U.S. soldiers returning home face a culture that doesn’t understand them:
The 1 percent tends to be concentrated in the southern states and among the working and lower-middle classes. With a few notable exceptions—such as vice-president Joe Biden’s son Beau—the children of the elite have not served in these wars. It’s a sharp change from the night of Pearl Harbor, when Eleanor Roosevelt told a radio audience, “I have a boy at sea on a destroyer, for all I know he may be on his way to the Pacific.”
Instead, America now has its first generation of political and business leaders who have not served in the military, and it shows. With the Pentagon ordered to slash spending as part of wider government budget cutting, military benefits, such as pensions, and college education funding for veterans are on the chopping block.
“Veterans’ Struggle.” — Anna Fifield, Financial Times
See also: “The Last Two Veterans of WWI.” — Evan Fleischer, The Awl, May 3, 2011
being in a military family, i can certainly vouch for the fact that there are absolutely cost cuts that can be legitimately made in the defense budget. but spending on our military persons and their families - be it benefits, long-term care, education, pensions - any of that - needs to be absolutely off the table.
it’s pretty shitty wondering whether or not you’re going to have a husband return from war broken (or if he’s going to return at all) while also worrying about whether or not someone in congress thinks that he doesn’t deserve long-term care after when they never bothered to fight or send their children or spouses. it’s not exactly easy, folks, but these kinds of things should just be understood as absolutely untouchable. just like you don’t want to go fight, we don’t want them to come home and have nowhere to turn for help. you don’t get to say concussions are such a huge deal and we need to spend more time and attention on those kinds of injuries then give up funding for it. it’s all so backwards and irritates me so much.
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