Supporting The Troops?

I am against war and as naïve as I am, I just know it’s not good for any living being. We are told to support our troops and it is implied pretty strongly that if we do not accept President Bush’s war then we are not supporting our men and women fighting in Iraq. But those two ideas do not make truth. I have young friends and family involved in this mess and I’ve seen how they come back from it, I’ve seen what the horrors of war do to young minds. I support the troops, completely, I only wish our leaders supported them as they insist we must.

Now our government has decided to save money by cutting off medical benefits and disability paid to traumatized soldiers. The military is claiming that it’s not actually posttraumatic stress, but pre-existing personality disorders these heroes are suffering from and therefore the military has no responsibility. On top of this disgrace, those discharged under the Personality Disorder banner are then informed that they have to pay back their enlistment bonuses. Department of Defense records indicate that 22,500 personality disorder discharges have been bestowed on our soldiers in the last 6 months.

It seems that Senators Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) have joined forces to request that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates open a review of the personality disorder discharge.