Hey Lindsay Lohan! Did You Hear About the Major Victory for Thousands of Stop-Lossed Troops?
This week, we’ve seen Jon and Kate inch closer to divorce, the president stand trial in the court of public opinion for fly-homicide, and another Washington elite publicize infidelity via press release.
Somewhere in-between these trivial water-cooler discussions, reality sunk in. IAVA’s Deputy Policy Director for Public Affairs, SSGT. Todd Bowers, called me from Afghanistan, where he’s deployed on his third combat tour. And no, he wasn’t trying to find out if Miss California’s been fired.
Todd was checking in to see what’s been happening in Washington for veterans, while he’s fending off the Taliban and attempting to bring stability to a war-torn country. Not only was I glad to hear his voice, but I was thrilled to let him know about the critical progress we’ve made on three top issues for veterans and their families that Todd and IAVA have been working on for years.
Congress stood up for veterans this week, and delivered retroactive overtime payments for our stop-lossed troops, a new education benefit for children of servicemembers killed since 9/11, and increased VA funding. This is big news.
Thanks to Huffington Post readers and countless other Americans who pressured their representatives in Congress, every servicemember who has been held beyond their enlistment contract under the military’s controversial stop-loss policy is a presidential signature away from their overtime payments. More than 170,000 troops have been forced to postpone their retirements, education plans, new job opportunities or family dreams since September 11th, and each could receive on average $5,000 in back-pay as compensation. That’s real money in their pockets at a critical time. Finally, more than lip service is being paid to our men and women in uniform.
Also part of the war supplemental bill, Congress is honoring the families of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice by ensuring that all children of those killed in the line of duty since 9/11 will be able to afford a college education. This “Fry Scholarship” is named after Marine Gunnery Sgt. John David Fry. He was killed in Iraq in 2006, leaving behind three children. While nothing can replace the loss of a parent, the very least we can do is make sure that these Gold Star children have the opportunity for a bright future available to them.
And it’s important that we invest in the future of veterans’ health care as well. This week, the House of Representatives began this process by approving a landmark budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The proposed 2010 VA budget represents a 15 percent increase over 2009 levels. If passed, this budget would set the stage for the 21st Century VA that the President and Secretary Shinseki have promised. We also saw movement on IAVA’s top legislative priority for this year: advance appropriations. By funding the VA a year in advance, we can finally put an end to the late budgets that have crippled the VA’s growth and maximize existing VA funding to provide the greatest quality and quantity of care possible. This is the legacy we will leave for generations of veterans to come—no matter what President or party is in charge.
Other veterans and I joined Speaker Pelosi this week in saluting Congress for listening to the veterans’ community and taking decisive action. In just the last twenty-four hours, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle put aside partisan politics to ensure that the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform do not go unrecognized.
But these battles are not yet won, and won’t be until the ink from the President’s signature is dry. But for the troops sitting in Humvees in Iraq and with my good friend Todd in Afghanistan, they can rest assured that here at home, we’re fighting for more than just the latest iPhone.Crossposted at IAVA.org.
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Paul, thank you so very much for your work. I've been there and witnessed the problems at VA hospitals, the discouragement of our vets, bitterness, etc. One thing, and I may have written to you about this before... Can you tell me why, when I went to a local grocery store, I was asked if I wanted to donate money toward BOOTS for a soldier? I recall buying my son some very well-made boots several times over his deployment, but he is very hard on shoes and the ones he was issued were very uncomfortable. One man told he his son went through his issue boots in 3 weeks, and was reprimanded for their condition! He was refused a new pair. Can't you help take care of this? I don't know who to contact about it. But I will do my best to buy a pair of boots a month. Disgusting.
Paul, thanks for keeping veterans and military families where they belong...a
Nita Martin
To rain on Paul's parade: Is anything being done to prevent the from VA persisting in its pattern of patient abuse & covering up the mistakes of the physicians the VA uses to treat veterans for prostate cancer. This week the media is in a feeding frenzy over the mistakes a doctor who had worked at VAH, Philly. This physician kept putting radioactive needles in the wrong places when he was attempting to treat prostate cancer.
It has now been found that the VA has no active program to prevent further errors in treating prostate cancer. The VA has plans, on paper, to prevent & end the mistakes in treating veterans with prostate cancer. The VA has failed to implement these quality control measures uniformly. The VA has no effective QC program to treating prostate CA in a de facto sense. This pattern of patient abuse must be stopped. The VA can't do it & hasn't done it.
What is Gen Shinseki going to do about this festering patern of VA patient abuse?
I'm not sure what Lindsey Lohan has to do with any of this news, other than as a pin-up, but this sounds like good news to me.
We had signing bonuses during the Vietnam War, so why shouldn't bonuses be available to troops who aren't even given any choice? As for guaranteeing a college education to surviving children, that seems like a very small price to pay. Heck, in one form or another, I would love to see a college education made available to every qualified citizen, and not just to the dependents of KIAs.
Anyway, I am glad these things have passed. It is interesting that it is always easier to get them done when the Dems are in control of Congress.
A Vet for Obama.
None of these people are being held past the end of their contracts. When you first enlist you do so for a period of eight years. The thing is no one pays attention to that portion of their contract. They only notice the four years active duty with the rest in the reserves having the possibility of being recalled in time of war. I do feel bad for them but it was in their contract that they could be extended on active duty. As far as retirees go, getting kept on active duty just increases the amount that they will rate in retirement. If congress really was sorry about this they would not have gutted the military in the early 90's which led to the current shortage of personnel in certain fields.
