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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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Is that good enough "peril" for you, Ted?
I don't know any Ted, but what exactly do those posting have to do with the actions in Afghanistan? Neither were front line...
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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The Chief, I was referring to debate on this forum.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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And regarding John Wayne as being True Grit as a post earlier referred to, how come the likes of James (Jimmy) Stewart and Henry Fonda, just to name two of a number of movie actors who went to war, volunteered for service during WW2 and the Duke didn't. Were his films so much for propaganda purposes that he did his duty for the US?
Just a thought. BTW, I like John Wayne (as an actor, he was technically good, but not his politics).
And just to add, I do not think one has to do military service to have a valid opinion. This crap that if one hasn't served in the military one doesn't know crap, is just that, crap.
EDIT
And The Chief, that is not necessarily directed at you, so please do not jump to the conclusion that it is. I have never been in the military, but that doesn't mean that I do not know what war is like. I have never had a heart attack, stroke or cancer, but that doesn't mean that I do not know what these conditions are like. Perhaps not the best analogies but I hope they show my point.
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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Chief, please give me a good reason why your opinion matters more than anyone else's. You may have worked in some crazy situations, but that was your job, you received pay, and likely have a pension for your service. That's fine, but at this point you are a political Orc for the anti-Obama thugs and making a mockery of what service you performed.
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crankster
Trad climber
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"Leave no man behind"....unless he can be used in a negative political narrative to weaken a Democrat.
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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I guess our troops are on notice. "No man left behind" is a thing of the past. We have to friggin talk about it now. Whether you're worth the price.
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rick d
climber
ol pueblo, az
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I am with chief.
wrong trade, a BS PR stunt that will bite the US in the arse.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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All of which is directly under the watch and command of President Obama. Who just two weeks ago highly publicly praised the efforts of the now resigned in disgrace Director. Who stated at his resignation last Friday that he had absolutely no idea the current totally fked up complete bullshet fabricated red tape issue that is killing Vets, was occurring.
The problem pre-dates Obama by decades. Note: I did not say Bush. The talking heads got their way and Shinseki is gone. Where's their outrage now? A big part of this falls directly into the lap of Mitch McConnell and other republicans who have repeatedly blocked funding for the VA Health Care System.
And here i THOUGHT we didnt "negotiate" with terrorists.
Ever hear of Iran Contra? That was done by none other than the republican God Ronald Reagan.
It may be a political maxim that we don’t talk to terrorists. But that’s not always how it works in practice. The Carter administration had long and intricate negotiations with the Iranians who took dozens of Americans hostage in Tehran in 1979 (and whom Carter himself described as terrorists), winning the hostages’ release after Carter agreed to unfreeze about $11 billion in Iranian assets.
Ronald Reagan’s White House also horse traded with the Iranians for hostages—secretly trading arms for the release of Americans held in Lebanon, in what came to be known as the Iran-Contra affair. (Bolton, to his credit, acknowledges and condemns this infamous episode.)
In the mid-1990s Bill Clinton met with Gerry Adams, leader of the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, then still on the State Department’s terror list. (It was removed after peace accords in 1998.) The British government considered Adams himself a terrorist and urged Clinton not to see him.
During the Iraq War, the Bush administration cut deals with Sunni insurgents in Iraq’s Anbar province—working with and even paying people who had been killing American soldiers.
Even Israel, which is not known for its kid-glove treatment of terrorists, has a recent history of doing business with its most despised enemies. In 2011, the Israeli government freed more than 1,000 prisoners in return for Hamas’ release of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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I'll look forward to you being just as ate up during the next repub administration Ron. I never said you were a republican, but you sure act like one.
I was mostly responding to your comment that you thought we never negotiate with terrorists, which is a good rule, but kinda laughable in the big picture of the world.
The undies? No thanks, I don't negotiate with turd-orists
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Shinseki is not disgraced. He's the fall guy.
So you're saying funding for a super huge organization is not important?
