Commentary: It's time to do right by the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

Commentary: It's time to do right by the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan
By Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008

If a society is judged by the way it treats its military veterans, then we who live in the richest nation in the world and those who lead us should be condemned for our shameful neglect and callous disregard for those who defend us.

When 15 million Johnnies came marching home from World War II, a package of benefits enacted in 1944 and signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt was waiting for them, extending assistance for education, unemployment and the purchase of a house or a business.

More than half of those who served in World War II — 8 million of the 15 million veterans of that war — signed up and had their college tuitions or technical school fees paid by Uncle Sam. They also received monthly checks to cover housing and food.

It was expensive, but for every dollar the U.S. Government spent on educational benefits for WWII veterans, the government recouped between $5 and $12 in taxes paid on the higher incomes earned by college graduates, says the Congressional Research Service.

~snip~

We owe our newest combat veterans no less. Write, call or e-mail your senators and your representative in Congress and ask for their votes in favor of Jim Webb’s new GI Bill. If George W. Bush vetoes so modest a gesture of gratitude to the young veterans who've given so much in the wars of his making, then we can add hypocrisy and shame to long list of sins that are the hallmarks of his presidency.


Rest of article at: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/27618.html

[acmavm]

1. See, this confuses me. They are owed an education and other perks more

than any other American? A better lifestyle? Medical care? They didn't get paid while in the service?

Why? Were they defending me in Iraq? Were they forced to serve? They were drafted?

By the way, I have a brother that was in the Air Force who served in Turkey (John). I have another who was in the Marines (Tommy). Another who was a pee-tester for the military when he was in the Army (Bob). And my Dad was in the Navy (Wally). All enlistees.