Military Retirees, under 65, probably have another job that can pay their Health Insurance Costs. We need to convince them to use that Insurance plan instead of the one they earned by 20+ years in the Military. Obama Administration. (paraphrased, they would never say it that clearly.)
This is what the Administration calls "not breaking faith" with Our Troops and Veterans. I had a rather heated discussion about this with a civilian friend, who happens to support Obama. She felt that the disgust I voiced with the Administration, and with those that continue to justify his slashes makes Veterans and Troops appear to be just a whiny special interest group. She didn't understand how I could confuse her Support of the Troops, with annoyance that she attempted to justify the Administration's calls for culling the force. And she typed the same lines the Obama Campaign has used to justify the cuts. The Proposals include:
Increasing and adding new enrollment fees for retirees (for Tricare)
Establishing a new enrollment fee for the TRICARE-‐for-‐Life program
Implementing additional increases in pharmacy co-‐pays
Obama proposals in January 2012, in the DoD "Defense Budget Priorities" previously proposed in the Obama Budget Proposal in September 2011 which was marketed as raising taxes on "the rich" while "raising revenue" to a greater extent from Military Retirees & Veterans.
So, how do I express myself better? How do I better explain why it is wrong for the American Government to break its contract with the Veterans that have protected this Nation? Why is it morally and legally wrong to charge Military Retirees for Health Care? Why is it the responsibility of the American People to stop this? Who can do that and How?
Voters can write their Congressmen and that is likely the only way this will be stopped. If the politicians in Washington continue to believe that the Electorate puts a low priority on this issue, then the Pelosi Democrats in the House, and the Reid Democrat dominated Senate will continue to blindly vote in support of the Administration cuts. And the Republicans in both houses will, otherwise, continue to allow it to happen. It is a sad fact that politicians are first and foremost concerned with their own re-elections, not in doing what is right, or is best for the Nation.
If politicians on both sides of the aisle don't start seeing a stack of letters and emails on their desks, expressing support for a strong military, for honoring the contract the US Government made with its Troops, the politicians will look only to the polls that say its not important to voters. If however, the politicians believe your vote will be based, at least in part on how they deal with this, they will change how they deal with it. Sure, you can write a letter to the White House as well, but frankly, I don't see it having any impact on its actions.
But why should you care? Why should you bother to express your Support of Our Troops, Veterans, and Retirees to your Congressmen, when you have other issues to deal with, like how to pay for that Obama mandated Health Insurance, how to pay rent, how to pay for rising gas prices, finding or keeping a job, or whether the legislature of a neighboring state has taken up residence in a neighboring hotel to avoid their own duties?
Afterall, didn't those Troops and Retirees sign up for the risks and sacrifices they made? Shouldn't we "all sacrifice a little" to return this country to fiscal responsibility? An average Military retiree of today signed up during the Cold War, earning hundreds of dollars a month. It is unlikely that he signed up with a plan to retire from the Military, but he understood that there was a very large, looming threat across the Fulda Gap. He trained for it. He knew the Soviet Army and Warsaw Pact vastly outnumbered the US Forces and NATO. He learned that the strategic plan was to hold off complete defeat long enough for the American people to send re-inforcements.
Today, the threat remains the same on the Korean Peninsula, with the Forgotten War that has never been ended, only paused, with tens of thousands of US Troops facing off against hundreds of thousands of North Korean troops, armed with nuclear weapons, and the threat of blowing a dam that would flood the South. Today, Our Troops are still fighting the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, the Haqqani, the HiG, al-Shabab, Abu Sayyab, and other terrorists around the World. Iran remains an enemy with increasing influence and fresh American blood on its hands.
