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Charles Jaco has written opinion and commentary pieces for dozens of magazines and newspapers. Each week, read and comment on a fresh on-line version. The discussion page enables you to share your view points world wide. If you would like to make a comment go to the " Join the discussion" link below. If you would like to view past editorials visit the Editorial Archive.
Editorial: 7/2/99 One of my most instructive Fourth of Julys was 1985, in what was then Eritrea province of Ethiopia. Rebels in Eritrea wanted independence. The Ethiopian government wanted the rebels dead. So the government took advantage of the drought and cut off all food imports to the province, hoping to starve the rebels out. They were also starving women and children, but that never seems to matter too much in a war. I had sneaked into Eritrea with a food convoy running across the border from the Sudan. Our destination was a town called Berentu. Ethiopian air force MiGs spotted us from the air. We had time to abandon the vehicles and hide next to some boulders before the MiGs strafed and napalmed the convoy. We saw smoke in the distance, and realized that Berentu had also been bombed. As the last MiG dropped a cannister of jellied gasoline onto a truckload of lentils, my translator pulled on my sleeve. "How can they do that?" he asked me. I replied, "Pretty easily from what I see." He said, "No. How can they do that? How can they attack their own people? Eritrea, Ethiopia, we are still all cousins. And they take food. They attack women and children." "It's war," I said. "Not in America," he replied firmly. "America is great. Your army serves your people. Here we are ashamed of our army. I would love to be in the American army." "Stay in Eritrea," I joked. "The food's better." In the intervening 14 years, the food's gotten a lot better. And the American armed forces are still the ones the rest of the planet wants to emulate. But does anybody here really care? Look at the figures. Fewer than 15 per-cent of our country-- including the President, his Cabinet, and most members of Congress--has ever served. The armed forces are generally filled with lower income kids from cities and towns and farms. You may not find any athiests in foxholes, but you won't find any sons of CEO's, either. So it's hard for well-off yuppies to pull their snouts from the financial pages long enough to care anything about the military. Get the government out of my life and off my back, they squeal. Unless I need to have the world made safe for me to make a profit. Then, call in the government and send in the troops. But I still don't want to pay for it. And both the Administration and Congress know that's voter sentiment. So they've merrily been hacking away at the military budget while the Pentagon's ruling class spends what money they do have on toys, not people. A nation bored with everything except making a buck, then, could be excused for being a little grumpy at this week's wake-up call. Army Brigader General Dick Cody told the House Armed Services Committee that the Apache attack helicopters were ready to go into combat when they arrived in Albania bound for Kosovo. Unfortunately, their crews weren't. Cody said the crews were not properly trained. Out of ten pilots, six had almost no flight experience. None of the pilots had been trained with night vision equipment, which was a problem since the theory was the Apaches would attack at night. Oh, and P.S.--the helicopter radio's didn't have the range for penetrating attack missions. Two choppers crashed in Albania. We don't know if it was bad training, bad equipment, or bad luck. But we do know that an Administration hell bent on hacking military spending, a Congress held hostage to the cut-my-taxes-or-else crowd, and a Pentagon that never saw a multi-million dollar weapon it didn't want, have all joined forces. So what we get are pilots leavinbg all the services at a breathtaking rate because the pay stinks. We have sergeants and chief petty officers leaving because they're being asked to do too much with too little. We have enlisted personnel with families in somne high-cost areas having to draw food stamps. Food stamps! These are the people we're asking to die for our country, and we hand them food stamps? Herewith, an idea for this Fourth of July. An immediate and across-the-board ten per- cent pay hike for every person in uniform. All of them. Another ten per-cent each year for the next ten should do it. That's right. Double their pay in a decade. Increase the budget for maintenance and repair of everything, from tanks to planes. And do it all now. Why spend the money? Take a look at the flag, if you can see it underneath all the corporate logos and advertisements. See the red? It's supposed to represent blood. Stop being bored long enough to realize it's not your blood they're talking about. It's someone elses, and that someone else deserves a better deal than they're getting right now. |
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