Obama and McCain let the troops down at Fort Hood

Carissa Picard sent this email. In case you don't know who she is, she is the President of Military Spouses for Change. She's been very active helping the troops at Fort Hood. Living with the families and the troops, she's well aware of what's going on today and how the troops need to be heard. She tried to put together a Town Hall meeting with the troops and the two candidates running for President and Commander-in Chief. This was such a big deal CBS was going to cover it. Obama had better things to do, as well as he also had better things to do than attend the DAV convention and sent a tape to be played at the convention. McCain, well he was willing to do this but would only commit if Obama did. The whole thing fell apart. What is very troubling is that we have two occupations going on right now, troops suffering and families suffering as they are expected to do their duties. The two people who think they have the right "leadership" to command these men and women do an awful lot of talking about how important the troops are to them but they never really do much to prove it. So is this all just more talk from politicians trying to use the love the American people have for the troops and not really doing anything for them or what? Read what Carissa wrote and then you decide.

DIARY on MILITARY SPOUSE PRESS - POLITICS AS USUAL: The Injustice of Not Having the Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall

Some of you know me and know that what I do comes from the heart (see: http://www.milspousepress.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=573). Caynan, my husband, is a medevac pilot covering the Baghdad area. Yes, progress has been made. But it isn't pretty. (Magilla the Gorilla, the large stuffed animal I sent him that is now a part of the crew for my husband's team, needs a harness because he gets tossed around during the missions and is getting bloodied up.) You will not like what you are about to read but I hope you will remember that I tried to invite the candidates to Fort Hood back in November of 2007 (http://blip.tv/file/500866), that you met me when I was stumping for Biden in Iowa because I believe so strongly in being a voice for our active duty service members and families.

What I wrote below, I wrote in response to a personal email, I wrote in my OWN voice, not as the President of MSC, and not as the organizer of the FOrt Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium. I have been a Democrat all my life. My husband has taken heat from his chain of command because of my advocacy for our soldiers here at Fort Hood (See also why we should take care of our wounded: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,157747,00.html). But I am heartbroken and disappointed and angry. I approached the campaigns asking for ANY dates that worked for them. I will be more than happy to give you the invitation and press release if you want it, just email me. You know what, I understand that town halls are risky. But every time my husband gets in that Blackhawk he is risking his life, and he does it anyway. We honor those who have the courage to take risks. The stakes are high, you may be thinking. Yes, they are. They are very high. No one knows that more than we do.

I am officially an independent now. I think that this was town hall was a political game too for the campaigns--AND I AM ANGRY. I am speaking out as the spouse of a soldier serving 15 months in Iraq. Fort Hood is home to approximately 56,000 soldiers and 24,000 spouses. Our "in house" records, as of Feb. 2007, had our death toll at 650 deaths to this "Global War on Terror" but the DoD numbers, of course, for Fort Hood, have us at that RIGHT NOW. (Guess it all depends on how you define dead). (I'm sorry, casualty of war.) Six weeks ago, a 19 yr old stationed from Hood shot himself to death via webcam in front of his 19 year old wife (he is listed by the army as a "non-combat related casualty; small arms fire"). He was stationed at Camp Taji.

On July 22, my husband calls me from Taji to inform me he can't shower because another soldier has been electrocuted to death in the shower. A few months ago, 4th ID announced it was raising funds to expand its soldier memorial on post for the THIRD time as its Division losses have been so great. 4th ID is, of course, on its 4th tour in Iraq. 1st Cav Division will be going back for the fourth or fifth time in six months (they just back in this past December when their tours were extended to 15 months).

A soldier with TUMORS in his lungs that I am helping here at Ft. Hood was CLEARED as fit for duty for AFGHANISTAN even though he can't run or do push ups without passing out. (General Schoomaker has been informed of the situation and is now having this soldier re-evaluated.) MEANWHILE, when I approached Obama's people about the event (whom I thought would jump on this opportunity), I get stonewalled by their vet coordinator. I get told by McCain's people he won't come if Obama won't come (nice).

I get NO dates from Obama's people and one date from McCain's people. I go with that date to the network and the venue and Obama. Obama's deputy director of scheduling tells me, "oh, the Senator is spending time with his family on that day, Ms. Picard. Surely you can appreciate that the Senator's time with his family is sacred." I felt like my head was going to explode when she said that to me. The Senator's time with his family is SACRED? Yes, it is but what about OUR TIME with OUR FAMILIES? Between 2002 and 2006, the divorce rate for Army officers TRIPLED and for Army enlisted soldiers doubled. Incidents of child abuse and neglect increased with the length of the soldier being deployed. PTSD is a HUGE risk factor for domestic violence. Repeat tours increase the likelihood of returning with PTSD. 2 in 5 service members are returning with either a traumatic brain injury or PTSD (or both).

WHAT ABOUT OUR FAMILIES? Last time I checked, the Senator gets to see his family. They CAN travel with him. He does not rely on 15 minutes DSN phone calls with bad connections that he has to wait in line to make or internet that may or may not be working. And after NOvember, he WILL be with his families. I told Ms. Koehkne, with all due respect, no one knows more than an Army wife, how sacred time with one's family is. And I certainly don't appreciate the fact that the man whose orders will send my husband away from my family for yet ANOTHER 12 or 15 months cannot commit to talking to our troops because time with his family is more important than time with us, especially when the war in Iraq is such a large part of his election platform.

It is utterly outrageous that these two men have not come to US together and worked out a time for BOTH of them to talk to our service members and spouses. We should know how they plan to maintain our all volunteer force after six years of war and in the face of the escalating "global war on terror," strengthen our domestic security and replenish national guard/reserve forces and equipment (particularly in the event of a natural disaster and/or, god forbid, an internal attack), and fortify our military and veteran institutions while doing this.

I am not bashing Obama, I am angry at McCain as well for not trying to make this happen either. Our soldiers are MORE THAN A PHOTO OP. OUR FAMILIES AND OUR SERVICE MEMBERS ARE LIVING AND DYING for this country and for this war on terror. We wanted the country to remember that the next president is going to determine exactly how much longer we are going to keep living this way and where exactly our service members will be living and dying and being wounded when NOT WITH US, their families. WIll it be Iraq? WIll it be Afghanistan? Will it be Iran?? Pakistan??? AND WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH THE SERVICE MEMBER, when he or she returns wounded, battered, bruised, broken, what is this country going to do to help this service member and this family put itself back together?

Since Fort Hood has lost the most soldiers in the war on terror and its soldiers have spent the most fighting in this war, I think this is clearly the most compelling audience for these questions. Every soldier knows that orders to Hood equals orders to combat. THe National Veterans Organization wants to help create a presidential town hall before November for our soldiers and spouses and veterans. Ralph Nader wants to be involved. I say we challenge ALL candidates to attend. I say we tell them to put up or shut up because I am, quite frankly, sick of it. And God help them if my husband goes down in his helicopter in Iraq, because it won't be pretty. They think that this military spouse is on fire now, as a gold star spouse I will make Cindy Sheehan look like a pussy cat. (I should mention that I am Irish.)

I expect both campaigns will be angry at me for this email but they don't have to work with me to do this event. They just have to come together to make this happen for our troops and their families. If not Fort Hood, then at least some other Army installation. It's the Army and National Guards that are deployed the longest at 15 months and they should be heard.