Many of today's military retirees spent cold nights, preparing for war, in week long and month long field exercises in Germany or Korea, and/or hot days in the jungles of Panama. While few were in Beirut or Lebanon when Hezbollah attacked Our Peacekeepers, many of today's retirees are Veterans of Wars in Grenada, in Panama, in El Salvador, Nicarauga, and Desert Storm. More than once, they went from manning their posts, watching for a Soviet or North Korean attack, to standing ready, with loaded weapons, waiting for it. For those that did not experience it, the lens of history may make it appear that the Military of that day was peaceful and stress-free, but there is a reason that Our Military Retirees appear to be much older than their years.
They didn't man those walls for the money. Most that joined with the idea of retirement realized with a single enlistment that a military retirement wasn't worth the 20 years of abuse it took to get it. Those that do stay for 20 more often joined with a belief they'd serve their Nation for an enlistment, do their part, and get out, realized they were needed for another, and at some point realized they had already invested too much time to throw away, that they might as well stay for a few years longer to get the promised pittance that comes with it, a safety net, for his re-entrance to civilian life.
A retiree of the class of 2005 would have served during the protested wars of Central America, during the Cold War, the Panama War, Desert Storm, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, the War on Drugs, the War in Afghanistan, and the War in Iraq. It's unlikely that he would have been in all of those Wars, but likely that he had served in a few of them, and the only one he "signed up for" was the Cold War, to be ready, should war come.
Whether he served in any war or not (which is unlikely that he would not have), he would have sacrificed time with family, holidays, and comforts. He would have been stationed in Foreign Lands, and have moved every 2-4 years. He would have been ordered to "the field" to sleep on the ground, or perhaps a canvas cot, eating MRE's, with a piece of canvas or thin plastic to keep the rain, sun, and wind off him.
He would have trained with a heavy ruck, an oppressive helmet, and a rifle always in arms reach. The military took a toll on his body. It was necessary, to be ready for the battles he didn't know if he'd fight.
The average retiree has been divorced at least once. Spending that much time away is difficult on a relationship. Many Troops are faced with an ultimatum, a wife that has been the second priority for too long, that tells her Troop that he must decide if he wishes to be married to the Military or her, because she can no longer accept being the 2nd priority, can no longer deal with an absentee husband. Many Veterans have chosen the love, and hung up their helmets. Military Retirees chose to put their Nation first, and their wives either had to accept 2nd place, or go their own way.
Not every Warrior gets wounded in battle, even if he returns to battle many times, war after war. Some will say that Soldiers make an implied agreement to "die for their country," but that is not the case. The majority of Troops have no desire to earn a Purple Heart, but if they earn one, they're proud of it. Warriors instead accept that the risks they take and sacrifices they make are necessary, to keep Our Nation, Our Freedoms, and Our Citizens safe. They believe the American People are worth those risks and sacrifices, even if their fellow Citizens are unwilling or unable to actively participate in their own defense.
There was an agreement made, that in exchange for those risks, sacrifices, and low pay, the Nation, the People, would in turn honor its promises. The promise was that if they kept making those sacrifices, for at least 20 years, or until wounded beyond the ability to fight more, they would get a retirement check, and health insurance/coverage through a bureacracy that makes it painfully full of red tape to use.
During his 20-40 years of service and sacrifice, there was little time to visit the Doctor. Warriors often had to choose whether his illness or injury needed treatment, or his mission on the battlefield or in training was of greater importance. More often than not, the Warrior chose the mission. And when those service related injuries went untreated, they became un-documented. Regardless of how well they healed, or if he eventually got them treated, his body would one day remind him they were there, and charge him in aches and pains, for his service and sacrifices. He was promised these would be covered when his mission was over, for however long he could bear to maintain the mission. He was promised that if he could endure for at least 20 years, he wouldn't have to fight to prove those un-documented injuries were service related.
The military seems to have a habit of losing the documents proving those injuries, even when the injuries were sufficient to require medical care. So, if that Warrior wants those injuries treated, it is often his burden to prove. If he was smart, he kept a copy of the report, but as often, he just wanted to get back to the mission, and that injury was just a challenge to overcome. He wasn't looking for a VA check, or health card.
