Rumsfeld----Let's cut "combat pay" by $75 a month!

[Gimpy]

Want MORE "evidence" of just how much "help is on the way" from the Bush administration for our military?? Check THIS out!

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"To all of our men and women in uniform, and to their parents and families: Help is on the way!" ?- Dick Cheney campaigning in the 2000 presidential elections.

Never forget that arrogant pledge. Because first of all, the Clinton-Gore military, as it turns out, was in perfectly fine shape -- fine enough to handle the Taliban in Afghanistan and topple Saddam Hussein. (Though it's had predictable trouble with the peace-keeping side of the coin -- in part because Donald Rumsfeld has moved to close the US Army War College's Peacekeeping Institute and has generally short-shrifted training in that area, in part because even the bravest and most cunning of military outfits can't do much with a stupid mission.)

Now, incredibly, the Help-Is-On-the-Way Pentagon wants to cut the imminent-danger pay of troops in Iraq! Maybe they need to free up cash for bottled water that Halliburton has been unable to adequately supply our troops with.

When Congress returns after Labor Day, it will have to act fast to counter Pentagon plans to cut danger-pay by $75 a month and family-separation allowances of $150 a month. The Pentagon doesn't want to spend money on such trivia; it says these pay cuts will save $25 million a month. For perspective, that's about 0.6% of the war's monthly cost. Or, if you prefer another comparison: The Pentagon says its proposed pay cuts will save about $300 million this year; which is still less than the $324 million Halliburton (Dick Cheneys former employer) listed as second-quarter revenues solely from work in Iraq.

No wonder Army Times is raging at the Administration's nickel-and-dime disdain for its own soldiers. (Team Bush only likes to dress up like soldiers, it doesn't like to pay them.) After news of the Pentagon's pay-cut was broken by the San Francisco Chronicle, an unnamed White House official rushed to tell The New York Times that, while it was true, the president solemnly hopes Congress will overrule the Pentagon. As if the president can't overrule his own executive-branch agency.

What I'm curious about now is whatever happened to that other brilliant Republican idea: the call on patriotic New York police and fire fighters to sacrifice overtime pay so that there'd be enough free cash out there, in a very vague sort of way, for military danger-pay.

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Kinda makes you sick to your stomach, huh?

[revwardoc]

Our goverment is run like most private sector companies; if you're losing money, eliminate some rank-and-file and/or cut their pay. God forbid that upper level management might have to actually THINK and come up with a proper solution. After all, they have to make sure there are no holes in their "golden parachutes".

Hey! I wonder if we can get that asshat gyrene 'chute packer to be reassigned to working on those "golden parachutes"!

[1CAVCCO15MED]

I can't believe they would try to cut the pay of soldiers over there in mortal danger! Rumsfeld is so out of touch with anything but his own ego. If he is not fired and this not allowed to happen, I would vote for whoever opposes Bush in the next election.

[BLUEHAWK]

It would be very informative, would it not, to see the actual wordage that was used to rationalize this proposed pay cut. No?

[Gimpy]

Here it is. Got it from a fellow who served on an aircraft carrier.

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The Pentagon wants to cut the pay of its 148,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, who are already contending with guerrilla-style attacks, homesickness and 120- degree-plus heat.

Unless Congress and President Bush take quick action when Congress returns after Labor Day, the uniformed Americans in Iraq and the 9,000 in Afghanistan will lose a pay increase approved last April of $75 a month in "imminent danger pay" and $150 a month in "family separation allowances."

The Defense Department supports the cuts, saying its budget can't sustain the higher payments amid a host of other priorities. But the proposed cuts have stirred anger among military families and veterans' groups and even prompted an editorial attack in the Army Times, a weekly newspaper for military personnel and their families that is seldom so outspoken
...
A White House spokesman referred questions about the administration's view on the pay cut to the Pentagon report.

Military families have started hearing about the looming pay reductions, and many aren't happy.

They say duty in Iraq is dangerous -- 60 Americans have died in combat- related incidents since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq on May 1. Another 69 have been killed by disease, the heat or in accidents.
Well, with all that money going to actual soldiers (and their families) how can the 1600 Crew pay off their wealthy campaign contributors with tax-cuts, defense contractor friends with no-bid contracts, and maintain that certain air of studied indifference that comes to rich white trash?

On the heels of Screwing the Veterans, there's only one phrase truly appropriate to the 1600 Crew. I first saw it as a bumper sticker on the car of a nuke carrier crewman:


BOHICA: Our Screws Never Stop

BOHICA -- Bend Over Here It Comes Again...in case you were wondering!

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[BLUEHAWK]

It will be a very very serious error if their proposal makes it through the system intact and goes into effect while boots are on the ground, anywhere.

I believe it is time, now, for senior NCOs and Officers to step forward, in the ways only they have access to, with an "informational briefing" to DOD and the White House staff.