As a vet myself, I agree that I signed my name on the line and therefore commited myself to the possibility of death. But at least I did something IMHO to defend this country. Defend? Yes DEFEND. I did as I was ordered and put my faith in the powers that be to make the best decisions as to what was
"best" for this country in order to keep civilians safe no matter which country they existed.
Victims of 9/11, although tragic, were not defending their country. FF and police who died in the line of duty also signed their names on the line understanding the risks involved with their chosen professions. I respect everyone who ran into the horror in order to try to rescue people and those people deserve to be honored as they put their lives on the line for someone else.
Our country has had many wars in it's day. Terrorism is the new war. Did civilians get compensated during the Independence War, French and Indian War, Civil War, or Spanish-American War, WWII (pearl harbor)? NO. All of which took place on our soil and civilian casualties existed.
Sorry, this is just another form of handout and a slap in the face to those people who are trying to defend our country. During golf storm, a friend of mine's wife (E5, 10 years) was on food stamps. Why? He was deployed with us and couldn't get the additional income from his second job. That's right he had a second job since the pay was crap and no on base housing existed. The amount of money he was getting to live off base was only enough to buy a place in the local DMZ and the base wasn't allowing people to live there.
Laters
