As we consider our heroic service members of the U.S. military, a troubling phenomenon also sweeps across our minds: the manner in which this administration, as well as past administrations, and the federal government in general with a military bureaucracy that has increasingly been politicized, treat our most treasured heroes who have given so much more for this country than any seated in Congress, or the White House, or dare I say what's become of the Pentagon.
Remember the Fort Hood hero, Kimberly Munley, who sat with Michelle Obama three years ago at the SOTU address? Guess how she and many of her colleagues feel now? "Betrayed"...
ABCNews: Three years after the White House arranged a hero's welcome at the State of the Union address for the Fort Hood police sergeant and her partner who stopped the deadly shooting there, Kimberly Munley says President Obama broke the promise he made to her that the victims would be well taken care of.
"Betrayed is a good word," former Sgt. Munley told ABC News in a tearful interview to be broadcast tonight on "World News with Diane Sawyer" and "Nightline."
"Not to the least little bit have the victims been taken care of," she said. "In fact they've been neglected."
There was no immediate comment from the White House about Munley's allegations.
Despite extensive evidence that Hasan was in communication with al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki prior to the attack, the military has denied the victims a Purple Heart and is treating the incident as "workplace violence" instead of "combat related" or terrorism.
How about the unnamed Navy Seal who took out America's Most Wanted, Osama bin Laden? Per an exclusive interview provided by the executive chairman of the Center for Investigative Reporting: unemployed with no pension, no health care...and no security.
By early September of last year, the Shooter was out, officially. Retired.And what of the untimely and tragic demise of America's most lethal sniper in U.S. military history, Chris Kyle? Now it's eleven days and counting, but no words of condolence from the Commander-in-Chief...deafening silence.
He had survived his last deployment, and there was a barbecue near his house to celebrate with about thirty close friends from "the community." The Redskins were on, his favorite team, and there was lots of Commando ale, brewed by a former SEAL.
"I left SEALs on Friday," he said the next time I saw him. It was a little more than thirty-six months before the official retirement requirement of twenty years of service. "My health care for me and my family stopped at midnight Friday night. I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare to Blue Cross Blue Shield. They said no. You're out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your sixteen years. Go fuck yourself."
The government does provide 180 days of transitional health-care benefits, but the Shooter is eligible only if he agrees to remain on active duty "in a support role," or become a reservist. Either way, his life would not be his own. Instead, he'll buy private insurance for $486 a month, but some treatments that relieve his wartime pains, like $120 for weekly chiropractic care, are out-of-pocket. Like many vets, he will have to wait at least eight months to have his disability claims adjudicated. Or even longer. The average wait time nationally is more than nine months, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting.
Anyone who leaves early also gets no pension, so he is without income. Even if he had stayed in for the full twenty, his pension would have been half his base pay: $2,197 a month. The same as a member of the Navy choir.
...it was his official separation from the Navy that convinced the Shooter that he should get his story down somewhere, both for history and for a potential "greater good," to both humanize his warrior friends as something more complex than Jason Bourne cartoon superheroes, and call attention to what retiring SEALs don't get in their complex bargain with their country.
President Barack Obama has not made a public statement regarding Kyle’s murder and his extraordinary service to his county, nor has the White House issued an official press release. Messages left by TheBlaze were not immediately returned by the White House.
Several Blaze readers have also suggested that the White House should have ordered flags be flown at half mast to honor Kyle. You may recall, Obama issued such orders to honor the late Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, the victims of Sandy Hook, and in honor of Arlen Specter, Neil Armstrong and Army Cpl. Frank W. Buckles, as well as others.
While those proclamations were more than necessary, many would argue an American hero like Chris Kyle — the “American Sniper” — undoubtedly deserves the same respect.
However, the most glaring oversight is still the fact that President Obama hasn’t so much as offered a public statement paying his respects to Kyle and his family.
...no mention in last night's SOTU speech either, as Kyle was laid to rest on Tuesday afternoon, preceding Obama's address. A memorial service for a national hero, with so many in attendance it had to be held at Cowboy Stadium, followed by thousands lining the highways to pay their respects along the procession down to Austin...but not a word from a Commander-in-Chief he once served, regardless of their differences on the gun control debate? Telling.
If anyone deserves assistance, a hand up, a commendation or simply recognition from the federal government, these men and women should be among the first, and some would argue among the only, to receive such extraordinary charity from a government that they were willing to sacrifice all and serve for the greater good...don't you think?
Yet they continue to be shuffled to the bottom of the growing welfare state's list of priorities...if not omitted altogether. Unacceptable.
