Paul Ryan (R-WI) guts billions from veteran's benefits

[see4]

How can a person serve 20 years on active duty then the day after he retires he goes to the VA and gets a disability rating of 80% then gets hired on as a full time permanent federal civilian? I work with this guy and even though he's 80% disabled he can still work full time and go skiing every weekend. The system is ripe for abuse but all anybody ever wants to bring up is how Little Johnny and his family might starve to death and how Little Johnny is getting shot at. The truth is most never see combat and all are well compensated and every single one volunteered.

Ahh, yep, I see. And I agree. We require much needed regulation with VA. And we need to cut defense spending. Is VA disability part of defense or social security?

 

[NoDrama]

Congress sucks goat ass, and so do senior Army "leadership". They have no integrity, no foresight, and absolutely no honor.

First off,
Thanks for your service.

Congress does suck goat ass. I saw them doing it behind the barn.

We are only talking about standards of recruitment, nothing else.

Clinton, and gang, opted to allow greater access to gays and females, which in turn weakened the force by adding weaker links in the chain throughout a greater portion of the military.

Having women and gays in the military is not a detriment, most are not doing front line duty or IED patrols. For most people in the military, they will be far removed from actually having to engage in physical combat. War is different now, less and less physical combat needed to win. More and more technical in nature.

 

[echelon1k1]

How exactly is a woman or a gay man/woman a weak link? Are you saying sexual preference is a direct correlation to physical attributes? May I offer that most gay men are 10 times more physically fit than the average straight man. How is a woman a weaker link? She can pull a trigger just as fast, sometimes faster than any man. She can jump out of plane just as well. I know, I've jumped out with a few. Sure, they can't lift a guy on their own, but how often have you lifted a soldier on your own, threw them over your shoulder and walked them safety? I'm betting none.

If I were a betting man, I would bet your entire story is bullshit.

I've got no issues with women or gays in service. My only concern would be implementing such a massive change as DOD is now, should probably be done in a time of peace. There is no numbers/statistics on the % of gay/lesbian personnel in service so crafting effective education and policy directives may be challenging.

 

[abandonconflict]

There is definitely a correlation between pay grade and intelligence. That's indisputable.

You keep pushing your stupid opinions as fact.

 

[see4]

What separates me from most is that I'm not unwilling to speak the truth. Truth is truth. Hate it as you please; deny it all you want. You cannot alter truth.

Why not just say, "I'm willing to speak the truth", why go through the trouble creating a double negative?

I'm betting you scored very low on the ASVAB.

 

[NoDrama]

all are well compensated

What is your definition of "well Compensated?"

an E-3 makes $1800 a month. Before taxes.

a top ranking enlisted person with 20 years of service is raking it in at $5300 a month.

My goodness, that's almost as much as I was making 20 years ago working a pretty average job.

 

[see4]

What is your definition of "well Compensated?"

an E-3 makes $1800 a month. Before taxes.

a top ranking enlisted person with 20 years of service is raking it in at $5300 a month.

My goodness, that's almost as much as I was making 20 years ago working a pretty average job.

holy fuck that can't be right. i make in a week what an e-9 makes in a month? oh wait.. they also have housing paid for, and many of their meals paid. so really they get roughly $7000 a month if you include that. isn't heath insurance covered as well? for the entire family..

 

[abandonconflict]

holy fuck that can't be right. i make in a week what an e-9 makes in a month? oh wait.. they also have housing paid for, and many of their meals paid. so really they get roughly $7000 a month if you include that. isn't heath insurance covered as well? for the entire family..

And paid vacations to combat zones.

 

[see4]

And paid vacations to combat zones.

My former boss was Pope AFB base commander, probably pulled in upwards of $150,000 a year. He had an amazing house on base, health paid for, food paid for, even transportation. He could use any plane in any hanger he wanted. Never had to go to a combat zone either. He ended up buying a 10 acre ranch in Colorado and several horses. He retired 15 years ago after serving 24 years. He still gets retirement money. He said he could live off just that, but wants more, so he works.

 

[abandonconflict]

Survived 20 years, much to the chagrin of some of our fellow posters I'm sure. Matter of fact, today is the 24th anniversary of my first combat jump into a lovely little place down south. I was jumping out of airplanes while a lot of you were jumping out of diapers, and I bet I'm not the only one on this forum like that either.

Females couldn't meet the fitness standards for men, so instead of kicking out the chicks that couldn't hang, and keeping the ones that could, they simply lowered the fitness standards for females to keep the weak ones as well as the "strong" ones. Never mind the fact that you can only move as fast as your slowest dude...unless you want to carry them, AND their shit. FUCK the men though, right? They don't deserve to have strong team members when they're laying their ass on the line, right?

Clinton, and gang, opted to allow greater access to gays and females, which in turn weakened the force by adding weaker links in the chain throughout a greater portion of the military. Ever work in a place that had bad office romances that made life miserable for everyone? We didn't have to worry about that before some dumb asses decided that "equality" was more important than QUALITY troops.

Also in the 90's, they adjusted the fitness test, but this time for everyone, by lowering the max standards. Troops that busted their asses to meet and maintain the highest standards to differentiate themselves were now considered the same as those that did less.

Once the GWOT kicked off, recruitment started to become an issue, so they added "waivers" to enlistment that lowered educational, psychological, and criminal standards for enlistment.

So I have indeed seen and experienced that which I described. It's all open source information if one cares to search, but I don't believe many will, because the military is "somebody elses" problem, right?

Congress sucks goat ass, and so do senior Army "leadership". They have no integrity, no foresight, and absolutely no honor.

