Military

By Steven O'Hern, Reader Advisory Panel 2008

As a retired Air Force officer and an Iraq War vet, I am disgusted and embarrassed about two stories showing how our tax dollars are wasted and the safety of troops in Iraq is jeopardized.

The United States and NATO appear to be losing ground in Afghanistan, where the Bush administration has failed to focus on the fight against the terrorist forces responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

The central problem is clear, as explained last week by our nation’s highest military officer.

A plan to shrink the number of electricity companies in the Kansas City area deserves a full, public discussion by state regulators.

Yet Great Plains Energy twice has tried to prevent the public from getting information about how the company operates, even while the company — the parent of Kansas City Power & Light — seeks regulatory approval to buy debt-ridden Aquila.

The suicide rate among troops in the active-duty Army — the only service that releases such statistics — is worrisome and demands greater attention.

The Army points out that the current rates are below civilian levels when the statistics are corrected to apply to an age and gender mix equal to the Army’s.

The U.S. Senate paid a fitting tribute to members of the armed services last week by expanding education benefits for veterans.

The proposed new G.I. Bill is a statement that those who go to war for their nation deserve generous help with paying for college.

(By Kansas City Star editorial page columnist Mary Sanchez)

Statistics on Immigrant Service Members on Active Duty:
Approximately 65,000 immigrants serve in the armed forces.
More than two-thirds of the foreign born serving in the armed forces are naturalized citizens.

A recent study by the Rand Corp. concludes that about 33 percent of troops who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan returned with mental health problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial board

Oh, to be a retired military commander in the days of the Bush administration.

The New York Times details today just how good life is for some of these guys.

By Steven O'Hern, Reader Advisory Panel 2008

Not too many vets have fought in both Vietnam and Iraq, but the Air Force is flying one. A C-130 transport aircraft that flew supplies into Khe Sanh during the 77 day battle in 1968 when the North Vietnamese Army cut off most supply routes is currently on duty in Iraq. Built in 1962, the airplane is older than most of its crew members.

A few thoughts from Missouri Congressman Ike Skelton, who spent about 45 minutes with the editorial board this morning:

U.S. Navy warships came within seconds of firing on Iranian speedboats that warned they were coming and that the Navy ships would soon explode. The Associated Press reported that on Sunday five small speedboats began dropping boxes in the paths of three Navy warships in the Strait of Hormuz that required the ships to take evasive action to avoid the boxes. In radio communication between the two sides, the speedboats told the warships, "we're coming at you and you'll explode in a couple minutes."

The BBC speculated the boats were operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the same force that took 15 British sailors captive in March 2007.

Reader Advisory Panel member J.W. Larrick believes that the media mostly underplayed the story of a Medal of Honor ceremony held Monday in Washington. President Bush presented the medal to the mother of former Navy Seal Lt. Michael Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005.
Larrick is right on here. Murphy's story is truly inspiring and deserves all the recognition it can get.
John B. Dwyer has the official citation on the American Thinker blog.
Charles E. Coulter, Opinion Page Editor

"The job of the military is to go to war and win, not to be instruments of social experimentation." - Rush Limbaugh, on gays in the military.

On 26 July 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, establishing the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. Up to that point, blacks had been kept separate from whites in the military and in most federal agencies.

Would Rush Limbaugh and other social conservatives of today have opposed a social experiment such as integrating the armed forces?

And what if an "experiment" turns out to work? England, Australia, Canada, New Zealand Israel, Holland, Denmark, South Africa, and many other countries allow gays to serve openly in their militaries; is there any evidence that this has compromised the quality of their armed forces?

The Bush administration led us into an ill-conceived invasion of Iraq, and has stretched our military incredibly thin. Yet the administration places our armed forces at risk by kicking out thousands of homosexual soldiers, including those with critical skills. This is an egregious error, and many Republicans and former military leaders are now speaking in favor of allowing gays to serve openly in our military. A change is long overdue.

- Albert St. George, reader advisory panel