Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 40
  1. #1
    Soon to be Memphibian

    Frozen Sooner's Avatar
    Location
    Anchorage-->Tuscaloosa-->Memphis-->Huntsville
    Posts
    30,290
    vCash
    500

    Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Army Cuts Off Pay for Territorial Guardsmen
    by Rebecca Palsha
    Thursday, January 22, 2009

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska-- The army has declared that the Alaska Territorial Guard's service no longer qualifies for retirement benefits.

    The military plans to terminate retirement pensions for the mostly native militia formed during World War II to guard the Alaskan territory from increasing Japanese attacks during the war.

    Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she is concerned with the timing of the cut, considering high fuel costs in remote villages this time of year.

    "You just have to ask the question how can our government be so insensitive," Murkowski said. "Taking retirement benefits out of the pockets of seniors at a time of the year that they are absolutely the most vulnerable."

    The 25 long retired militia men, who are now in their 80s, will lose an average of $400 from their monthly retirement pay.

    Letters informing the militia members of the retirement cut are in the mail.

    "Those letters will tell these 25 elderly Alaskans that the army has changed its mind about whether their service in the Alaska territorial guard during World War II counts toward military retirement," Murkowski said.

    Robert Goodman with the Alaska Territorial Guard organization said some of the blame falls on Alaskan officials, but mainly on Gen. Craig Campbell who Goodman said never made it a priority getting the men recognized by the federal government.

    "I think we should raise enough hell for these senior veterans that somebody looks really bad for not taking care of these people," Goodman said. "These are veterans."

    But Campbell said this is a federal decision and that he's severely disappointed.

    "I personally have contacted all the congressional delegations staffers who've communicated with the Army," Campbell said. "I've been in contact as to what the progress is, I've informed the governor, and a letter is being drafted to Obama that I believe the governor will sign."

    The army plans to cut the retirement credit on Feb. 1.

    Murkowski said she'd like to see the defense department continue to pay these men, and if not she says the Obama administration should send legislation to Congress ending any doubt the service should count as military service before the reduction takes place.
    http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=9718734

    If you're interested in the service of the men of the Alaska Territorial Guard and what role they played in WW2, here's the Wikipedia link.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Territorial_Guard
    "The choices we discern as having been made in the Constitutional Convention impose burdens on governmental proceses that often seem clumsy, inefficient, even unworkable, but those hard choices were consciously made by men who had lived under a form of government that permitted arbitrary governmental acts to go unchecked." INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983) (Burger, C.J.)

  2. #2
    SoonerFans.com Elite Member Crucifax Autumn's Avatar
    Location
    Las Vegas
    Posts
    15,698
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    That's completely retarded. The repeated disrespect to Veterans in recent years is absolutely ridiculous.
    __________________

    When the Shooting Starts, We Kill What Moves
    Roland Deschain of Gilead
    ________

    - Olevet Posse Gunslinger -

  3. #3
    Sooner All-World olevetonahill's Avatar
    Location
    the Hills of S/E Ok
    Posts
    64,897
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Mike, Before I go off on My senator and such can I get a point or 2 Clarified ?
    They are Talking Retirement, Does that mean these Men and Women .Served Other than the ATG? Or Is this a stipend for just serving in the ATG ?
    Regardless I fail to see how cutting off these fine folks from about 10K a Month will help In anyway .
    http://www.soonerfans.com/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=38933&dateline=130040  9398

    Quote
    If God wanted Men to look women in the eyes, He wouldnt have gave em Boobs !

  4. #4
    SoonerFans.com Elite Member Crucifax Autumn's Avatar
    Location
    Las Vegas
    Posts
    15,698
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    I see what ye sayin' vet, but damn! Not like these guys are gonna be drainin' tha system for another 40 years!

    I mean...crap man...How many times can they tell vets that their money's bein' cut off or that they don't know what PTSD is and they ain't never heard of a psychiatrist? How many times can they say "huh...Gulf wat whatdrome?".

