Bad move to cut Vermont National Guard program

We didn't step up when we sent them in the first place. Congress didn't get funding flowing into the VA to get ready for what two wars would cost in human terms. Communities around the country didn't have any plans to take care of the National Guards or Reservists or their families when they were deployed. No one was asked to do anything but the men and women we sent.

If sending them into Afghanistan was important enough to ask them to risk their lives, then it should have been important enough to congress to pay for it, then and now. If sending them into Iraq was important enough, then the budget to care for them should have been increased right away. Even if it meant that the US taxpayers had to pay more. This means the rich should have shared in the burden but they got tax cuts.

What did they do with their money? Did they make jobs for the men and women to come home to? No, unemployment went up. Did they step up and fund anything the citizen soldiers or troops needed when they came home wounded? Very few did.

Now there is something the state of Vermont is trying to get right and even it is running out of money. Why? We are not exactly running out of veterans needing it. As a matter of fact, we are increasing the need at the same time we fund greed in this country. This is all messed up.

Expiring Vermont Guard family program gets reprieve
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS • MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011

COLCHESTER — A Vermont National Guard family outreach program that helps veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is being threatened by the budget dispute in Congress.

The program that provides important services to help veterans deal with issues that arise after they return from service overseas had been due to run out of funding at the end of next month, but officials say it's been given a short reprieve thanks to a $450,000 federal appropriation.

But its long-term future is in doubt.

The program was started a number of few years ago with state money. Last summer Vermont guard chief, Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders announced that another $2.4 million in federal funds would keep the program running. That money is almost gone.

"We have our veterans outreach specialists (who) are dealing with people with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, with substance abuse issues, with financial issues, with helping them to get their disability benefits, marital issues," Dubie said.
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Expiring Vermont Guard family program gets reprieve