Defend Our Defenders!

     Barely a year has passed since our country reeled from the shock of a terrorist attack. In our current war on terrorism, many of our servicemen and women have been separated from their families and are putting their lives on the line to protect you and me. But what are we doing for them? 

     After the horror of September 11, 2001, a swell of patriotism began across the U.S.A. But more than just flag waving is called for. Since the “war to end all wars,” it seems as if both the respect and the benefits for our armed forces have gradually ebbed. This situation needs to change. Without our Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines and the U.S. Coast Guard, we would be, as my children put it, “mincemeat!” America and her freedoms mean a lot to me and I continuously thank these valiant guardians of our freedoms -- the United States armed forces.

     Both my Uncle Philip and my Aunt Mary served during WWI, the “war to end all wars.” He was a doughboy and she entertained the troops in Europe with her beautiful piano recitals through the U.S.O. program sponsored by the Y.M.C.A. The country swelled with patriotism, but as history has sadly shown, WWI didn’t end all wars. 

     I was born during WWII, when the American public was making valiant sacrifices for the war effort. As a child I heard many “war” stories. My family has always teased me about my love of bacon which was a rationed commodity. My parents attended weekly victory breakfasts at the local hotel, and Mama would take any pieces of bacon left on her friends’ plates home to me. My grandmother planted and carefully tended a red, white and blue garden in the shape of a “V” in our front yard. The first really huge parade I ever attended was to welcome General Eisenhower back home; people were massed along the streets, shouting and cheering, on fire with love for our country. Our own “homecoming” was even more special when my Uncle Sam A returned from the Navy. We proudly wore red paper poppies in our lapels every year.

     By the 1950s, it seems we Americans began the “downgrading” of war, and respect for our military began to slide as well. People didn’t seem to want to call the Korean “problem” a war, but a war it certainly was. And there was the same heartrending aftermath. My cousin Peter, my childhood hero, served in both the Army and the Marines. He returned with his body, but not his mind, intact. 

     While I was in high school, the American Legion sent me to a wonderful program for teens called Girls’ State. Here, my childhood patriotism increased as I studied the working of our government and the freedoms that our county, alone of all the countries in the world, enjoys. 

     During the Vietnam “conflict” I saw the agony with my own eyes. My husband was in the Navy, and my daughter was born at a naval dispensary at Port Hueneme, California. I cried bitter tears to see Old Glory burned in the streets while so many of our friends burned in the hellish heat of the Asian jungles. Some of those friends never returned. During the Gulf War, my hometown newspaper ran an article about my mother. All four of her grandchildren were in the military; two of them served in the war zone. 

     Today, my child is again in a war zone. While she is serving in the desert, my grandson Austin is living with me. He’s too young to understand all our patriotic values and the price of American freedom. He just misses his Mommy, and she misses him!

     I was prepared for his tears. I was not prepared for the shabby way the U.S. is treating the dependents of our military!

     When Joanna brought Austin to me this summer, he flew with her on a military plane from their current home in Okinawa to the Air Force base near San Francisco, California. Then, in spite of the fact that there are daily military flights to bases in Texas which have empty seats, they had to switch to a commercial air line. (Because of his young age, she also flew commercial.) Military dependents can‘t “hop“ (fly free on a space available basis) inside the continental U.S. Why? Presumably for fear of competing with our commercial air lines. Since we had to book a flight at the last minute, I expected to pay somewhat higher rates. But I nearly fainted when one major airline told me their rate for a one way ticket at their “special military discount” was over $800! We settled for another airline where the tickets were “only” $340 each.

     When I enrolled Austin in school, he needed to see a doctor to update his health records. I called the family practice clinic where my entire family has gone since my children were small and was rudely told that they don’t accept the military dependent’s insurance. Of the thousands of doctors in Houston, one of the world’s largest medical centers, only 69 general practitioners are listed who accept this insurance. A letter from the clinic informed me that the military insurance pays less than Medicare, and their affiliated hospital wouldn’t accept it. 

     I understand that many people choose HMO plans to lower their insurance rates and are restricted in their choice of doctors. But our service men and women have no choice as to the insurance furnished for their dependents other than to purchase a private policy which they certainly cannot afford on their pay.

     Now I have a choice: drive five hours to the closest military hospital facility or switch to a doctor who knows nothing of our family history.

     There is something terribly wrong here. As our armed forces risk their lives on foreign soil, at home they are being treated as the least, not the tops of our citizenry. 

     We all need to stop our flag waving for a minute and put our hands to more productive use. Or, as we say in Texas, “put your money where you mouth is.” If you value our freedoms, you need to defend our defenders. Whether you are politically a “hawk” or a “dove” is irrelevant; the hard fact is that these men and women are serving you and we are not serving them well. To quote President John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

     First, put your hands to work contacting your representatives, both state and national, and tell them how you feel. Then, fold them carefully and pray for all those who are risking their lives to defend us and the American way of life. After all, we are still ONE NATION UNDER GOD!  •

Click HERE to contact your representative about military benefits!