I am 56 years old. I'm an American citizen by birth. I spent eight years in the U.S. Air Force and another 22 years working in federal law enforcement for the Bureau of Prisons. That's 30 years total service to the people of the United States and the government. And today I am completely disgusted with my government.
I joined the Air Force in 1977. Jimmy Carter was President - and historically he wasn't a good one. Up until that time I hadn't really paid much attention to politics. Sure, I watched Nixon resign in disgrace but it didn't effect me as a teenager. I watched Carter bungle the Iranian hostage crisis and was more than ready for him to be out of office. Jimmy Carter is a good man but doesn't have what it takes to lead the world.
The other day I voiced my disgust for the current administration for shutting down the federal Amber Alert website because of the shutdown. Apparently I wasn't the only one angry and it didn't take long before the administration "called in a furloughed employee" to get it up and running again. Public opinion really can change things.
Today I learned that the Obama administration has stopped paying for funerals for military members killed in action and has discontinued paying for families of those fallen heroes to fly to Dover Air Force Base to meet the bodies of their loved one(s). The administration is also saying they don't have the funds to even pay for the funeral(s) of these fallen servicemen and has stopped benefits from being paid to those families, blaming the shutdown.
Thanks to the main stream media many people in this country believe the shutdown is the fault of the Republicans. I put it square on the backs of Obama and Harry Reid. The truth is somewhere in the center. But regardless of who is actually at fault for the shutdown, the Obama administration is directly responsible for what funds are cut. Obama and his comrades are the ones who choose which memorials are shut down, which web sites are shut down (Michelle's "Let's Move" website hasn't been shut down) and which military programs and functions are shut down. So this decision not to pay is the President's and his alone. His decision shows nothing but pure contempt for the military and their dependents, as well as for America in general. How any military member could support him now is unfathomable to me.
One organization I sponsor, Wings For Our Troops, is working now to find out how they can help get the five family members in question to Dover Air Force Base for the arrival of their fallen loved one. They have helped service members get home before deployment and now they are willing to help these families get to Dover when the President won't do it. A non-profit organization is willing to help take care of military families when the President of the United States refuses to do so. I urge all of you to go to their site and make a donation if you can. They will need funding if they're going to be successful.
I'm not sure my disgust level with the Obama administration could be any higher. To deny military families the benefits their fallen heroes were promised when they took that oath is unconscionable. And when a service member is killed in action while serving the nation (and the Commander in Chief), he/she at least deserves a funeral - even if the government is in a shutdown.
It has been said that "a veteran is someone who writes a check payable to 'The American People' in the amount of 'up to and including my life.'" In the past that check was honored with reimbursement to the family of that veteran should something happen to him/her. Apparently the Obama administration has decided that reimbursement isn't necessary after all. But what should we expect from a man who, during his first Presidential campaign, suggested all wounded military veterans should pay for their own medical care because "after all - they volunteered"?
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