Saturday, March 10, 2007

one down, a bunch more to go.

In all the excitement about finally getting orders, and spending a bunch of time chasing them down, I didn't get to gloat! Let's see... "Scooter" is off to prison soon (but I'm sure Shrub will pardon him..... after all he got to fall on his sword for Dead Eye Deferment Dickhead) Gingrich proves that "morals" are not their strong point after all... The girl is enjoying this. As the Times said, "Gingrich had affair while hounding Clinton. "http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1495077.ece

Yup, I'm enjoying this.

Then I read from a whole bunch of military bloggers, that they are 'upset' that the Dems are making noises about Walter Reed. OK.. so I'm trying to figure out why it upsets ANYONE that the Army is getting spanked for the digraceful conditions, not just the mould (which is the skim coat) but the insane bureaucracy and the 18 month waits for their discharge or retention paperwork, their disability ratings (which were undervalued, you would THINK they were private insurance companies....). This is true, it's something that veterans and military families have been screaming about for years, doing it the proper Army way, going up the chain. And folks, it didn't work!!

I grant you, there is a lot of talk, there are way too many commissions and reports and too much babbling and posturing, but this is the piss poor way our government does things. If we can actually change this screwed up system, I could give a damn HOW we do it. Let's get off the "Dems hate the Army" "Neo-cons hate democracy" bandwagon. Let's fix this. FAST!

Till then... support http://www.soldiersangels.org/ and http://www.sewmuchcomfort.org/

By the way, the Hospital in Landstuhl needs size 9 - 13 shoes, mens. Preferably sneakers. Here's the address:

Landstuhl Army Medical Center
Attn: Chaplains
APO AE 09180

LAW

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a "Wounded Warrior" at Walter Reed, I can safely say that the only people to blame is the chain of command. If the politicians failed us it is because they failed to allow the chain of command the resources and authority to make a positive difference. All the rest of it lays firm at the lap of a broken Chain of Command. Starting at the platoon sergeant level and working its way up to the NARMC commander. Simple way of life...You live by the flag pole...You are buried by the flag pole.

Ashley said...

I can't believe I'm not the only liberal Nat'l Guard wife in America! It's been very hard for me during my husband's deployment to be isolated from the other wives for simply believing in a different American perspective. Keep the blog going--I'm so excited to hear more.

liberal army wife said...

Ashley, there are more of us than you think!

Anonymous said...

New to your blog and will visit frequently. You're my kind of fiesty :-)

Believe it or not, there are some Republican leaning Army Wives out there who are just as disgusted as you are re:WRMC. As @WR said, a big part of the problem comes through a lack of funding for basic infracstucture maintence, repair, and quality of life improvements. There's plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle and up the chain of command.

Note on FRG's: Been a volunteer in the program for over 17 years. Command support is critical to how the FRG is perceived and how it operates. Some of the units we've been in, well, the FRG was broken and the soldiers/families weren't interested in fixing it. It was easier to whine than to work at making it a viable program.

Before my husband's unit mobilized and deployed, the commander made it clear that a healthy and functioning FRG was mission critical. My office, as FRG leader, was next to his. I briefed the unit leadership every month leading up to the mob/dep. Yes, the mob/dep was hellacious but by the time they left, we, the spouses, parents and sig others, had built a community. We were lucky to have Family Members who wanted to work, weren't afraid to ask questions, and had a vested interest in building the group. Spouses wearing rank was never an issue - we had too many oldtimers who knew better and nipped that b.s. in the bud!

As awful as the mob/dep was, having a strong FRG was an awesome thing to behold.

Great blog LAW and so very happy that you have orders in hand. They did same-same to us two years ago *sigh*

Shinerbocker

Cassandra Complex said...

i love your blog. happy to know there are libs out there. as a fourth gen. military brat, i think of the military more as "traditional" than "conservative."

i was reading one of the righty milblogs (tcoverdrive?) where he lamented that the washington post sat on the story for months when they could have gotten things fixed right away for that soldier with the mold... it wouldn't have served the troops... i'm a big ol' peace activist and i've arranged meetings with members of Iraq Vets Against the War and my senator. we had a vet there with half an arm, a bum leg and bad ptsd. the VA told him they would treat one thing, his choice. when he told that to the senator -- after we explained what ptsd was !!!! -- she said she'd get right on it, and started taking names and numbers. the poobahs want to fix the problems one at a time, so they can feel like they've done something. if the reporters had threatened WR four months ago (and i'm not even sure that timeline is correct) they would have fixed that one problem and swept the rest under the rug.

i don't know if you'd be interested in Military Families Speak Out, but they have chapters all around the country. i wish i could join but they're limited to folks with people currently serving. i'm a civvy now -- which makes me feel even more responsible for this mess.

Anonymous said...

How great would it be if Libby started singing like a bird about all of their lies. You know he knows more than just about this!! I don't know about you but taking the fall for someone and ending up in jail is more than I'm willing to do for a friend who couldn't be botherd to testify for me!