The following commentary is from Pat S., a frequent Commenter here at Tammyblog and thought it important enough for posting on the main page. It’s an excellent analysis of an outrageous situation. Thanks, Pat, for the great work.
*****
What’s the matter with us? The Pentagon is talking about a pay cut for the National Guard troops in Kosovo because comparatively it isn’t as dangerous as other deployments of the Guard. And no plane ticket home!
Pay Cuts a Possibility for National Guard Troops in Kosovo
“…active duty soldiers now in the middle of a one-year deployment — could stand to lose upwards of $2,000 in pay each month, plus tax-exempt status and a free plane ticket home for R&R…â€
When I think of all the wasteful spending the government does–most recently by the free-spending Republicans–the idea we’re too cheap to pay for a Guardsman’s ticket home makes my blood boil. We sound off when liberals make disparaging remarks about the military. Our outrage can be no less when a Republican administration would even consider this shameful dishonor to our soldiers. Our troops have been in the middle of a civil war in Kosovo for eight years. Their sacrifice has been ignored and forgotten and now this insult.
Let’s remember what Clinton’s war for multi-culturalism was.
The aftermath has long been forgotten for what some of his aides called “Clinton’s Finest Hour.†Little note was taken when the crackdown on ethnic Albanians increased after we started the bombing campaign. Clinton was warned this would happen and ignored the warnings. Initially there were restrictions on bombing targets to limit civilian casualties but as time went on those limits were ignored and civilian casualties increased. NATO dropped cluster bombs into marketplaces. Daily reports were a matter of boasting about how many sorties were run. After the bombing ended an official assessment of the military damage inflicted determined most of it was to cardboard tanks. The civilian infrastructure was in ruins.
This is what Clinton said when an agreement was reached with Yugoslavia to end the bombing:
The demands of an outraged and united international community have been met. I can report to the American people that we have achieved a victory for a safer world, for our democratic values, and for a stronger America…. We have sent a message of determination and hope to all the world…. Because of our resolve, the 20th century is ending not with helpless indignation but with a hopeful affirmation of human dignity and human rights for the 21st century.”
At the end of 1999 there were as many ethnic atrocities being committed as there were before NATO got involved.
These remarks, from Bill Clinton on March 23, 1999, came to be known as the Clinton Doctrine:
I want us to live in a world where we get along with each other, with all of our differences, and where we don’t have to worry about seeing scenes every night for the next 40 years of ethnic cleansing in some part of the world.
The media swooned over this glop. Now the other Clinton says she’d do nothing about ethnic cleansing in Iraq.
When I read this story I didn’t feel as alarmed as Pat S. did concerning this pay issue. As for the “pay cut” I don’t believe they would be receiving a pay cut, that is fixed and based upon one’s rank and time in service. The extra benefits they were receiving were based on the status of Kosovo being classified as a combat zone. And as for the soldiers having to buy their own way home from the “war”, the plane ticket was for a vacation away from the “war”, not for their final trip home after their tour of duty. I don’t know what the situation in Kosovo is now, if the Pentagon doesn’t have it right Congress can fix it if they want to. I’m for giving the soldiers as much as possible but my suggestion would be to bring our soldiers home from Kosovo, Germany, Korea, and any other place where there isn’t a “war” going on, duh.
I agree with Steve. I think that you are over-reacting, Tammy. This is referring to special benefits that the military gets when in dangerous locales.
The plane ticket home refers to a ticket for mid-tour leave, not for when they are sent home for the end of the tour.
They will now have benefits like military serving overseas in places such as Germany, Japan, etc.
First for Exhel, this is not my post, it’s from contributor Pat S. And I certainly don’t need to agree with everything Maynard or Pat may have here on the blog, but in this instance I happen to agree with Pat’s take on things.
First, her point is made within the context of spending here at home, which now falls into the “Drunken Sailor” category. I personally believe that every single expense a troop has should be paid for by us, including, heaven forbid, a vacation plane ticket. For crying out loud, this is the least we owe the Americans keeping this nation, and the world, free and safe.
I also think we should have universal and free health care, specifically for troops who have served in combat. For troops who did not see combat, they should still get comprehensive health care, more than they are getting today. The rest of us can buy our own insurance and pay whatever the ree market demands for the remarkable medical advances we all enjoy today. Modern medicine exists, and America is the leader in medical innovation because of the free market.
I would caution against the sentiment that, well, this ‘cut’ is just for mid-tour home flights. Who cares? Can you imagine the benefits to our military if we shifted the outrageous one trillion dollar cost of free prescriptions drugs to seniors, and instead invested that in our military? Equipment, training, health care, etc, etc. These people have voluntarily served us. They are generally young. They are putting their very lives on the line every single day and they’re being led, in general, by Barney-friggin-Fife.
Instead, we’re willing to give freebies to oldsters who have their family and have support systems. And if they don’t then they should pick up the phone and start that relationship back up with their estranged daughter, or contact local agencies for help. I do *not* feel obligated to help care for a stranger who did not prepare for old age, or who is estranged from their family. I *do* feel obligated, completely, to our troops for their commitment to this nation and for helping to keep me free.