Your intelligence isn't in question. Nor is your deserving of benefits.


"So why did we invade Panama?"

"just cause..."

 

[Wilksey]

How exactly is a woman or a gay man/woman a weak link? Are you saying sexual preference is a direct correlation to physical attributes? May I offer that most gay men are 10 times more physically fit than the average straight man. How is a woman a weaker link? She can pull a trigger just as fast, sometimes faster than any man. She can jump out of plane just as well. I know, I've jumped out with a few. Sure, they can't lift a guy on their own, but how often have you lifted a soldier on your own, threw them over your shoulder and walked them safety? I'm betting none.

If I were a betting man, I would bet your entire story is bullshit.

Do you know why females have been excluded from combat for millenia in the overwhelming majority of EVERY SINGLE culture on the planet? Sure, you can cite the physical weakness inherent to the female body compared to her male counterpart, or the pregnancy issues, but that's only PART of the issue.

The main reason females have been excluded is because SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS destroy cohesion. Females in organizations become a COMMODITY for every other male there to compete for, and the same is true for females competing for men. So, instead of looking at your team mates as TEAM mates, they are viewed as COMPETITION, and it is this competition that leads to UNNECESSARY friction within an organization. ANY organization. Now, that's fine when you have a 9 to 5 job and can come and go as you please, but when you're stuck on a boat in the middle of the pacific, or you're patrolling the valleys of Afghanistan, that shit proves to be....problematic. It's not an "equality" issue, it's a biology issue. We can't help it as human beings.

Somebody in the past realized that females don't add ANYTHING to a combat organization that a male doesn't already bring to the fight, except relationship BULLSHIT, so why the fuck bring them? Same thing with homosexuals. Sadly, some in our "enlightened" society, based on "logic", can't figure that shit out for themselves, including our dumb ass congress.

Funny how pro sports are allowed to discriminate in order to create the best possible team they can, and yet, our defense forces are REQUIRED to admit inferior recruits. A sports team with shitty players loses a game, a nation with shitty troops loses lives, if not the nation itself.


As for carrying other dudes? We did that shit every week during our morning runs, and there wasn't a man in the squad that couldn't carry EVERY other dude in the Squad. We did this to instill intestinal fortitude, fitness, cohesion, and confidence in the Squad. Any decent line unit does the same.


Edit: Females make AWESOME spies though, and I'd argue they do a better job than men in most cases.

 

[hydrogreen65]

You forgot to mention how is a 120lb woman gonna pull a 200 lb man out of harms way if he's wounded?

 

[tokeprep]

Every person in the military has either graduated high school or has a GED. They won't let you join otherwise. I don't consider people who haven't graduated HS as being severely mentally retarded though. Then again I don't look down on everyone as inferior either.

That's irrelevant. The people at the bottom of the spectrum with very low IQs skew the general population IQ down. If you took the bottom out, the average IQ of a person in the military is probably not higher than the average IQ of a person in the general population.

I found military data that pegged the military IQ at only slightly above the average IQ, so I don't think the numbers can come out any other way.

 

[FilthyFletch]

Uncle Buck seems really confused lol. It has clearly been the left that hates America, the constitution, freedom and the working middle class . Obama especially hates those things. The dems have always been the ones to cut most of the money to the armed forces including benefits. The dems believe the government should control the daily lives of the citizens. They believe in big government, reliance on government handout, not working or having the right to find your own work. They believe in spending without and fiscal concern. They believe in stopping the job market growth. They are completely for social redistribution without and need for anyone to be self suffiicent or responsible. The country is in a giant mess with people like Obama, Reid, and Pelosi just killing everything this country was founded on and had made it great. Anyway you look at it the left has no self respect, no honor, and pure hate for freedom of the people.

 

[tokeprep]

I'm making no such equation. You have can not begin to fathom the unpredictable nature of combat, therefore you believe soldiering requires only physical attributes, discipline and the ability to follow orders. Nothing is more important than the ability to solve problems while under extreme stress. Mistakes cost lives.

I never suggested soldiers were incapable of successfully solving problems. I said they were relatively dumb. These are not equivalent. You do not need a 130 IQ to solve survival problems.

 

[tokeprep]

You keep pushing your stupid opinions as fact.

It's statistical fact. The military has data you can examine for both enlisted men and officers.

 

[tokeprep]

Why not just say, "I'm willing to speak the truth", why go through the trouble creating a double negative?

I'm betting you scored very low on the ASVAB.

Because I wanted to emphasize that most people are unwilling to speak the truth, not that I'm willing.

I never took that, but I was in the 99% percentile on the SAT and every test of that sort.

 

[abandonconflict]

You don't need to be smart to make a lot of money either. Plenty of facile whelps make great incomes. However, intelligence is the most important factor for survival in combat.

Stop calling soldiers stupid. We're not.

 

[bongbrain]

not a shocker. government fuck over its own soldiers. i used to protest the government near military bases for all the deaths they cause. i used to yell "you are disposable" "your government doesnt give a shit about you". i wasn't there to lie. this is just something that happens. but i do no what thye get paid. its a good enough amount to save for days like these.

 

[abandonconflict]

It's statistical fact. The military has data you can examine for both enlisted men and officers.

Cite it. Show me statistical data which concludes that the combat arms vocations have lower asvab scores than other vocations. This will premise soundly your argument that combat arms troops are just dumb expendable grunts.

Also, since that was not the opinion to which I was referring when I posted that comment, cite the "indisputable fact" that intelligence correlates with pay.