We're told we need to "Support Our Troops"

That's something we hear a lot around here, outside of Ft. Bragg. There’s a big sign outside of a pizza shop at the end of my street that says, "Papa Johns: We Support Our Troops." If one were to go in and say, "My husband’s in Afghanistan or Iraq, can I have a discount?" , they’ll say "No.

I guess to them "Support Our Troops" means "Sell More Pizza".

Supporting our troops mean trying to protect their lives. It means trying to support their families. It doesn't mean tying yellow ribbons.

Do I support our troops? You betcha. My son's on active duty, my brother got pulled out of medical school to go on active duty, my uncle's on active duty, I’m a vet. As a peace activist, I believe I do more to support American soldiers than any right-wing, war-loving Republican ever thought about doing.

Most of the time when someone says "Support Our Troops" they mean "Support Our Government."

Support Our Troops -- BRING THEM HOME NOW!

Most people are not affected, so to them it means supporting the administration. I'm really in support of the troops which means bringing them home safe, providing them with health care and benefits.

When you say that to "patriotic" Republicans they'll say, "but - but - but I don't want to pay more taxes".

If we support the troops
Why can’t Bush?

ARMY TIMES
An act of ‘betrayal
In the midst of war, key family benefits face cuts

Commissaries and the Defense Department’s stateside schools are in the crosshairs of Pentagon budget cutters, and military advocates, families and even base commanders are up in arms.

The two initiatives are the latest in a string of actions by the Bush administration to cut or hold down growth in pay and benefits, including basic pay, combat pay, health-care benefits and the death gratuity paid to survivors of troops who die on active duty.

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=0-ARMYPAPER-2335705.php

ARMY TIMES
Nothing but lip service

In recent months, President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have missed no opportunity to heap richly deserved praise on the military. But talk is cheap — and getting cheaper by the day, judging from the nickel-and-dime treatment the troops are getting lately.

For example, the White House griped that various pay-and-benefits incentives added to the 2004 defense budget by Congress are wasteful and unnecessary — including a modest proposal to double the $6,000 gratuity paid to families of troops who die on active duty. This comes at a time when Americans continue to die in Iraq at a rate of about one a day. Similarly, the administration announced that on Oct. 1 it wants to roll back recent modest increases in monthly imminent-danger pay (from $225 to $150) and family-separation allowance (from $250 to $100) for troops getting shot at in combat zones.

http://www.armytimes.com/archivepaper.php?f=0-ARMYPAPER-1954515.php

VETERANS FOR COMMON SENSE
Support The Troops
Deeds Not Words

The House of Representatives voted on a fiscal 2004 budget that cuts funding for veterans health care and benefit programs by nearly $25 billion over the next ten years. Narrowly passing by a vote of 215 to 212, the budget accommodates the president’s $726 billion tax.

Coming only a day after Congress passed a resolution to “Support Our Troops”, Veterans for Common Sense views this action as anything but. The $25 billion cut passed by the House of Representatives will slash healthcare and benefits for disabled veterans and beneficiaries, and significantly reduce VA’s ability to care for casualties resulting from the current U.S.-led military conflict in Iraq. It also cuts $204 million from Impact Aid, a program that supports the education of service members' children. To make matters worse, the Bush Administration has ordered VA medical centers to stop publicizing available benefits to veterans seeking care. And as of January 2003, the Bush administration ceased enrolling some eligible veterans for healthcare benefits.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/newsArticle.asp?id=1582

they have indoctrinated people into thinking that supporting the troops is equal to never questioning the government.

Welcome to DU!

the USA congregate !!

I have NEVER had one tell me they were in the military. So I usually say something non-confrontational like, "Well fuck you then, you goddam terrorist."

They almost NEVER have a reply to that.

Veteran Vickers

So I usually say something non-confrontational like, "Well fuck you then, you goddam terrorist."

Funniest thing I read all day!

hey Vickers, sometimes right wingnuts ask ME that - I guess this middle-age gal suprises them when she shouts back THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE. WHAT F***ING BRANCH WERE *YOU* IN ???????????????? And you are right - they never reply - they just slink away. :o

They tried to make that sound like it came from pure patriotism during VietNam by everyday supporters of our actions. BS,it came from corporate America and the BILLIONS they make off the War machine.

Stack up the American dead till you reach 55,000 and those fuckers were still behind our actions in Vietnam. New houses,new cars everything material meant much more than lives lost in VN.

David

peoples' idea of how to "support the troops" involves sporting a sign that says "suport the troops". I don't know anyone else sending care packages like I do. What they really support is the f***ing WAR.

Most war supporters (including, sadly, some Democrats) are about as coherent as Bush when it come to explaining their war support.

If we leave, there will be civil war

Yeah, it's better for us to kill Iraqis than for them to kill each other (or some such lack of logic)

they are in church every Sunday, they are "pro-life" yet the carnage in Iraq is "just business". It's beyond sickening; I'm beginning to think it is some kind of cult.

and others here at DU.

I let them know that you guys actually do "support the troops"..that you all get beyond the words and flag waving.


That my friends at DU know and understand that actual "support" means something different than draping the house in yellow bunding and wrapping up in the flag.

Thank you again for all you do.

bushco operations can accelerate like a nitro boosted NASCAR. It'll snap your head back. It's like a descent into the maelstrom. Look at whats happened since just last night.

Watch Out! Incoming.

Your beliefs on support pretty much sum it all up for me and most of those I spend my time with. We avoid the "nuke em" all types and the "what are you talking about" folks. We do try to help everyone to see the truth about what is really going on. Especially when it comes to our troops there now and our VETS!

The last company I worked for made a one-day change to our uniforms on the first anniversary of 9/11. It was a t-shirt with an American flag on the front and some war mongering George Bush quote on the back. On the second anniversary, they issued us a similar t-shirt, but this one with the pledge of allegiance with the words "under God" underlined.

I told them I'd wear a shirt only with the American flag on it, but I refused to wear either t-shirt with the political or religious propaganda.

No one tried to make me wear either in an overt sense, but I was ever afterward the subject of ridicule. I was even told on one occasion that as management, I was setting a bad example by not wearing the shirt. The treatment I got from customers was even worse. It wasn't directly the cause, but I've sense looked on these two refusals to support the company's political/religious agenda as the beginning of the issues that moved me to resign.

Meanwhile, this same company is profiting mightily from the increase in gas prices and selling memorabilia that is insulting to those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's truly disgusting.

This 3 word mantra has become so distorted. The meaning blurred.

During WWII it meant making personal sacrifices. Recycling materials for war production. Reducing consumption of goods needed for the troops. Taking what little money you had saved and buying War Bonds.

Now it simply means attaching a couple of plastic American flags to your Escalade.

Can you imagine all the right-wing "support" our troops would get if Bush* instituted gas rations? Can you imagine all the "support" our troops would get if Bush* instituted an emergency military tax on payroll and corporations? Yea. Right. Even Reverend Limbaugh would be saying..."bring em' home"

We are "not at War". Bush* has reduced our military to nothing more than a police force, something they are not trained for. He* is currently using 10,000 troops just to guard oil production in Iraq. I wish I was a fly on the wall at the Pentagon cause' I'm sure more than one person there isn't to happy about the way he* is using our military.

I still remember a DoD press person quoting someone at the Pentagon over a year ago..."maybe Clinton wasn't so bad."

Neo-cons, do.