Da Hawg Frog Blog

What the hell is wrong with the VA? Didn’t they get the memo?
Wounded veteran, Erik Roberts, has had 13 surgeries to try and save his leg. He was wounded in Iraq while serving his country in the 101st Airborne Division. After his last surgery this hero was surprised to receive a bill from the VA for $3,000 for his last operation.

“I just thought it was bull—- that I’m getting billed for being wounded in Iraq doing my job. I always put the mission first, and now that I was wounded in Iraq, they’re sending me bills,” he said.

“I put my life on the line and I was wounded in combat, and I came back and they’re not going to take care of my medical bills?” (Source: CNN)

Sergeant Roberts had his surgery done outside the VA. It was serious and an emergency. It shouldn’t matter where it is done, we have an obligation to care for our veterans. Especially when they have been wounded serving our country.

“I will always be proud I served my country, and proud that I was able to wear that flag on my shoulder,” he said. “I would defend this country against anyone, and I’m proud to wear that uniform.”

This issue needs to be addressed by our government and this administration. No veteran should be turned away for care, regardless of where it is administered. And we as a nation have an obligation to foot the bill. No questions asked.
Fortunately Sergeant Roberts’ Senator was able to correct this injustice. His surgery is being covered. But it makes you wonder why he had to go all the way to Congress to get the VA to do the right thing.
Best wishes on a speedy recovery soldier.

I had one of those blow your beer through your nose moments yesterday. It happened when I began listening to the GOP leadership when they held their much anticipated press conference to uncover their plan for economic recovery. Even the title “Road to Recovery” sounded like something from the Betty Ford Clinic. Basically they had no plan and they resented those pesky reporters who asked the hard questions. You know the ones, like how about some specifics.

This graph illustrates the economic trends under each party since 1961.

Now this graph is from the Congressional Budget Office, not some left wing, liberal nutcase blog. It is pretty stunning. The GOP, conservatives, have developed a track record of economic disaster. Since 1961 this country has suffered economic mayhem at the hands of the Republicans each and every time one of them enters office.

Yet yesterday they were at it again. The only thing they had to offer was the same line of bullshit that got us into this mess. Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. And of course their cuts are all focused on those people who are making more money than god.

The graph below demonstrates how the party who wants to make government “so small they can drown it in a bath tub” has faired.

I think we’ve had about enough of these assclowns nonsense. They have made themselves the laughing stock of the world. Why do we even listen to these morons? It is time the Democrats began using their majority status and simply shut these fools down. Isn’t it about time we quit following these elephants around, cleaning up the steaming piles of crap they leave everywhere they go.

I think Maru over at WTF? summed it up perfectly.

Personally, I disagree with anybody’s assertion that the Rushthuglibots haven’t shit to offer….. that’s ALL those sexually deprived tightly clenched dingleberry infested sphincters have to offer.

Geeze, who could top that?

The Department of Defense announced an end to the stop loss policy that has decimated the lives of so many soldiers and their families. The policy, put in effect by the Bush Administration, was the only means of waging the prolonged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without implementing a draft. It was a policy that undoubtly led to the soaring suicide rates among the military ranks today.

The Department of Defense announced today a comprehensive plan to eliminate the current use of Stop Loss, while retaining the authority for future use under extraordinary circumstances. This is an important step along the path in adapting the Army into an expeditionary force.

The Army Reserve and Army National Guard will mobilize units without employing Stop Loss beginning in August and September 2009, respectively. The Regular (active duty) Army will deploy its first unit without Stop Loss by January 2010.

For soldiers Stop Lossed during fiscal 2009, the department will provide a monthly payment of $500. Until the department is able to eliminate Stop Loss altogether, this payment will serve as an interim measure to help mitigate its effects.

“Stop Loss disrupts the plans of those who have served their intended obligation. As such, it is employed only when necessary to ensure minimal staffing in deploying units, when needed to ensure safe and effective unit performance,” said Bill Carr, deputy under secretary of defense for military personnel policy. “It is more easily rationalized in the early stages of conflict when events are most dynamic; but tempo changes in this war have frustrated our efforts to end it altogether.”

The department intends to provide Stop Loss Special Pay to eligible service members until the point of separation or retirement, to include that time spent on active duty in recovery following redeployment. Stop Loss Special Pay will begin on the date of implementation, and will take effect for those impacted on or after Oct. 1, 2008. (Source:  US Department of Defense)

The plan to implement additional pay to those affected by stop loss is good, but it is unfair to those thousands who have been victims of this policy over the past years.  No other organization in this country has the right to break contracts and demand you work beyond your agreed upon service date. Only the US Army has utilized the stop loss program.

The stop-loss program was put into place to ensure that units remained intact during deployment. Tours of duty could be extended for those whose enlistment was due to end in the middle of their unit’s deployment.

Currently, the Army is the only service that uses the stop-loss program. As of January, 13,217 soldiers had tours extended under the stop-loss policy.

The Army used the stop-loss policy during Operation Desert Shield in 1990 and reinstated it after the September 11, 2001, attacks. (Source: CNN)

The policy of stop loss is and always has been unfair. It has fostered hard feelings among many vets who got sick and tired of repeated deployments to combat tours. Many came to believe the only way out was in a body bag. Without a doubt we will begin to see thousands leaving the service at the end of their duty. They can no longer trust the government to live up to their end of a bargain and will leave before this policy is implemented again. Then the myth of an all volunteer army will be exposed.

Before this country sends their troops into harm’s way they will have to weigh the consequences of their actions against the history of the past administration’s heavy handed enlistment extensions. When a soldier signs that blank check to his country, the one that states he is willing to pay any price, including his own life in the defense of his country, he expects his country to honor its end of the bargain also.