Tag: military

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Pentagon To Divert $1 Billion From Military Pay & Pension For Trump Wall

According to the Associated Press, the Pentagon is planning on diverting $1 billion from military pay and pension funds to help pay for Donald Trump’s beloved wall at the Southern border.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told The Associated Press, “It’s coming out of military pay and pensions. $1 billion. That’s the plan.”

Durbin said the funds are available because Army recruitment is down and a voluntary early military retirement program is being underutilized.

The development comes as Pentagon officials are seeking to minimize the amount of wall money that would come from military construction projects that are so cherished by lawmakers.

Can you imagine if Democrats proposed taking money from military service members pay and pensions???

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Trump Skips Troop Visit On Christmas

Donald Trump skips visiting military this Christmas

Donald Trump broke with tradition this year as he became the first president since 2002 to not visit military service members on Christmas.

While the Trumpster did place calls to troops serving around the world, he did not make any visits to wounded warriors or active military on Christmas Day.

More from NBC News:

Based on a check of NBC logs, President Barack Obama visited troops at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, in Kaneohe Bay, every Christmas he was in office, from 2009 to 2016.

Before him, according to a check of news releases, President George W. Bush visited wounded warriors at Walter Reed from 2003 to 2008. He did not visit troops at Christmas in 2002, in the run-up to the Iraq War, or in 2001.

In recent months, Trump has taken heat from critics for not visiting troops in an active combat zone, after canceling a trip to an American military burial ground outside of Paris last month due to weather and skipping the traditional Veterans Day visit to Arlington National Cemetery just two days later.

In related news, The New York Times reports that Trump’s infamous bone spurs diagnosis, which kept him from being drafted during the Vietnam War, may have been a favor by a podiatrist who rented office space from Trump’s dad at the time.

The doctor’s daughter, Dr. Elysa Braunstein, told the Times, “I know it was a favor.”

“What he got was access to Fred Trump,” Elysa Braunstein said. “If there was anything wrong in the building, my dad would call and Trump would take care of it immediately. That was the small favor that he got.”

All of this continues to cloud Trump’s relationship with the US military.

In addition to the lack of troop visits and the draft dodging rumors, Trump has also insulted Gold Star families as well as Sen. John McCain for being captured during the Vietnam War.

The news did not go unnoticed:

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Trump Saw A Military Parade And Wants One Of His Own

(image via Flickr and CC license)

Last summer, Donald Trump was invited by President Emmanuel Macron of France to attend the country’s Bastille Day events which included a grand military parade.

Trump called the event “one of the most beautiful parades I have ever seen” and decided he wanted a military parade of his own.

From The New Civil Rights Campaign:

President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to hold a huge military parade for him, according to The Washington Post. The parade will have no military benefit, and in fact will cost millions of dollars. While not unprecedented, no U.S. president has had one since George W. Bush, but it had a purpose: celebrating the end of the Persian Gulf war, not celebrating the commander-in-chief.

“The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France,” a military official tells The Washington Post. “This is being worked at the highest levels of the military.”

The Post notes the cost of Trump’s parade “could run in the millions, and military officials said it was unclear how they would pay for it.” President Bush’s military parade 25 years ago cost $12 million.

The White House says the parade is still in the “brainstorming” phase, but insists Trump “wants to do something that highlights the service and sacrifice of the military and have a unifying moment for the country.”

Apart from the fact that we really don’t NEED to show the world our military strength – we are have the mightiest fighting force in the world – the cost of producing such an event seems ridiculous when there are so many homeless, unemployed veterans. Many folks, including military service members and veterans would much rather see aid to our vets than a parade for a president’s ego.

There were tons of negative responses to the idea of a parade. Here are just a few:

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Vice President Mike Pence’s Bold-Faced Lie On Military Pay During #TrumpShutdown

Check out Vice President Mike Pence’s bold-faced lie speaking to US troops in Syria today.

“I’m sure you’re all aware of what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Despite bipartisan support for a budget resolution, a minority in the Senate has decided to play politics with military pay. But you deserve better.

