"Support Our Troops"

That's the big slogan you see around my neighborhood and probably yours too. I think supporting our troops entails posting a sign outside of my door, maybe a flag, or even a little yellow ribbon bumper sticker on my car. I don't think my neighbors are rushing to any VA hospitals or sending care packages to the soldiers in Iraq. I think what they meant to say is: I'm a sheep and I support my leader blindly, without weighing the consequences to our troops or the necessity of this war. So here's some facts on exactly how our military is being treated, by Chris White, an ex-Marine infantryman now pursuing his PhD in U.S. foreign policy.

Rarely has our military been used for national defense. I believe, that in its 228-year history, the War of 1812 and WWII were the only wars possibly fought to defend our country. On the other hand, mostly poor young men and women have fought hundreds of other engagements both here and abroad--defending the interests of the rich and the politicians they owned.

ABOUT COLLEGE BENEFITS:

They fail to tell you that you must pay $1,200 in your first year of the military in order to get the G.I. Bill, which is quite a chunk of money when your salary is only $700/mo. You will be lucky if you get your monthly G.I. Bill check in your first three months of college, since the bureaucracy is so inept. You had better have enough money saved up before you arrive.

Ask any veteran over 25 working in college, and they will tell you that the financial aid office determines your eligibility for grants and fellowships (free money) according to your income, and then deletes your income from the amount of aid you are eligible for. Therefore, if you were eligible for $9,000 in grants, but received $9,000 from the G.I. Bill, well, you get no grants. You can get loans though. All the loans you desire.

The Village Voice reported that army recruiters fail to mention that while they claim you can earn up to $70,000 for college or $65,000 to repay student loans this only applies to public college and repayment of federal student loans. If you've ever gone through the college loans system you know that federal loans amount to bupkis and private loans make up the majority of your debt.

ABOUT VETERANS BENEFITS:

I can use VA medical facilities if I want to wait five months for an appointment, but my wife cannot use them (at least in Kansas). We are both veterans, but I am 30 percent disabled, and she is not at all.

Of course, who would want to use the VA hospital in Kansas City anyway? According to an AP report in March 2002, the infestation of mice, maggots, and flies in the years leading up to 2001 created such a scandal as to pressure VA Secretary Anthony Principi to remove “the director and deputy director for the regional network, which includes Missouri, Kansas, and southern Illinois. The janitorial staff did not touch the food storage areas or cafeteria for a year, and maggots had nested in two of the comatose patients noses!

ACCESS TO YOUTH:

Recruiters now have even more access to the young minds of America. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 require every high school receiving federal education funds to hand over the names, addresses, and phone numbers of every junior and senior to local recruiters upon request.

That means that even 15 years olds, with no idea whatsoever about the real world, let alone the military, are now vulnerable to the manipulation and deception of recruiters in their own homes. If a school refuses to hand the information over, the Department of Defense steps in and pressures the school, after which federal funding may be withdrawn. [See The Pentagon Wants Your Babies]