In the meantime, no scrimping for our troops, at any level, on any issue. They deserve everything we can give them. Everything.
Tammy, I agree with your sentiments, but I also think there’s absolutely no good reason for us to still be in Kosovo. I’m sure at least 75+% of the public doesn’t even know we are.
Thank you Tammy, those were the points I was trying to convey. Nothing should be taken away especially in light of the extravagant waste in a bloated budget riddled with earmarks. If anything, members of the military should get pay and benefit increases.
It isn’t just the pay cut. They lose tax-exempt status and have out-of-pocket expenses increased. Maybe those of you who have a better understanding of this can explain it to a mother of two small children whose husband’s paycheck will be reduced by about 25% considering all the changes combined. Duty in Kosovo is not the same as being stationed in Germany. Volatile tensions still lie beneath a thin surface. There are explosions, land mines and political murders. The media just doesn’t care to report it.
Good heavens, even John Kerry sees what’s wrong with this.
“Adding undue financial burdens on our soldiers’ economic benefits in the middle of their deployment is wrong,” US Senator John F. Kerry said in a statement. “When these brave men and women signed on for their service, they were told one thing, and now they’re being told another.”
If you think it’s OK because it isn’t as bad as the real combat places like Afghanistan and Iraq, consider this. In 2003 the Pentagon attempted to cut the pay for troops in those places too.
Troops in Iraq face pay cut. August 14,2003 Pentagon says tough duty bonuses are budget-buster
“The Pentagon wants to cut the pay of its 148,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, who are already contending with guerrilla-style attacks, homesickness and 120- degree-plus heat.”
“Unless Congress and President Bush take quick action when Congress returns after Labor Day, the uniformed Americans in Iraq and the 9,000 in Afghanistan will lose a pay increase approved last April of $75 a month in “imminent danger pay” and $150 a month in “family separation allowances.”
“The Defense Department supports the cuts, saying its budget can’t sustain the higher payments amid a host of other priorities.”
There was an outcry and the idea was quickly dropped. Taking money out of the pockets of our men and women in service who are most certainly in harm’s way while squandering millions on pork projects is simply and utterly wrong.
Tammy and Pat S,
You’re missing the point. The point is that Kosovo is no longer a combat zone, so the troops shouldn’t be getting combat pay. That is pretty cut-and-dried. The military gives extra pay to people who perform hazardous duties, and to people who perform their duties in hazardous areas. Kosovo no longer falls into that category.
I totally agree that spending is out-of-control, and that the military is underfunded. But giving someone in Kosovo the same hazardous pay benefits as someone in Afghanistan or Iraq is not appropriate.
Exhel, also as I said earlier, I don’t know the situation in Kosovo, the MSM never reports it because it was declared a great Clinton victory years ago. If it is no longer a combat zone and the soldiers in that theater still want combat pay they can volunteer for duty in Iraq and get paid the extra benefits there. Also, my original point was that Bush didn’t parachute the troops into Kosovo and expect them to thumb a ride home as Pat S. implied. Maybe she didn’t imply that and if so then I’m sorry for being an idiot but that’s the way I read it.
You guys are correct on the precise point of military pay scales. The fact that our soldiers in Kosovo may get this pay cut sparked larger thoughts in a surrounding context–the history and current situation of Kosovo, the treatment of our men and women in uniform, and the wasteful spending of the government.
Kosovo may not be as dangerous as Iraq, but it isn’t as peachy as Germany or Japan either. In fact, a critical juncture is near on the question of Kosovo independence. The international community is all for it, but the Serbs are adamantly against it. There is ongoing violence there. Kosovo Christians are fearful of an independent Kosovo because they are already under attack by the Muslims (hard to believe, I know).
I refer you to the UNDP Early Warning Report – Kosovo-July-September 2006. This is a 56-page report laden with tables of statistics but if you do a word search for “bomb” you’ll get an idea of the situation.
Soldiers who are in the middle of their deployment will experience this cut which will be a significant financial impact. The Pentagon exhibited a hasty interest to take money away from our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003. I think it stinks that the government won’t hesitate to take money and benefits away from our soldiers while throwing it away by the truckload elsewhere.
I don’t know what the latest estimate for Katrina fraud is, but I remember hearing something like $2 billion a few months ago. There are about 1,700 US soldiers in Kosovo. For that money we could send every one of them home once a month for a year and have $1.98 billion leftover. ($1,000 round-trip ticket from Serbia to NYC.)
So, that’s what it’s all about for me–the comparative injustice of pay cuts for our soldiers in a precarious situation while throwing money away insanely elsewhere. I don’t think we really have a disagreement overall, just a misunderstanding about the crux of the discussion.
THE GOOD NEWS announced yesterday U.S. Soldiers in Kosovo Won’t See Pay Cut