Friday, December 10, 2004
Bastards
I'm sorry, there's just no more polite word that comes to mind for the -- well, "bureaucrats" is just too neutral, but let's use it for now -- the bureaucrats who laid out the policies which give us stories like this (from the Middletown, NY, Times Herald-Record; link thanks to skippy guest host Holden).
He lost his arm serving his country in Iraq.No, Mrs. Loria, and they don't work particularly hard to earn the respect, do they?
Now this wounded soldier is being discharged from his company in Fort Hood, Texas, without enough gas money to get home. In fact, the Army says 27-year-old Spc. Robert Loria owes it close to $2,000, and confiscated his last paycheck.
...
Including taxes, the amount Loria owed totaled $6,255.50. The last line on the worksheet subtracted that total from his final Army payout and found $1,768.81 "due us."
...
Christine Loria was at the end of her rope earlier this week when she called her wounded husband's commanders at Fort Hood, Texas, and gave them a piece of her mind.
The Army was discharging her husband, Robert, after he lost his arm and suffered other severe injuries in Iraq, without even gas money to drive his car home.
"I am up here and he's there. That's 1,800 miles away," she said. "I had to call his chain of command and scream at them."
Their reaction she said, was "very mature."
"If he feels that way, why is his wife talking for him? Why doesn't he come talk to us himself?" she remembers them asking her.
"Because on some level, he still respects you," she answered. "I don't have that problem."
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Just wondering if this Soldier, Spc. Robert Loria was in one of those poorly armored Humvees and if his wounds couldn't have been avoided or lessened in the first place.
After hearing Rumsfeld's asinine remarks I am made to wonder if he is or ever was qualified for the job. You can bet one of his kids wouldn't be riding around over there in a vehicle without armor.
Please read news article> http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2004/12/10/abandon1.htm
OF LIFE AND LIMB
They take the oath to Serve us all
To protect this Land of the Free
Some signed for just the weekends
And a few weeks of the Military.
But when our Country went to "war"
Both Reserve and Regulars "shipped out"
And we at Home and Government
Should make sure they don’t go without.
They should have the best equipment
Especially all those in harm’s way
Their families should be taken care of
And they should get some decent pay.
When our Troops asked for basic armor
And we all know the "wheels" turn slow
But those lame excuses have cost lives
And many more wounded, don’t "they" know?
Of those billions we are spending
How much goes to Halliburton
Instead of where it’s really needed
To help keep those Soldiers from hurtin’.
And when they do get wounded
(Luckier than those who are killed)
They should expect and receive the best
And have all the promises fulfilled.
But the military/civilian bureaucrats
In the Department of Defense
Don’t care about the lowly Soldier
At the "bottom line" of the expense.
When Troops are no longer useful
"They" want to hurry, close the "deal"
You don’t see "them" extend their "tour"
To Soldiers laid up somewhere to heal.
Expendable expenditures
And just a cost of every "war"
So, sign ‘em up and ship ‘em out
Then go out and sign up more.
We can’t expect our Fighting Men
To stand up to Wartime’s test
Unless we send them off to war
With all the very, very, best.
Some wars have been to protect us
And some were fought for Liberty
But we can’t force onto others
What Freedom means to you and me.
But, if the powers that lead us
Keep thinking it is worth the cost
They should "realize" the price
Of all, those families have lost.
Del "Abe" Jones
abeabe@att.net
12-13-2004
More about Halliburton than they probably want you to know> http://www.harpers.org/Halliburton.html#20040113-652119958634
NEW > File versions of my last two books, "MOONTIDES AND OTHER CHANGES" and "THE WORLD, WAR, FREEDOM, AND MORE" at
http://home.att.net/~abeabe/index.html.
After hearing Rumsfeld's asinine remarks I am made to wonder if he is or ever was qualified for the job. You can bet one of his kids wouldn't be riding around over there in a vehicle without armor.
Please read news article> http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2004/12/10/abandon1.htm
OF LIFE AND LIMB
They take the oath to Serve us all
To protect this Land of the Free
Some signed for just the weekends
And a few weeks of the Military.
But when our Country went to "war"
Both Reserve and Regulars "shipped out"
And we at Home and Government
Should make sure they don’t go without.
They should have the best equipment
Especially all those in harm’s way
Their families should be taken care of
And they should get some decent pay.
When our Troops asked for basic armor
And we all know the "wheels" turn slow
But those lame excuses have cost lives
And many more wounded, don’t "they" know?
Of those billions we are spending
How much goes to Halliburton
Instead of where it’s really needed
To help keep those Soldiers from hurtin’.
And when they do get wounded
(Luckier than those who are killed)
They should expect and receive the best
And have all the promises fulfilled.
But the military/civilian bureaucrats
In the Department of Defense
Don’t care about the lowly Soldier
At the "bottom line" of the expense.
When Troops are no longer useful
"They" want to hurry, close the "deal"
You don’t see "them" extend their "tour"
To Soldiers laid up somewhere to heal.
Expendable expenditures
And just a cost of every "war"
So, sign ‘em up and ship ‘em out
Then go out and sign up more.
We can’t expect our Fighting Men
To stand up to Wartime’s test
Unless we send them off to war
With all the very, very, best.
Some wars have been to protect us
And some were fought for Liberty
But we can’t force onto others
What Freedom means to you and me.
But, if the powers that lead us
Keep thinking it is worth the cost
They should "realize" the price
Of all, those families have lost.
Del "Abe" Jones
abeabe@att.net
12-13-2004
More about Halliburton than they probably want you to know> http://www.harpers.org/Halliburton.html#20040113-652119958634
NEW > File versions of my last two books, "MOONTIDES AND OTHER CHANGES" and "THE WORLD, WAR, FREEDOM, AND MORE" at
http://home.att.net/~abeabe/index.html.
# posted by 
: 6:32 PM
: 6:32 PM
I am in the same unit as Spc Loria the humvee was not an aromured humvee it was in fact after that accident that took his arm did the higher chain of command ir. Lt colnel allow the use of Irais to make us the aromour for the humvees in our own base.
# posted by : 8:31 AM
: 8:31 AM
Wow -- good for your Lt. Col.! Someone cynically inclined might say, "Yeah, but is the quality of the armor made by Iraqis as good as that of the armor made by [insert US corporation name here]?" To which the only common-sense reply is, "ANY armor is better than NO armor."
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