This where I Jump in and talk about things maybe those ding a lings that are supposed to represent us from their little ivory towers in Washington should give some thought to. "Creeping soft money"My title for the above" how to get elected." I can't back their campaigns with a load of dough but then I just want retired servicemen and vets to get their due.  I don't want a highway to nowhere that costs a trillion bucks.  I don't want a big fat government contract to build inferior products at ten times the cost that they are worth.  I don't want a tax write-off for my millions of dollars.All I want is a fair shake for our troops now and the ones retired.

We don't want pork barrel.  We just don't want to have to walk around in one!!!!!!!!!

The song that's playing is yackity yack and is dedicated to those folks who promise so much and deliver so little.  Even when they do something right its like trying to get blood from a turnip.

There are several groups who are attempting through the courts to make the government keep its promises to the men who took them at their word that if we gave good and faithful service we would have healthcare benefits for life.

Unfortunately the only ones who get these benefits plus a healthy retirement check for a few years work are the gentlemen who write the rules for us and themselves.

Blah Blah yackity yack promise them anything send them off to serve and sock it to them when they get back.  When I talk about these folks I realize its not all of them But!!!! its too many of them.

I don't have to talk about how the good ole boys are always trying to cut down on expenses by taking benefits away from retiree's.  They do it with social security also.

I had to chuckle recently when I saw where a lady wrote see was amassed to see military wives applying for welfare.  Well folks its been going on for at least as long back as when I was in.

To put things in the prospective that I view things in is this.

When I joined I told Uncle Sam I would go where he told me,do what he told me and that my body was his for as long as I was in.

I belonged to the US Government 24 hours a day 365 days a year.I was in for 22 years, so I gave them 66 years of my life considering that normal people only work 8 hours a day

Another way if you want to cut down of how long you spend is a thing called duty days.  A person who stands 3 out of 4 duty days goes like this.   Day 1 you work until your let off (8hrs) the next day the same (8hrs) the next day you go home but are on call and sometimes are called in.  (8hrs more possibly) day 4 start in the morning stay aboard until quitting time the next day (32hrs) that equals 56 hrs in that span and then you start all over again. A duty day is coming in at 8 today and going home at 4 tomorrow.  I am only emphasizing this point as I have seen port and starboard (duty every other day) 2 out of 3, 3 out of 4.  So if you want to quibble you can probably say in 22 years one would only give 35 or 40 years of his time.

This guy understands maybe there is hope for our leaders on the hill to figure it out.

My scenario is mild compared to what other servicemen could expound on so take it from there.

Military life is hard on the family unit wife, children and all Absences from home the uncertainty quite often if the loved one will return from whatever duty the service member sent to perform.  The military at most army and Air Force bases form support groups to help those left at home to cope with these burdens.

I live in Florida between Hurlbert Field and Eglin AF base and since I have lived here, every time some bozo in some country passes gas, our boys at both these bases are off in a flash to a new hotspot.

Several have been killed on these missions and I doubt that this even impresses any of those "the heck with our military" gentleman in DC.Especially since many of them are draft dodgers or have trick knees.

We sent men to the gulf and now many men are experiencing Gulf War Syndrome.  As a retired Nurse now I can say It is not likely that so many people are faking these problems.  What ever they are chemical, physiological they need to be treated just like an MD would for a civilian.  Instead all the bureaucrats want to do is ignore the problem and not even try to find the cause for the syndrome.  In retrospect it could be something that could be prevented in future situations if they would endeavor to help these folks out..

I have a few pickled brains I could donate to some of those DC fellows.  I hear that one of the problems is some of their brains are already saturated with alcohol.

We have an all volunteer military that endures a lot but does expect the leaders of our country to give something back.  The halls of Congress ring with the echoes of promises unkept.

This fellow knows what it means to volunteer.

Maybe they could form a committee and get some free trips for themselves and their wives around the world and the US and try and figure out why the retention rate is so bad in the military now days.  (In between shopping trips of course)

I don't know what these folks will do for the American servicemen and women.

I am willing to bet that something they won't lose their head over, and do on their own is vote for term limits (( a four letter word to them)) or against corporate donations, soft money etc.

According to my funk and whats his name dictonary the definition of a "benefit"is an act of kindness,while a "right" is a just claim or title,whether legal,prescriptive,or moral.

The big difference as I look at it is very simple.A benefit can be given or taken; a right is inviolable.

Now this leads me to ask why we have welfare rights,prisoners rights,even animal rights----BUT VETERANS BENEFITS?

AYE THERES THE RUB ME LADS!!!!!!!!!!

JUST A SIMPLE SERVICEMAN

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
as he sat around the Legion Hall telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done.
In his exploits with his buddies, they were heroes, everyone.

'Tho sometimes to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,
all his buddies listened for they knew whereof he spoke.

We'll hear his tales no longer for ol' Bob has passed away,
and the world's a little poorer, for a serviceman died today.

He won't be mourned by many just his children and his wife,
for he lived an ordinary, very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family, quietly going along his way
and the world won't note his passing -- 'tho a serviceman died today.

When politicians leave this earth their bodies lie in state,
while thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were =
great.

Papers tell of their life stories from the time that they were =
young,
but the passing of a serviceman goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land,
some jerk who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow, who in times of war and strife,
goes off to serve his country and offers up his life?

The politician's stipend and the style in which he lives,
is sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.

While the ordinary servicman who offered up his all,
is paid off with a medal and perhaps a pension, small.

It's so easy to forget them for it is so long ago,
that our Bobs and Jims and Johnnys went to battle, but we know.

It was not the politicians with their compromise and ploys,
who won for us the freedom that our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger with your enemies at hand,
would you really want some cop-out with his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a serviceman who has sworn to defend,
his home, his kin and country and would fight until the end?

He was just a common serviceman and his ranks are growing thin,
but his presence should remind us we may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict, then we find the servicemans =
part
is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,
then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline in the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING, FOR A SERVICEMAN DIED TODAY."

Author Unknown

Exchange between Senators John Glenn and Howard Metzenbaum:

Metzenbaum to Glenn: "How can you run for Senate when you've never held a real "job"?"

Glenn: "I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the space program. It wasn't my checkbook; it was my Life on the line. It was not a nine to five job where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank.

I ask you to go with me... as I went the other day to a VA Hospital, and look at those men with their mangled bodies in the eye and tell them they didn't hold a job.

You go with me to the space program and go, as I have gone, to the widows and orphans of Ed White and Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their dad didn't hold a job.

You go with me on Memorial Day coming up and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends than I'd like to remember, and you watch those waving flags. You stand there, and you think about this nation, and you tell me that those people didn't have a job.

I'll tell you, Howard, you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were SOME MEN who held a job. And they required a dedication to purpose, a love of country and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself. And their self-sacrifice is what made this country possible...

I HAVE HELD A JOB, HOWARD! "What about you?"

You will never get many words of wisdom from the hill(unless its election time of course) so I have a little thingie below to give you some from other folks.

Now on to things more worthy of my time.

The next two pages are what I have been working towards the whole time I think. I had them done before I got to my Back To Salem page.I hope that you like it as much as I enjoyed doing it.

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