I hope my comments (below) explain why I feel this article does not delve deep enough into the POW entitlement propaganda.
If not, I hope others can help me do so.
From Lew Rockwell “Don’t be a POW”
Back in July, the remains of 55 American soldiers from the Korean War were returned by the government of North Korea to the United States. This served to reopen the issue of whether some American POWs were transferred by North Korea to the Soviet Union during the Korean War and never repatriated. The death of Senator John McCain last month on August 25 has likewise raised the issue of whether some American POWs were never returned to the United States after the Vietnam War ended.
Were some American POWs from the Korean and Vietnam Wars never repatriated? Undoubtedly. Are the remains of some American POWs from Korea and Vietnam still in boxes or bags? Probably. Are there still alive somewhere American POWs from Korea and Vietnam? Anything’s possible. Does the U.S. government lie and cover-up evidence of these things? Does the U.S. government do anything but lie and cover-up?
I am glad that this issue of the fate of POWs has been raised, but I don’t have an opinion on it. I am glad that the issue has been raised because it prompts me to write about something related to the U.S. military that I have never written about: POWs.
Don’t be a POW—like John McCain.
If there is one thing that every American knows about the late Senator John McCain, it is that he was held by North Vietnam as a POW for over five years. This knowledge is because, as Doug Casey recently said about McCain: “His entire life, reputation, and position are built around this fact.” Since his death at age 81, McCain has been canonized by both liberals and conservatives. To some he is what you call a triple hero: 1. He was in the military; 2. He fought in a foreign war; and 3. He was a POW.
[My comments: The article explains a bit about the rift between Trump and McCain and discusses whether or not Trump paid respect or not to a decrepit and senile old soldier who just wouldn’t go away.
The article finally settles on the old “we shouldn’t have been in Vietnam in the first place” argument, which is moot. Those of us who wore a uniform knows a soldier goes where he/she is told to go. It just so happened that McCain, having been a POW early, could sit and sip on the benefits of having attained Hero status as a POW that propelled him into Congress early, was one of those who could continue to send our children into harm’s way. A monstrous hypocrite if you ask many of us who guard our children’s lives from monsters like him.
He should never have been a CongressCritter.]
For the original article in its entirety, https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/09/laurence-m-vance/690760-2/
We have a warrior class. They are undeservedly high on the totem pole. They are simply overpaid gophers for the political class. We are establishing a class/caste system.
Better git ya some o dat.
I am going to get out my father’s POW award notification and black out his information ad show you exactly what an honorably discharged POW such as McCain is eligible to receive under the new, improved Unfunded liability system given to you and your grandchildren by the Congress Critters buying blocks of voters and the military industrial complex, which has done a fine job with the propaganda.
The warrior class is undeservedly high, WIP, but you would be hard pressed to look at one of these young men/women who have been so badly damaged physically and mentally by the carnage of war and say “you do not deserve help.”
After all, they thought they were doing a “service” to country while earning a paycheck as a soldier, right? Not in and of itself a bad thing.
Thanks for playing, WIP. Let me get the documents scanned and black out my father’s information. I promise it will be worth the return visit.
Agnes, we’ve been through the mud on this already. You ain’t winning shit.
1) I have not and will not disparage your father.
2) Your father’s service and sacrifice are from a different age.
3) America does not have a defense. No, we have an offense.
4) anything government connected is one big fucking grab bag.
5) my 19 year old daughter is going through the enlistment process for the Air Force. WIP!!! WTF!!! Yep, the Air Force. Wanna know why? Because it is a golden ticket opportunity.
6) a family friend of ours is in Army. He is 41 years old and will retire in 2 years. He has some kind of desk job making 90k. I’m “sure” it’s important.
7) said family friend is in very good physical condition. Could kick a boatload of ass, I’m sure. Funny thing is, he says he’s collecting, in addition to his pay, $$s for 5 different physical and mental conditions. Bwahahababa, did I say hes fit as shit and could kick serious ass? He’s out at night and having fun but, like all others, he has PTSD. I’m pretty sure all you have to do is fill out some paperwork and it will be approved. In fact, I’m pretty sure I have PTSD from all the fucking endless hero worship I am bombarded with on a daily basis. No, I don’t know what it takes to be approved for $$ by claiming PTSD. Did our boys in WWI or WWII get $$ for that? Bwahahababa, don’t be stoooopid Wip.
8) a wounded…”WOUNDED”…veteran most assuredly deserves the best care we can give them. Even better than our politicians get. Bwahahababa, fat fucking chance.
9) is meaning well the same as doing good? If you are killing someone and you don’t know why, what are you? Would it be correct to say you are an automiton?
10) IF THE MILITARY IS DEFENDING MY FREEEEEEEEEEDOMS, WHY THE FUCK DO I KEEP LOOOOOOSING THEM?!!!!
Fun fact: there is an amputee center at Walter Reed in DC. I was hired to photograph before, during and after construction photos of that center. It was a great experience and I met quite a few amputeed soldiers.
