I got this in my email today. I think his sentiments will probably be shared by all on here.
I served 21 years (3 of which were in combat) in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer. I'm now 65 with old injuries from those days becoming more annoying every year.
Personally, I think I earned every penny of my pay in those days. For 21 years, I was on 24x7 notice to be sent in harm’s way by politicians. For three years in combat, I often wonder in the back of my mind if I'd see the next sunset or the next sunrise. All the other times, I was too tired to think about anything. At least that was my experience.
So if I did make a little more than a college graduate (which I didn't in my time), it was because I was putting my life on the line while they were working their way up the corporate ladder or starting business in the comfort home and protected by police, firemen, and paramedics.
Look, I'm not complaining.
God never said life would be fair. He only said it will get better when you die.
I had one heck of a wild ride those 21 years in the Corps. I had the honor of serving with some of the finest and most dedicated people on the face of the Earth. In desperate fights, we were all brothers regardless of rank. Personally, I never met a Marine infantryman or a Navy Corpsman who wouldn't have risked his life to protect the Marine on his left and right. I saw one of my Corpsmen vaporized by a large mine as he rushed to give aid to a dying Marine. And dead or alive, I never left a Marine or Corpsman on the battlefield. That was unthinkable.
If I could do it again, I would--regardless of how it might end a second time around.
My point is this. That guaranteed pension (at least until the politicians who send these young men and women to war decide to change it) is the compensation for being on duty 24 hours of every day for 20 years prepared to be sent to war at the whim of the President and Congress.
The military doesn't start wars--the politicians do from the comfort of their plush leather chairs in the House and Senate or from the Oval Office. But we have to end it for them with the most horrific carnage you can imagine.
Think about it. We've been at war in Afghanistan for 10 years. Now we, as a nation, are saying, well boys, nice job. And as a token of our appreciate, we are going to reduce your pension. Oh, by the way, you're leaving for your 5th tour in Afghanistan next Friday.
I've had to cross rice paddies under heavy automatic fire, my platoon was in hand-to-had combat with bayonets and rifles as clubs, I've stepped on a mine that failed to detonate, I had a grenade explode less than 2 feet from my head, a sniper missed by less than an inch, I've had friendly air strikes accidentally bomb my unit, I've had friendly artillery devastate our company one night when we were mistaken for the enemy, I've had intestinal worms and infections that doctors couldn't identify, I've had to drink water fouled with human and animal feces, I've been in two helicopters that were shot down, I've had so many close calls that statistically I shouldn't be alive today. And I came home to a country that despised me and who I was.
But worst of all, I've seen good Marines go to their death or be horribly wounded only to have the politicians wave the white flag and cave to the enemy's demands.
And to add insult to injury, I was a company commander during the evaluation of Saigon in April 1975 when we lowered the flag on the Embassy, and ran like a bunch of yellow jack rabbits.
And 40 years later, I'm still haunted by the thoughts and faces of my Marines who didn't make it or were left crippled for the rest of their lives. After 40 years, I can still recall those dark days as if I were still there. And 40 years later, whenever I'm in Washington DC on business, I always take time to stop at the Vietnam memorial to offer my silent respects to the 58,000 who died in that war--a war we were not allowed to fight to win.
Personally, I think I and all of those who served their country for 20 years or more with long hours, separation from families, and the risks involved have earned our pensions. I also believe that we as a nation should take better care of the wounded veterans and the families left behind.
I don't buy the argument that the pensions for serving 20 in the military should be civilianized. It's not a civilian career.
President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and most other Democrats are telling us we need to share in the sacrifices. Brother, those people have no freaking idea what sacrifices have already been made by the military, by the people and untold future generations of this country who are now stuck with paying the bills after Congress has spent us into oblivion. Let them first cut spending to all of the thousands of worthless programs in which the federal government has no business being involved. Let them first reduce the size of the federal government.
Let them first pay the political price of the broken promises that they knew they couldn't keep just to buy a few more votes.
And when there is nothing left to cut, then and only then speak of shared sacrifice.
I apologize for the length of this. But I'm in no mood for helping Congress clean up the economic mess they themselves knowingly and willingly created. Can anyone tell me exactly what sacrifices Congress and President Obama have made to date? Anyone....? Bueller?
Read more:
Pentagon Considering Scrapping Traditional Pensions In Its Proposed Retirement Program Overhaul | FoxNews.com
