Vet Networking for Survival

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Home for a Year or Forty Years, Our Buddies Still Need USHome for a Year or Forty Years, Our Buddies Still Need US
by G. Duff

Putting aside any differences we may have regarding politics, branch or service, when we served and especially, RACE AND RELIGION, vets have to come together.  The Internet has given each of us a unique chance to be there for each other than we could never have had otherwise.

Be aware, Be afraid……….We have some tough times coming in the future, not only for vets, but for all of us. 

OUR FIFTEEN MINUTES OF FAME IS UP.  THE NEWSPAPERS HAVE AGAIN FORGOTTEN OUR TWO WARS, THE VA IS GETTING A NEW LEADER WHO WILL BE "BUSINESS AS USUAL" AND WE ARE GRINDING SLOWLY TOWARD A NEW ELECTION WITH A CHANCE TO VOTE FOR DUMB, DUMBER AND "TWEEDLE-DUMBER" AGAIN.

WE ONLY HAVE ONE COMBAT VET OUT OF DOZENS OF CANDIDATES AND JOHN MCCAIN IS DEAD IN THE WATER.  LOOKS TO ME LIKE SOMEBODY "GOT TO HIM," LIKE THEY GET TO EVERYONE…

     

THE MONEY BOYS ARE SELECTING HILLARY, WHO WOULDN'T KNOW A DISABLED VET IF SHE HAD ONE STUCK IN HER TEETH.

WITH THE DOCTORS UNION, THE DRUG COMPANIES AND AN ENDLESS LINE OF THIEVES BUYING THEIR WAY INTO 4 MORE YEARS OF THE SAME CORRUPTION AND INCOMPETENCE WE HAVE HAD FOR 6 YEARS, VETERANS CAN'T HIDE BEHIND THE LEGION/VFW AND TWO PHONY POLITICAL PARTIES ANY LONGER.

THERE ARE TOO MANY OF US AND I AM GUESSING WE JUST AREN'T PREPARED TO BE SCREWED WITH ANYMORE. 

Two hundred years ago, we were an nation expanding across a continent, building communities one farm at a time.  Then we needed to hold our familes together and keep our friends around us.  We were all we had.  Without neighbors, death, disease or starvation could face any family.  "Big Gov'mint" was not there to be "MAMA" and as we have noticed, if it is "MAMA" now, it is not the one I WOULD CHOOSE.

Since the time of the Federalists, our government worked only to support those with the loudest voice.  That voice was generally as much "big money" then as it is now.  If anyone wonders why the "Federalists" disappeared after the War of 1812, it was because "big money" bet against folks like Oliver Hazard Perry and Andrew Jackson, hoping the British would put freedom loving "upstarts" in their place.

Truth is, government was never the answer and more often the problem.  No single group knows that better than veterans, the people who have always been the "muscle and blood" behind America.  Now with two political parties "dancing in the dark" with each other while "Rome burns," the rest of us may feel delegated to our usual role. 

We are expected to wait for "big money" to pick two candidates for us to back and wait for the lies and propaganda to start.  Every four years it is like we had a "world series for morons."  One of "them" wins and all of us lose.

This year, we go into an election with a huge new group of veterans voting.  This election, many of those vets have come to distrust the military, government and even the US.  This has to stop.  Bad government and political rhetoric has to stop.  Vets have to become their own force as "childish selfishness" seems to have become part of the poltical life of the rest of the country.

We have turned into two armed camps.  We either have people who chase "free bucks" from government programs or who push government policies to run us into eternal war and endless debt.  The idea of "America" is dead to both groups and vets have chosen one side or the other with either one representing little but betrayal.

For the first time, we have a group representing vets as a voting block.  This is www.votevets.org.  In many areas, they are clearly looking at issues from the perspective of a wide group of vets and are supporting a block of candidates that have real military experience.

In some ways, however, "votevets" either is or seems "left."  Maybe this is based on the need to oppose anything the current administration does because thats the way the wind seems to be blowing now or because the organization may be controlled by the Dems and the MoveOn boys.

General Wesley Clark may not be everyones favorite American but this is one group to consider.  Our only other contender was the Swifties and the anti-Kerry groups which turned out to be more "big money" and "big oil" than "big vet". 

There really hasn't been a pro-American and pro-Veteran political movement in this country.  Veterans have too often been used as political tools, too often of the far right.  As I have so often stated, patriotism and stupidity are generally assumed to go hand in hand and those taking advantage of this have too often used patriotic themes to support totalitarian or corrupt policies.

Vets have a clear right to expect the government to consider their needs.  Failure to care for veterans is suicide for any country that depends on the "citizen soldier" for it's defense.  If we are going to give anything to one group, veterans should be the top of the list.  Giving to vets is only "giving back" to those who have given most.  Reminding the country of this should be our full time job.

Securing America is the concept that unites all veterans, though "how" is always an area of contention, sometimes violent contention.  An intelligent dialog that can balance economic power, diplomatic efforts and the real threat of "openin' a can of 'whop'ass'" is what is needed. What is not needed is finger-pointing about being "soft on terrorism" or similar idiocy.

I am sick of hearing theories about making America safe from people who have never risked anything more than tennis elbow.

America needs an "elite."  Someone has to own the high priced waterfront property and keep the ideas of valet parking and restroom attendants alive.  However, it is time that we got this same elite, "liberal" or "conservative" out of our government.

Vets coming together is the key.  Demanding that candidates show loyalty to veterans and their country and not party politics is the goal.  This may be the toughtest part.  Right now, government seems to run on a river of cash supplied to buy special favors and anyone who wants to be part of the government has to learn to live in that river. 

This makes it necessary for veterans to look for candidates who aren't addicted to the smell of sewage like the current gang in Washington seems to be.

In the end, we all know we will have to form a third party. We all say it. We all believe it. We all know it.

First thing we can do is start talking to each other.  Vets need to put themselves back with their friends, their old units and everyone they can find.  Vets need to stop the rhetoric of the past and get behind what is right.  We all know what has been going on and we all know it has to stop.  The existing political parties have proven themselves useless.  Anyone too blind to see that needs a checkup real quick!

We can start by looking for leaders who are coming out the military, especially those with combat experience.  This would be a delightful change from what we have had for the last 30 plus years. 

We can start looking at the voting records of our incumbents.  Anyone who votes with "big money" 75% of the time should be considered "bought." 

We have to stop using issues like "gun control" or "abortion" to guide us.  Truth is….as I so often say, so many folks who fight "gun control" seem to love voting for having our phones tapped.  Doesn't make a lick of sense to me whatsoever unless they are just a pack of lying dogs.

Lately, we have had more than a few people that hate abortion but seem to love having sex with boys.  Could it be that some of our friends in Washington just pretend to be moral and decent and are really kind of "nasty?"

Veterans have "given their love" too often and too freely.  Being "kicked in the head" more than a few times has made me wary. 

The years have shown us, over and over, that we can only trust each other.  We have clearly reached a point where no political party is truly American.  Party loyality has, in recent years, clearly replaced loyality to America, as we see almost daily in our newspapers.

We have to fight for the day when a vet can run for office without having to sell his soul to a bank or oil company or union.  Maybe if we put ourselves on the same page, we can start putting America back together.

 

 

 

 

 

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Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades. Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world's largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues. Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than "several" countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.