    I never served and maybe that makes me take it a little different...I think guys better than me oughtta be treated right and quite hobetly the military and the last 2 administrations of guys like me that either didn't serve or didn't show up ignoring their needs is kinda offensive. It makes us lifelong civilians look like A-holes with a capital AZZ!
    __________________

    When the Shooting Starts, We Kill What Moves
    Roland Deschain of Gilead
    ________

    - Olevet Posse Gunslinger -

  5. #5
    Sooner All-World olevetonahill's Avatar
    Location
    the Hills of S/E Ok
    Posts
    64,897
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    I agree bro . a little Math tells me its Only 10k a Month from the the Gov. but a small fortune to these men and women .
    Why Just think with what the Gov. will save by cuttin em off will Pay for One Limo fer the Pres.
    http://www.soonerfans.com/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=38933&dateline=130040  9398

    Quote
    If God wanted Men to look women in the eyes, He wouldnt have gave em Boobs !

  6. #6
    SoonerFans.com Elite Member Crucifax Autumn's Avatar
    Location
    Las Vegas
    Posts
    15,698
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    lol...or, just to take the other side, 1 more bridge in Alaska!
    __________________

    When the Shooting Starts, We Kill What Moves
    Roland Deschain of Gilead
    ________

    - Olevet Posse Gunslinger -

  7. #7
    Sooner All-World olevetonahill's Avatar
    Location
    the Hills of S/E Ok
    Posts
    64,897
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    I already sent this to My Veterans Issues Board .
    http://www.soonerfans.com/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=38933&dateline=130040  9398

    Quote
    If God wanted Men to look women in the eyes, He wouldnt have gave em Boobs !

  8. #8
    Sooner All-World olevetonahill's Avatar
    Location
    the Hills of S/E Ok
    Posts
    64,897
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Hey Mike can ya keep us updated on this ?
    Thanks
    http://www.soonerfans.com/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=38933&dateline=130040  9398

    Quote
    If God wanted Men to look women in the eyes, He wouldnt have gave em Boobs !

  9. #9
    Soon to be Memphibian

    Frozen Sooner's Avatar
    Location
    Anchorage-->Tuscaloosa-->Memphis-->Huntsville
    Posts
    30,290
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Will do as I get more news. There was a good article in the ADN yesterday, I'll see if I can find it online.
    "The choices we discern as having been made in the Constitutional Convention impose burdens on governmental proceses that often seem clumsy, inefficient, even unworkable, but those hard choices were consciously made by men who had lived under a form of government that permitted arbitrary governmental acts to go unchecked." INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983) (Burger, C.J.)

  10. #10
    Soon to be Memphibian

    Frozen Sooner's Avatar
    Location
    Anchorage-->Tuscaloosa-->Memphis-->Huntsville
    Posts
    30,290
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Army cuts off pay for WWII Alaska militia veterans

    By RACHEL D'ORO / Associated Press Writer

    Published: January 22nd, 2009 05:19 PM
    Last Modified: January 22nd, 2009 06:09 PM

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Army has decided to cut off retirement pay for veterans of a largely Native militia formed to guard the territory of Alaska from the threat of Japanese attack during World War II.

    The change means 26 surviving members of the Alaska Territorial Guard - most in their 80s and long retired - will lose as much as $557 in monthly retirement pay, a state veterans officer said Thursday. The payments end Feb. 1, according to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

    "What kind of a government, what kind of a Cruella, could cut retirement benefits to a group of Eskimos in their 80s in the dead of Alaskan winter?" the Alaska Republican asked Thursday on the Senate floor. "It is time for some soul searching on this at the Pentagon."

    Applications for retirement pay from 37 others have been suspended.

    The state is pursuing a remedy for "these brave Alaskans, who did so much for the cause of freedom during a time of great national peril," Gov. Sarah Palin said.

    The action comes almost a decade after Congress passed a law qualifying time served in the unpaid guard as active federal service. The Army agreed in 2004 to grant official military discharge certificates to members or their survivors.

    An Army official said the law was misinterpreted. The law applies to military benefits, including medical benefits, but not retirement pay, said Lt. Col. Richard McNorton, with the Army's human resources command in Alexandria, Va.

    "The focus is to follow the law," he said. "We can't choose whether to follow the law."

    The Army doesn't intend to seek to recoup past pay, he said.

    About 300 members are still living from the original 6,600-member unit called up from 1942 to 1947 to scout patrols, build military airstrips and perform other duties. But only a fraction had enough other military service to reach the 20-year requirement for retirement pay.

    Among those who did is 88-year-old Paul Kiunya in the western Alaska village of Kipnuk. Kiunya was 16 when he joined the territorial guard and worked in communications, reporting by radio any unusual noises or the direction of aircraft, including some Japanese planes he spotted.

    "We did not get one cent being in the territorial guard," he said. "And we worked hard."