P.S. please don’t send the bots after me. Remember, you were defending my freedoms, correct? Should I be scared to tell the truth as I see it? Where am I wrong? I will listen.
WIP..
I agree with you. I have said on here before that since Vietnam there is absolutely no excuse for joining the Military to fight anywhere overseas. Prior to Nam the suppression of news and honest reporting was so effective we might be able to give them a pass. the average citizen would suspect God of lying before they would suspect the U.S. Govt. of lying. Presidents and congressmen might lie but the Govt. would never lie. They had us all convinced that as soon as the Commies took S.E. Asia they were coming for our mothers and sisters. Since at least 1970 the info was out there and there were no more excuses.
Unlike my buddies who were over there, I joined in the evil being perpetuated there after I saw how corrupt it all was so I have no excuse and offer none. I have owned up to it and have since tirelessly tried to expose our Govt corruption to make amends. I have never taken a dime of their crazy money either. Today you can get a PTSD diagnosis and self pity check for being scared while on a school buss once upon a time. Or looked at wrong by some mean old white man. My remaining gripe about that whole mess is they way we were treated by the public. They crucified us but let the real villains off Scott free.
I have no bots. I just have a very keen ability to search for data in long strings of data.
I also do not disparage my father. He answered a call to fight and ended up in a POW camp in Japan. He never applied for a pension until the 1980s, when his injuries began to impair his ability to walk and function. When he was 90ish, I applied for and received the POW assistance award on his behalf because he HAD been a POW and was entitled to it as much as Shitstain McCain. I had NO IDEA at the time how much money we were talking about. It was rather horrifying to discover I’d turned my father into the proverbial cash cow, sitting in his bed with bedsores. The man was receiving several thousand dollars for in home health care, which was NOT being spent on health care. That is the story I hope people understand.
NOTHING the government does works as stated or planned. The government messes everything up.
I adored my father. Honored him and respected him every day of his life. And when he got bitter and angry, I looked him in the eye and told him the truth. I will never regret telling him the truth, nor will I regret telling the truth here or anywhere else.
Anytime there is a group of people set aside as being deserving of special treatment, like wounded warriors, there is also a group of people who are being denied equal treatment. It is how it works.
If anyone needs to see the actual scanned documents, I’ll scan them. However, since my main goal is to provide the information for people to think about, I will just summarize.
My father got a full 100% pension for his disabilities resulting from his POW experience. That is roughly $3000 monthly. That started sometime in the 1990s and was backpaid to the day my mother applied for the pension. My father refused to apply for it, saying he wasn’t sure he agreed with the idea. My mother, as his caregiver on record, had the right to apply for it on his behalf. She asked me to help.
So, after he got the 100 percent, I applied for the POW benefits. I went to a guy who knows the system inside and out and he assured me my father would soon have more care than he could handle. I thought he was being silly, but in fact, the award letter came so fast my head was spinning. I think the VA was actually hoping to round up a few old POWs to call “success” cases.
So, the total monthly award after all the POW aid and attendance monies were added?
$7200 monthly. 3000 regular pension and the rest was for health care, aid and attendance and other necessary items to compensate for the POW experience. To my knowledge, the only person “hired” was my cousin who helped with laundry and took my mother shopping one day a week.
$18,900 for a wheelchair accessible van. My mother never did a thing with this because she liked her Ford Explorer and figured she could get my father in and out as needed. So that money just sat in an account until he died,when it went back into the “general fund.”
$68,900 to build an addition on the farmhouse in order to bring it to code so that VA bonded health care services could treat him in home.
Now, that money was also NOT used. In spite of his needing a more hygienic bathroom facility, my family opted to NOT use that money, fearing the Veterans Administration would try to put a lien on the family farm. They are a bit backwards, I admit and my brother had been pilfering money from my father for years. If my father had been audited, they would have discovered my father’s VA monies were being used for a lot of “other” people.
$9000 annual upkeep. But, if the addition had been built, an additional $9000 each year for upkeep and maintenance for that addition would have been coming their way and my cousin assured me that within two years, we would have a brand new house there where that old farmhouse stood.
My mother did call the VA and see if she could use that money to build a little house for my nephew, who was soon to be released from prison for molesting/raping children and she was hoping she could set him up on the farm. That was the point where I broke contact.
So, I do have the paperwork since I was the VA’s point of contact for the initial application and award. But, after my mother tried to build a house for my brother’s pedophile offspring, I wrote the VA and told them I had no control and would no longer be my father’s point of contact.
However, the laws were changed recently, WIP. Good news for your daughter. I know a guy who can get her that golden ticket if she just stays in for about a year or so… any “honorably” discharged veteran is eligible for a real bonanza of goodies. If they know how to get them. If she is smart and documents any little sprained ankle or scratch in her medical records, she could be like me…
Retired and thinking maybe I need to apply for “MY” hundred percent.
We will see.
Now this data is here where I can refer to it later.
