Support our troops

According to the Progress Report...

The LA Times reports, "In yet another sign of the strains on the U.S. military in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and the Iraq war, the Pentagon for the first time is considering extending the mobilization of National Guard soldiers who will soon hit the federal limit of 24 months of active service...

USA Today reports, "The 350,000-member Army National Guard is having increasing difficulty recruiting soldiers and is seeing a drop in the quality of enlistees as measured by aptitude tests, Pentagon and National Guard figures show.

Imagine that.

The NYT reports, "with tens of thousands of their citizen soldiers now deployed in Iraq, many of the nation's governors complained on Sunday to senior Pentagon officials that they were facing severe manpower shortages." Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski said troop deployment left his state with half the usual number of firefighters, worrisome in this hot, dry summer.

Nice.

Need proof the military is stretched to its straining point? Look no further: AP reports a 68-year-old doctor from Alabama has been reactivated for duty and is headed to war.

Nice.

Unscrupulous insurance companies have been using "questionable tactics on military bases to sell insurance and investments" that exploit and cheat our men and women in uniform. The NYT reports some soldiers have been required to attend compulsory briefings which turn out to be misleading sales pitches dressed up as personal finance and savings lectures. How can this happen? Greed, pure and simple, is to blame. The NYT explains the scam exists in part due to "the axis between Capitol Hill and K Street, where the insurance industry has easy access to Congress, lobbying power and millions of dollars in campaign contributions to generate legislative pressure."

Jesus H. Christ on a bicycle.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "Ninety-five percent of soldiers at eight Army Reserve units sent to Iraq and other Middle East bases experienced significant problems getting paid, creating stress and concern about the financial well-being of their families back home." According to a study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), "The soldiers were overpaid or underpaid or paid late…and the problems in some instances persisted for more than a year." What this means: not only does ,not paying affect soldiers' performances, it has other ramifications. Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA) "said these issues had been shown to cause troops to decide not to reenlist." Said one unpaid soldier, "How can I, in a combat environment, find out if my 4-month old and my 5 ½-year-old kids are taken care of? I don't want to be rash, but it was like a slap in the face."

Support our troops.