Support Our Troops -- Tell President Bush to Take Care of Their Families and Reinstate the Draft!


It is a crying shame what is happening to the families of National Guard Reservists who are serving in Iraq. Not only do they deal daily with fear over their loved ones' safety, they also face incredible financial hardship. I encourage people to tell Mr. Bush what they think of this!

People who oppose the war in Iraq are often accused of not supporting our troops overseas. That accusation represents a complete misunderstanding of what peace activists want. I won't go into that discussion here. Instead, in this entry I argue that it is the Bush Administration that does not support our troops -- and he certainly does not support their families -- because Bush has created conditions of extreme hardship for the Reservists' families, and he appears to have very little concern about them.

It is a crying shame what is happening to the families of National Guard Reservists who are serving in Iraq. Not only do they deal daily with fear over their loved ones' safety, they also face incredible financial hardship.

The conditions they must deal with daily are given sensitive treatment today in this article in The New York Times:

With Breadwinners Overseas, Guard Families Face Struggle
By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: April 25, 2004

ASHVILLE, April 22 — It took Jay Johnson seven years to build up his mobile catering business and a year to nearly lose it all. When he enlisted in the Tennessee National Guard, Mr. Johnson thought he might be away from home for six months, a year at most. But as he and other members of the 269th Military Police Company enter their 18th month of deployment, his well-laid plans for keeping the business afloat in absentia, and ensuring his family's financial security, have begun to falter.

Mr. Johnson's business, Johnson & Son Catering, is down to one lunch truck, from three before he left for Iraq, leaving his wife, Candace, and two young children to scrape by with half as much money. Although she has eliminated contributions to the family's college and retirement accounts, and cut all but the most essential spending, Ms. Johnson is still struggling to make ends meet.

"If he doesn't come back soon, we're going to lose it all, and he's going to have to start all over again," said Ms. Johnson, who works full time as an insurance adjustor. "He's proud to serve his country, but the Army doesn't seem to care about him or us."

As the war in Iraq continues, and the Pentagon prolongs the mobilization of tens of thousands of troops, the toll on both the soldiers, and the families they have left behind, is mounting. But while the war has been hard on all military personnel and their loved ones, the financial and emotional impact has been particularly acute for the members of the Guard and the Reserve who have been forced to give up civilian jobs, in a few cases, for 20 months. Among members of the 269th Military Police Company, about 170 men and women from across central Tennessee, the financial hardships are rising as deployments stretch far beyond the traditional six-month mobilization.

Read more here.

I encourage people to tell Mr. Bush what they think of this! Tell Mr. Bush to support our troops and their families by making provisions in the federal budget for funds to help these families through their financial hardships. They should be given grants (NOT low-interest or no-interest loans) to keep their businesses afloat. The families should also receive income that represents the difference between what the military pays the Reservists and the income they would receive from their jobs.

I also encourage reinstatement of the draft, so that the sacrifices made can be distributed fairly across the population.

Yes, a peace activist says reinstate the draft.

The burden of this war is falling unfairly on reservists and their families. If this war (and it is war, not occupation -- far more people have died since the so-called end of the war than died during the invasion) must continue, if indeed the safety of the United States is at stake, then the entire country must sacrifice to bring an end to the hostilities.

I urge everyone to write to President Bush and tell him you support the troops and that you insist that he take care of their families. Tell him also to reinstate the draft. And if you really do believe that the security of the United States is at stake here, head down to the military recruiting offices that exist in every major city in the United States and volunteer yourself. Don't expect other families to fight this war on your behalf.

Here's how to do it. For snail-mail contact information for the President, go here. You can also submit electronic correspondence here.

To find out where military recruitment offices are in your area:

Air Force
Army
Coast Guard
Marines
Navy

For additional information, including links to offices for the Reserves, go here.

If you truly support our troops you will demand that the President do so also.

Posted: Sat - April 24, 2004 at 09:24 AM          

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