I hope you have a lot of rations stockpiled somewhere. If you aren't already a survivalist or one of those creepy hoarders planning for the end of the world, now might be a good time to subscribe to "How To Turn Piss Into Water for Dummies."
No, no.. This isn't about conspiracy theories (especially after my last post). This, my friends, is very real and it's all because of anti-military government and the people who have demanded the cut backs we've been seeing for over 4 years.
Notice I said OVER 4 years.
I've been a Navy wife since 1995. I've seen the effect 3 presidents have had on our national defense and our men and women in uniform (and their dependents). The last 10 years have seen the most dramatic decline in our readiness and morale, and it's been due in large to lack of support by Capital Hill and in 2 cases, the Oval Office, itself. This has resulted in contracting out to civilians jobs that our service personel have trained for but are no longer allowed to work on, 1% and sometimes less in annual pay raises, and stripping away of incentives to not only recruit new blood but keep those who have proudly served this country for many years.
Why talk about all this now? Well .... and I say this with a little snicker, though it's not really funny ... the rest of this country is about to find out the hard way why disregarding our military as a non-essential and draining part of our economy was the dumbest thing the American people have done yet.
Let's talk about ripples.
You know that old fable about tossing a pebble into a pond and seeing the ripples that go on to create great change across the rest of the water? Cutting back on funding for the military is that pebble, and the livelihood of every American citizen is about to be caught in the wake.
See, because of this new Healthcare Bill, the funding for our defense has been drastically cut. You see, though, Obamacare is just the latest excuse. There have been cuts over the last 10+ years that have made taking from our national defense a very bad habit and a hard one to break. It's come to a point where the government has cut so much, and is still cutting, that last week, my husband couldn't get approved for an $18 wrench they needed to get a security boat back up and running. They had to go to Home Depot and buy one out of their own wallet.
Prior to 9/11, major Naval deployments were 6 months long. Post 9/11, they became 7-9 months. Because of recent cut backs, deployments will now be at least 1 year long because we can't afford the fuel for shorter deployments. See, we always have a presence in our allies' ports. To do so, our fleets must always be on the move so that when one fleet leaves a port, it is being immediately replaced with the next fleet. Well, we can't do that anymore. We don't have the funds for the fuel to get those fleets moving around so much.
Required uniforms and dressings used to be covered in paychecks. No more. They are out-of-pocket expenses now. And in case you want to bitch about taxes paying for someone's uniform, the military literally pays their own checks since they pay taxes just like everyone else. What other jobs do you know make you pay your own salary? And not only do they pay their own salary, they are responsible for paying for those deadbeats who refuse to work because welfare is just too good and getting better every year.
You may be wondering how any of this effects the rest of the country. Other than how scared you should be that we can't afford to send out our troops at a moment's notice and can't even afford an $18 tool? Okay .... Starting this summer, the civilian contractors will be forced to take 22 vacation days - without pay. See, the civilians the government has forced the military to use in place of better qualified military personel are paid from that military defense budget the government likes to dip into like their own personal piggy bank. So, if we can't afford an $18 wrench, how the hell do you think we can afford to pay a civilian employee? Don't even ask about overtime. That doesn't exist anymore for civilian contrators.
Now, you may be wondering how any of this effects non-military or civilians who aren't working DoD jobs. I'll give you a little example:
Before 9/11, we were stationed in Virginia. I hated that place! They treated military like shit. The cops would see a military tag on a car and stop it just to harass the service person or their spouse. Places of business would sneer when we would present our out-of-state drivers license and military ID, their employees would talk down to us, we would be the last served/helped, and we would receive the bottom-of-the-barrel merchandise if others were waiting for the same thing. There was a push around that time, too, to get Naval Air Station Oceana shut down. "It's too noisy!" they screamed. Noise pollution, danger from the jets flying in over traffic and businesses, etc... It didn't matter that the base had been built in the middle of nowhere and the residence CHOSE to build and live around it. They were very close to winning the decision to have it shut down when 9/11 happened. Then, everything changed.
Hubby left on deployment as part of the response, I went back to Louisiana to be with my father, and then we were stationed in TX. We returned to Virginia 4 years later to find a completely different general opinion of our military.
Oceana not only didn't get shut down, it became a jewel in Virginia's board of tourism crown. Police harassment of service members was practically non-existent, not even traffic fines. Military received discounts almost everywhere and were first to be served, and served with a smile and quality service. You really couldn't go anywhere and not feel appreciated as a service person or a dependent.
I started asking around and discovered my suspicion that they had the shit scared out of them from the attacks was only part of the reason attitudes changed. The response to the attacks resulted in most of the military presence in Virginia's port cities to vanish. They were either on ships or planes headed overseas or dependents going home to other states to be with their families. The economy suffered tremendously. A lot of businesses even had to shut down because the majority of their income came from the military and military families.
Now, what do you think is going to happen when our military is spread so thin that over half of them are overseas for a year?
Then, you have to consider the cutbacks that are forcing early retirement of seasoned sailors and the bad press supported by our government that keeps young men and women from enlisting. It's becoming harder for retired and honorably discharged military to find good jobs. Everyone is suffering right now but the military has more stacked against them because most employers no longer accept service training as experience and because a lot of employers don't want the risk of a new employee leaving for duty should another attack occur.
Then you have the potential recruits. So many men and women in the military joined for a better chance at life, a firm start on their future, and support for their families. Many did so to get away from gang influences, violent homes, dangerous and unhealthy surroundings. If these people won't get treated better in the military, what's the use of putting forth that effort when sitting back selling drugs or collecting welfare is easier and makes them richer than a government job?
Even if they did join, we don't have the money to send them to specialized schools anymore. Yep, all that training that they need to keep a ship or a tank etc... running is now shut down, leaving all that work to civilian contractors ... who will begin looking for other jobs outside of the DoD since they are now being forced to take 22 days of unpaid vacation.
Oh, gee, forgot healthcare! While all the civilians debate this healthcare bill that is taking money away from our defense, it is already in effect for the military and their dependents. Let me tell you .... IT SUCKS FUCKING ASS!
Military healthcare was already subpar, unless you were really lucky, but now we are being forced to only seek care from the medical school bottom-of-the-class, which includes those who took their training as part of their military service. When you can't afford to pay good doctors to teach military personel seeking medical training, you get free-clinic lessons.
Wondering how that would effect civilians? What do you think is going to happen when the recipients of that shitty health care get out of the military and need civilian care and insurance? Can't work because of health issues, you become a burden on society. I guess that's all fine and dandy for those who don't mind forking over more money for welfare and medicaid. What happens when the majority of your paycheck goes to those who can't work because they need specialized medical care because of the fucked up treatment they received while in the military? On top of the civilians who are on medicaid and welfare?
Speaking of welfare ...... Yeah, guess what demographic receives the highest in government assistance in many places in the US? Active duty military. Oh, wait, I forgot. The government now says military families can no longer receive government assistance. It isn't there. Maybe it's in the cushions of the captain's chair like the $18 for that wrench.
Don't think for a minute I'm putting all of this on the current administration. We've had Republican-controlled Congress and a Republican president during this last 17 years I've been a Navy wife. We see it worse now simply because all those little chips in the piggy have finally made it fall apart. What I do hold this administration accountable for is not only ceasing this behavior but continuing it.
I don't know where they plan on getting more money when the DoD well runs dry, but the rest of you might want to start keeping your money in the Private Interest Bank.... i.e. under your mattress.
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