(This budget mess is really quite frustrating on a whole bunch of levels. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

With the California budget crisis ongoing, it's safe to say that certain groups are going to be upset when their funding is cut or they are left out of the budget all together. However, yesterday, the LA Times article “California National Guard losing budget battle in Legislature” outlined how our State's National Guard will maintain its place as last in the nation when it comes to providing it's members educational benefits.

This is abhorrent, especially when one considers how our National Guard is being asked to do more and more these days. Think about it: Iraq, patrolling the border with Mexico, fighting fires, etc… You would think that the least we could do is provide them a tuition assistance program. As it stands, California is the only state in the country to not provide this basic benefit for it's members.

To add insult to injury, this was the second year in a row funding for the proposed program was cut. This despite the resolution I authored and passed within the California Democratic Party last year.

 If we don't start taking care of our National Guard, who's going to be there for us when the fires are burning out of control or we need emergency response after a major earthquake?

Generally, we progressive Democrats have had little confidence in the Bush Administration to run an effective, fair, humane Federal government.  Over and over again, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condelezza Rice, and their cronies have promised one thing and then did little or nothing in follow-up.  Cases in point include protecting our borders from unrestrained immigration, rebuilding a hurricane ravaged New Orleans, protecting the health and welfare of the rescue workers at New York’s ground zero, and developing a cohesive, cogent plan to defend the United States against terrorism at our seaports, airports, power plants, water ways, and metropolitan areas.  Bush and his cronies are more interested in commercial profit than in preserving and protecting the Union.

The Bush Administration has done little to nothing in order to help our armed forces, National Guard, and Reservists.  First, they developed a piss-poor plan for the occupation of Iraq.  Second, the Bush Administration and their war machine did little to protect the troops in harm’s way.  Now, from the Walter Reed scandals onward, they have done nothing to process and assist returning Iraqi war heroes who are in dire need of psychological services.  I know from personal experience working in the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Brooklyn, as a summer psychology intern in 1995-96, that the Reagan Administration decimated psychological services at the DVA in an ill-advised attempt at eliminating cost in the Department.

People in the Bush Administration have, as elsewhere, been on a crash course to privatize the DVA and in its ill-conceived and anti-government pursuit, has left our brave soldiers, National Guard, and Reservists without adequate services.

Finally, with the Democrats in control of the U.S. Senate, Constitutional oversight has begun.  As indicated earlier, in a Press Release, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kit Bond (R-MO), Barack Obama (D-IL), and John Kerry (D-MA) requested that Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, George W. Bush, so-called President of the United States, and the Department of Defense guarantee impartial psychological assessments of soldiers when needed.  Not ‘when needed’ from the Bush perspective, but from a common sensical perspective.

Now, Senators Kit Bond (R-MO), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) are urging Bush to create a Special Review Board for discharged troops and to place a moratorium on the DoD’s use of Personality Disorder Discharges.

It is a moral outrage that U.S. Senators have to urge a President of the United States of America to provide ‘fair treatment of combat veterans.’

The Press Release is below the flip….

“Bond, Boxer, Obama, McCaskill Demand Fair Treatment of Combat Vets

“WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Kit Bond (R-MO), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) are urging President Bush to create a Special Review Board for discharged troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and to place a moratorium on the military’s use of Personality Disorder Discharges.

“”Our government has a lifelong responsibility to care for the brave volunteers who have served our nation honorably in combat, unfortunately, the government is failing some of our wounded warriors,” said Bond.  “It is critical that the government starts treating all of our troops’ battle wounds – physical and mental, visible and invisible.”

“”It belittles the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform when you punish-instead of treat-those with combat injuries,” said Boxer. “When our brave service members are injured in combat, we cannot deny them benefits, blame their conditions on a pre-existing disorder, or refuse them the care and support they deserve.”

“With thousands of American service members suffering every day from the less visible wounds of war, reports that the Pentagon has improperly diagnosed and discharged service members with personality disorders are deeply disturbing,” said Senator Obama.  “These heroes make incredible sacrifices for our country, and our brave men and women shouldn’t have to fight a second war at home to get the benefits and care they deserve. The President should halt this practice until the military can review its policies and establish a special review board to examine the cases in question.”

“”The horrors of war are bad enough without a service member coming home only to have to fight against the government they fought to protect,” McCaskill said. “I’m please to be fighting side by side with Senator Bond in requesting a review board to study personality disorder discharges, so that those men and women who bravely fought for us and returned home with the mental scars from war get a fighting chance to receive the benefits they so greatly deserve.”

“This bipartisan group of Senators has been examining mental health care for service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and leading the effort to end the military’s inappropriate use of personality disorder discharges.

