of more than mouthing rhetoric. These guys were bailed out by 15B in taxpayer money. I'm visualizing 1-100 equipped with handouts detailing the way the *misadministration has screwed those who volunteered to risk life and limb, picketing every airline office carrying signs that demand, TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE! TROOPS FLY FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND AS AN ADDENDUM, if ANYONE is willing to give up a seat to allow a soldier a few more moments with family, they too should be compensated.

[clemencia2us]

17. hotel cost

I came back from Kuwait in May. I had to spend the night in Baltimore. The hotels did not have any rooms available at the "government" rate. I had to pay 263.00 for 1 night at the Sheraton, one of the few places with open rooms. Most of the other troops were haggling with the hotels. I was tired and paid the higher rate, don't know if the others were successful. I made sure I got that taken care of by the Air Force. When these guys come home on leave, if they have to spend the night, they will have to pay for it out of pocket.

[Karenina]

18. That money comes back to you ten-fold

I don't know how, but I affirm it in my prayers. You were "tired?" Well FUCKIN-A, I don't doubt it. EXHAUSTED and jet-lagged, MAYBE??? Grrrr...
:mad: :mad: :mad:

[olmy]

3. Obviously then the meals on the flight are extra?

Way to go..."American" airlines. By the way, could you guys think of a way for helping the troops get home, seeing how we bailed you out of bankruptcy?

Uh....nope.

[DuctapeFatwa]

4. The Free Market is providing an incentive to military families!

Now they have an empowering incentive to work harder to save up for those airfares!

And be an important part of the very capitalism their loved ones are defending!

[imhotep]

12. haha

post post I have ever read.

[maxanne]

6. they should come home

and refuse to go back.

Would you perform a life threatening job for a company that cut your pay, cut your health benefits, and put you in danger in unsafe working conditions? (extreme heat without enough water) Then asked you to pay for your hospital meals if you were injured on the job, and made you pay for airfare home?

Of course you wouldn't. Why shouldn't Uncle Sam be held accountable for the deranged policies of the Bush administration?

Imagine if hundreds refused to go back? What would they do, if it were an organized movement, involving hundreds of soldiers? I can hear the chant now:
HELL NO - WE WON'T GO BACK!

[zbdent]

7. Two problems solved at once -

Let uniformed soldiers fly free IF

they are in uniform and get to carry their rifle onboard.

Can you say "Air Marshall"?

[LTR]

9. I was thinking the exact same thing

1. 'Troops Fly Free' is a great PR move, and one that will cost little money (a bag of peanuts and a soda).

2. The air marshall question finally gets answered. Not so sure about rifles on planes, though. One hole in the side of the plane, and all go down. I say stun gun. I do like the idea of uniformed presence on commercial aircraft. And that also goes for law enforcement officers.

'Supporting the troops' is more than waving flags and pom-poms, especially when soldiers' families are living on food stamps, paying their own way for food and health care and getting evicted from their homes. Wonder how many soldiers and their families will rally around Wesley Clark next year over this neoconman occupying the White House?

[RummyTheDummy]

8. Their first mistake.....

was flying American. It's positively the WORST airline in the country and very GOP friendly to boot.

[pfitz59]

10. How many soldiers will go AWOL?

And argue they're just following Shrub's lead? Will the media report soldiers failing to go back? Would you go back to the insanity of Iraq? I think we'll see something in the news in about 2 weeks......

[rocktivity]

14. Some of the soliders may end up going AWOL without meaning to

if they happen to miss their connecting flights or run into bad weather.

Which reminds me of a story I saw about was a solider who was murdered while on leave and was dishonorably discharged for being AWOL. Since his time of death could not be determined, his family fought to have the discharge changed to honorable because the military couldn't prove that he died after his leave time ran out.


rocknation

[Toucano]

11. Make Bush pay for it.

He's the reason they're in the situation anyway.

American did announce a discount fare program yesterday for soldiers.

http://www.amrcorp.com/news/september03/29_military.htm

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. Hmmm. This seems rather fucked-up...

I thought most US-registered commercial jets are part of the military reserve transport fleet, and may be called into service as such? So why isn't this being done? Another example of the stupid libertarian idea that anything the government does should be done by the private sector instead. Outsource the job of troop transport, make the taxpayers foot the bill ANYWAY, and as a bonus a corporation which was likely a major GOP contributor gets to profit. Tell me again why the free market is such a wonderful thing, someone?

[frank frankly]

15. such outrageous bullshit

kick kick kick

[bluestateguy]

16. This is not the time for "free market" bullshit

Our boys are at war, and this is not a time for greedy profit hungry leeches to be spreading their filth.