When you see those people with a “Support Our Troops” bumper sticker, does it really confuse you when they also have a “I Voted for Bush” bumper sticker? It simply isn’t possible to support both, unless you are completely uninformed and/or a idiot.
Here are a few samples of how the Bush Administration supports our American troops in Iraq:
BUSH HAS ABANDONED NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVE -
Today President Bush will speak to members of the Idaho National Guard, which has almost 2,000 soldiers currently serving in Iraq. But he won’t talk about how the war in Iraq has stretched the nation’s forces to the breaking point, forcing the military to ask America’s citizen-soldiers to put their lives on hold for increasingly extended periods of time without giving their families the support they need. Bush owes the soldiers and families of the National Guard and Reservists an explanation and an apology. [Wall Street Journal Online, 8/24/05]
GUARDSMEN AND RESERVISTS OVEREXTENDED -
Reservists Make Up Growing Percentage of Active-Duty Troops. In the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Reservists and National Guardsmen made up about 25 percent of troops in Iraq. Currently, Reserve and National Guard members make up an estimated 35 percent of the troops in Iraq. Acknowledging a harsh reality, retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Hugh Shelton, said that the military is becoming heavily reliant on reservists and national guardsmen to maintain commitment abroad. He said “I don’t think we can sustain that much longer.” [Dallas Morning News, 7/31/05; San Francisco Chronicle, 5/9/04; AP, 5/12/04; AP, 5/17/04]
MEMBERS OF NATIONAL GUARD TOOK PAY CUTS TO FIGHT IN IRAQ, THEN HAD TROUBLE GETTING PAID AT ALL -
A January 2004 GAO report studied six different Army Guard units and found Army Guard soldiers were being denied timely and accurate payroll payments. The report found that, “Overall, 450 of the 481 (94 percent) Army Guard soldiers from our six case study units had at least one pay problem associated with their mobilization. In addition, our limited review of the pay experiences of the soldiers in the Colorado Army Guard’s 220th Military Police Company, who are currently deployed to Iraq, indicated that some of the same types of pay problems that we found in our six case study units continued to occur.” [GAO Report, "Army National Guard Personnel Mobilized to Active Duty Experienced Significant Pay Problems," 1/28/04]
Surveys in 2004 showed that 40 percent of reservists and National Guard soldiers make less money while mobilized than they earned in their civilian jobs. Surveys of all Guard and reserve personnel found that among mobilized troops whose pay was cut, the average reduction was $3,000, although some took pay cuts in the tens of thousands. [Washington Post, 11/11/04]
NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVE SHORTED EQUIPMENT -
In July 2005, the GAO found that “Army Reserve units are not generally allotted all of the equipment they need to deploy.” Since September 11th, commanders have required deploying units to have 90 percent of their required equipment, yet in February 2005 the Army Reserve reported it had about 76 percent of the equipment it requires, an estimate that includes older equipment. [GAO, "An Integrated Plan is Needed to Address Army Reserve Personnel and Equipment Shortages." Rpt # GAO-05-660, 7/12/05]
Already suffering from manpower shortages, the National Guard’s overstretched forces are being confronted with another problem: not enough equipment to supply Guard troops at home. “To fully equip troops in Iraq, the Pentagon has stripped local Guard units of about 24,000 pieces of equipment. That has left Guard units at home, already seriously short of gear.” [Detroit Free Press, 6/13/05]
“Some Army maintenance chiefs, in desperation, are using their own credit cards to make purchases. One soldier, who asked not to be identified, listed boots, goggles and protein bars as particularly coveted items.” [MSNBC.com, 4/15/04]
HEALTH CARE FOR RESERVISTS LIMITED -
Congressman Douglas Hunter, Republican Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, removed a provision from the Defense Department budget that would extend health coverage to all reservists and their families. In an attempt to justify his actions, Hunter stated that, in fact, Reservists and their families have coverage from 90 days before mobilization until at least 120 days after they return, so extended coverage was not needed. [Biloxi Sun Herald, 5/28/05]
If you want to support our troops, please
don’t support them the way Bush does…
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