From the Fayetteville ObserverSoldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division watch
as parachutists jump over Pike Field on Wednesday
during rehearsal for the division review.
SPC Mark is in there somewhere but with 16,000 troops preparing for a division review it would be impossible to find him.
At any rate, President Bush is reviewing the troops this a.m., which will take about 2 1/2 hours and ends at noon. It should be impressive to watch. The three brigades in attendance have all just finished combat tours. Last year, All American weekend and the division review was canceled because all of the troops were deployed.
The President's arrival at Ft. Bragg comes two days after he threatened to veto Sen. Jim Webb's (D-Va.) bill to expand G.I. Bill education benefits. The President claims that enhanced benefits will hurt the retention rates of soldiers and Marines. The Congressional Budget Office projects a 16 percent decline in re-enlistments if the bill becomes law. I have not seen any statistical evidence to back that up. But the CBO also said that new enlistments would increase by 16 percent.
I tend to agree with Veteran of Foreign Wars' national commander George Lisicki who said in the NY Times today: "People are leaving after their first enlistment because they are tired of being shot at, and their families are tired of the frequent deployments. . .Whether they stay in 4 years or 20, we owe this newest greatest generation the gift of education."
As I write this, President Bush has begun the division review. Some of those 16,000 will leave the Army this year and next because they are indeed tired of being shot at.
And the families? We're pretty darn tired too.
At any rate, President Bush is reviewing the troops this a.m., which will take about 2 1/2 hours and ends at noon. It should be impressive to watch. The three brigades in attendance have all just finished combat tours. Last year, All American weekend and the division review was canceled because all of the troops were deployed.
The President's arrival at Ft. Bragg comes two days after he threatened to veto Sen. Jim Webb's (D-Va.) bill to expand G.I. Bill education benefits. The President claims that enhanced benefits will hurt the retention rates of soldiers and Marines. The Congressional Budget Office projects a 16 percent decline in re-enlistments if the bill becomes law. I have not seen any statistical evidence to back that up. But the CBO also said that new enlistments would increase by 16 percent.
I tend to agree with Veteran of Foreign Wars' national commander George Lisicki who said in the NY Times today: "People are leaving after their first enlistment because they are tired of being shot at, and their families are tired of the frequent deployments. . .Whether they stay in 4 years or 20, we owe this newest greatest generation the gift of education."
As I write this, President Bush has begun the division review. Some of those 16,000 will leave the Army this year and next because they are indeed tired of being shot at.
And the families? We're pretty darn tired too.
2 comments:
guess I'm dumb...how does a better GI bill hurt re-enlistments????
agree with the tired of being shot at stmt.
Hubby was (as you know) a "lifer", he'll be the first to say it ain't for everyone.
Let me ponder this for a moment.
Nah, it isn't worth pondering.
Just another prime example of how arrogant GW realy is.
I don't like his math.
Never have and never will.
It's time the whole lot be sent packing, right down to first term senators and representatives.
Cut all the cancer out so it has less a chance of spreading again.
Improbable?
Maybe, but not impossible.
I wish I could be there for Mark's speach.
Have a wonderful, safe weekend.
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