WHAT’S A VETERAN’S FAMILY WORTH?

Letter to the editor
from Celerino Castillo 3rd:

posted at DrugWar.com Nov. 8, 2002

2.7 MILLION Americans Served in Vietnam. 304,000 of them were wounded in action, and over 75,000 of those were disabled by their injuries. There are over 58,000 names listing the dead on the long, black monument in Washington, D.C. Approximately 1,300 men are still listed as missing in action. The latter are still missing and forgotten. When I returned from Vietnam, it was an honor and privilege to carry the POW-MIA flag during Veteran’s Day and the 4th of July Parade. I’ve stopped doing that 7 years ago, when I realized that our government was in disarray. However, as my personal vigil, I’ve placed a 35-foot flagpole in front of my yard, where I have flown the American flag and POW flag for over 30 years. At times, when my government has dropped the ball on the Disable Veterans, or have stumped on our Constitution, I’ve felt like flying the American flag upside down, a sign for help. After reading the following article, ask yourselves, is our government, a good government.

What’s a Military Family Worth?

I think the vast differences in compensation between the victims of the September 11th casualty, and those who die serving the country in uniform, are profound.

No one is really talking about it either because you just don’t criticize anything having to do with September 11th.

Well, I just can’t let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country.

If you lost a family member in the September 11th attack, you’re going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.

If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.

Next, you get $1,750 for burial coasts.

If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry.

And there’s a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt.

Keep in mind that some of the people that are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it’s not enough.

We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal the September 11th families are getting.

In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.

You see where this is going, don’t you?

Folks, this is part and parcel of over fifty years of entitlement politics in this country. It’s just really sad.

“Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”
-Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.

Every time when a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to nothing in terms of a raise.

Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps (Long Star) and live in a low rent housing.

However our own U.S Congress just voted themselves a raise, and many of you don’t know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension totaling more than $15,000 per month and that most are now millionaires.

They also do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn’t have to pay into the system.

If military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7 they may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed them in harms way receive a pension of $15,000 per month.

I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.

Now, that the Republicans will run the whole government, the war in Iraq and other parts of the world are imminent. The military draft of our sons and daughters will be initiated in January of 2003. And as God is my witness, these wars will have nothing to do with terrorists. As the Empire embarks on the occupation of the Middle East, to control the largest reserves of oil remaining on a planet that is coming to grips with the fact that oil is finite and depleting, the American people are on the threshold of tasting what real sacrifice means.

“The boundaries of an empire are marked by the graves of her soldiers.”
---Napoleon

Celerino “Cele” Castillo, 3rd