I'm going to rant. Fair warning.
I love the United States Troops. I have tried 11 times to join up (much to my families dismay). I have written to soldiers and tried multible times to budget for Any Soldier.
I'm severly disappointed in this administration. First they lower the vetrans benefits two weeks after they start a war (that by the way, was pre planned according to a memo that recently surfaced.). Now they are punishing soldiers for wanting to protect themselves. If you're unfamiliar with what I'm talking about - The Government didn't provide our soldiers with effective body armor or vehicle armor at the begining of the war (or for the first year for that matter). This was first reported by CNN, but I've confirmed it with my friends who have served in Iraq. (I live with a Vet who is more than willing to confirm my questions.) My friend Josh confirmed it for me too. So what our soldiers do is take the scrap metal from dumps or from warehouses or where ever the heck they can and arm themselves. Some of it is really heavey stuff that slows them or their humvees down. But it protects them better and keeps our brave soldiers alive.
A little while ago, families started buying up personal armor for their soldier kin. This upgrading can cost up to thousands of dollars, but it keeps them ALIVE. After complaints from about 50,000 familes the government agreed to reimburse families for this expense (which should have been the government's expense to begin with.) . Now they are refusing to reimburse and furthermore are refusing to allow soldiers to wear the stuff they have bought. So the government isn't happy killing off armed soldiers, we now are going disarm them so it's easier to kill them. Way to go US government. Anything to screw a soldier.
My last rant on this, if this is something Bush believes in soo much in - why are his Alcoholic daughters not serving in the armed forces? I wonder if they were, would the government arm up our troops better? Because at this point - Bush doesn't care.
(On a different note - Lou Dobbs says the US shouldn't have St. Patrick's Day. What an idiots!)
Conversations with my body in the first trimester of pregnancy
-
1. Body/morning sickness: Hey.
Katie: Oh, no.
B: HEY! Heeeyyyy, are we at Stake Conference? (a church meeting- this was
at a Saturday evening session)
...
11 months ago
Not that this was the purpose of your blogpost, but the very most effective way to get a person to adopt your point of view is to argue both sides... I wonder now if you have looked into any of this from the other side of the spectrum... have you looked into any of the "claimed" reasons (be they valid or invalid) for disallowing the body armor??? Supplying more information would help readers understand the situation better and strengthen your arguments as well. :)
ReplyDeleteI think you missed the purpose of a "rant." I'm not trying to present a fair argument. I'm venting my frustration at my crappy government and how they choose to continually screw those that they serve.
ReplyDeleteIf I was to look into this further I'm not sure my arguement would increase, but my frustration would increase because I would that much more want to ask what the heck they did going to war with not efficent body armor to support our troops? Iraq was not an imminet threat. The threat to fight against the US had been made from Iraq years earlier. Why did we have to go then? Why couldn't we wait 6 months so that we could propperly arm up our troops?
So while I see your point ~Gu~, the point of a rant is to vent, not to educate. If anything - it may inspire the readers to research it themselves and ask of their government "what the heck are you thinking?"
Furthermore, if I dug deeper, I would ask why my government is disarming our troops 3 years into the war? If they didn't have the supplies 3 years ago - why don't we now? Why is it troops are still buying their own supplies 3 years later? Corrupt government?
ReplyDeleteThis war has been going on for 3 years. Iraq is now in the process of entering a civil war which will make things worse, not better, for our troops. Yet the government is telling troops not to buy body armor (and might we add - not giving them adequate quality body armor.).
Yeah - I probably shouldn't dig deeper to try to represent both sides - because in doing so, I would just get frustrated with my government that much more. I consider this administration to be a group of mass murders.