Talking to Veterans About Kerry

John Kerry will provide Mandatory Funding for the Veterans Administration Health Care Budget. He will provide sufficient resources to his Secretary of Veterans Affairs to reverse the chronically under funded Bush Administration Policies that keep 90,000 veterans waiting for health care appointments and excludes 500,000 eligible veterans from the VA Health care System. He will stop VA Hospital closures.

* John Kerry will reverse the VA Budget $1.8 billion cut in appropriations for 04’ and $1.3 billion cut for 05’ by the Bush/Republican Congress. Last year the House Republican Conference published a document called "Fighting The Good Fight". They said they would place the highest priority to restoring the $1.8 billion cut in 04’ to the 05’ VA Budget. Really? A Kerry administration will never balance the federal budget on the backs of veterans. Earlier this year the White House strongly opposed the provisions to allocate an additional $1.3 billion for VA Health care because the 05’ provisions …"are not directly related to ongoing military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere or relief and reconstruction activities." The President of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Thomas H. Corey, responded …"How is it that Congress can write a check for $87 billion to continue funding the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but when those who fight that war need medical care, they are treated as second-class citizens? How can this administration argue that an additional $1.3 billion for health care is not related to the war effort? "

* John Kerry will stop the Bush Administration "disabled veterans tax" on disabled Military Retiree’s benefits which reduced their retirement pay dollar-for-dollar if they accept VA disability compensation for service connected injuries. He will grant full "Concurrent Receipt" to fairly compensate soldiers and their families for their valiant service. John Kerry will also stop the "widow tax" which the Bush Administration imposed on military widows, reducing their benefit by 35 percent at age 62.

* John Kerry will stop the Bush/Republican Congress Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round for 2005. No more discussions about any Military Base closure while the nation continues its War Against Terror. All Kansas Bases are safe. A Kerry Administration will bring home two Divisions from Europe Bases in Germany and England. The Big Red "1" should be coming home to Fort Riley, under a Kerry Administration! Additionally, John Kerry will expand the US Army by two Divisions (40,000 + Troops) as he continues to build up the Bush Administration cuts to our volunteer Armed Forces

* John Kerry will modernize and upgrade our defense programs to make our Armed Forces more …"Mobile, lighter and faster". He will increase appropriations for the Boeing C-17 cargo/troops transport aircraft and the GM Striker Armored Vehicle, both in high demand and desperately needed by our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. A Kerry Administration will properly compensate our soldiers and their families for their service. He will restore Combat Pay, ("imminent danger pay" and "family separation allowances"), which were stopped a few months ago by President Bush when he declared on a Navy Aircraft Carrier circling off the coast of San Diego, California ..."Mission Accomplished". A Kerry Administration will not force Combat Wounded Soldiers to pay for each meal served to them in Military/VA Hospitals. He will treat our troops and their families with respect, dignity and fairness, improving, not cutting school funding, offering "a decent wage", (military pay increases) along with special compensation for housing, health care and other services threatened by the Bush Administration. John Kerry will support the National Guard and Reservists with mortgage insurance, tax credits and health insurance for those members called to active duty service. He will protect Family Members who lose a Loved One. The Bush Administration has opposed increasing the death benefit paid to the families of those who die in battle. John Kerry will support compensation provided to surviving families by mandating a $250,000 non-taxable life insurance plan for all service members, eliminating the need to pay individual premiums for all soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines serving in harms’ way.

* John Kerry will have a "New World Vision". A Kerry Administration will reach out to our "Old Europe"/Traditional NATO partners, (France, Germany and Canada) and our new partners such as Russia to bring to the world table of understanding their leadership skills, technical resources, monetary commitments, humanitarian responsibilities and Peace Keeping Armed Forces to help the US bring order and stability to Iraq and other world trouble spots. John Kerry will work with the United Nations to bring lasting peace and democracy to all the international areas where we have been called. He will put a stop to the Bush Administration incompetence in world affairs, which he has called …"the most arrogant, reckless and shortsighted of any Administration in the history of the United States of America."

* John Kerry will never violate Army Regulation 360 and other applicable Department of Defense long standing directives not to campaign for President on military posts and bases as President Bush has in his numerous Presidential Campaign appearances at Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine installations here in America and abroad. John Kerry will never use military members, military equipment and military installations as backdrops for a Presidential Campaign as President Bush and the Republican National Committee with their political partisanship, views and false posturing has. John Kerry stands for the right of each individual of the defense community (Active Components, Reserve, National Guard and Department of Defense Civilian Employees, their Dependents, Family and Friends) to cast his or her vote, free and undue of any command influence, interference and/or harassment. John Kerry does not need to "Dress Up" and land on an Aircraft Carrier to prove that he looks good in a Navy Aviator Suit, he … "Knows Aircraft Carriers for Real!".

* John Kerry and many other Vietnam Veterans have been unfairly targeted by the current President and the Republican National Committee who have made great claims to the so called "Ribbons and Medals Protest", where our candidate and several thousand other Vietnam Veterans Against the War threw over a fence some ribbons. Here are the true facts.

    Those Vietnam Combat Veterans had requested and received permission to have a demonstration permit, to exercise their freedom of speech, earned on the battlefields of Vietnam, to reverently protest the War at the Steps in front of the US Capital. When the Nixon Administration discovered this planned protest, Washington D.C. Police were dispatched to block the legal demonstration by erecting a temporary chain link fence in front of the Capital Steps to stop the Veterans from the ceremony of laying their ribbons on those Steps as they had planned. In a hastily improvised decision, these honorable Veterans were forced to change their method of protest, in an attempt to regain their visibility, to bring maximum attention to the illegal, immoral, and shameful Nixon Administration policies that had unnecessarily continued the War in Vietnam, causing needless grave pain and suffering to the people of that region, injuries and casualties to American and Republic of Vietnam soldiers. They decided to throw over that chain link fence, a few lesser ribbons, to make a stand, the only way they thought they could on that day.

