Comments on: "No Excuse, Sir" Is The Only Answer

Everyone Is To Blame For The Walter Reed Scandal, Except Those Who Got The Story

[spargle]

A fitting finale to the failed Bush administration. Bumper sticker politics followed by . . . NOTHING. Support the troops - BRING THEM HOME

[harp1963]

We're sending trillions of taxpayer dollars into a foreign country to rebuild it after we destroyed it, but our wounded boys come home for medical care in a rat hole. Makes perfect sense to me, considering what an idiot our president is.

[karlimhof]

The Bush War :

The only positive things this mad war has accomplished is showing us our weaknesses;

- we cannot allow our elected officials to embark us on adventurist wars

- we have to keep our military strong to protect America, not Israel or to "change the face of the Middle East" or any region of the world

- we have to pay more attention to our veterans needs and normal citizens health care needs (invest money !)

- we have to have a credible response prepared for national emergencies (i.e.katrina)

- we have to become fiscally responsible again

Amen

[navychief8]

Zoroastor,

I wanted to elaborate. I think that the majority of money we are spending goes to just paying for ongoing operations. That is what I meant by trying to catch up.

During WW2, the war was a national effort. That does not happen today. Remember the scrapmetal drives and people doing without so that the troops would have what they needed? I remember the stories my grandparents told me. I am in no way trying to justify the war or its correctness, but if we are going to go to war, we need to do it all the way and not try to do it on the cheap. I think if we would have done that we would have been far more successful.

[navychief8]

Zoroastor,

Absolutely! And I should stated from the beginning, that I was not attacking what you said. I just used your post as an example of the underlying problem. I agree that the people who run the hospital should be taken to task. But I just get mad when I read these posts. As a vet, you and I both know that the average citizen spends little time thinking about us when we are not fighting a war.

p.s.

Thank You for your service and your sacrific

[karlimhof]

I suppose that giving him credit for what has gone RIGHT if you'll admit to anything going right at all, is virtually nonexistent.

Posted by dovestar



Be pleased to hear from what he's done right.

[zoroastor]

NavyChief

How goes it?

Yes I own a fire extinquisher. No I don't check it. Good anaology. Okay, will you give me that it is taking WAAAAY too long to correct the problem of insufficiently equiped troops?

I was there for a year. We were surprised never to have gotten the equipement while in country. We are even more surprised it is still a problem.
I too spent money out of my own pocket for my troops' safety. To me, this only further proves my point.
You are right, the public will have forgotten this "outrage" a year after this is over and will want more military cuts. However, it does not absolve the administration from poor planning -that is their RESPONSIBILITY! that far exceeds my checking my fire extinguisher - and telling the American public that the war would cost 70-90 billion and that Iraq could largely fund it. C'mon we all knew that was a crock as soon as we heard it.

I believe you echoed my thoughts about being prepared to spend more money on the VA and military service.

[navychief8]

Part 2,

After this war ends, will you, the public still care for my and my fellow service men and women%u2019s well being? Or will you the public demand we scale back our spending on the military once again. And again I will go out and spend my money to make sure I and my troops have what is needed to complete the mission.

Our Armed Forces are a mirror image of the society it protects, no better and no worse. So blame the politicians all you want. But I blame you, the public for forgetting about me when I needed you most. Before the fires of war burned.

No Excuse, indeed!

[navychief8]

If they truly believed in supporting our fighting forces, they would never have sent us over there without body armor, or the proper body armor, armored vehicles, etc...

Posted by Zoroastor

Do you ever think about a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall of your home before a fire occurs? Do you ever inspect it to make sure it is still functioning correctly? Do you even own one?

I use this as an analogy to our Armed Forces. We are the proverbial %u201CFire Extinguisher%u201D that the public never thinks about until we are needed. But remember this: The training and equipping we did yesterday will prepare us to fight the wars of tomorrow. The day we cross the line of demarcation is not the time to say I wish I had this or I wish I had that. We fight with what we have.

How many in the public even thought about how well I was equipped for battle prior to 2004? I can%u2019t tell you how many times I spent money out of my own pocket to make sure I had everything I needed to complete a mission. And this was prior to 9/11. After the cold war ended we cut back our spending on the military (remember the peace dividend), and now it shows. We did this because that was what the public wanted. This is not a Republican or Democratic problem as the cut backs started during the first Bush administration and continued through Clinton%u2019s. Now, all the money we spend is to try and catch up and maintain.

[zoroastor]

I came home disabled from Iraq through walter reed in DC. It was okay, but that was early in the war. I could tell then that the resources were stretched. Three years later, this comes as no surprise. Nor should it come as a surprise to our administration. The same thing happened in the 60s and 70s.
I get sick of hearing our leaders say "support our troops" when what they mean is "support our agenda". If they truly believed in supporting our fighting forces, they would never have sent us over there without body armor, or the proper body armor, armored vehicles, etc...
Want to support our troops? Get them out of that quagmire as quick as is safely possible. Be willing to allocate a more significant part of the budget to the VA and military service sector.