When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

What does Johnny get after marching home from the Iraq Occupation?
Not my President directed us to the article about Lt. Jon Anderson and the other 2,600 Minnosota Guard Members ordered to Iraq for 729 days. Upon returning home, they discovered that though they honorably served their 729 days in Iraq, and they avoided road bombs, risked life and limb, and spread democracy,
it wasn’t good enough to get them the free education that they thought they had been promised—simply because, they were intentionally sent there one day short

of the time required in the contract—730.

Recruiters across the land wave the carrot, “Enlist and get your college paid for…” They are able to do this as a result of one of the New Deal’s most successful programs, the G.I. Bill. The G.I. Bill has existed since 1944 and thousands of people have served and received a college education and been able to make a better life for themselves and

their families…. until now.

Of course Conservatives have long clung to the dream of eliminating all the programs started in the New Deal. They have nibbled away at the edges for a long time but Bush has successfully eliminated most of these programs by hook or by crook.
Nonetheless, it’s a little crass, if you ask me, that our government is willing to allow a President and his appointees to break law after law and slipe slide over little rules here and there as if they don’t exist, and yet for the 2,600 guard members (and more) who served their country well and who are fortunate enough to return from the war, the government suddenly discovers the virtue in contracts and law.
The soldiers serving in Iraq and their families have a contract with our government but also with us too. We the people have a contract with those serving in office but also we have a contract to protect the soldiers who are protecting us. But the demise in Veterans’ health care, lack of funding for PTSD, the horrible conditions at Walter Reed Veteran’s Hospital, and the recent vote against the Webb Amendment shows a persistent disrespect towards the troops and the contracts that were signed by both parties. And now we hear about another empty promise! Despite four years of hearing about the rule of law and the Constitution, and having the Constitution compared to a contract with the American people, today we stand on an abyss where we must decide how to enforce the contracts we all have with each other. (Even if unacknowledged.)
We must keep our contract with our soldiers and do something about this!
So I ask you: Is this situation with the soldiers cut and dried? The contract clearly stated the expectations from both sides. Should we (and our government) tell those soldiers, “Tough luck…the contract says…”? Should the government be acting like a business—crunching numbers? Should we the tax payers be asked to pay for the education of those who served even if they’re one day short? And what affect should the rule of law and contracts have upon our actions and those of our public servants?
You tell me.

By sparrow on October 6, 2007 @ DCP