You of all people should know this, especially since we have added a couple million more vets the last 13 years.
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Those Black Flags for POW/MIA should come down now. Seems a lot of people aren't willing to do what it takes. I'm not gonna let "No man left behind" pass without comment anymore.
Those 5 Taliban are gonna get the local equivalent of pensioned off with new 9 year old wives or Nigerian Sex Slaves. There will be new guise now who aren't gonna give up their power easily. That's the way things work there.
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Rollover
climber
Gross Vegas
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One word people..
Meds.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Good stuff on homeless vets the chief.
Of course you know that Shinseki worked hard on homeless vets in particular.
Under Shinseki's administration, the national and Phoenix VA made resources available and issued more federal housing vouchers than ever before, said Brad Bridwell, director of community development at Cloudbreak Communities, a veteran-housing organization.
"Secretary Shinseki, without a doubt, in the homeless-veteran world, is a champion," Bridwell said. "He put the resources out there like nobody else has done on the issue. It's unfortunate to hear about the wait times and the broader issue of VA health care."
Local officials emphasized that their interactions with housing and social-work staff at the Phoenix VA has been productive, and they lamented a blanket black eye on the Phoenix VA.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Tell him to get off his ass and fix sh#t then.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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He can not control nor even attempt to fix the VA.
Neither can anyone else apparently. What's your suggestion, other than rolling heads?
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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The problem has gotten worse the past six years, not better. Yeah, that's because, like the economy, W's crew of traitors dug a hole it will take a decade or more to dig out of. Two unnecessary preemptive wars have resulted in doing little more than perfecting both IEDs and asymmetric warfare to our disadvantage. The former - particularly when combined with advanced SAR and MASH capabilities - have badly overloaded an already taxed VA system.
Or, to paraphrase Rumsfeld: you go to war with the VA you have, not the VA you need.
Another inherited problem whose current state would be exactly the same regardless of who won in 2008/12 and which will be only marginally improved by 2020 regardless of who wins in 2016. Sometimes you screw the pooch so badly you aren't going to recover in less than a decade or two; this is such a time. Stop being so ridiculously naive.
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Jim Clipper
climber
from: forests to tree farms
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I had a chance to work for Vets, only as a student. Simply, I learned a lot. It was heartening to know that only the best graduates got jobs treating Vets. Even over a decade ago, vets had difficulty becoming service connected.
My opinion. War should never be politicized. We might do more if there was still a draft, or the choice of a couple years of public service. We need more reporters, around the world.
Some of their wisdom.. I thought I had a difficult life (growing up) until I got into the military and heard other people's stories.
They weren't all bad. It was the ones who had power for the first time that you had to worry about. (Bataan survivor).
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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I think the VA does indeed require a ground up makeover. Obviously, it's become a typical governmental office, loaded with hide bound beaurocrats, not getting much done. Very little end product.
When I was in the Army, medical care was dispensed volume style. Just line them up and get it done.
Meanwhile, I heard this am, the Bowe d00d is on his way to a Texas military hospital. Wouldn't be Brooke, would it? Man, I will never forget the smell of the burn ward.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Banish the VA Health system totally
Not that bad of an idea. I have a lot of experience first and second hand with a wide range of
gubmint run health care facilities and the majority are a real cluster. Like any gubmint area
there is precious little accountability and a pervasive piss-poor atitude best characterized by
"When does my pension start?"
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John M
climber
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How much experience do you have with privately run hospitals? I have been in a few and have experienced my share of cluster. In one situation I was having a stroke but there were not enough RNs to monitor me after they gave me the thrombolytics for breaking up the clots and I nearly bled out. And it was real fun to have someone come and make me sign a form saying that I was financially responsible for the drugs I was being given if my insurance didn't cover it, all while having a stroke and a blood clot in my lungs which was making it nearly impossible to draw a breath.
So in my opinion neither system is perfect.
And we could certainly do better in both.
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