Happy Memorial Day

McCain on opposing veteran's college benefits:

McCain said he opposed Webb's measure because it would give the same benefit to everyone regardless of how many times he or she has enlisted. He said he feared that would depress reenlistments by those wanting to attend college after only a few years in uniform. Rather, McCain said the bill he favored would have increased scholarships based on length of service.

(Read the full article here.)

The multimillionaire and veteran proves that he is once again removed from the reality of the average person in the USA. Many of these enlisted individuals see the military as their only opportunity to get an education at all, and at the end of it they would be told they "didn't serve enough time" to get a scholarship?

Not to mention that the US Military has been doling out bonuses of up to $50,000 for soldiers in Iraq, and nearly no one signs on again. In addition to the inevitability of being shot at in a war zone, and the real possibility of being injured or killed, the suicide rate of soldiers in these combat zones is up to 19.9 in 100,000 according to citizen-soldier.org.

And there are tales such as these:

On the ground, the young soldier never received any psychological support. Officers did not encourage consultations. They gave a name to those who sought help: "psychos." After leaving the Army, Erik began to have panic attacks: "That happened to me whenever people began to argue." He's had nightmares, suffered from anxiety: classic symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The trauma has decreased since he began to militate with other veterans. They are campaigning against the administration's plan to revise the criteria to define PTSD in order to limit reparations.

According to an Army report, one soldier out of three returning from Iraq suffers from mental problems. The proportion of personnel affected is the highest of all recent conflicts, from Bosnia to Afghanistan. "In Iraq, there's no front line," explains Colonel Charles Hoge in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Eighty to eight-five percent of personnel have been witnesses or participants in a traumatizing act: enemy combat, death of an adversary, IED attacks.

"In Vietnam, there were secure zones where people could recuperate," indicates Steve Robinson, director of an association that advocates for veterans in an interview with the Washington Post. "That doesn't happen in Iraq; every place is a war zone."

From truthout: A Disillusioned American Soldier's Return from Iraq.
The soldier in that article was my age!
Yet for all that he went through in the name of the USA, he wouldn't get the help to fulfill the dream of college??!!? For all the horrors they experienced so that we could have not-very-cheap oil, they at least deserve a chance at an education and maybe even a desk job.

On this Memorial Day 2008, I urge you to take up the issue of Veteran's benefits. Even ppl who despise and vehemently oppose the war (like I do) should not sit by while the government abandons the young ppl who fought in it.