Vets

VETS

A friend recently wrote and suggested I look up www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul142, which of course, I did. I couldn't believe how poorly our soldiers are treated when they come back from defending our freedom. The article focuses on American vets, but things are not much brighter on this side of the border.

The article states that, "Congress recently voted to send $87 billion to Iraq, money that will be used to build everything from roads to power plants to hospitals. Yet while Congress appears ready to rubber-stamp unlimited monies for nation building in Iraq, thousands of our own soldiers at home are languishing with substandard medical care." While I believe that Canadian vets get outstanding medical care, it is still disgusting that American vets do not. Apparently at Fort Stewart, Georgia, there are hundreds of injured reserve and National Guard soldiers being housed in deplorable conditions and forced to wait months just to see a doctor. Months. You and I can see a doctor within a matter of days. Yet, these soldiers, who made huge sacrifices, leaving their families and jobs to fight in Iraq now they find themselves living in hot, crowded, unsanitary barracks and waiting far too long to see a doctor. The detainees at Gitmo get better treatment.

Our soldiers are reduced to having to buy their own fatigues and, in some cases, living off food stamps. Despicable but not as bad as the Americans, apparently. "Some wounded soldiers convalescing at Walter Reed hospital in Washington were forced to pay for hospital meals from their own pockets." This is how you repay the guy who's fighting for your freedom? Some soldiers returning stateside for a two-week liberty had to buy their own airfare home from the east coast. Others have paid for desert boots, night vision goggles, and other military necessities with personal funds. It's shocking that troops are forced to pay for basic items that should be supplied to them or paid from the defense budget. These men and women are fighting for our freedom for God's sake. How dare the government treat them as less than second class citizens.