Once Again, Our Soldiers Get The Short End Of The Proverbial Stick....

Once Again, Our Soldiers Get The Short End Of The Proverbial Stick….

Ask anyone who have served in any of the United States’ Armed Forces and most will tell you that there is a sense that the Republican Party seems to have more affinity towards the soldiers than their Democratic counterpart. Now, this may not be so in reality… yet it is a visceral feeling among many of us who have Served. With that backdrop, soldiers are being asked to give back signing bonuses that they duly negotiated with the Armed Forces because, apparently, someone in the government bureaucracy made a mistake; and so now the $10-20,000.00 that the soldiers received in bonuses are being asked to be returned. We, the public, shouldn’t have known about this issue because it should have been nipped in the bud by President Obama who could have prevented this PR nightmare by simply signing an Executive Order, enabling the soldiers to keep their signing bonuses - but this issue is not going to animate or quicken our President to act because it has nothing to do with gay, lesbian, or transgender issues.

Had the issue to do with gay or anything slight, no matter how innocuous, against the alternative lifestyles, our President would be conspicuously out front and center… pandering to the rainbow brigade - but an issue that affects/effects our Armed Forces, once again, our soldiers will get the short end of the proverbial stick. I would venture a guess in saying that President Obama has signed more Executive Orders than any of our past Presidents... many of those orders I personally think are Unconstitutional… in essence, a usurpation by Second Branch’s (Executive Branch’s) of the checks and balances that are laid out in our cherished Constitution.

What is so grating… with acid liberally poured in the opened wound is the fact that we just gave the Iranians billions, which, probably, will be used to murder our soldiers in the Iraqi war theatre, yet we could not find a way to forfeit what is tantamount to the pittance given to these soldiers, most of whom signed these bonuses, apparently, to serve in the respective war theatres of Afghanistan and the afore mentioned Iraq. I will say this again, there is nothing more despicable than politicians who use soldiers - and note that both side of the aisle are guilty of using the soldiers for photo-opts - but are not ‘there’ when the situation seems to benefit the soldiers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84_ebE7Gqf4

You know that the situation of asking for the bonuses to be returned is embarrassing when even Secretary of State Clinton is simpatico with Donald Trump… in saying that the soldiers should be able to keep said bonuses. When President Obama boasts - and objectively he has a right to do so - in saying that he killed Bin Laden and with also Secretary of State Clinton living of the political coattails, he must know that it was soldiers who did ‘the work’ and that benefit of the doubt should be giving to their fellow soldiers to keep the bonuses - must I repeat that many of these bonuses were for signing up to serve in Afghanistan and Iraq? These are war theatres where soldiers are still dying and the fact that we have so much waste in this country, yet we cannot see fit to forfeit the few thousands doled out to these soldiers warrant the outrage and PR nightmare most of us are feeling.

I am biased on this issue because I Served… and I only wished that I had the means to support all our soldiers, many of whom are in dire straights - but I am not there yet. It is ironic that in California where most of the soldiers who received the bonuses reside, any Mexican immigrant can cross the border and receive tuition, among others perks... gratis. With all that is going on, it is like we are living in a bad episode of Rod Serling’s, Twilight Zone. However, I can use this forum by way of my Prose to memorialize my outrage on this issue and to hope that President Obama and Ash Carter, Our Secretary of Defense, can get this issue out of the spotlight because it is rather embarrassing for our Armed Forces, and, moreover, for America. Note that I have used Los Lobos’, Set Me Free, Rosalie, and Talking Heads, Wild, Wild Life, to help flesh out the themes of this blog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWP07YgUWig