Betrayal of our Commitment to our National Guard and Veterans
Across the State of Idaho our returning soldiers are telling what is happening to them when they return home from the war. It is a shocking story.
When our Idaho National Guard is called up, they leave their jobs and family, report to duty and are integrated into the regular army or marine fighting units in which they will serve while in Iraq.
When the regular army or marines return home they return to their bases to waiting families and a huge support group. They are still on the government payroll with medical benefits.
When our Idaho National Guard returns from the war they are discharged. They return home to their family and to frequently find that the job they left is no longer available to them. So they are without a job, have no income, have no health benefits and have a family to take care of. Many of them have war related injuries. When they go to the Veterans Administration for help it takes up to 6 months to get an appointment. Then it can take up to two years before they actually get the medical attention they need and deserve. In the meantime the returning Guard member and his family fall into deep despair. This is not just in one area of Idaho, it is over the entire state. The suicide rate for National Guard Veterans is the highest of all military units.
How our National Guard is currently being treated is a national tragedy and a betrayal of trust. Why has our leadership, federal and state, allowed this to happen? You, the citizens of Idaho, must demand that this problem be immediately fixed and fixed now. I promise our Vets and their families that I will not rest until this betrayal of trust is reversed. This cannot be allowed to continue.
If we are going to send them to war, then we must take care of them when they return or do not send them at all.