Gone are the flag-waving chants of “USA! USA! USA!” from the Right and the co-opting of the military as proof of their patriotism.
Once you’ve served, the Republicans don’t seem to have much use for you. 2.3 million military members have served in Iraq and Afghanistan alone since September 11, 2011. Even while in service, it’s the Democrats who fight for things like protective gear and water, while the Survival of the Fittest Ayn Randian chicken hawks sit on their expensive leather chairs voting no on the needs of our troops, even while beating the war drum against Iran.
We are now at an unemployment crisis point for our returning veterans. To address this problem, the President has called for a “Career-Ready Military” and is offering tax incentives to employers who hire returning troop as part of the American Jobs Act.
Scott Gould, the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, reported for Veterans Today in an article titled, “The American Jobs Act Helps our Veterans” that within the American Jobs Act, it offers tax credits for Employers who hire U.S. Veterans and additionally, it helps active military personnel with improved transition services.
AFL-CIO reports on the troubling statistics:
“The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was 12.4 percent in July, up from 11.8 percent in July 2010. In August, the jobless rate for these veterans had dropped slightly to 9.8 percent, but it does not include veterans who are underemployed or have stopped looking for work.
The Department of Veterans Affairs reports that of those veterans employed since leaving the military, 25 percent earn less than $21,840 a year. On any given day, as many as 250,000 veterans (male and female) are living on the streets or in shelters, and perhaps twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year.”
Last month, the President announced his New Veterans’ Employment Initiative , offering a new Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior tax credits that would give employers a financial incentive to hire veterans. In addition to the tax incentive to hire returning heroes, the Obama administration “will lead a new task force to develop reforms to ensure that every member of the service receives the training, education, and credentials they need to transition to the civilian workforce or to pursue higher education.”
There’s more to supporting our troops than using them as a rallying cry at campaign stops. In the 2008 election cycle, deployed troops donated to Obama at a 6:1 ratio compared to McCain/Palin and Ron Paul combined.
When asked why he was sending money to then Senator and candidate Obama, Army Specialist Jay Navas explained, “He was right on Iraq long when others were jumping into the sea like lemmings, and that’s hard to do. We’re soldiers and we respect courage.”
Who else respects courage? Who will show our veterans the respect they’ve earned?
We offer our young men and women all kinds of incentives to join the military, but after serving, far too many come home to hard hit areas like Michigan and fall between the cracks of unemployment and into homelessness.
If you’ve ever waved the flag while chanting USA and counted yourself patriotic because you support the troops, ask yourself if you support them when they come home. Ask yourself if you can even imagine the costs of retrofitting a house for a disabled vet, or the challenges of finding new work when you’ve been trained for one of the hardest jobs on earth. There aren’t a lot of jobs that require the ability to sustain yourself in the desert for days on end eating MREs and rationing water.
Speaker Boehner signaled that he supported the returning warrior tax credits, but given the Republicans inability to vote yes on anything this President has put forth, no matter how closely it followed their own principles, will the Republicans vote no on the Jobs Act and therefore no on employment for veterans?
I challenge the Republicans to put their vote behind the flag and vote yes on the American Jobs Act.
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