Yesterday, the Senate passed a bill that included an amendment to restore full COLA raises to military retirees. It wasn't a 100% erasure - new recruits as of Jan 1, 2014 will be looking at a different retirement than my husband. And it wasn't a perfect bill. The offset is an extension of Medicare sequestration - instead of ending in 2023, the sequestration is due to end in 2024.
I need to say Thank You. This community helped support this effort, not only by paying attention to my writing, but by contacting Representatives and Senators, by tweeting and retweeting messages, by sharing articles on Facebook, by spreading the word in any way you knew how. Our full COLA was restored because of a military/civilian partnership that worked. Thank you.
I want to write about what made this possible because there was something behind our partnership that made this work.
Back in 1995, Congress also made cuts to military retirees. They cut health care - changing a free system to a pay system even though Congress had promised free health care for life not only for the career service member but for their spouse. In the months that followed that cut, veterans organizations banded together; new groups came into existence; they tried to get the law reversed; they even went as far as to sue the government. And then lost. They were told, quite succinctly, that Congress doesn't make promises, they makes laws. And that was the end of it.
I remember this time very well. My father had been a military retiree for about a decade. He was angry at the government for what they had done. But he was also somewhat accepting of the decision. You see, my father didn't trust the government to make good decisions so this kind of act came as no surprise. He was a veteran that served during the Vietnam War though he avoided deployments to the war zone. He saw our government make poor decision after poor decision. He saw veterans treated in ways that did not reflect their service to our country.
My husband had been on active duty for a short time. We were stationed in Alaska, a place where a second lieutenant could cause few problems and could back up the squadron while more senior officers were sent to Desert Storm. We talked about the cuts and I was angrier than he was. I was angry for my father but I was also angry for us. If the government could make cuts to my husband's benefits this early in his career, what would be left by the end?
I already knew my husband was staying for a career. And even though we sat down at important points to discuss staying in or getting out, I'm not sure leaving service was ever a true option for him. At the five year point it would have been an easy decision. At the ten year point it started to become more complicated. By year fifteen, we would have been crazy to leave though, believe it or not, my husband had a moment when he thought the military no longer needed nor wanted him and with a little pressure, might have decided it was time to go. But throughout all, that pension was a strong motivating factor to keeping both of us committed to his service. I was always worried that they would somehow try to take it away after what they had done to my father. It's been on the back of my mind for practically forever.
So when the Congress passed the Bipartisan Budget Act in December and broke another promise, I was angry all over again. But I wasn't surprised. And I knew we had to fight like hell to get it back immediately. Because those retirees back in 1995 - they fought like hell and nothing changed. We had to fight even harder.
So imagine my surprise when I was invited to participate with a group working to change the cuts, the KeepYourPromise Alliance. And I mean almost immediately. It was just after the budget passed and emails and facebook messages were already flying back and forth across the intertubes. This time, it would be different. But why?
I think there are two main reasons. One is obviously the internet. We are able to organize in ways that weren't possible in 1995. Instead of making phone calls to each other, we could use Twitter and Facebook to gather like-minded folks. Organization can take place on a computer screen instead of in a local coffee shop. I mean, imagine a military spouse living in a foreign country without even a military base participating in this effort? That could never have happened in 1995. For a nationwide effort this is key. And it wasn't just the military community we were organizing. We could use social media to attract civilians who could help boost our numbers. Because the military community is small, we need civilian voices to help act as a megaphone. Your support was essential in this.
So the internet is a huge reason we succeeded. But there is another reason that I credit with being even more important: the vocal spouse.
Back in 1995, it was odd to find an active duty spouse who would speak out about political matters. And yes, this matter was political, though bi-partisan. Since that time, something has changed. No longer are military spouses content to only complain behind closed doors when we feel our government has been unfair to our active duty counterpart. We're willing to suck up a lot of pain and grief for our country. But you start treating our spouses like shit, and we start coming out of the woodwork.
This has been a process that the internet has helped spawn. Just look at the family and spouse organizations that were part of the #KeepYourPromise Alliance: Military Spouse Magazine, Military Spouse JD Network, USCM Life, National Military Family Association, My Military Life, Military Family Advisory Network, SpouseBuzz, Homefront United, Military Spouse C*E*O Experience, Army Wife Network, and NextGen Milspouse.
And this is just a beginning.
Just this week, Military Spouse JD Network sponsored a conference in Washington DC for spouses interested in running for office. They call the effort Homefront Rising. About 50 military spouses gathered and listened to the advise of: US Army veteran and Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill), military spouse and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R), USMC veteran and Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va), military brat and Congresswoman Niki Tsongas (D-Mass), Naval Aviator and Iraq/Afghanistan veteran and reservist Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Ok), Current National Guardswoman and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hi), and USAF Veteran and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wa).
Military spouses are organizing. They will be running for offices at the local, state, and national level. Just you wait and see.
And the next time Congress even considers cutting benefits to veterans, look out. #KeepYourPromise isn't going away anytime soon. In fact, I suggest you join us now so that we can help folks like Senator Bernie Sanders pass the Veteran's Omnibus Bill and we can prevent the next cuts when the DoD suggests trimming the budget by hitting health care for families or salaries for junior enlisted or closing commissaries.
There are two ways to keep up:
Twitter - follow the hashtag #KeepYourPromise
Facebook - The KeepYourPromise Alliance, 18,804 strong.
And once again, thank you. Thank you for all your calls, your emails, your letters, your tweets, your facebook shares. They made a difference. We couldn't have done this without you.