America has betrayed its obligations to its warriors

Since 01-21-06

Updated 01-22-06

See Harry Riley's letter at page bottom

From: MRGRG-MS@yahoogroups.com [mailto:MRGRG-MS@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Floyd Sears
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 8:57 AM
To: !CAG/MRGRG e-mail network
Cc: B. Marie Harris (The Sun Herald Editorial page editor); Harry Riley
Subject: [MRGRG-MS] Harry Riley lletter published today in the printed version of the Sun Herald
 

MRGRG Participants:

Harry Riley (Ft. Walton Beach, FL) had a letter published today (21 Jan 2006) in the printed version of the (Biloxi, MS) Sun Herald. Its title "America has betrayed its obligations to its warriors". It has not been posted on the Internet yet. When it is posted I'll send it around.

Many thanks to Harry Riley for writing the letter, and many thanks to B. Marie Harris (The Sun Herald Editorial page editor) for publishing the letter. If we are to keep the military retiree medical care broken promise issue alive then this is the way it must be done.

We must have more military retirees writing the letters and we must find more newspapers that are willing to publish the letters.

The military retiree medical care broken promise issue is with out a doubt the greatest swindle of all time and we must keep this story alive. We can not allow it to be swept under the rug.

The men and women that are fighting today's wars need our help in regards to protecting the basic rights they are fighting for. The right to have the provisions of a contract upheld in court is one of our most basic rights.

God bless the USA and the men and women who are willing to fight for the Constitution that holds it together.

-- 

Floyd Sears, MSGT, USAF, retired

Retired Military Advocate

6733 Riviera Drive

Biloxi, MS  39532

E-mail - fsears@bellsouth.net 

Home page – http://mrgrg-ms.org

Working the Military Retiree Medical Care broken promise issue and the Brown Bag Project  

IF IT WASN'T FOR THE MILITARY--THERE WOULD BE NO AMERICA

--

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From: MRGRG-MS@yahoogroups.com [mailto:MRGRG-MS@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of Floyd Sears
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 8:04 AM
To: !CAG/MRGRG e-mail network
Cc: Harry Riley
Subject: [MRGRG-MS] The Harry Riley letter to the Sun Herald
 

This is the Harry Riley letter to the Sun Herald that I talked about in an e-mail yesterday. The Sun Herald never did publish it on the Internet so I typed it into this e-mail from what was published in the printed version of yesterday's Sun Herald. In fairness to Harry I hope I got it right because it is one of the best letters I've seen Harry write on the subject of medical care.

This letter should be required reading for every member of the Congress and the Department of Defense. We all know that the Department of Defense and the Congress is playing the never ending money game and we are caught in the middle. The Department of Defense says you are not giving us enough money and the Congress says yes we are.

Since the Department of Defense is obligated to provide medical care for military retirees and since they say they do not have enough money to do everything they are required to do then they will take it out of our hides.

Floyd Sears

America has betrayed its obligations to its warriors

Tom Philpott in his columns published in the Sun Herald on Jan. 7 and 15, is again reporting on Department of Defense intentions to double and triple TriCare fees for military retirees. Military Officers Association of America and others are voicing the same alarm.

In the first place there should be no fees placed on military retiree medical care. The care is an earned entitlement --- not a give away, "extremely rich" benefit as some suggest, but an earned moral obligation of the United States government resulting from military service, military policy, and congressional promises.

For more years than I care to remember Congress consistently justified low military pay (well below cost of living, inflation, civilian equivalent, etc.) by pointing to the "retirement benefits of commissary privileges, post exchange access and no cost life-time medical care".

Year after year warriors heard the congressional explanation, didn't like it, but sacrificed quality of living, long periods of separation from loved ones, and life-threatening conditions in service to our nation --- fully expecting the U.S. government to keep its word. Congress was clearly stating that military members were purchasing no-cost health care and other retirements benefits from the inadequate pay being held back at the time of service.

Now the leadership of the U.S. government has no qualms of penalizing our warriors, even in time of war, in short, betraying past, current, and future guardians of our nation. Not only are military retirees forced to pay medical-care fees, they are required to do so from the pittance received in military and Social Security retired compensation, which is directly correlated to low wages while on active duty.

When greed, political power, and deceit take precedence over meeting obligations to our warriors, America is in grave danger --- much greater than from any terror threat.

Harry Riley
Crestview, Florida

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