We OWE Our Service Members!!!

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Afghanistan, Iraq, Memorial Day, Military morale, military suicide, million vet backlog, veteran suicide helpline, veterans, Veterans Administration, veterans crisis line

VETERANS, You served your country.
Now let VA serve you.

“Tragically, our brave U.S. soldiers aren’t just dying on the battlefield. Roughly 22 veterans commit suicide every day, a rate even higher than previous estimates, according to a report released by the Department of Veterans Affairs recently.

The Huffington Post provides this devastating infographic that brings the military suicide epidemic into focus:

Memorial Day commemorates the U.S. solders who lost their lives in service. It’s also a time to recognize a growing but less visible group of fallen solders who chose to end their own lives while serving or after returning from war.

There are about 22 veteran suicides each day, a rate higher than previous estimates, based on a report released by the Department of Veterans Affairs earlier this year. Many veterans who take their own lives are over 50, but the hundreds of thousands of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan also struggle to adjust to civilian life while dealing with the mental and physical effects of war on top of a weak job market.

Adam Legg, a 30-year-old Naval veteran, found that he couldn’t even get a job at McDonald’s after returning from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009, according to ABC News.

“When you feel like you can’t take care of your family, feed them, shelter them, it’s a very, very dark place. A feeling of uselessness that maybe they would be better off if you’re not around,” Legg told ABC.

Some troops don’t make it home before taking their own lives. Military suicides reached a record high of 349 in 2012, and former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has described the situation as an epidemic.”

WHY? You may ask?

Let me count just a few of the ways this administration has disrespected the military and crippled them at the same time.

A US Marine holds an umbrella for US President Barack Obama during a brief rain shower as he hold a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, May 16, 2013. (Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

While male Marines are generally considered “out of uniform” if they carry an umbrella, at the request of the CIC, it is not an infringement of the Marine code. Yet, to my mind, it is an infringement on their honor to be asked to do something so demeaning and silly.

There’s the mess at the VA:

Lawmakers make pre-Memorial Day calls to fix vet claims backlog

“In a pre-Memorial Day push to show their concern about the backlog of veterans’ disability claims, House Republicans are calling for an independent task force to recommend a solution while House Democrats pushed the idea of providing temporary benefits to anyone whose claim has been pending before the Veterans Affairs Department for more than 125 days.

Neither idea will become law by Memorial Day, but both are signs that lawmakers share many veterans’ concerns that the mountain of compensation claims is not going away any time soon.

Reps. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, and Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., introduced a bill Thursday creating a 15-member commission or task force to evaluate the claims process.” READ MORE

Obama refocuses terror threat to pre-9/11 level

“Some call it wishful thinking, but President Barack Obama has all but declared an end to the global war on terror.

Obama is not claiming final victory over extremists who still seek to kill Americans and other Westerners. Instead, he is refocusing the long struggle against terrorism that lies ahead, steering the United States away from what he calls an equally frightening threat – a country in a state of perpetual war. In doing so, Obama recasts the image of the terrorists themselves, from enemy warriors to cowardly thugs and resets the relationship between the U.S. and Islam.

His speech Thursday was designed to move America’s mindset away from a war footing and refine and recalibrate his own counterterrorism strategy. Obama asserted that al-Qaida is “on the path to defeat,” reducing the scale of terrorism to pre-Sept. 11 levels. That means that with the Afghanistan war winding down, Obama is unlikely to commit troops in large numbers to any conflict – in Syria or other countries struggling with instability in the uncertain aftermath of the Arab Spring – unless, as his critics fear, he tragically has underestimated al-Qaida’s staying power.”

Obama forgot to salute: Barack Obama shakes Marine’s hand, makes jokes instead?

“President Barack Obama forgot protocol while boarding Marine One en route to Annapolis, Maryland, CNN reported on Friday.

“Obama did not salute the Marine standing at the bottom of the helicopter while boarding. Upon realizing the faux pas, the president jogged back down to shake hands with the Marine and spoke privately with him before entering the helicopter again.”

