Supporting Our Troops, For A Change

The Patrick Murphy campaign unveiled its New GI Bill of Rights recently (reported today in the Bucks County Courier Times, but as usual, I was unable to find a link to the story from their "web site") in an effort to demonstrate committed leadership to the men and women in uniform who defend our country. The comprehensive lists includes proposals for fair pay, sufficient equipment including armor, expansion of TRICARE benefits for National Guard and Reserve personnel (are you reading this, Mikey?), granting citizenship to veterans who serve who aren’t citizens already, and allowing veterans on disability to collect their retirement pay.

Some of these proposals strike me as merely common sense (which can never be taken for granted on the part of those running our government, I realize), but others will require some budgetary maneuvers that I would like to see, most notably the permanent reinstitution of the estate tax and removal of the $90,000 ceiling on contributions to Social Security. Still, though, this to me shows typically committed leadership from a candidate in touch with the issues facing us every day.

This link takes you to information on the G.I. Bill passed by FDR that is the precedent for some of the reforms that Patrick has proposed.

As I read this writeup, I encountered more sneaky disinformation from Bushco in their version of the story of the Bonus Marchers, World War I veterans who came to Washington during the Great Depression seeking adjusted compensation for their military service. This is what the Department of Veterans Affairs has to say about it.

During the Great Depression, some veterans found it difficult to make a living. Congress tried to intervene by passing the World War Adjusted Act of 1924, commonly known as the Bonus Act. The law provided a bonus based on the number of days served. But there was a catch: most veterans wouldn't see a dime for 20 years.

A group of veterans marched on Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1932 to demand full payment of their bonuses. When they didn't get it, most went home. But some decided to stick around until they got paid. They were later kicked out of town following a bitter standoff with U.S. troops. The incident marked one of the greatest periods of unrest our nation's capital had ever known.

It’s true that it was a bitter standoff, but it was actually more than that, as noted here. Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur fired into the crowd, and one veteran was killed and 50 veterans and Washington D.C. police injured as marchers were attacked with rifles and tear gas. It actually is a pretty despicable episode of our history (and by the way, Republican presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover both opposed the compensation to the Bonus Marchers, and though Roosevelt did also, he at least tried to put them to work instead in the Citizens Conservation Corps).