Hi, Folks, Good thing this isn’t a workplace, or I could be accused of harassment.
Anyway, as many of you are aware, my old pappy dragged me out here to the high desert of Idyhoe almost 2 years ago. Well, let me tell you, it gets darned hot out here. Of course, pap keeps telling me that without the east coast humidity, it’s not so bad – yeah, tell me about it. So, my favorite artist buddy made me a pair of booties to keep my tender little tootsies from burning right off. You may or may not see them here or at the end of this blog, depending on the prevailing mood of this @#$%^&*? computer.
Now, a word or two more on our grand old militaire:
As an old hound dog, I certainly recognize that many of my fellow citizens of our good old U.S. of A. know a little something about guns. Apparently, not enough, or we wouldn’t have people running around shooting other people, almost every day of the week – but that’s another topic altogether.
Howsomever, this idea of calling our soldiers by the term, “warriors” is particularly appalling. Well, you may not want to believe this, but I got old pap to google it! Our soldiers have a creed; matter of fact, so do our Airmen, Marines, Sailors, and gosh knows who else. The soldiers creed also was updated around 2003 to include the statement, “I am a warrior and a member of a team,” and has even been enhanced with the inclusion of a warrior’s ethos. I thought I was joking about the staff bloating of the Pentagon. Why, they have even changed the old “caissons” army song, and, you guessed it, they snuck in a nice little reference to God (saying that made us “right”). Wonder whose God they had in mind?
Pappy doesn’t recall any creed or ethos in his day, and he says that the troops then wouldn’t have even been able to spell those things, much less memorize them. He’s beginning to think we should have taken old Ike’s warning a bit more seriously. Makes him kinda yearn for a simpler time when soldiers sang songs like one of the WWII jobs that went:
“If you want to know where the privates are, I’ll tell you where they are – up to their knees in mud, and continues “telling where”:
the sergeants are drinking the privates’ beer, the captains are down in the deep dugout, and the Generals are back in Gay Paris!”
Anyway, these kids signing up today are no warriors. They are just young people growing up in our modern U.S. Some are probably what we used to refer to as, “Gung Ho,” and part of this group may have a real desire to help their country and the world. Many are just poor kids, with few options, looking for a way out of poverty and a chance to get an education and have a better life.
Telling these decent young citizens that they are “warriors” and “killers” may have had a bearing on the marked upsurge in military suicides over the last decade. A large study by the National Institute of Mental Health (covering 1.6 million military personnel) found that people who enlist in the military are more likely to have a history of depression and impulsive anger, making them more likely to act on suicidal urges. The study also found that one quarter of active-duty soldiers who have never deployed to combat have some sort of psychiatric disorder. In order to maintain a strictly voluntary force, recruiters may not be able to be as “choosy” as when they had a larger population to draw from!
The Wall Street Journal reported that “more than two thirds of American (I suppose they meant U.S.) 17 to 24-year-olds would fail to qualify for military service because they are too unhealthy, lack a high school diploma, have a felony conviction, or are taking prescription drugs for conditions like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.” Are you beginning to see why reinstituting the draft makes sense? Somebody has got to whip these kids into shape!
Which kind of brings us to the Veterans Administration “Scandal.”
Now the war hawks in congress are calling for heads to roll in the VA, and, of course, these sacrosanct legislators (who mostly refuse to do any legislating anymore) are investigating the agency. Old pappy read that of the more than 2 million soldiers cycled through Iraq and Afghanistan, about 970,000 have filed disability claims, overwhelming the VA’s resources.
Here’s my take on the situation, based on an old hound dog’s sensitive nose for detecting political rascals and pappy’s admittedly limited experience with same: very probably while the VA was being flooded with new cases, their budgets were not being allowed to reflect the increased need for services. At that point, some enlightened higher-ups made a declaration that patients would be seen within 14 days. Unable to comply with an impossible order, the stressed out underlings found ways to “game” the system, leading to the unreported long delays. Anyhow, that’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it!
Of course, our Congresspeople, most of whom have never seen basic military training, much less combat, are proposing to “fix the mess,” much as they have “fixed” so many of our problems lately. These rascals are truly dangerous!
Here’s a little (unclassified — good or otherwise) news for ya:
Pope Francis has excommunicated the Mafia, claiming that those bad boys are not welcome in the church! In my humble opinion, this Pope’s been a very reasonable fellow, with the exception of course of his dissing the TINKS (that’s Two Income No Kids couples in case you’ve forgotten). However, with this latest declaration, he could be bucking for early beatification!
Talk about your certifiable miracles! Does this mean that their wives will no longer be able to go to confession to pray for them and get their sins cleared off?
Well, kids, unless old pap and I are shot or arrested, we’ll see ya next week with a tad more info on that exciting subject — money!
PS: Wasn’t able to find any “creed” for U.S. Congresspeople — surprised? There apparently is an “Americans’ Creed” which was developed during WW1, and it sure makes more sense than the current “Soldier’s Creed
Buster's Two Cents 