    Honorable Combat Veterans, Peacefully Assembled, with an Approved Demonstration Permit, Forced, Illegally and without Provocation to an area behind a Chain Link Fence, at the US Capital Steps, improvised their exercise of Freedom of Speech, protected by the Constitution of the United States of America, in a Free Land they had defended, honorably, with their lives, were forced to make a stand. Those improvised and measured actions are something the Bush/RNC wants you to believe was not a patriotic and selfless act by Courageous and Honorable Veterans on that sad day, at the Steps of our Nations Capital.

    The United States Government had officially recognized Lieutenant Kerry for his courage and Commitment for his service. The special order and official proclamation was a symbol of that action, with colors of a cloth or ribbon and a medal, awarded as proclaimed by a certificate and special order number. It is impossible to throw away an award made by the U.S. Government. That is because the award, itself, comes from leadership and is certified by proclamation and special military order. The individual never owns the award and the special order allows them to wear a symbol, but that’s all it is.

    By using symbols to strike at injustice, John Kerry and all the other Patriotic Vietnam Veterans Against the War, did a courageous act that day, by throwing back over a chain link fence the symbols of their valor. They did not throw back such a prestigious award as the Silver Star. They threw back lesser ribbons to the government to protest the dishonorable actions of the Nixon Administration, not our brave soldiers who served honorably in Vietnam, as a symbol, because the government had denied them any other means of making their views known.

* John Kerry volunteered for service in Vietnam after college graduation, something few of his fellow graduates did. He went over as a Naval Officer and in his second deployment served as the skipper of a swift boat that patrolled the Mekong Delta. Lt. Kerry was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and Combat V, three Purple Hearts, the Presidential Unit Citation for Extraordinary Heroism, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, three Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medals, the Combat Action Ribbon and others. He is a cofounder of the Vietnam Veterans of America and a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He has devoted his entire career to Public Service, having served as Attorney General, Lt. Governor and now a United States Senator from Massachusetts. In the United States Senate he has led the fight to investigate the fate of POW/MIAs in Vietnam, treat and compensate victims of Agent Orange and study the cause of war-related illnesses in Gulf War veterans.

* John Kerry returned from Vietnam and went to work organizing The Vietnam Veterans Against the War. It was a patriotic and selfless act and his right to stand up against the war, that he had fought in and tell the American People about the truth of that conflict. We know all of this because it is a matter of public record. We know where John Kerry was, what he was doing and can chronical all of his activities, during any time or place that he was from the time he was born until now. All Americans can be proud of his service to our country in Vietnam and after the War here in the U.S.A.!

* John Kerry has earned the respect and trust of hundreds of thousands of Vietnam War Veterans, and they all want to know where was President George W. Bush during the Vietnam War?

We know that George Bush was a pilot for the Texas Air National Guard, flying an obsolete 50’s era F-102 jet, protecting Texas from Vietnam. Where was he for 18 months when he went to work on a failed Republican Congressional Campaign in Alabama?

We know that George Bush did not train on the different model of obsolete jet fighter The Alabama Air National Guard flew. The Alabama Air National Guard had no fighter jets.

We know that George Bush "Stood Down", refused to take his Flight Medical, not once, but twice during that period of time. He was also ticketed twice during that period of time for Driving While Intoxicated, presumably as part of his chemical dependence illness.

And we know that George Bush was observed reading car magazines -- not flight manuals -- in the Adjutant Generals’ office in a Hanger of the Alabama Air National Guard, in a time when so many of his countrymen were making painful sacrifices in Southeast Asia.

We should all challenge President Bush to stop questioning the actions of An American War Hero, John Kerry, about his service in Vietnam and after the War, and start telling the American People the truth about where he was, and what he was doing and why such a large gap exists in his service record!

* John Kerry returned from Vietnam and went to work organizing The Vietnam Veterans Against the War. It was a patriotic and selfless act and his right to stand up against the war, that he had fought in and tell the American People about the truth of that conflict. In his testimony, under oath to the United States Congress he told the Nation the truth that the Nixon Administration wanted to block. Most of our soldiers served honorably in Vietnam, but some did not. The sacrifices of so many were stained by a few who acted without regard for human consequence. In many ways his testimony was like the brave American soldiers in Iraq who have recently come forward to report to their commanders about the abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners.

The Congressional testimony, given under oath by Lieutenant Kerry, honorably discharged, highly decorated, American War Hero has been twisted and used by the Bush/RNC machine to make the claim that John Kerry told the Congress that all American soldiers in Vietnam had acted dishonorably and were War Criminals.

This is simply not true. John Kerry never said that, not once, not ever. John Kerry is proud of his service in Vietnam and he is proud to have served with his Band of Brothers and should defense of freedom demand, John Kerry would go to war with them again, anytime, anywhere to protect America.

*****Special thanks to the Kansas Veteran for Kerry who contributed these talking points to our Georgia Chapter*****

Please share these talking points with your friends and families. With 200,000 veterans due to become active on the Veteran's Administration Programs, it is essential that the needs of these men and women be honored as "part and parcel" of the contract their government made with them when it sent them to war. In Richmond and Columbia Counties where I live in Georgia, the civilian veteran population numbers 35,300 -- 18% of the total population of both counties. 13% of Georgia's total population are civilian veterans (U.S. Census Bureau Report, 2000).