Most of these issues have been conveniently summarized or stated in such a way as to turn the issues into a politically charged diatribe by someone out of touch with real Army and military affairs. Let SSG Rogue (soon to be WO1 Rogue) set these issues straight for the lemmings around here:
1) Bush cuts funding for housing - the truth here is that he has "proposed" it, which means nothing in the end. He's making sound fiscal decisions for the whole of the nation. I am here to assure you that NO solider will be without housing as a result of this "proposed cut," period. Furthermore, DoD is increasingly outsourcing housing contracts and allowing commercial entities to build housing on military installations and rent/lease the housing at prices commensurate with a soldier's housing entitlements along with a "fair market value" pricing scheme for additional ammenities. Despite the sound of it, I can assure you 100% that the cuts being proposed will NOT leave a single soldier or family member without housing, EVER. Let's also NOT forget that there are hundreds of bases being closed, so why spend money maintaining and building at those hundreds of locations, which I'm sure a large chunk of the money being discussed was earmarked for. At the installation I work at, which is being kept open, there are millions and millions of dollars in new housing, child development centers, etc. breaking ground right now. There are so many construction projects that there are NO available contractors in the entire state to keep up with the work load involved. The money will likely be moved over into installation clean-up and preparation for closures at the hundreds of locations on the chopping block.
2) Tax cuts for soldiers reduced - the truth here is that yes, there was a mixup involved in the tax cut which put a number of families in a situation where they were no longer eligible for a child tax credit. Let's analyze this at the base level. The tax cut stated impacted soldiers because with their recent record pay increases over the past 5 years, they actually make more than they ever have, removing them from the lower income bracket thus putting them out of the income range for the child tax credit. Let's review, they can get paid less than the actual tax credit and get a modest tax return from the IRS and stay in a low income bracket OR they can get a decent wage and move up in tax brackets as a result. Although it still baffles me why government employees pay income tax when they are in fact paid by them, the situation here is moot. The soldiers make more now than ever and aren't eligible for a tax credit because they make more money, period.
3) The "war" has not be declared over - the truth here is that the end to major combat operations have been declared over and that is true. There are not major movements of heavy battle equipment being conducted in the country en masse as in a war. We are engaged in a security and sustainment operation now. Some call that an insurgency and that's true, however, it is in effect a peace keeping mission interlaced with fanatical elements who are terrorizing the entire populace, not just our troops. What no one will admit is that the number of US troops being injured or killed right now during the "peace keeping and sustainment" operations is likely less than there would be just in accidental deaths and fratricide in a full-on conflict which has long since passed. I'm also curious as to when the Commander-in-Chief announced "three times now" that our troops were going to come home. No such statement has been made to my knowledge and I welcome anyone that can produce a transcript, much less three, which includes such a statement from the CinC or the SoD.
4) Bad food, no water - this elicits a straight up, WTF from me. Now I haven't actually been over there and yes, things weren't very nice during the initial assault (which my brother was an Infantry soldier in), however, the food and water situation is about as far from the "bad food, no water" comment as is humanly possible. Our soldiers over there are eating as good or better than probably thousands or millions of Iraqis and Americans are, period. KBR is supplying our troops with ice cream, frozen drinks, soft drinks, pizza and any other food you can get right here at home and guess what? The troops don't pay for any of it! How about that?! Let's not forget the work that AAFES is doing over there bringing Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, etc. into a nation half way across the world for the benefit of our soldiers. No one, I mean NO ONE in our military over there is going without good food and water. More sensationalist lies for a political statement.
5) Depleted uranium everywhere - hmmm...curious. Why always with the depleted uranium from these guys? Why? I'll tell you why, because it sounds scary, that's why. Inert petroleum sounds scary too, but that's just old gasoline or something, right? Sounds scary though. I've yet to hear from soldiers claiming en masse of anything resembling "gulf war illness" as eluded to in the video. Every soldier is given a full physical upon return and fills out a detailed questionaire before they are released on leave. While that my skew results, soldiers are made well aware that failing to report even the most minute of symptoms is to their detriment. Guess what? There weren't hundreds of buring oil fields in this war. No secret drugs administered mysteriously to some soldiers and not to others. There's also much better training and awareness of the use of depleted uranium ammunition, however, there was far less of it used in this conflict because Iraq didn't have much armor left over from the Gulf War to engage this time now did they? By the way, where is this "depleted uranium everywhere" report anyway? Anyone?
6) Health care for Reservists reduced - fact is, that is flat out false. Troops coming off of deployment are offered a Tricare package for a period of time comensurate with their length of service. Read this link for proof:
http://www.tricare.osd.mil/reserve/index.cfm
Of course the sensational and flat out false tagline issued in the propaganda was inciteful, but again, proven flat out false. After 9/11 and at the end of my first 15 month stateside deployment I was offered 6 months of free Tricare and that was under the OLD policy. When you consider the fact that many Reserve and National Guard members don't even have health care in their civilian lives, having any medical benefits once released from service for just about ANY amount of time is an improvement. I may be mistaken, but they can also elect to keep it longer by paying very small premiums each month as well, something NEVER before offered to Reserve and National Guard members, EVER! More FUD.
7) Your loved ones suffer too - sure they do. They are here, stateside with more income coming home than ever before. More handouts from the supportive public than ever before, more in fact than anyone knows what to do with. More "thank you" discounts, more help and support than has EVER been offered to family members left at home than in all wars in our history, period. Aside from the constant reminder that their loved one could become a casualty, which would happen no matter what war they were in, families back home have never had it so easy, trust me.
8) Reduction of danger pay - the original increase was meant to be temporary only anyway. While I don't cherish the thought of taking away money from family members at home and soldiers in the war zone, fact is, they are still making more money than ever before, tax free no less. This reduction in pay comes up at the start of every fiscal year, this year is no different than the previous years where the reduction was voted down and the higher rate of pay was kept. Do some basic research on hazardous duty pay in years past and you'll see that I'm correct. Also recall that the Army Times, despite it's name, is NOT an official Army publication as the video would have the less inclined to believe blindly.
I think that I've summarily dismissed every single point the video tried to make with real world observations of my own as a Reservist and Department of the Army civilian who literally lives daily in the environment with soldiers. I've covered a lot here at a very top level, but I can assure just about anyone that if you were to do any amount of research on any of the information listed above you will find that I am pretty damn close to 100% correct on every single point. Feel free to do so and educate yourselves so you don't fall victim to mindless propaganda.
