Supporting Our Troops

How many times have you seen a car waiting in front of you at the traffic light or parked next to you at the grocery store with a yellow metallic ribbon with "Support our Troops" or "We Support the Troops" imprinted on it? How many times have you seen someone wear a flag pin on their lapel while talking of the bravery of American soldiers and how much we need to support them? How many people on right wing blogs have said that they personally thanked a soldier at the airport, or the shopping mall, or the post office?

Those are all wonderful things. Really. But the very sad reality is that none of those people give one god damned crap about American servicemen and women. It's all words, it's all superficial compliments and it means NOTHING. It's all easy plattitudes and it's all the American people have been asked to do in these wars. "Supporting the Troops" should mean something more than just a bumper sticker slogan. It means supporting efforts to allow servicemembers to get a college education. It means giving soldiers that extra 1/2% pay raise without fighting them about it. It means awarding people what they've earned in combat and not being stingy with Bronze Stars and Silver Stars and campaign ribbons.

But most of all, it means providing soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines with housing that YOU yourself would live in. Watch this video, made by the father of a Sargent who has spent 30 MONTHS in combat - 15 in Iraq and 15 in Afghanistan - of the housing his son is assigned to at Ft. Bragg. If you are not outraged, disgusted, embarrassed and fucking pissed off, then you should move your whole family to Ft. Bragg and go live in those barracks.