Oooh, I'd Totally Take Care of Our Veterans, Doncha Know? ;)

Sarah Palin talked to head the VA.

If you want a woman who's qualified in that role, why not pick Libby Dole or Tammy Duckworth? Or fuck, I don't know, some random asshat off the street, any of them are more likely to do a better job than Palin.

Again, representing the "skin in the game" crowd.......pick a fucking military veteran. Hmmm.......John McCaine for example. That's just off the top of my head. A little research would reveal dozens of better qualified people.

I don't think that McCain would want to give up his Senate seat, but I'm sure he'd do a damned good job running the VA if he took the offer.

McCain should have died a hero in Vietnam. Instead he came back and turned into a cuck.

jesus - doesn't Trump know how to google? A few minutes and you could get several ex-military with college educations and experience who would love the chance to make a positive difference. BTW our local Augusta VA is turning several older buildings at the Charlie Norwood uptown VA center (my son & I both get treated there) into housing for homeless vets!

Isn't one of Palins sons a combat veteran?

Yup. He also beat his girlfriend and threatened her with a gun. So she's probably out as head of HHS.

Veterans Affairs should be eliminated as a cabinet level department anyway and downgraded back to an agency.

It depends upon what your definition of "combat" is. He was never in a firefight while serving his country. It's certainly possible his experiences gave him PTSD, but I don't think that qualifies his mother, who got her ass handed to her by a fluff news reporter, to run the VA. There are much better choices out there. I'll mention again Senator-elect Tammy Duckworth.



She's a vet and a Democrat, and were she to take the job her replacement in the Senate would most likely be a Republican. IMHO, that's still preferrable to putting someone as incompetent as Palin over the VA. A better choice would be McCain. Not only does he have more experience in DC than Duckworth, but his replacement in the Senate would most likely be a Republican, so the balance of power wouldn't shift.

Seconded.

Tell that to the student you encouraged to join and got his legs blown off.

Or better yet, go fellate a shotgun.

She's the lady who's Republican opponent mocked her family's sacrifices for the country.

How would downgrading Veterans Affairs back to an agency impact him or any other veteran in a negative manner?

Why are you personalizing things anyway?

Yup.

Figure it out.

I guess I'm partially reflecting my dad's beliefs. He had massive disdain for soldiers in general (with one big exception) and in particular for people who served who constantly bring up their service years after the fact or use government services due to that for the rest of their lives.

He wouldn't hardly vote for a politician that mentioned their military service when running for office and got annoyed when people carped about "taking care of the veterans".

So just because you are a military veteran you are fanatical about protecting the interests of veterans?

Isn't that a rather selfish and provincial attitude.

I'm a teacher yet I don't rattle on and on about paying teachers more money or getting better pensions.

Palin fought and won against the status quo in Alaska. What the VA needs right now is a shakeup like that.

The best idea is to disband it and cover the medical cost for private service.

America has spent all but seven years of its near 250 year history engaged in one battle or war or another. The best solution to this would be for the government not to create so many of us to begin with. Also, universal health care.

Since neither of those things will happen, the next best thing is to make sure our vets are taken care of after their time in service and that you don't have former Navy captains that are left destitute after four divorces and stuck depending on charity from people like Dinner who see them as just another druggie.

I have a vested interest in this, yes. But I supported this well before I ever set foot in a recruiter's office because that's the lease a government can do after taking the best years of a person's life.

Yabbut, you're a moron.

No news there.

If teachers got paid better, no one would bother hiring you.

It doesn't have to a Vet, but does need to be someone with experience running (and hopefully reforming) large institutions. Points for it being government or having an entrenched union if private. Mulally?

How is the government "taking the best years of a person's life"?

Every person who joined the U.S. military for the last more than 40 years has VOLUNTEERED to serve.

And once again, a personal attack and insult.

Why?

I did not insult or attack you in any way.

I don't know the back-story on that, but unless Dayton is psychic how would he know someone would get injured if they joined the military? Damn I'm a combat vet and I still told my son to chill out when he was wanting to join the army but was worried about being sent into combat. All you have to do is crunch the numbers and you'll see the odds of getting killed or seriously injured are slim-to-none. I have had way, way more dangerous jobs (scars to prove it) than the army and got paid way, way less. To be honest the only time I was worried was when I found out he was sleeping on the top bunk in basic training - you know how dangerous that shit is?

Amen!!!

My roommate in college was deployed into war zones four times and never fired his weapon or was ever fired upon by enemy forces.

My cousin served a tour in Iraq defusing IEDs. He didn't get so much as a scratch over there.

A year after he gets back to the U.S. he is killed in a motorcycle accident only a mile from his apartment. Because the store was so close he didn't put on his helmet.

He was going to pick up some bags of chips, some of his buddies were coming over.

You're missing the point. Whether that's on purpose or not, I don't care. But since you were too chickenshit to join, lemme break some shit down for you.

Most people get that being in a war zone and losing body parts is a job hazard. But most don't realize the stress this job can have even if you never set foot in a war zone. The most stressful period work-wise in my five years wasn't the three years I spent in and out of port in Japan or all the headache of commissioning my last ship but the first six months after coming back to the US where I had absolutely nothing but busywork to do. Stir crazy and couldn't really reach out to there folks cuz I'm not wired like that. I was on anti anxiety for months just to function.

I can imagine what it's like for someone who had far worse experiences than mine.

That was just plain stupid on his behalf.

Stupid and tragic for all.

Yep - when it's your time, it's your time. My wife's uncle did two tours in nam - when he got out of the army he got electrocuted on the job within about a month. You'd be amazed at how many sandbox vets come home and get shot by thugs in their neighborhoods. Statistically/realistically my daily commute scares the shit out of me.

Why do you (and no doubt some others) think I was afraid to join?

It isn't like the U.S. was involved in significant military action in 1985 (high school graduation) or 1988 (college graduation).

No, but they did extend the max enlistment age after 9/11 but you said you couldn't leave your family behind.

Which I would've give anyone shit about, but you probably shouldn't be hawking for war so hard if you couldn't do what folks like myself, Oldfella, Anc, Sean, Angela, Nova, Lanz, Techman, Volpone, Dinner and Tex among others I'm sure I've forgotten went out and did and will understand better than you ever will why we work to take care of our own.