The Profound Moral Failure of Benghazi

These men follow a creed – I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy. Sadly, we now know from the hearings and whistleblower Deputy Ambassador Gregory Hicks, that is exactly what happened to Ambassador Stevens’ body as it was carried away by Libyan militants to a hospital controlled by those who carried out the attacks. Do you know how infuriated and hot that gets the Special Forces community? Men who have sworn to never leave a fallen comrade behind were forced to do just that by the military leaders they trust their lives to. To them it is the ultimate dishonoring of all they stand for. And it came from their own Commander in Chief.

Clearly, this President is generally unfamiliar and unconcerned with the lifestyle and care of our Military members. From cutting their benefits to cutting numbers, this administration proves its disrespect for the military. They spin it as a “Military slimdown“, but what it means is – those willing to put their lives on the line so that the rest of us can continue to “not be bothered” with the evils of Islam and other misc unrest, continue to pay for the GOVERNMENT’s unwillingness to cut senseless over-spending – like sending huge sums of money to our enemies!) Meanwhile, Benghazi’s HUGE change in the “No Man Left Behind” policy, pulls the rug out from under those willing to serve. While DADT served to keep sexuality under the radar in the Military, that, too, is now gone, and leaders have their hands full trying to maintain discipline while also walking to political correctness tightrope. Is it any wonder, these honorable men and women suffer far beyond those who came before them. The Foundation of our Nation is crumbling out from under them.

President Obama will say and do anything … ANYTHING to maintain his uniquely detached stance while America burns, including destroy the military, if he can, from within. There was a day that discipline meant everything in the military, but in today’s military, politics & political correctness rule, and, as always, it’s the SOLDIERS that pay.

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Never Forget

Tags

Independence Day, July 4th, Memorial Day, Veterans' Day

This Memorial Day … Take a Minute to REMEMBER

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freedom isn't free, Memorial Day, TAPS, Veterans' Day

The Military lifestyle is unique – much different than one might expect! Since people come and go every few months or so, friendships are formed quickly, and in many cases, more deeply, especially if there’s combat deployment involved. It really feels like a family which is part of the charm of military life. They may leave the blood family behind in the states, but they are a family in uniform wherever they are posted.

“Above all, we must realize that no arsenal,
or no weapon in the arsenals of the world,
is so formidable as the will and moral courage
of free men and women.
It is a weapon our adversaries
in today’s world do not have.”
Ronald Reagan

SOLDIERS’ OATH: “I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

Generations of our young men and women have served in uniform in times of war and in times of peace, their sacrifice given selflessly. Once a Vet, always a Vet!

It is a great thing to don the uniform of the united States military. It is sobering and thrilling at the same time. It is not only a physical challenge, but more importantly, a mental challenge. Military life involves tackling skills that are for the most part foreign to civilians. It involves little things like wearing long sleeves even when it’s over 100ºF in the desert or soaked boots in jungle swamps. It involves separation from friends and family for extended periods of time, including such things as graduations, weddings, and baby births. Even with today’s communication possibilities, it often means communication gaps of weeks. And that’s the easy stuff! Why do they do it? It’s a “calling!” But sometimes that calling requires everything. For these who gave all, we mourn and give thanks!

24 Notes That Tap Deep Emotions
By MSG Jari A. Villanueva, USAF

THANK YOU, VETS
WW11, Korea, Viet Nam, Grenada, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan
And all others who have served the cause of FREEDOM
at home and around the world

The first use of Taps at a funeral occurred in 1862 during the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia. Usually, three volleys were fired during a military burial service. This practice may have originated in the old custom of halting the fighting to remove the dead from the battlefield. Once each army had cleared its dead, it would fire three volleys to indicate that deceased soldiers had been cared for and that the army was ready to resume the fight. The tradition of firing the three volleys at funerals was noted in regulations and manuals. (In modern-day ceremonies, the fact that the firing party consists of seven riflemen firing three volleys does not constitute a twenty-one gun salute; that is only rendered by cannon firing twenty-one times.) MORE HERE

