Dear Mr. President,
My name is Eric Massa, I am a 24 year medically retired US Navy Veteran and a candidate to the US House of Representatives, albeit not from your political Party. I have been a voice of moderation in the debates of the day and at times I have even tried to support the policies that your Administration has put forth - often out of deference to you as the President and the Office that you embody. I have also been a voice from the middle on many of the issues that we, as a nation, face today. But, this afternoon I am not writing to you as a political candidate - rather I am addressing this letter to you as a Veteran, the son of a Veteran and the brother of a Veteran.
You see, I held as my life's goal to attend and graduate from the US Naval Academy, thus following in my father's Navy footsteps. I come from a family where respect for my parents was something that I learned at a very early age and I held my father's uniform above all else. I remember at a very early age thinking how important it was to apply a spit shine to my father's aviation uniform shoes so he would appear up to snuff. My younger brother, who followed me into active duty as a Navy SEAL, nearly gave his life on many occasions and in many actions all over the world. Ours was, and continues to be, the physical embodiment of a traditional military family that has for generations supplied our sons and daughters to the service of this Nation and the civilian leaders who command our military.
I watched as a child when every Veterans day the President of the United States would honor Veterans by speaking to the nation about what it meant to stay for years away from family - I was on a deployment aboard the USS NEW JERSEY that broke all the records and learned first hand what my father had learned during his many deployments during the Korean and Vietnam wars. The President always spoke to the nation about what it meant to lose friends and family members in time of conflict -- something I came to learn when I watched my Naval Academy roommate die in the implosion of the USMC HQs in Beirut. The President also always spoke about how important it is to keep our promises to Veterans. I have since learned that these promises are not being kept under the control of your party's majority inasmuch as, among other things, many VA centers are closed and the Keep our Promises Act languishes in Congress. Another thing the President always spoke about is the need to support our active duty military. Yet we are every day reminded of the shortages in equipment and benefits for our fighting men and women.
Every other President I have known has thus spoken to the Nation on Veterans Day.
On this most recent Veterans Day you chose to break from that tradition. You chose to send the Vice President to Arlington and, instead of honoring Veterans, you spoke of how to find justification in going to war on faulty intelligence because, according to you, your current political challengers then agreed with you. Instead of honoring Veterans, you spoke about how following misinformation was not your fault because, according to you, Senators and Congressman from your rival political Party followed you. Instead of honoring Veterans, you chose to make this most recent Veterans Day a day of political charges and self defense. By choosing to act in this way, you issued such disrespect for the Veterans community... that I could hardly believe what I was hearing on the television.
Mr. President, your actions were totally disrespectful to the service my father gave this nation during his 30 year plus career all over the world. You were totally disrespectful of the service my brother gave to this nation in Somalia and throughout the world. And you were totally disrespectful of the ultimate sacrifice given by my friend and brother in arms, my roommate who died in a far away and now largely forgotten land because some politician thought he knew more about the military than the leaders of the military itself. The Office of the President remains as the icon of our Nation but, because of your actions, I can no longer respect you as the leader you try to present yourself to be.
Veteran's Day was not the first instance of disrespectful behavior. Your Administration talks of supporting Veterans while closing VA centers around the Nation under the cleverly named program: CARES. Your Administration declares the need for a top to bottom benefit review of Veterans receiving medical benefits and backs off only when there is a political outcry from the many organizations working overtime to protect benefits already in place. Your Administration states that honoring Veterans is a National priority and then threatens to veto a budget that allows Retired Veterans to collect disability in the same manner that all other civil servants are allowed. Your Administration so underfunds the VA Administration that it now runs out of money in June.
It has become so bad that the National Commander of the Disabled American Veterans has issued a letter calling for the same focus that I am calling for- this from a totally non-partisan organization that prides itself on staying out of politics. The problem is that the politics of your Administration are hurting the very Veterans you claim to stand and honor. All the while your Administration is standing in front of Veterans at every opportunity, you are shaking our right hand and cutting off our left - and frankly we need both to pull the knife out of our backs.
You, Sir, will stand in front of any group of service personnel for a photo-op. But in reality, as indicated by your actions on this most recent Veterans Day and as otherwise mentioned above, you stand behind none of us. As a Veteran who is the son of a Veteran, the brother of a Veteran and the friend of a Veteran who gave his life for his country, I denounce these politics of divisive disrespect, both by you and by those in Congress who rubberstamp your policies, with every fiber of my being. Veterans deserve leaders who will not only work to deserve a photo with the troops but who will also offer true respect and leadership to those who have proudly served and protected this great nation and to those who are in uniform today doing the same. I will work to make sure Veterans get the leaders they deserve.
In the future you might consider reserving Veterans Day for honoring veterans and not for making political speeches while you send your representatives to do what every other President in my lifetime has taken to be a personal responsibility.
My name is Eric Massa and I stand behind these words because I wrote them and believe in them with my entire being.
Sincerely yours,
Eric Massa