Veterans For Peace & Military Families Speak Out

 

VETERANS FOR PEACE

11-23-2006 I have no commentary for this posting. The links say volumes about how the people who serve and their families are treated....

Update 11-24-2006
I now have a moment to dedicate a few words and have searched my mind as to why I felt it necessary to make this post. Because I am a PACIFIST, I am alarmed by the living conditions that military families are made to live with. I have had four people in my life time describe what they have had to endure as a spouse of an enlisted man.

They were all women married to enlisted men and all lived on base, in their designated area. Many years ago, I was told of how the enlisted families are classed among all military families. So the lower the rank, the lower the class among officer families. That meant, no intermingling, no open community gatherings and no sharing equally in the daily ritual of making a stable home for one's family. What the wives described reminded me of inner city projects, except smaller. All women said that if they could afford it they would never choose to live on base.

I haven't spoken to the women - wives for many years...they are long gone. I tend to know more parents of the enlisted now. But for the brief time I got to know the wives of the enlisted, it opened my eyes to their plight and cemented a thought that surfaces from time to time. Who would choose the military for betterment of life?

The enlisted person 'alone' would build hope on earning a degree, see the world and want a career in protecting our land or another land. An enlisted persons family must go along or be separated. What choice do they have? What choice do they have in bettering where they are made to live? For a short time or for a few years, to accept their lot as the family of the enlisted, to sacrifice their need for better for their family?

I see the military families as part of the same national population termed as low income, poor and working poor. There is no line separating the affected individuals, except the illusionary line that labels one Civilian and the other labeled Military. Makes no difference to me who is what.

It does matter that citizens of the United States no matter where stationed, are thrust into another kind of classification under the heading Military and thereby lacking a real solution leading to their quality of lives. Poverty and Homelessness 'Is' a social issue. The homeless Vets population will inflate along with others, to greater numbers in a year. Poverty and homelessness cannot be eradicated if the 'Powers' that be cannot recognize the source of why it exists...really exists.

For the impoverished or the homeless, It goes much deeper than ones ability to overcome poor conditions. The conditioning of being poor is what makes some aspire to get out because they believe there is another better-world out there beyond their neighborhood and others plainly accept it without questioning whether they believe another better-world really exists, for them, ever or ever again.

No person should ever go hungry or ever be without a home or have to fight Bureaucracy known as The System, in order to have something so basic as a better-world.

Military Families Speak Out

Friday, November 24, 2006 Washington Post Staff Writer By Donna St. George

WOMEN AFTER WAR A Single Mother's Challenges Yearning to Be Whole Again Sergeant Sees the Light After Year of Emotional, Family Turmoil

America At War - The Washington Post

November 23 2004 Marks Beginning of Military Family Appreciation Week

San Diego Union 21 NOV 2006 Helen Gao
Free Republic Military allowance disqualifies kids from preschool

November 21, 2006 Veterans For Peace Military Documents Hold Tips on Antiwar Activities By ERIC LICHTBLAU and MARK MAZZETTI

Monday, November 20, 2006 The Washington Post - Reuters By Richard Cowan
Key Democrats oppose renewing military draft

October 13, 2006 The San Diego Union Tribune Helping the hungry on base ^ Many military families rely on donated goods By Rick Rogers STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 More On Geoff Davis' (R) Backing Of Payday Loan Predators Targeting US Troops BluegrassReport.org

January 15, 2003
Thousands of US Military Families Live in Poverty By Brian Mann Voice of America


THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2002 NCPR News Archives North Country Public Radio At Fort Drum, A War On Poverty

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Sunday, November 26, 2006 The Washington Post Associated Press By Deb Riechmann
Bush Vows Continued Aid To Gulf Hurricane Victims & Thanked U.S. Troops