The NC Veterans Caucus is a an auxiliary organization to the North Carolina Democratic Party. Their mission is to contact active duty military, veterans and their families and to promote the Democratic party.
During the State Executive Committee Convention a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of hearing Captian Danny Britt, a member and officer of this organization speak. The NC Veterans Caucus is a an auxiliary organization to the North Carolina Democratic Party and has organized to reach out to veterans and bring them into the Democratic Big Tent.
One purpose of NC Vets is to give members an organized way to take part in the political process: for example, by registering voters, canvassing, and getting out the vote. As politically active veterans, we challenge the negative stereotypes that some military supporters have about Democrats. We can demonstrate which party really
"supports the troops."
The Democratic Veterans’ Caucus of North Carolina ("NC Vets") is open to all members of the armed forces, past and present, and to their families. The caucus stands for personal responsibility, shared sacrifice, and leadership by example, and its goal is to help elect public officials who share these values.
NC Vets has members from all age groups and eras of service, from WWII to Afghanistan and Iraq. We are determined to elect a government that our country can be proud of again.
For more information or to join, go to our website at www.ncvets.org
One of the many crimes of this administration is how they have exploited our national treasure, the men and women of the military. From the beginning when we were told that if we didn't go to war we could see mushroom clouds, to the mistreatment of soldiers coming home with PTSD, our soldiers have been used and abused by this administration and the Republican party.
Consider the following: (hat tip to Inthesetimes )
* With 130,000 soldiers still in the heat of battle in Iraq and more fighting and dying in Afghanistan, the Bush administration sought this year to cut $75 a month from the "imminent danger" pay added to soldiers’ paychecks when in battle zones. The administration sought to cut by $150 a month the family separation allowance offered to those same soldiers and others who serve overseas away from their families. Although they were termed "wasteful and unnecessary" by the White House, Congress blocked those cuts this year, largely because of Democratic votes.
* This year’s White House budget for Veterans Affairs cut $3 billion from VA hospitals — despite 9,000 casualties in Iraq and as aging Vietnam veterans demand more care. VA spending today averages $2,800 less per patient than nine years ago.
* The administration also proposed levying a $250 annual charge on all Priority 8 veterans — those with "non-service-related illnesses"—who seek treatment at VA facilities, and seeks to close VA hospitals to Priority 8 veterans who earn more than $26,000 a year.
* Until protests led to a policy change, the Bush administration also was charging injured GIs from Iraq $8 a day for food when they arrived for medical treatment at the Fort Stewart, Georgia, base where most injured are treated.
* In mid-October, the Pentagon, at the request of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, announced plans to shutter 19 commissaries> — military-run stores that offer discounted food and merchandise that helps low-paid enlisted troops and their families get by—along with the possibility of closing 19 more.
* At the same time, the Pentagon also announced it was trying to determine whether to shutter 58 military-run schools for soldiers’ children at 14 military installations.
* The White House is seeking to block a federal judge’s award of damages to a group of servicemen who sued the Iraqi government for torture during the 1991 Gulf War. The White House claims the money, to come from Iraqi assets confiscated by the United States, is needed for that country’s reconstruction.
* The administration beat back a bipartisan attempt in Congress to add $1.3 billion for VA hospitals to Bush’s request of $87 billion for war and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.
* In perhaps its most dangerous policy, the White House is refusing to provide more than 40,000 active-duty troops in Iraq with Kevlar body armor, leaving it up to them and their families to buy this life-saving equipment. This last bit of penny-pinching prompted Pentagon critic and Vietnam veteran Col. David Hackworth to point to "the cost of the extraordinary security" during Bush’s recent trip to Asia, which he noted grimly "would cover a vest for every soldier" in Iraq.