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Clinton did more harm to our military than most people know. I stayed in contact with some of my friends who were still on active duty when Clinton was President. They all told me they did not go on as many field exercises as they used to because funds were cut back so much. This caused problems in unit readiness. They told me a great many housing units on several Posts had to be shut down because of funds shortages for repairs. Clinton cutting out so many combat divisions is now causing problems in deployment problems. That is the main reason Charles Singleton is having to stay on active duty longer than he should have. We don't have the troops to replace his units. Bush is having to spend so much money now just to bring the military back to where it should be in addition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. You have to remember we have an all volunteer military.
I just received the 2005 pay charts and the proposed base pay for a Private E1 with four months service will be $1,384.52 a month. This is $346.13 a week. This amount is taxable and of course there are benefits. A Specialist E-4 with two years service will be $1695.64 an month. As you can see the pay is not the greatest. This must improve. Question is, would you be willing to serve a year in Iraq, working seven days a week for these wages? Of course they receive combat pay but it is not that much. All pay accross the board has to be increased. These are dedicated soldiers who are serving for these pay levels.
I worked in a battalion S-2 and S-3 sections at Fort Polk, Louisiana with the 5th Infantry Division. S-2 is the Intel part of a battalion and S-3 is planning and training. We had to think like the bad guys and lay out attack plans on our own units which we thought they may not be expecting. We were not bound by the Geneva Convention because our enemies do not follow them at all. Somewhere up at the Pentagon the idea of hijacked planes being flown into buildings or other places had to have been played out. Someone must have figured out that if a person was willing to blow themself up in a car loaded with explosives like at our barracks in Lebanon a few years back, then an airplane was the next step. Security at our airports just got too lax because people were complaining about the security delays before they boarded their flights.
We have lost over 500 Americans in Iraq and over 100 in Afghanistan. Was it worth it? Should we still be there? Was Saddam really a threat to the U.S.? You answer those questions for yourself.
One thing is certain, Saddam is no longer a threat. I hope we soon turn Iraq back over to it's own people. Remember this, after WWI we left a defeated Germany to rebuild itself and Hitler was the end result. After WWII we helped rebuild a defeated Germany and the government has been stablized ever since. That is why we are still in Iraq. Go back and read your history books on this for the details.
Sorry for the length but I need to say this.
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