And along came the Obama Administration. The Obama Administration didn't campaign on making Veterans pay for their own health care or making it mandatory that Citizens must buy Health Insurance. It campaigned on expanding the Afghanistan War, and sending unmanned planes to bomb Pakistan, and "giving" every American health care. Instead, when the Obama Administration got power, it immediately proposed a "fee" on Retirees and Veterans in the VA Health Care System, first on those that could "afford it," those that could be covered by some other employer and those that made a certain amount of money, and more recently (i.e. Jan 2012 and the Sep of 2011) on ALL Veterans and Retirees.
It kept the fee small at first, just enough to get its toe in the door, and has been asking for increases ever since. In September, it wanted to "raise revenue" of $47.5 Billion on the backs of Millitary Retirees and Veterans, $12.5 Billion more than it hoped to gain by "taxing the rich" in the same proposal.
Sure, it markets this proposal as exempting War Injuries and those over 65, but it has a different means of charging those over 65. And what of those injured in war? What about those undocumented injuries incurred over the life of a 45 year old retiree? What about those documented injuries incurred preparing for war, rather in it? Those "non-combat" injuries don't even get the propaganda exemption, but that still leaves the Combat Injuries.
A Veteran that earned a Purple Heart, with a bullet through the knee "won't be charged" for the resulting care to rebuild that knee, for the pain killers for that knee, or the therapy to walk on that rebuilt knee. The ankle he injured at Airborne School is a different matter though. The spine degraded with 20 years of climbing mountains, marching the roads, and patroling the streets of Fallujah in a 30 pound vest of body armor, with a 55 to 110 pound ruck, carrying a rifle, and wearing a helmet doesn't get that exemption. Being jerked into an open parachute, and falling onto the ground with equal force of a fall from the top of the house doesn't get exempted from co-pays and annual fees, even if his knee gets "treated for free."
That "free" health care wasn't ever free. It was pre-paid with decades of sacrifice and post-paid with years of aches & pains, at a minimum. The payments are visible in the faces and gray or balding heads of our retirees, aged beyond their years, and financial in alimony and child support payments, often deducted directly from the retirement checks, if they get one.
Early in the Iraq War, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was asked by a deployed Guardsman or Reservist, if he would support a change in the Reserve Component Retirement system. He callously stated that he was still working into his 60's or 70's, so why shouldn't they. He side-stepped and ignored the real question he was being asked. The Guard and Reserves don't get a retirement check when they retire, nor do they get much of one when they turn 62. Rumsfeld was already receiving retirement checks, even while he continued to work in an office job. The calculations for a Reserve or Guard retirement check are complicated. In a nutshell, every day they served in uniform are added up, divided by 365, and they receive a portion equal to the proportion of years they had served out of 20 or 30, IF they survive until they reach 62.
It has long been the case that Retirees don't survive the experience long. I don't know if the phenomenon has been documented or explained, but after 20-30 years of physically abusing their bodies, military retirees regularly kick the bucket within a year or two of their retirement parties. For those that retire from the Guard or Reserves, those that sacrificed their weekends for decades, that stood ready, and set aside their civilian lives at a moment's notice, that saw their civilian opportunities diminished as a result of those sacrifices, the "benefit" of retirement is only that "free" health insurance plan.
And that became more important when ObamaCare imposed a penalty for not buying health insurance on every American. It doesn't matter if the Obama Administration calls it a tax in the court systems, a fee in its marketing campaign, or even if the Average American sees it as un-Constitutional. So long as the government allows ObamaCare to force Citizens to buy Health Insurance or impose a financial penalty for not doing so, the retirement benefit of a Health Insurance plan, will be important, even if they never visit the VA. Obama now charges those Retirees for that, and proposes increasing that fee, whether or not the Retiree ever sees a doctor. It proposes that the Retiree pay hundreds of dollars a year, for their sole benefit (Guard/Reserves) of having served and sacrificed for decades.
