Obama’s Hope and Change is Demoralizing our Military
“Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen volunteer to protect and defend this country and all its citizens, and do so with honor, integrity and excellence. Our nation continually asks them to do more and more, with less and less.” Ret. Lt Col. Allen West
There doesn’t seem to be any shortage of news about disturbing things happening within our military these days. Traditions are being removed, such as the case of the Navy SEALS no longer being allowed to display the Don’t Tread On Me Navy Jack on their uniforms, never minding that the Jack flag has been a part of US Naval history since the Revolutionary war. Although slight changes in design have been made over the years, the current Don’t Tread on Me version has been in use since the 1970’s and more so since September 11, 2002, the first Anniversary of the largest terrorist attack ever on US Soil.
According to an email sent out to Teams in October, “All personnel are only authorized to wear the matching ‘AOR’ American Flag patch on the right shoulder. You are no longer authorized to wear the ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ patch.”
When someone asked leadership why they weren’t allowed to wear the patch, he was told, “The Jack is too closely associated with radical groups.” Yes, that pesky group of ideologues who just love to spew about the Constitution, God given rights and all that crazy Founding Father stuff should never be tolerated.
One of the other longest standing traditions seems to be coming under more and more fire- Chaplains. First, during the government shut down it was reported that Catholic Priests were ordered to refrain from performing their priestly duties meaning worship service, baptisms and any other service provided. They were even ordered against performing voluntarily. It was basically illegal for any furloughed priests to assist or tend their flock. The practice of banning anything Christian has been going on for a few years now, but the latest news not widely reported was a recent lawsuit brought against Eric Shinseki, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs for discrimination, threats and harassment perpetrated against two Military Chaplains who were enrolled in the San Diego VA-DOD Clinical Pastoral Education Center program, which trains and assigns chaplains to military and VA medical centers in and around San Diego, California.
According to their lawsuit, claims that the Center’s supervisor, Nancy Dietsch, a VA employee, derided them in classrooms and even had one of them dismissed for failing to renounce his Christian beliefs. Ms. Dietsch told her students that the VA in general and she in particular do not allow chaplains to pray “in Jesus’ name” in public ceremonies. She also told one of the chaplains in front of the class, that if he held to his beliefs on such things as evolution, salvation and homosexuality, he did not belong in the program.
Apparently, according to some in our government; chaplains can openly practice or pastor to any religion under the sun, unless one is a Bible believing Christian.
Recent shake ups involving the firings of numerous top Military Commanders have received even the mainstream media’s limited attention, when it was revealed that nine generals and officers this year alone and close to 200 senior officers over the last five years have been relieved of duty. Many of these are highly decorated top commanders who have exemplary records. Many have been respected by their units, especially in the case USMC General James Mattis, the head of Central Command, who was fired without even a phone call letting him know. Many are calling this a purge, including Retired Army Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, recipient of the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military’s highest decoration. Maj. General Brady, well as other top retired officers, say Obama’s agenda is “decimating the morale of the U.S. ranks to the point members no longer feel prepared to fight or have the desire to win,” according to the WorldNet Daily report. Brady is reported to have told WND that “There is no doubt he (Obama) is intent on emasculating the military and will fire anyone who disagrees with him” over such issues as “homosexuals, women in foxholes, the Obama sequester.”
Former Delta Force team member and Retired Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin, said, “Over the past three years, it is unprecedented for the number of four-star generals to be relieved of duty, and not necessarily relieved for cause… I believe there is a purging of the military… The problem is worse than we have ever seen.”
Reports suggest many of the fired officers were suspected of disloyalty of Obama’s policies or force structure issues. I reported a few weeks ago that many have been let go for unproven misconduct charges.
When past administrations received inquiries into firing scandals such as the Clinton administration’s firing of the entire White House Travel Office, and heat over GW Bush’s firing of 8 US Attorney Generals, why is there no official investigation over the firing of so many top Military Commanders? Especially as we are still at war, and with more unrest in the Middle East than ever before, one would think our Military ought to be strengthened, not demoralized.
Speaking of demoralizing, one can’t get much more demoralized when there are still unanswered questions, no special committee set up and no truth being told about Benghazi. The latest reports now raise further disturbing questions during classified hearings with the Benghazi survivors who indicated that the fighting never stopped despite the Obama administration claiming there was a several hours long break between attacks. If this is true, a handful of Americans were fighting off terrorists for at least 7 hours, with no chance of help ever coming. How can it be that the administration watched live drone footage of the whole attack, and not only denying requests for aid, but ordering those who were willing to go to stand down that no one cares enough to have done more in the past year to demand the truth about events which left 4 Americans dead?
It has to be demoralizing as well, when the military’s Commander in Chief takes credit for, gives information about the operation which took down Osama Bin Laden to Hollywood producer friends, and the Vice President announces who did it, knowing full well the utmost need for discretion and confidence in our Special Forces to keep them safe.
It has to be demoralizing when our forces are working harder, being sent to more places and yet their budgets are being slashed. Our deployed troops and their families, as well as veterans are feeling the brunt of cuts as well. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel recently warned that troops and their families will be asked to sacrifice on pay and benefits to preserve readiness in an era of tighter budgets. “The Defense Department is “currently facing sequester-level cuts on the order of $500 billion over 10 years. This is in addition to the ten-year, $487 billion reduction in DoD’s budget that is already underway… These cuts are too fast, too much, too abrupt, and too irresponsible,” Hagel said. “DoD took a $37 billion sequester cut during the past fiscal year, and we could be forced to absorb a $52 billion sequester cut this fiscal year.”
While Hagel decides whether or not to propose cuts to benefits and TriCare health insurance plans for our troops, it was also reported recently that the VA sent a $4,000 bill to triple-amputee Purple Heart recipient after he spoke out against Obama. The decorated Airman received a received a letter from the VA stating he had been overpaid and that he needed to provide evidence proving that he hadn’t. He claimed that he “mailed in everything showing that in fact I wasn’t over paid what they were stating, hard evidence too. I then get a letter stating it’s been resolved. Now today I get this letter showing that they are taking money out of my disability compensation that I receive for losing my three limbs… I call the number listed and the automated system says call back another day, WTF, you’re taking my money and you can’t even answer the phones.”
This coming while we hear in the news about Michelle Obama’s friend who is Senior VP at CGI Federal, the company which built the Obamacare website was paid $678 million for a system that has been mostly a failure since day one.
Our government can’t afford to give our Veterans and armed forces promised benefits and healthcare, but somehow magically, once the general public sees how fantastic Obamacare really is, the government will be able to take care of the rest of the country’s healthcare?
Only in a fundamentally transformed America governed by a minority of progressives do our Military, once the strongest force in the world, still the best in the world, undergo social experiments, leadership change from the top down, take away their religious freedoms and threaten to cut their pay and healthcare. In a time when our government is sending weapons and aiding known terrorists, even so far as waiving a federal ban against arming terrorists, when Russia and China build up forces knowing the US remains in their crosshairs, allowing Chinese military training on US Soil, and give the Iranians time to build up their enrichment of nuclear materials, it is mind boggling to know why our Congress is allowing all of this. This is all at the expense of our men and women who have and still proudly serve in our military. It’s deplorable, but it’s Obama’s hope and change.