We’ll see if she makes it in. She has scoliosis and that may keep her from getting in. We have always known about it and had regular care for it. There was no need for surgery. Massages, stretching and weekly chiropractic visits.
We’ll see. Thanks for the offer.
If she gets in, she can “service connect” the scoliosis. I was removed from flight status for degenerative disc disease at L5, S1. (tailbone)
It runs in my family. So, I was sent to college for Vocational Rehabilitation for a hereditary condition. I’ve never tried to claim a disability for the back beyond that initial decision to force me to separate instead of retrain. Hmmm. Maybe my back hurts now?
“Service Connect” means blame the condition on the military training? The recruiter already knows about it. We’re now scurrying to all her past Dr.s to get any records we can find because he asked for them.
See? You already messed that one up. Is okay… you can still try the “exacerbated” by military service. And I’m being facetious. Of course your daughter is NOT going to do that any more than I did. (or plan to. I really do NOT plan to apply for disability as long as this HEALS and is finally over.)
I wish her luck in the USAF. It was a good decision for me when I was 21 and headed for trouble or the future. I signed up to become one of the first female flyers in AWACS and had the bumpy ride of my life. With any luck at all she will have the same roller coaster ride into the wild blue yonder!
The warrior class is never undeservedly high on the totem pole. No freedom that you have, no safety that you have, in your everyday life, can be maintained without serious men willing to do harm to those who would do you or your family harm. Your daughter’s can walk the streets safely because of the implied threat to bad guys from those kind of men. In Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s interesting to read the accounts of European troops serving with ours. They are in awe of American soldiers. The Europeans first instinct when under fire is to set up defensive positions. The Americans, in similar circumstances go on the offencive and eliminate the threat. It’s a great mindset
It is true that our warrior class has traditionally kept us safe. These past 40 years or more though have been filled with a lot of unnecessary wars in places our military strength was quite wasted.
I remember the “shock and awe” campaign to send Iraq back into the stone age. Did we really have intel data to support that nonsense or did the military industrial complex at LONG LAST have a good excuse to blow some shit up.
Having flown many hours with a “weapons team” ready to send fighters with bombs and missiles to any potential target that didn’t squawk friendly, I am well aware that our warrior class really likes to blow things up and kill people they think are enemies.
Is a good defense reasonable? Absolutely. A good offense is just a waste of weaponry if you are not under attack.
Our culture and way of life is under attack. By the Military Industrial Complex itself as it tries to figure out how to sell, sell, sell more bombs and weapons to a citizenry completely starved of the moral fortitude to know how to use them.
Great comment. I don’t hate the military, I just hate all the false alarmism…it’s fraudulent.
Am hoping to post Mark’s 401K comments soon. Thanks for the feedback.
Please…no one is attacking us and no one will. The police state is busily taking our freedoms away as it is. Are you high or something?
Two friends from back home were POW’s Lenny was in the 101st he was grabbed near Bastonge, he escaped in March 45, weighing less than a 100 pounds, made it to the Russian lines, they almost killed him.
Zeke was in the Army he was captured in Italy and sent to a prison camp near the Baltic sea, once told me when there was a death they did not report it, they would carry the corpse through the food serving line to get an extra ration.
No don’t be a POW.
There are some really poignant stories. This is one of the most detailed stories about Bataan ever told. I had the privilege of meeting one of these men.
My father and his comrades brought back six urns, packed carefully with their fallen POWs ashes, to the port in California where they were careful to bring the urns off the ship first. I thought it was a really touching thing for them to have done.
Thanks for sharing. Really.
You are tenacious and I love it. I have a tenacious sister but it she used it for destructive ends.
At least you get it, Wip. I will always remember that. I am just trying to speak truth to power. That is all.
When my father was “captured” it was while floating in a three-man raft with the other two men who’d survived the crash of the PBY he’d once been crew chief with a brief assignment as rear gunner.
It was a different world for sure, with a pilot demanding a young farm boy become a gunner during an incoming Japanese air raid. And my father, the young farm boy, saluted sharply and said “yes sir” because that was what a young soldier did. Period. You obeyed orders.
So, he and the others floated several hours, initially taking turns hanging over the side until the wounded pilot died and they released his body at sea. Then, many hours later, a Japanese ship shined a light on them and they were taken aboard and the interrogations began almost immediately. My father, truly a Gomer Pyle before it was popular, convinced the interrogators he was ignorant. There were two interrogators, with one of them holding a gun with a bayonette and Dad said “They told you about giving just your name rank and serial number but they did NOT tell any of us about that guy with that sharp knife on the end of his rifle!’
So, he drew them a big picture of a mountain he thought might have a big tunnel through it (he said he didn’t have a clue, but figured it COULD be true) but really did not know a thing about where any hidden airfields might be in Alaska, having just arrived a few months earlier. The interrogator finally demanded he be sent away because he was a very stupid young man. My father was very proud of that. Shazam. He was a tricky feller too. He taught me about the botz.
Good story. I bet he was a fine man.