Editor’s Note: We plead almost daily for our fellow Americans to help us help the soldiers. Recently, a long term serviceman sent the following message to the Soldiers Memorial Fund on how people can help their protectors and their families:
By A. T. (Name withheld)
I would love to tell of the other things people could do to help us (US service members) even more, that would not cost anything more than postage.
We are the ones who bleed for you. We are the ones who walk in darkness so that you may live in the light. Our families go years with out us at home so that home will be free from terror. What do we get in return?
Our leaders in the current administration are systematically taking away our meager benefits in order to fund social programs. Imagine how it feels to not only find that some soldiers qualify for social aid programs such as food stamps, but that the benefits we were promised when we joined are being taken away.
Some of the most notable examples are:
Housing: When we joined, base housing offered covered all housing expenses to include utilities. Since this administration has privatized the housing this is no longer the case. I have found that we will now be expected to pay more living expense but will not receive any more pay.
Health care: When we joined we had a hospital on every base we served. The base hospitals have been closed on all but a few stations and in some cases this leaves the closest emergency care for the family of the service members upwards of 20 miles away.
Tax free stores: (AAFES) When we first joined this was a great benefit in and of itself. We could purchase anything we needed in on-base stores and it was all tax free. What has happened with this one is more shady than all the others combined. The stores still do not charge tax; they just raise the price of the items in the stores to match the local economy. For example gas prices, the price for a gallon of fuel off the post is based on almost a dollar in tax. So, why on earth is the price of fuel the same price or higher on base as it is off? More importantly, where does this money go? I assure you it is not going to the service members.
I have served for more than 18 years and earn less per year than a first year mailcarrier. I love this country with all my heart. I serve because I believe and I do so without aspirations of profit. I do believe that it is wrong to have benefits stolen from US service members that do serve. Just because there is nothing we can do to stop it. I assure you Americans that our only recourse is to get out and get “real jobs”.
When less than a quarter of a percent of the American population that can serve does, do you really want those who have chosen to do so, become disenfranchised. If we can no longer afford to do this then who will protect you from the terrors that look to destroy this great nation of ours?
Tonight, please sit down for ten minutes and send a letter to your congressman and senator. Ask them why and where the money that they have taken away from us is going. Ask them to show you where they have used it. It will horrify you if they tell you.
Editor’s continued notes: After reading this message, I hope you will consider helping us to help them. Please think long and hard about their plight and we hope you can sacrifice a few dollars that will go a long way to making their sacrifice, less taxing!