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

For decades, the Tomb of the Unknown has served to represent any and all lost in battle for the preservation of Freedom. “At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union shot down a U-2 reconnaissance plane deep inside Russia on May 1, 1960. The plane was being operated by the Central Intelligence Agency and was piloted by Francis Gary Powers. Powers was held and tried for espionage by the Russians. He was convicted and was sentenced to ten years in a Soviet Prison. He served less than two years, and was exchanged for a convicted Soviet Spy being held in the United States. On February 10, 1962, he was released from captivity at the Glienicker-Brucke Bridge between East and West Germany. Powers returned to the United States and was exonerated by the US Congress after he returned home in 1962 and his reputation cleared on May 1, 2000 when he was posthumously awarded the POW Medal and CIA’s Director’s Medal on the 40th anniversary of the shoot down. He found employment as a reporter with KNBC in Los Angeles and on August 1, 1977, he died in a helicopter crash while covering a story on a brush fire near Los Angeles. He is interred in Section 11, Grave 685-2.” MORE HERE

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Why Remember Memorial Day?

Our Moral Conviction of FREEDOM

Tags

Amoral Minority, Independence Day, July 4th, Memorial Day, Moral Convictions, Veterans' Day

Not counting, but how many national issues are on the table now?
Let’s see – in no particular order

• IRAN: Middle East tensions, Anti-Semitism, NUKES
• GLOBAL & US ECONOMY: National Debt, Global debt, US Budget (or lack thereof), CUT-CAP&BALANCE
• ELECTION 2012: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, 2nd Amendment Rights, States’ Rights, JOBS-JOBS-JOBS
• Illegal Immigration
• Domestic Energy Production or climate change
• OBAMACARE & the US CONSTITUTION: NDAA 2012-2013, Patriot Act, FREEDOM
• USA United again!: civility, racial slurs, violent language among the LEADERS

What did I miss?

As I approach this Memorial Day weekend, sober, our nation is in a heap of trouble! I think that might be one things most Americans DO agree on. The differences arrive when the debates begins over HOW to repair the damage and what the priorities are. I can make this as complicated as I wish, but, you know, it really isn’t so complicated! It’s a choice! We can focus on what’s WRONG … OR we can focus on what WE – what you and I can do! RIGHT?

BUT … while it is cool to be CIVIL with one another, that, by no means, being a doormat for the a-moral minority that has the tendency for NOISE! There is a time to turn the other cheek, and there is a time to strike back – not by THEIR rules, but by moral strength! You see, the thing Conservatives have that most Liberals do not have is moral conviction. Conservatives believe, for example, that abortion is immoral because life begins at conception. This is a MORAL CONVICTION upon which most Conservatives live. When life is governed by a firm set of concepts, it is less vulnerable to the changing political winds. We cannot afford to allow this amoral minority to legislate our lives any longer!

The greatest MORAL CONVICTION Conservatives stand on is FREEDOM! We understand that our Constitution guarantees us the freedoms of LIFE, LIBERTY, and the Pursuit of Happiness … pursuit being the operative word. We are not guaranteed happiness because that is an individual thing. What we ARE promised is the opportunity to pursue our personal interpretation of happiness whether that is money, power, music, farming, or everything in between! Each American has to make that determination for him or her self.

“We believe, as our founders did, that
‘the pursuit of happiness’ depends upon individual liberty;
and individual liberty requires limited government.”
Senator Paul Ryan

THIS is the FREEDOM that has built this nation, and this is the FREEDOM men and women have died to gain and retain for 236 years now in this nation, and for many thousands of years elsewhere. FREEDOM is hard to maintain – so hard that it struggles through the storms of political leaders and moral decline, and yet it burns on. It cannot be doused by defeat. It cannot be conquered by compromise.

Since those first shots were fired in Massachusetts, men and women have willingly fought and died to obtain the freedom we cling to now with our guns and our God! The poem inscribed on Lady Liberty’s scroll calls for all who long for the taste of FREEDOM to come … come and partake of the bountiful blessings of this land. Come, see if you can build a life here in this land.