Military Groups to Call for End to Government Shutdown

Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Virginia): "We have to make a decision
that’s right long-term for the United States, and what may be
distasteful, unpleasant and not appropriate in the short run
may be something that has to be done," Griffith said after a meeting
of the House GOP, joining a long list of Republicans who have
dismissed the consequences of blowing through the debt ceiling
and causing a default on the nation’s payments.(ThinkProgress)

That will be enough now, Republican Party: Do your job.

A broad coalition of military groups is calling for the GOP shutdown to end now.

They will be meeting Tuesday morning, October 15th at the World War II Memorial.

This call comes as the GOP members of Congress contend to make the most imbecilic statement on the shutdown yet. From ThinkProgress:

Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) offered a curious analogy this weekend, comparing the impending default to the American Revolution.

Griffith was asked about the fast-approaching debt ceiling, which if not raised, threatens to drag the U.S. economy back into a recession. He told The Hill on Saturday that he is not concerned with the economic consequences so long as he and his party get their way.

From the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America:

The Military Coalition, a coalition of 33 of the leading veterans and uniformed services organizations that represent more than 5.5 million members, are coming together with other leading veterans organizations at the World War II Memorial Tuesday morning to demand an end to the government shutdown.  The shutdown has been devastating for the nation’s military readiness and for the veterans, servicemembers, families and survivors in the uniformed services community.

Veterans who receive disability and GI Bill benefits and survivors who rely on survivor benefits don't know if they'll get their next check. National Guard and Reserve monthly training has been cancelled, affecting critical troop readiness and pay. Many services that military families count on daily are suspended. Veterans make up 27 percent of the federal workforce and don’t know when they will get to go back to work. The 435,000 veterans in the VA disability claims backlog have to wait even longer.

WHO: Speakers include leaders from the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, Jewish War Veterans, the Air Force Sergeants Association, the Reserve Officers Association, the National Military Family Association, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

WHEN: Tuesday, October 15th at 10 a.m. EDT

WHERE: World War II Memorial (17th Street SW)

Army Report on Stress and Murder

The online magazine, Salon, continues its Coming Home series finding an "Army report [that] seems to confirm a Salon investigation linking battle stress to murder. But the Army begs to differ."

Funny how Salon -- that has animatedly opposed the Iraq War -- steps up for veterans. Where the hell are the neocons?

Talking to veterans, many report that troops in the rear or those patrolling areas with erratic insurgencies have a worse time of it than those troops who fight more-or-less straight-up against their enemy.

But the bottom line is, we don't know and we can't guess and we shouldn't subject troops asking for DVA benefits to humiliation and bullshit.

From Michael de Yoanna and Mark Benjamin:

Read excerpts from the Army's report on homicides at Fort Carson here or download the full study here. Read Salon's Coming Home series about preventable deaths at Fort Carson here.

July 16, 2009
FORT CARSON, Colo. -- The harsh combat in Iraq, including potential war crimes that were witnessed by soldiers, contributed to a series of brutal murders by soldiers based at this Army post near Colorado Springs after they returned home, according to a hard-hitting Army study released Wednesday. Many of the findings in the study, which was announced by senior Army brass at a press conference on the post, mirror those in Salon's Coming Home series, which identified a pattern of preventable homicides and suicides at Fort Carson among soldiers who served in Iraq with combat stress and failed to receive proper medical treatment.

House Passes New GI Bill; Tom Petri Is Lone Republican Wisc House Member to Vote for Bill

via mal contends - Bears repeating from headline: Tom Petri (R-Fond du Lac) is the lone Republican Wisconsin House member to vote for the new GI Bill.

Good for Tom Petri; bad for the House Republicans. Republicans talk a good game about supporting our troops; they do not walk the walk.

I mean is the thought that we honor troops who serve merely one or two tours of duty really that repulsive to Republicans?

Final vote
Voted for (256)
Voted against (166)
Did not vote (12)

Courage

Courage. In 2006, Petty Officer Second Class Michael A. Monsoor was killed in Iraq when he jumped on a grenade. Click here to learn more about Monsoor's incredible story.