• MissMimi said on Oct 02, 2007....

  Appalling, but not surprising.  Really a great way to convey the gratitude of the American people to these vets for serving their country. 

• sweetsoul said on Oct 02, 2007....

  Shame....

• MissMimi said on Oct 02, 2007....

  As I read this last night, I couldn't help but think that Bush is going to veto a children's health care bill because at 35 billion dollars over 5 years, he says it's too expensive.  Yet he asked for, and for some reason I have yet to understand, the Senate voted 92 to 3 to give him, 150 billion dollars for the quagmire that is the Iraq war.  Incomprehensible.

• silverwhisper said on Oct 02, 2007....

  i think i'm going to start referring to the bush administration by a new nickname, based upon its obvious disdain for the men and women who wear the uniform of the US military services: the meatgrinder.
  
  ed

• lioneljay said on Oct 02, 2007....

  Another way in which the Bush administration shows its true feelings about American service men and women is in the way that the Defense Department budget allocates funds for such things as armor-plated vehicles and uniforms for the troops.
  
  A couple weeks ago, my wife came home from a social gathering and told me about one of the ladies in her group whose son is now serving in Iraq. It seems that she has bought him a couple of spare uniforms because his are all worn out and he can not get replacements from the Army. Because they just don't have any.
  

• Jenna said on Oct 02, 2007....

   

  Absolutely amazing.......really unbelieveable.  I can only shake my head.  How very sad.......I cannot believe the mom had to buy her son unifoms????????  I have always been ashamed of the way our country treats our vets. 

  Thanks for sharing this LJ!

• one_wired_kitty said on Oct 02, 2007....

  As far as I'm concerned, Bush can get bent. His disregard for those serving in the military has been just absolutely appaling to, say the least. He's a sad, sad man.

• ALIENated said on Oct 02, 2007....

  Are you sure you want to blindly believe someone called "REEK"? This is how
  liberal crapola gets started. Did you even try to find out if this is really true?
  If it is true, it is awful. If not, posting something like this is awful. Show us
  some other, more reliable sources than the Daily (extremely liberal) Kos. I get
  e-mails with stuff like this in them all the time. A little checking (snopes.com,
  etc.) proves them to be bogus, like this probably is. Bush and Co. care far 
  more for the welfare of our troops than Hillary, Bill, and Co. ever will. They
  loathe the military, as most liberals do.
  

• lioneljay said on Oct 03, 2007....

  Alien, the original source was the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Here is a link to the original article.
  
  Money quote:
  
  "Defense Department records show that 22,500 cases of personality-disorder discharges have been processed over the last six years.
  
  Jon Soltz, an Iraq war combat veteran who founded the group VoteVets.org, said untreated psychological problems were contributing to the highest military suicide rate in a quarter-century and to growing homelessness among veterans, he said.
  
  If such widespread mental problems really existed before people joined the military and saw combat, they would have been uncovered when the recruits were enlisting, Soltz said."
  
  
  I don't see how it can be any plainer than this: the Pentagon is actively screwing its soldiers in order to save money that is desperately needed to pay Blackwater and other politically connected outside contractors.
  
  

• ALIENated said on Oct 04, 2007....

  OK, your next assignment: look for articles that discredit this one because they
  are probably out there. Are you for nationalized health care? Hillary is, right? If 
  the government does this to their finest, the military, how are they going to 
  treat us plain ole folk? Why would anyone want the government running health
  care? I know that is off the subject, but it is something to think about.
  
  Why would these mental problems have been uncovered when they were
  enlisting? Anyway, we all want it both ways, do we not? We want the government
  to take care of things like this, but, at the same time, we want the government
  to stop spending our tax dollars and taxing us to death. What are they to do?
  
  We need a president like Romney who can run the government like a business,
  which he has proven he can do. Not someone like Hillary who will give us more
  of this kind of treatment. I know most of us enjoy standing in line at the
  drivers license office, the post office, the court house, the police station, but
  anything run by the government is a total crap job. Why would health care
  be any different?
  
  Anyway, this story is probably about treating real wounds like blown off
  legs. Mental problems have never been high on Uncle Sam's list as far a
  I can tell. Remember in the movie Patten when he ran the guy out of the
  hospital because the was in for mental problems? That pretty well sums up
  the attitude.
  

• TinSoldier said on Oct 04, 2007....

  A couple weeks ago, my wife came home from a social gathering and told me about one of the ladies in her group whose son is now serving in Iraq. It seems that she has bought him a couple of spare uniforms because his are all worn out and he can not get replacements from the Army. Because they just don't have any.
  
  Is her son regular army or reserve/national guard? Because folks in the regular services are required to purchase and maintain their own uniforms. Reserve/national guard can turn in worn out uniforms and receive replacements but supply shortages do happen. Even outside of wartime.
  
  For the main topic, I need to read the original links before responding.
  

• jasonrest said on Oct 06, 2007....

  TinSoldier: With all due respect sir, I know you are a vet. However your statement is not true. I am currently over here right now and I have received about 6 new uniforms throughout the year. (deployment uniform program) I had to throw some of them away. just too much shit in so little space.(God forbid you live in the tents.) Also, there are others in various units that said they received absolutely nothing.

• TinSoldier said on Oct 06, 2007....

  Heh, I don't know about "not true", but you're right in I didn't tell the whole story.
  
  When I was on active duty I was responsible for my own uniforms although I got a yearly allowance to pay for them. When I deployed, they issued us uniforms. Same in the Guard. Has that been your experience as well?
  
  Yes, shortages happen, and sometimes some units get more than they need and others go wanting. I've certainly seen that happen before the current war as well as during.
  
  Regarding the article -- I'm concerned but I would like to see more info. I don't put a lot of stock behind anything posted in the Daily Kos and the Post-Dispatch article seemed to make the link between the discharges and the current war without a lot of corroborating evidence.
  
  They said how many were discharged in the last six years (which is a shockingly large number) but how many were discharged for personality disorders in the six years prior to that? Give us a basis for comparison.
  
  I'm not necessarily calling shenanigans with the numbers, and I certainly think that the Bush Administration has been saying one thing and doing another with respect to veterans' issues, but I'd still like more information.
  
  Oh, and don't call me "sir". I work for a living ;-)
  

• jasonrest said on Oct 07, 2007....

  It has been my experience yes however, my point was that there are plenty of other soldiers that received absolutely nothing and their component was irrelevant. Active, Guard, Toothfairy. Doesn't matter. The support is sporadic.
  LOL @ Dont't call me sir...........Sorry about the "SIR".........you know that joke has been around for years and its still going strong, I guess because there is so much truth in jest.
  Officers are worthless........Female officers, just saddening.

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