Honoring the Sacred Trust with our Veterans

Honoring the Sacred Trust with our Veterans
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
September 7, 2012

For those who don't know who I am, I am part of the 8% of this country. I am part of the military families no one seems to talk about very much anymore. My uncles all served in WWII and my Dad was a Korean War veteran. My husband is a Vietnam Veteran and so was his nephew. His Dad and his uncles all served in WWII. One, his uncle John was KIA in Saipan. Another uncle was a Merchant Marine and his ship was hit by a Kamikaze pilot. He ended up in the ocean and was brought back home with what was then called "shell shock."

Since veterans were always part of my life, it seems only right I do what I do everyday. I can't think of a better way to spend my life.

It really gets funny somedays when I get emails from Republicans accusing me of being a defender of the President and then get one from a Democrat accusing me of attacking him. That tells me that I am doing what I set out to do. Tell the truth without playing the political game too many others do.

I made a promise to a Marine 5 years ago that I would never get political again. So when a politician does something for veterans or the troops or their families, I let you know just as much as I let you know when they do something against us.

Here's my political belief in a nutshell. No politician has ever given veterans back what they paid and no politician ever will. Some come closer than others but when I hear them fight so hard for everything else but military families, when no politician holds up a Bill unless the VA and TRICARE is fully funded to take care of the 8% of the population willing to sacrifice everything they have for the "greater good" then that says a lot.

So I get up everyday, put on the coffee, let the dog out and say a prayer. I hope that this day I do whatever I can to bring the truth and cover as much news as possible. Usually by 7:00 I'm reading emails and start posting. By 10:00 I've usually shed a few tears over some of the emails I get. My day online ends around 7:00 when my husband starts to ask me if I'm going to watch TV with him. At 11:00 I go to bed and say a prayer hoping I did all I could do that day and then wondering if I did or not.

These conventions have me torn. If I go too hard after the RNC for their convention and the lack of time spent on veterans, some Republican friends of mine will be hurt. I know how much they love this country and our veterans because of how much time they spend trying to do right by all veterans. But if I don't go after the politicians for this, then I am not doing what I promised. I won't be telling the truth.

Well it looks like I finally figured out how to do this the right way. On YouTube there are some fantastic videos going up about the time spent on our veterans and families. Dr. Jill Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama did a lot of work for military families and their speeches were fantastic. Joe Biden and President Obama also talked a great deal about our troops, families and our veterans. But they had the spotlight on them while a few others did not. I found these videos that will make you feel good considering how little veterans have been in the news.

The good thing about the lack of attention paid to them during the RNC convention is the media noticed and for the last two weeks, veterans have been the topic of the day all over the news sites. That is a good thing!

‪Beau Biden‬: 'Stunning' Republicans didn't mention Afghanistan in Tampa
By Geneva Sands - 09/07/12

‪Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden on Friday blasted Republicans for leaving mention of Afghanistan out of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's speech during the convention in Tampa, Fla., last week, calling the omission "stunning."

"You seated me next to a family who has a son in San Diego in the U.S. Navy and cousin of theirs going off to Afghanistan on Tuesday ... and that they didn't mention any of this in Tampa is truly remarkable to me, and that's why I'm confident the president would have spent a lot of time on this regardless of what they did in Tampa, but that's — I mean it just, it was stunning, it was just stunning," said Biden on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."‬

Biden, who served in Iraq with Delaware's Army National Guard, knocked GOP vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan's (Wis.) budget proposal for reducing funding to the U.S. ‬Department of Veterans Affairs.

‪"I believe his math on this, I don't believe his math on his marathon times, but I believe his math on the budget. It's an $11 billion cut in year one, Joe, to veterans benefits ... he wants to cut the VA by $11 billion, 85 percent of which goes to the 2.3 million people that have served in uniform over the last ten years," he said.
read more here

Ed Meagher

Vietnam Veteran Ed Meagher Remarks at 2012 Democratic National Convention

Tammy Duckworth at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

Veteran Nate Davis at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

Honoring the Sacred Trust with our Veterans - 2012 Democratic National Convention Video Tom Hanks

So I'll keep posting what they get wrong and what they get right until they all get it right. I am sorry to my friends on the Republican side as much as I am sorry to my Democratic friends, but I picked my side a long time ago and that is on the side of veterans, not politicians.

UPDATE September 8, 2012

Veteran Tulsi Gabbard on Obama's military record
September 4, 2012
Iraq War veteran and Hawaii Congressional candidate Tulsi Gabbard speaks with CBS News political director John Dickerson about President Obama's role as commander-in-chief and the White House's priorities when it comes to veterans' affairs.

Gabbard talked about being a medic and how the troops not only took care of their own but took care of everyone else in Iraq.