Time to walk the walk

November 11 is a day to honor the men and women who have risked and sometimes lost their lives fighting to defend the privileged society whose benefits we enjoy. On that day, some of us will watch parades, participate in memorial ceremonies or display flags and yellow ribbons.

Celebratory activities like this are symbols, and they are valuable as such. But symbols are not enough, especially if they are taken up one day of the year only to be forgotten the next.

Eric Nystrom, director of Sullivan County Veterans Service Agency, recently told our reporter Lisa Cutroni in an interview that the nation seems to find it all too easy to forget about the members of the military and emphasized the need to remind Americans of what the military is doing for us and the sacrifices they have made. A review of our policies towards troops both active and retired over the past few years suggests that we need not only reminders, but a different course of action.

Exhibit 1: In summer of 2003, U.S. commanders in Iraq started asking for many more armored vehicles capable of withstanding the increasingly dangerous roadside bombs. The response was so slow that over a year later, a soldier asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, “Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal. . . to uparmor our vehicles?” In response, Rumsfeld insisted that production was already at maximum capacity. But two days later, production of armored vehicles was ramped up sharply.

This increased rate of production has continued since then, but supply is still lagging behind demand. A Marine Corps Inspector General’s report issued earlier this year found that about a quarter of the Second Marine Expeditionary Force’s Humvees lacked sufficient armor to protect troops against roadside bombings. And if you think that’s the best we can do, reflect on this: during the roughly 44 months of World War II, the United States produced about 90,000 armored vehicles, over 2 million transport vehicles and 240,000 planes. We’ve managed to put only about 8,500 armored Humvees on the ground in the 32 months or so we’ve been in Iraq.

Exhibit 2: Throughout most of the war, troops have reported shortages of items including body armor, radios and night goggles. Problems have been especially severe for the Army Reserve and National Guard. In July 2005, the GAO found that Army Reserve units were receiving only about 75 percent of the equipment they need to deploy. In desperation, many soldiers have been using their own funds to buy equipment, especially extra safety equipment that is not standard issue but can help save life and limb. Fortunately, about a month ago, the government finally recognized the problem by instituting a program to reimburse personnel for such purchases—although it’s still not clear why the armed forces can’t simply buy the equipment in the first place.

Exhibit 3: Medical care costs for vets are skyrocketing as thousands of injured Iraq veterans return home, yet, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the Bush administration’s proposed budget falls $762 million short of what would be needed just to maintain health services at current levels. The budget also creates a $250 fee veterans must pay to obtain government health care, doubles their prescription drug co-payment and slashes an estimated $293 million in federal support to state veterans’ homes.

And what are the items for which our veterans are being shunted aside? The biggest is the permanent elimination of the estate tax, which will benefit only the top one percent of households and cost $1 trillion over the next decade. There are also billions of dollars in no-bid contracts doled out to military-industrial corporations like Halliburton, whose accounting practices have repeatedly been found to be suspect. And there’s the $8.5 billion the new energy law will donate to the oil companies—prime beneficiaries of the Iraq War—during a year in which Exxon alone earned $17 billion over six months.

Dedicated individuals who are ready, willing and able to provide veterans with the information and the support they need to collect the benefits for which they are eligible staff the local veterans service offices. (see page 15 for contact information). But it is we, the voters, who need to see to it that the benefits for which they are eligible are the benefits they deserve. Those who have fought and been willing to die for us should not be shunted aside for the benefit of multinational corporations or even our own beloved local pork projects. And if we’re not willing to get our priorities straight with regard to their wellbeing, honoring vets once a year isn’t going to mean a thing.

Dr. Punnybone

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly