Author Topic: Help these veterans out  (Read 2065 times)

bugzee

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Help these veterans out
« on: October 22, 2016, 11:47:16 PM »
During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the US Military needed more troops to deploy. The California National Guard offered bonuses of $15k+ to soldiers willing to enlist for 6 years and be sent to the war zones. Some of these soldiers were already out of the military and in their civilian lives. But they needed the money and took the offer and reenlisted. Now nearly 10 years later, around 9,700 of these soldiers are being forced to pay back their bonuses. Many of these soldiers are undergoing extreme stress and hardship to pay the bonus back.

Here is the original story:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-national-guard-bonus-20161020-snap-story.html

And here is the White House petition that was just started to help these vets out.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/reverse-decision-forced-thousands-military-veterans-repay-bonuses-they-received-going-war

They were asked to go to war, they stepped up. Now they are in need of help. I am a veteran myself, but I am not one of those effected. I feel obligated to at least try and help them out. Once the petition gets 150 signatures, it will make it to the White House's petition page. Once the signature reaches 100k, it will require the President's attention. Thank you my hero friends!

John

Castegyre

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Re: Help these veterans out
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2016, 09:10:17 AM »
My wife is a vet. My dad was a vet. My step dad is a vet. All of my grandfathers and great grandfathers who were US citizens at the time of relevant conflicts were vets. I have uncles and cousins who were vets. The only reason I never served is because the government denied me for medical reasons each time I tried to enlist. It's a family thing. Many of my relatives or friends of the family have been injured or mistreated while in service, and many of those have been mistreated or neglected once they leave service. I've seen people denied aid after losing a limb in combat. Denied mental health care. Denied further VA assistance because they consulted with the wrong doctor. Have their GI taken away because they filed paperwork incorrectly. It's a long list. I've also had to live through a few of them killing themselves. I've seen this my whole life from multiple directions growing up partly on base and in the real world since. And, yet, I still love my country. I still respect the military and the people who serve in it. I'm also somehow still surprised by every new occurrence of this sort of thing happening to those same men and women.

After reading a bit, I see no reason not to sign.

bugzee

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Re: Help these veterans out
« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2016, 03:13:41 AM »
My wife is a vet. My dad was a vet. My step dad is a vet. All of my grandfathers and great grandfathers who were US citizens at the time of relevant conflicts were vets. I have uncles and cousins who were vets. The only reason I never served is because the government denied me for medical reasons each time I tried to enlist. It's a family thing. Many of my relatives or friends of the family have been injured or mistreated while in service, and many of those have been mistreated or neglected once they leave service. I've seen people denied aid after losing a limb in combat. Denied mental health care. Denied further VA assistance because they consulted with the wrong doctor. Have their GI taken away because they filed paperwork incorrectly. It's a long list. I've also had to live through a few of them killing themselves. I've seen this my whole life from multiple directions growing up partly on base and in the real world since. And, yet, I still love my country. I still respect the military and the people who serve in it. I'm also somehow still surprised by every new occurrence of this sort of thing happening to those same men and women.

After reading a bit, I see no reason not to sign.

Thank you! The petition is about to pass the 4k mark. At this rate, it will get attention from the White House. I certainly had my administration battles while I was in. Nothing as bad as this though.