“You and your families shouldn’t have to worry for one minute about whether you’re going to get paid as you serve in the uniform of the United States. The President, the Vice President, and the American people are not going to put up with it.”

During her time on the Senate floor yesterday, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri specifically introduced a measure to ensure payment to military service members during the shutdown.

GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shut it down with his own objection on record.

Let’s go to the video tape.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Nevada: Crowd Boos Military Mom At Mike Pence Campaign Rally

Folks here in Nevada are still in shock at the sight of seeing a military mom being booed at a Trump/Pence rally in Carson City yesterday.

This campaign team must be pulling their hair out at this point.

ABC News reports:

Mike Pence just can’t escape the controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s critical remarks about the parents of fallen soldier Capt. Humayun Khan.

Taking questions from the audience at a rally in Carson City, Nev., the Indiana governor was asked how he could “tolerate” Trump disrespecting military families.

“Time and time again Trump has disrespected our nation’s armed forces and veterans and has disrespect for Mr. Khan and his family is just an example of that,” Catherine Byrne asked, as the crowd started loudly booing. “Will there ever be a point in time when you’re able to look Trump in the eye and tell him enough is enough? You have a son in the military. How do you tolerate his disrespect?”

Pence, whose father was a combat veteran, thanked Byrne for the question and tried to quiet the room. “Folks — that’s what freedom looks like and that’s what freedom sounds like, okay? It is,” he said.

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Ben Carson: “Deal With The Transgender ‘Thing'” Somewhere Other Than The Military

Speaking in Iowa yesterday, GOP White House hopeful Dr. Ben Carson wished aloud that we should “deal” with transgender issues somewhere other than the military.

And, he added, he misses the good old days when gays and lesbians had to be uber-closeted to serve in the U.S. military.

“You know, we have too many important things to do,” Carson said at a “Veterans and Military Town Hall” hosted by the Concerned Veterans for America. “When our men and women are out there fighting the enemy, the last thing that we need to be doing is saying what would it be like if we introduced several transgender people into this platoon.”

“You know, give me a break. Deal with the transgender thing somewhere else,” Carson said before saying he prefers the old “don’t ask, don’t tell” military philosophy that ended in 2011.

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Pentagon Statistics Show Rise In Male-On-Male Assault

The Pentagon issued a report today showing a rise in the reports of male-on-male sexual assault between the fall of 2013 and summer of 2014.

Of course, opponents of ending Don’t Ask Don’t Tell say allowing openly gay men to serve in the military is the cause of the rise in reports.

Wrong.

I’m not so sure there’s been an actual increase in such assaults as much as the Pentagon has ramped up efforts to encourage men to come forward.

Statistics show men often never report being sexually assaulted because they don’t have confidence in the chain of command. Additionally, there is the social stigma and embarrassment attached to being viewed as “less than a man.”

More stats in the short video below.

(h/t JMG)

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Pentagon Close To Finalizing Plan To Allow Open Service By Transgender Individuals

The Associated Press has learned that Pentagon leaders are finalizing plans aimed at lifting the ban on transgender individuals serving in the military.

Senior U.S. officials say an announcement is expected this week. They say the military would have six months to determine the impact and work out details, with the presumption that they would end one of the last gender- or sexuality-based barriers to military service.

The officials say that during the transition, transgender individuals would still not be able to join the military. Decisions to force out those already serving would have to be referred to a top Defense Department leader.

(Via Huffington Post)

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Mini-Documentary: Make Now Matter

Created in collaboration with Kenneth Cole and the news folks at RYOT, check out this series of highly-stylized mini-docs that shed light on the hardships their subjects faced when growing up gay.

In the video below, Shawn & Thomas talk on their two very distinct experiences dealing with being gay and in the military. They were the ‘First Kiss’ in Navy history.

Well done and thoughtful.

RYOT works on the philosophy that people are empowered through information and that no matter who you are, you can inspire change by choosing action over passive consumption.