How they support the troops : Pentagon proposes cutting Mass. Guardsmen's combat pay

[Mass]

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_5433147

Pentagon proposes cutting Mass. Guardsmen's combat pay
'The administration should be ashamed'

Wednesday, March 14
BOSTON (AP) - The Pentagon's decision to consider cutting the pay of 500 Massachusetts National Guardsmen serving in Kosovo has prompted the state's congressional delegation to send a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates opposing the proposal.

The guardsmen, who are not scheduled to return home until December, earn an extra $225 a month in tax-free combat pay for serving in the Balkans, but the Pentagon is considering whether that duty qualifies for the extra money.

"Adding undue financial burdens on our soldiers' economic benefits in the middle of their deployment is wrong," U.S. Sen. John Kerry said in a statement. "When these brave men and women signed on for their service, they were told one thing, and now they're being told another."

Marcy Maloney of Stoughton, whose husband Spc. Kevin Maloney is based in Kosovo, said he was told the decision to withdraw combat status could occur by April 1.

"They're telling them the job they did yesterday isn't that important today," said Marcy Maloney, who is taking care of 3- and 6-year-old children. "These guys are sacrificing so much. People are having babies while these guys are gone. It's like a kick while you're down."
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[BOSSHOG]

1. Let me offer the conservative reaction

Fuck a bunch of whiners. Why should they get combat pay. I'm more likely to die in a car wreck, rush says so. They are all volunteers who just come home and lie about PTSD to get free medical treatment. Welfare Privates thats all they are.

Hey bubba, going to the support the troops rally on Saturday. I hear there gonna have two kegs.

[atreides1]

2. But is it a combat zone?

"They've had explosions, and there have been (local) people killed," Marcy Maloney said. "It's definitely not a quiet place."

But does it meet the definition of being a 'combat zone'?

[Mass]

3. Can they go back home or does their family has to live without them or their pay.

Do they have a choice to refuse financial conditions that will create more hardship, leave the National Guard and go back home to find a new job.

[Toots]

4. If it isn't why is the National Guard there?

The National Guard is supposed to protect the Nation from within. They are supposed to always be here at a moments notice in case of emergency. They are not regular Army that is supposed to be placed around the world to defend us from abroad. The National Guard should only be removed from their local area in extreme emergency. Like if the US was really at war and we had a real enemy to fight. Not an occupation army that is killing civilians (women and children) with nary a uniformed enemy in sight..

[buff2]

5. And yet when it comes time to vote...........

Who gets the majority of their votes? Rethuglicans!People in the military keep voting for these pigs and then complain when they get the shaft from them. It makes no sense.

[hadrons]

6. Its called being in an abusive relationship ....