Nobody else seems to think so, but I thought Rumsfeld's direction of the Iraqi invasion was almost perfect. What went wrong was the permanent occupation. Jay Garner came on with a plan to leave Iraq after about four months. It was a careful plan with input from the State Department's experts. It was dropped almost as fast as it was explained, and the US military had to become what effective militaries do poorly, a police force. Rumsfeld was the mind behind this folly, too.
Finally, the mercenaries and contractors were the only winners while the Iraqi people suffered worst of all.
Congress should not be said to have gutted our military while we are spending 10x the amount of the next most expensive military. The money may be wasted in fancy toys while the vital essense of a military force is the troops and non com officers, but this was how successive administration asked Congress to do it -- and, the best way to convert a sufficient share of our military budget into campaign funds.
Here is my question: Where does it all end?
Why stop at a college education for the family? Why not make it an Ivy League education? Why not buy them each a house? Why not extend that to their grandchildren? In fact, why should any of them ever work again?
In what other job do your benefits increase after you have left the job? Don't like you compensation package? Tell you fellow citizen that he is a traitor for not giving America's fighting men and women everything they want! Shame them into giving you more and more and more. What a gig!
The bottom line is that everybody in today's miliary volunteered for the service and knew the compensations before they ever enlisted. Now they want to change the rules after the game is over.
Just another special interest group up up to their snouts in the public trough.
Sorry if this is an unpopular sentiment, but I thought we needed a little balance here.
Regards to all,
I wish truly wish that this country would bring back the draft so people like you would have to give something back to this country seeing how you seem to be against taking care of those who step up so you don't have to.
jyw , you should be ashamed to show your face in public.
Send the troops into harms way, (admittedly for Cheney's fat-headed philosophy) and then add the caveat, but do it on the cheap so I don't have to pay benefits when troops are killed or injured.
You deserve to be called the worst name I can think of Republithug.
Part of the point of this is that the troops didn't change the rules of the game, the Bush administration did. Five thousand is small compensation for the price that they've paid.
When our troops need our support, it should be forthcoming. However, the most important thing is not that we support our troops but that the troops serve on behalf of the country. This is a tricky matter since discipline is crucial to military success and we don't want any other kind of military. Always, the soldier is a citizen and in taxes and the voting booth must rise above discipline and serve the country as its most concerned citizen.
All of which is to say, providing more income to soldiers and soldier's family is an effective economic stimulus now when it is needed, but at the last, they will be ready to serve with disregard for financial rewards and to do what is right for the country. As President Cleveland said, somewhat coldly I believe, the government does not make the support of its people, but needs that the people support it.
This is a very important post,we needed it to bring people back into reality!
It's too bad this important and overdue good news got mostly buried in the media. The VA has been such a scandal.
But this is a big step in the right direction--Here's hoping no vet goes without first class physical and mental health care!
Thanks for refocusing.
Thank you, Paul, for your reminders about what's really important and for the work you do. You are the best advocate in America for our troops. And the one who gets the most done with your band of brothers.
A suggestion for everyone reading this: join Paul's site, IAVA.org. It'll be the easiest and most worthwhile thing you've done in a while (probably). and tell your veteran friends and relatives about it.
Thanks for the support! Yes, please do join us at www.IAVA.o
Your astute observation of the difference between the guys over there and
the folks at home is right on spot.
"...called me from Afghanista
California’s been fired."
As I sit here waiting for my "high-speed internet connection" to load twenty
ads, six mini-movies with one hundred links to a 'better life' and preventing
me from scrolling while doing so (we know what's important!), only to see
a blog about Schwarzenegger's airplane having to land for whatever reason
(as if he might have decided to remain airborne for the duration of his term),
or some politician talk about his personal sexual escapades, or see a blog
about turning a fried egg fifteen times before serving, I realized that the guys
over there chose a life with a purpose, allowing us to maintain a life of being
entertained with minutiae, fulfilling our desire to appear to be doing something
worthwhile.
I am against wars, of all kinds, but G*dda*it! THEY, the guys who defend our
'much ado about nothing lives' deserve better than having to depend on the
votes of politicians. If we are going to send someone in our stead, then we
should pay them, protect their rights and assure their families of a future as
if their lives were our own, because they are!
Thanks for keeping us up to date. It is most appreciated.
How does one measure sacrifice?
How does one measure the physical and emotional costs of being in a stinking h*llhole and having one's life in danger 24/7?
How does one measure national service?
Well, our Congress has shown how it does.
US$5,000! Yes, all of $5,000!
Now that's standing up for the troops!!! Way up.
Why isn't this on the main?
thanks for working for our troops, Paul. keep up the good fight.
veterans deserve everything we can give them for protecting us. even though i don't agree with the wars, there are madmen around the world that want to harm us all and destroy our democracy. thanks for protecting us from them.
i hope everybody gets to come home soon, and wish all the troops safe journeys and gratitude.
thanks for working for our troops, Paul. keep up the good fight.
veterans deserve everything we can give them for protecting us, because even if the politics are dirty and twisted, there are madmen around the world that want to harm us all and destroy our democracy. thanks for protecting us from them.
i hope everybody gets to come home soon, and wish all the troops safe journeys and gratitude.
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