Shinseki right choice for veterans
Republican John McCain earned broad support from military voters in last month's presidential election, according to exit polls. True to form, McCain also carried Montgomery County, which because of Fort Campbell has a sizeable portion of veterans and active duty military personnel.
Even though he was not their choice, President-elect Barack Obama's has made two recent moves that should speak positively to military voters and others concerned about veterans and national security issues.
First, Obama has appointed retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki as secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Second, he has asked McCain to report to him about conditions in Afghanistan and Pakistan when the Arizona Senator returns from his current fact-finding trip to the region.
Shinseki, if confirmed, promises to bring a combination of courage, credibility and honesty to Veterans Affairs.
As Army chief of staff, Shinseki was nudged out by the Bush administration in 2003 after testifying to Congress that the U.S. needed more troops in Iraq. Shinseki, of course, was later proved correct and a surge of additional troops is widely credited with improving U.S. prospects in Iraq.
Shinseki, the first Army four-star general of Japanese-American descent, also received two Purple Hearts for serious injuries in Vietnam after stepping on a land mine, which blew off much of his foot.
At Veterans Affairs, Shinseki and the Obama administration will have to fix a struggling agency that underestimated the resources needed to provide medical care and services to thousands of returning Iraq war veterans.
The agency also must gear up to provide millions of dollars in new GI education benefits approved by Congress this fall.
While Obama continues to build his leadership team, it's heartening to see the two campaign rivals reaching out and working together.
McCain was gracious and expansive in his concession speech on election night and in a meeting a few days later, vowing to work collaboratively with Obama for the good of the country.
McCain's willingness to report his findings and views about troubles in Afghanistan to Obama affirms his sincerity and displays his unwavering loyalty to our great nation.
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This editorial misses the main point, the active duty military may not have supported President Elect Obama during the general election, even though his record shows they should have been, if the voting records of the two Senators had been made more public they would have learned that Senator McCain averaged a 20% voting record on veterans issues, while Senator Obama earned a 80% voting record voting for veterans issue's, while Cindy McCain was doing her carity jaunts to Vietnam and other places, Michelle Obama was at military towns talking to spouses of deployed troops finding out their problems and how they can be helped.
The military will be greatly surprised to learn the best advocate they could have is President Obama and the new First Lady Michelle Obama, they will do more for their families and the veterans themselves than a President McCain ever would have.
The recent American Legion Magazine points out that the Democratic led 111th Congress has done more for veterans and their families, than the previous six years of the republican led Congress did in it's entirety, maybe they will learn Democrats think more about the whole soldier and family, and not just weapon systems that the money goes to defense contractors and not the soldiers.
I am looking forward to the next 4-8 years, this truly is the best time to be a veteran. I have a military history that in my family goes back to the indian wars before the Revolutionary War in 1776, my first ancestor came over on the ship "Angel Gabriel" in 1635, and they settled in Barre, Mass. One of them served at Valley Forge as a Doctors assistant, his land grant after the revolution took the Bailey family west to Barre, New York in 1806. Then further west to Michigan when New York started getting crowded in 1845. My own grandfather Joshua Eaton Bailey went west in 1851 for the California Gold Rush, he served in the 4th California Volunteers during the Civil War, his service took him to the Battle of Apache Pass and the Arizona Territory. He fell in love with Arizona and returned after the war in 1865, in 1874 he took a wagon train of farmers to an area now known as the Graham Valley and started the town of Safford.
In 1899 he returned to Eaton County Michigan where my father was born on Feb 24, 1900, Joshua died April 4, 1900 when my father was 6 weeks old. His mother Ida Ingold Bailey died in 1912, in 1914 his step sister, Ida's daughter from a previous marriage put my father Melvin Lathrop Bailey and my Uncle Gideon Garber Bailey into the Army, they were sent to Douglas Arizona, the camp there on the Mexican Border was D Troop, 7th Calvary. They rode in 1916 on the Mexican Experdiotnary Punitive March led by General BlackJack Pershing.
My step father Dale Jennings served in the Army Air Corp, 8th Air Force in WW2 and flew 35 bombing missions over Germany. He retired from the Air Force in 1961 and went to work at the Post Office where he met my mother in 1973 after my father died.
I enlisted in the Army as soon as I graduated that year, I was still 17 and my mom signed the papers I turned 18 in the Army.
It only takes a few generations in my family to go back quickly in history. A proud history full of all Non Commissioned Officers, we were all Sergeants, E-5 - E9s. Patriotic all. I hope my son goes to the Citadel and becomes an officer, it's about time. (Beetle Bailey needs officer rank) rofl
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Shinseki right choice for veterans