    Kiunya - who later put in 22 years in the National Guard and another decade in the Guard reserves - will lose more than $358 a month in his retirement package because of the Army's decision. With gasoline in his village at almost $10 a gallon, that's a huge amount to lose.

    "I don't know why they trying to cut the pay. It's not good for us right now," he said in a phone interview. "It's not right."

    Murkowski and fellow Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, a Democrat, are preparing legislation clarifying that service in the territorial guard counts as active duty for calculating retirement pay, she told her Senate colleagues.

    Murkowski said Alaska's three-member congressional delegation also have sent a letter to President Barack Obama to intervene to ensure that those affected by "this tragic, tragic series of events do not lose the safety net."
    "The choices we discern as having been made in the Constitutional Convention impose burdens on governmental proceses that often seem clumsy, inefficient, even unworkable, but those hard choices were consciously made by men who had lived under a form of government that permitted arbitrary governmental acts to go unchecked." INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983) (Burger, C.J.)

  11. #11
    SoonerFans.com Elite Member 85Sooner's Avatar
    Location
    EDMOND OK
    Posts
    5,962
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    This doesn't surprise me a bit from who the population decided should be making the decisions to run the country. I will write and add to it the disagreement that I have with voting for a SOB who doesn't want and didn't pay his taxes to be the Sec of the Treas. Thanks froz
    OBAMA= One Big A** Mistake America!

  12. #12
    Sooner All-World olevetonahill's Avatar
    Location
    the Hills of S/E Ok
    Posts
    64,897
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Right after you posted this . I emailed My Veterans group . They have helped spread this news all over . I gots a feeling those men wont Miss a check
    http://www.soonerfans.com/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=38933&dateline=130040  9398

    Quote
    If God wanted Men to look women in the eyes, He wouldnt have gave em Boobs !

  13. #13
    Sooner All-World olevetonahill's Avatar
    Location
    the Hills of S/E Ok
    Posts
    64,897
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Quote Originally Posted by 85Sooner View Post
    This doesn't surprise me a bit from who the population decided should be making the decisions to run the country. I will write and add to it the disagreement that I have with voting for a SOB who doesn't want and didn't pay his taxes to be the Sec of the Treas. Thanks froz
    Dude wake up and smell the Coffee. This has Nothing to do with whos the Pres.
    The ARMY decided this **** . Hopefully President Obama will see that its corrected .
    http://www.soonerfans.com/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=38933&dateline=130040  9398

    Quote
    If God wanted Men to look women in the eyes, He wouldnt have gave em Boobs !

  14. #14
    SoonerFans.com Elite Member Harry Beanbag's Avatar
    Location
    Back in the 480
    Posts
    14,667
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    This is horrible, this idea.

  15. #15
    Mmm... ...ribs.

    BigRedJed's Avatar
    Location
    Keepin' it Crippin' in the 405
    Posts
    18,813
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Good grief. Are you ****ing kidding me? Absolutely shameful.
    Well, crap.

  16. #16
    Sooner All-World olevetonahill's Avatar
    Location
    the Hills of S/E Ok
    Posts
    64,897
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Wright yer congressmen and Senators Peeps . These Old Peeps aint gonna get their Money come the 1st of Feb. less something Happens to change it .
    http://www.soonerfans.com/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=38933&dateline=130040  9398

    Quote
    If God wanted Men to look women in the eyes, He wouldnt have gave em Boobs !

  17. #17

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Our government just spent over 800 BILLION dollars bailing out banks & other bull****, but decides not to finish out veterans' pensions?

    Shameful but typical.


    Guns & God clinger-to'er.

  18. #18
    SoonerFans.com Elite Member
    Location
    Location: Location:
    Posts
    15,968
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Wow. Just wow.

  19. #19
    Sooner Starter AggieTool's Avatar
    Location
    GooberVille
    Posts
    938
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    So what's the governor doing about it?

  20. #20
    Sooner All-World olevetonahill's Avatar
    Location
    the Hills of S/E Ok
    Posts
    64,897
    vCash
    500

    Re: Please write your congressman and Senators to protest

    Quote Originally Posted by AggieTool View Post
    So what's the governor doing about it?
    Since its a Decision from the US Army ya idjit Not Much She can do But bitch like the rest of us .
    http://www.soonerfans.com/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=38933&dateline=130040  9398

    Quote
    If God wanted Men to look women in the eyes, He wouldnt have gave em Boobs !

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •