photo Gerald Herbert / AP
Funeral service at Arlington National Cemetery, Va. for Capt. Tristan Aitken of State College, Pa.
"My answer is bring 'em on"
The question is whether the military will start to feel taken for granted. Publications like Army Times are obviously going off the reservation. Retired military officers, like Gen. Anthony Zinni � formerly President Bush's envoy to the Middle East � have started to offer harsh, indeed unprintable, assessments of administration policies. If this disillusionment spreads to the rank and file, the politics of 2004 may be very different from what anyone expects.�Paul Krugman/Unofficial Paul Krugman/New York Times Nov.11.03
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It kills me when I hear of the continuing casualties and the sacrifice that's being made.
It also kills me when I hear someone say that, well, each one of those is a personal tragedy, but in the overall scheme of things, they're insignificant statistically. Never should we let any political leaders utter those words. This is the greatest treasure the United States has, our enlisted men and women. And when we put them into harm's way, it had better count for something. It can't be because some policy wonk back here has a brain fart of an idea of a strategy that isn't thought out.
They should never be put on a battlefield without a strategic plan, not only for the fighting�our generals will take care of that�but for the aftermath and winning that war. Where are we, the American people, if we accept this, if we accept this level of sacrifice without that level of planning? Almost everyone in this room, of my contemporaries�our feelings and our sensitivities were forged on the battlefields of Vietnam; where we heard the garbage and the lies, and we saw the sacrifice. We swore never again would we do that. We swore never again would we allow it to happen. And I ask you, is it happening again? And you're going to have to answer that question, just like the American people are. And remember, everyone of those young men and women that come back is not a personal tragedy, it's a national tragedy.
�General Anthony Zinni, U.S.M.C. (Ret.)
Forum 2003 �How Do We Overhaul the Nation�s Defense to Win the Next War?�
U.S. Naval Institute/Marine Corps Association joint presentation
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The week the commissary cuts became known, 11 soldiers were killed in Iraq, and as many as 30 failed to show up on schedule for return flights to Baghdad at the end of their two-week R&R visits.
Defense officials notified the services in mid-October that they intend to close 19 commissaries and may close 19 more, mostly in remote areas.
At the same time, the Pentagon is finishing a study to determine whether to close or transfer control of the 58 schools it operates on 14 military installations in the continental United States.
The two initiatives are the latest in a string of actions by the Bush administration to cut or hold down growth in pay and benefits, including basic pay, combat pay, health-care benefits and the death gratuity paid to survivors of troops who die on active duty.
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�Betrayal � write that down and put it in your report,� said Col. John Kidd, garrison commander of Fort Stewart, Ga., testifying at Tafoya�s forum on the need to keep military-run schools on his post. �As a commander, I will fight this tooth and nail. Folks down there are not just militant on this issue. They will march on Washington.�
Lowe, the Quantico base commander, said he never has seen his community more united than it is over the schools issue.
�The very fact that this transfer study is being conducted at this time when Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen and their families are increasingly required to give more of themselves and to go in harm�s way is taken by many as a personal affront,� he said. �It raises serious questions about DoD�s commitment..."
� Karen Jowers/Army Times Nov.11.03