How many are standing up in opposition to this breach of contract? Not many. It doesn't help that those that do are characterized as whiny, ungrateful belly-achers trying to get something for free, like all those other "special interest groups" that demand a check or handouts for having been born with a darker skin hue, or that chose to take a government handout rather than a paycheck.
If we are to buy into the line that "we all must sacrifice a little" to overcome the budget debt incurred to the greatest extent by the Pelosi Congress, and in second greatest extent by the Obama Administration, then we must first ask those that have not sacrificed their bodies, relationships, and comforts for 20 or more years, to sacrifice first, not those that have already paid to pay more. Military Retirees cannot defend their retirement benefits alone. Not even Veterans alone can change these breaches of contract. If every Veteran in the Nation voted against the politicians that are supporting this, it would not necessarily change Congress.
But not every Veteran opposes costs incurred on those "Lifers" that retired. It doesn't necessarily effect them. Most Veterans aren't retirees, and most never take any benefits from the VA. And since Troops come from every walk of life, and political belief, when they become Veterans they return to those lives. With groups such as "VoteVets," the "IAVA," and "IVAW" supporting policies and politicians that undermine Veteran benefits and/or National Defense, it is not surprising that every politician out there can find some Veteran willing to step on the stage to campaign for his re-election.
No, Veterans and Retirees alone cannot successfully defend against these incursions. This will only be reversed if the American People themselves tell Congress to stop the bleeding of Our Troops. And that will take both Democrats & Republicans, who Support Our Troops, telling their own parties, and their own politicians, that this is wrong, and must be stopped.
I don't know if American Citizens can be bothered to care, or that I have demonstrated why this policy is wrong to convince anyone that wasn't already convinced. I don't know that I can explain it better why Veterans & Warriors might feel betrayed by Civilians that "Support the Troops," but can't be bothered to oppose the policies, but I can tell you that it is quite frustrating to be told that we knew what we signed up for, and now need to suck up being charged for policies imposed on us. You may not have had an opportunity to vote against Donald Rumsfeld, but in November, you do have the ability to vote against the politicians in Congress who charge Our Veterans & Retirees for the "benefits" they already paid for with blood, sweat, and alimony. And you have 9 months to tell them this is important.
Am I just another whiny Veteran who hasn't paid my fair share as some would say? Do I demand too much from the Nation for those years of abusing my body and of 16 to 96 hour days? Do I have a realistic expectation that the American People would stand up to their politicians? The VA "benefits" I have received are a few thousand dollars paid out of the Montgomery GI Bill, into which I paid $1200 and which had greater investments from the Troops, than payouts to Veterans.
At present, I expect, I'll collect on one other "benefit" the VA offers. Actually I won't, but I do hope my family does. I hope they do take up the VA on burial costs, when that time comes. For, the least they can be compensated for their sacrifice of "knowing me," and "sharing time" with me is that the Nation who used that time they wanted pay to put me in the ground and give me a headstone. That's not to say that I'm such a great person to be around, but for some strange reason, my family seems to have wished I could have and would have spent more time getting to know them. Nevertheless, the burden of collecting that benefit, or even figuring out how much that's worth, will rest on whichever of them gets the task of trying to dispense with my corpse.
Perhaps though, I am asking too much. Perhaps, I too am just another pesky Veteran bankrupting the Nation. Perhaps, I should just shut up and pay my "fair share." Perhaps, I should let the retirees fight for their own benefits. Afterall, unless I were to put in a claim for PTSD, I have no claim to the VA health Care System. I have no documented War Injuries, or even Training Injuries, and I'm not a retiree. Besides, it's time for me to go down and pay an extra $5 for the "specialized" plates that advertise I'm a Combat Veteran.
Download FY 2013 Defense_Budget_Priorities No, they won't tell us all the details, until they can bury them in the bigger 2013 Federal Budget Proposal.
Special thanks to Twania at Patriots For America, for bringing this to the attention of more Americans.
America, the Buffett tax doesn't just tax Our Veterans. It taxes Farmers, the Elderly, and YOU!
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