Dear Senator Boxer,
I doubt you remember me but we met once at DLI in Monterey. You gave a wonderful speech and despite the warnings from your staff and DLI PA made some great comments about Congressman Farr. I loved you disregard for the "rules" and the look of "what can I do?" on your senior aides face was priceless.
Today you and the rest of the Senate voted to reduce my retirement. Today six of my peers died in Afghanistan. I don't know how you square that circle. You have no issue asking us to be at war for 12+ years but don't want to pay the bill if we happen to survive.
When you came to DLI you were helping right a wrong. We went into Afghanistan and Iraq with too few linguists and you wanted to help us fix that by expanding the Arabic, Dari and Pashto programs. Linguists are boring compared to jets and ships but you supported us because it was the right thing to do. I have never forgotten that.
We also went in with too few people, too little equipment even too little ammunition. But we went anyway and my friends paid for that with their lives. I drove around Baghdad in a thin skin Land Cruiser and shared body armor with a peer. I shared ammunition. I survived but the message I received today was "should have died."
I cannot think of anything more insulting than retroactively cutting retirement for military. You lavish us with praise while we are useful. You come to our ceremonies and tell our families you support us. But once we are no longer someone you can send off to die, you go back on your word. For 27 years the Army has told me "you give us 100% and we will take care of you." I have given my 100% and now you want to give me 99% back. Then 97, 96, 95.....I guess I have been a fool to keep my end of that deal.
Walk out of your office and go down to the mall. 58,191 names across 140 panels. One is my father. He died 2 months before I was born. As I headed off to Afghanistan in 2010, my 4th deployment in a decade, I told my family not to worry, that the Army would always take care of us. Little did I know they would be better off if I had died. Little did I know that as long as I survived you could go back on our bargain. I guess my dad was lucky not to survive long enough to have his country tell him he didn't give enough.