Hey Tea Party Veterans "How's It Working for you?" Military Retirement & TRICARE Benefits Cuts

[1776Forever]

Troop retirement, healthcare may be eyed for cuts
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press

Associated Press August 2, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011

(08-02) 10:37 PDT BAGHDAD (AP) --

The top U.S. military officer is telling anxious troops that cuts in health care, retirement and benefits for the military are all potential targets for cuts as the nation struggles to rein in spending.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that while the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are going down as U.S. forces withdraw over the next few years, the latest debt agreement will demand defense cuts, and nothing is off the table.

From the Marines battling a fierce insurgency in southwestern Afghanistan to soldiers packing up to leave Iraq, troops are quizzing Mullen about rumors that military retirement benefits and health care would be affected by the debt compromise being hammered out in Congress.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/08/02/international/i103743D10.DTL#ixzz1U0T6CFiy

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The Tea Party Abandons Our Veterans
June 5, 2011

http://sayitaintsoalready.com/2011/06/05/the-tea-party-abandons-our-veterans/

Remember back in the day when if you didn’t wear a flag pin you were considered un-American? And remember the crowd that drove that meme? Republicans.

Republicans saw themselves as the penultimate supporters of “the troops,” and hey, “the troops” were untouchable.

If you think Republicans the Tea Party-controlled Republican party still holds those values, think again. They are literally abandoning fundamental American values in order to “reduce the deficit.” We’re talking insane, manic, crazed slash and burn here folks...

I wonder what these guys think:



..................

As the wife of a Vietnam Retired 1st Sgt. and the Mother of a Navy Reserve Son who is boots on the ground right now in Iraq I would love to have these so called "patriots" tell me they really believe they are doing the right thing when they pledge allegiance to the Koch Bros. paid for polices! Do they actually believe these people are "patriots"? Leaves me speechless!

[tsuki]

1. There is a lot of retired military, AF, here. I kept telling them that

once the unions were gone, the government civil service was cut, the seniors were cut, they would be next. They believed that if they kept voting Republicon, it would never happen. They were big supporters of the Teabaggers. Why does it have to hit home before people see where the tsunami is heading? Why do they think it will hit everyone else, but not them?

[mailman82]

2. Patriots--?

Not, they are traitors pure and simple!

[1776Forever]

5. Amen - Don't you gag when you see them wearing their flag shirts? Unbelievable! n/t

[RagAss]

3. Enjoy !...Next time, learn to read before you join a fucking movement.

[SoCalDem]

6. but but but.. they got to ride on a millionaire's bus

they got free poster board & markers..and don't forget the free box lunches..:evilgrin:

[RagAss]

4. Dupe

[Lorien]

7. OF COURSE! Can't cut the mercenaries who cost 6x what regular military personnel

do, gotta take away retirement and benefits instead because non-active personnel are just useless eaters, right?

These teabaggers are the lowest of the low; full on TRAITORS who should be treated as such!

[1776Forever]

11. I couldn't agree more with you and let's also mention that they don't have to follow any rules! n/t

[UpInArms]

8. Wrapped in the Flag: The Bush Budget

http://www.peaceworkmagazine.org/pwork/0203/020309.htm

Bush's new budget is wrapped in the American flag, literally. The four-volume tome is printed on heavy glossy paper and covered with a picture of the American flag.

President Bush is requesting a $48 billion increase in Pentagon spending. If he has his way, total budget authority for military spending for 2003--including military functions of the Coast Guard and the Department of Energy--will reach $396 billion, an $87 billion increase from when he took office in January 2001.

Clad in a leather bomber jacket, Bush addressed Air Force personnel at Elgin Air Force base in Florida to announce the huge increase, the largest since the Reagan administration. "Our men and women deserve the best weapons, the best equipment and the best training," he said to resounding applause. It had better be the best because the proposed increase alone is larger than the entire military budget of every other country in the world except Russia, which spends about $56 billion a year.

Bush made the argument that the United States needs new military spending to address the new threats and a new security environment, saying, "it is very clear that the defense budget is cheap when one compares it to putting our security at risk, our lives at risk, our country at risk, our freedoms at risk." But the President's rhetoric ignores the fact that this new military spending spree has little to do with fighting the war on terrorism.

...more...

:puke:

[jwirr]

9. My niece's active duty husband just put up a reagon inspiration

site as one of his favorites on FB today. Of course he is still being brainwashed so I decided not to unfriend him. FB is one of the few ways we have of knowing what is happening to him and his wife. Five tours of duty in the ME has not helped his understanding of what is going on any either.

[enlightenment]

10. My 89 year-old, cancer stricken, 32 year veteran father

who as a young officer voted a party-line Republican ticket - but ceased doing long ago - doesn't deserve this (as many others do not). He served his country through three wars, honorably and without question. The promises made to him and his peers then should have been kept; the broken promises that provide so much less should at least be honored.

I am beyond disgusted.

[1776Forever]

12. I salute your father and agree with you that promises made to all Vets should be kept! n/t