“Much like the program created by President Carter to examine the records of Vietnam veterans discharged less than honorably, the Senators are urging the President to create a Special Discharge Review Program to look at administrative discharges for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If established, the Board would give service members who served honorably in combat but subsequently received a discharge that does not entitle them to benefits the opportunity to have their cases reviewed.

“This is particularly important for those who failed to receive an appropriate diagnosis of or treatment for Posttraumatic (sic) Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The Senators believe such a process will help reduce the stigma associated with such discharges and allow those who served our nation honorably to resume normal lives after their service.  

“The discharge review board will also look at cases where service members were diagnosed for personality disorders. In the past six years, more than 22,500 service men and women have been discharged with a “pre-existing” personality disorder.  The Senators have expressed concern that some of these discharges appear to be the result of misdiagnoses and are being used to force out troops who may instead be suffering from service-connected psychological injuries – like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Traumatic Brain Injury.  The use of a personality discharge can result in a loss of disability benefits and medical care from the VA, and can even lead to service members having to repay thousands of dollars in re-enlistment bonuses.

“The Senators continue to urge for the adoption of short-term, commonsense safeguards to protect service members. The Senators emphasize that just limiting the use of this discharge is not enough. A moratorium, which would temporarily suspend the Pentagon’s use of personality disorder discharges for those service members who have served in combat, is necessary until there is a comprehensive review of the current procedures and additional safeguard to prevent misdiagnosis.                  

“Bond, Boxer, Obama and McCaskill were joined by a bipartisan group of their Senate colleagues including: Joseph Biden (D-DE), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Barbra Mikulski (D-MD), Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Bernard Sanders (I-VT).”

I am glad that the U.S. Senators are finally beginning to do their duty under the Constitution to provide oversight on an Administration that subverts the Constitution, suborns perjury, and fails to protect and defend the United States of America.  Kudos to the Democratic Senate and the emboldened moderate Republicans.

(Xposted on mydesert.com)

I have written previously on mydesert.com and on Calitics.com regarding my concerns about the lack of adequate treatment and prevention for mental illness including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in our returning servicemen and women.

It is clear from the prosecution of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and in the current occupation of Iraq, that the Bush Administration has given little thought to the preparation, planning and follow-through for the military efforts and Iraq occupation.  In addition, the Bush Administration did little to adequately train and supply our troops.  The poor planning and follow-through is even more evident in the Walter Reed scandals of 2006.  This Administration appears to at the very least neglect our honorable men and women in uniform.  At the worst, the Bush Administration seems to view our soldiers as mere fodder for its own political ambition.  Hopefully, it is an issue of neglect and not vile political manipulation.

Anyway, the Armed Forces under the direction of the President of the United States and of the Secretary of Defense needs to ensure that every returning soldier, marine, airmen and women, and sailors, National Guard, and Reservists be screened for mental disorders related to their time of service.  And, the Armed Forces needs to provide adequate and immediate treatment for anyone who needs such.

I received the following Press Release today that expands on my concerns by addressing the lack of impartial reviews when assessing the mental health of our returning servicemen and women:

“Washington, D.C.-U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kit Bond (R-MO), Barack Obama  (D-IL) and John Kerry (D-MA) today sent the following letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates:

December 14, 2007

The Honorable Robert Gates

Secretary of Defense

1000 Defense Pentagon

Washington , DC 20301

“Dear Secretary Gates:

“We are concerned over reports that members of our Armed Forces with underlying mental health conditions are not receiving balanced, fair, and impartial reviews when facing judicial punishment and administrative discharge for engaging in misconduct that could be related to their conditions.

“We understand and support the necessity of maintaining good order and discipline in the military. At the same time, we are concerned that the decision to prosecute a service member with serious mental health issues may, in some cases, be carried out without appropriate consideration of recommendations made by uniformed mental health providers. As such, we ask you to promptly review guidelines for the administrative handling of such complex cases.”

More below the flip…

The Press Release continues:

“On December 2, 2007, The Washington Post ran a story entitled “A Soldier’s Officer” that clearly illustrates our concerns. The piece details the ordeal of Army First Lieutenant Elizabeth Whiteside, who according to available reports, served honorably at both Water Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) and in Iraq before experiencing severe mental health symptoms and attempting suicide. During her apparent suicide attempt, Lt. Whiteside threatened a number of her fellow service members, and as a result, we understand the Army is currently deciding whether to pursue a court-martial against her.  

“What we find particularly troubling about this case is that military commanders with no medical training derided the documented medical opinions as to Lt. Whiteside’s mental condition and their bearing on the case. Colonel Terrence J. McKenrick, commander of the Warrior Transition Brigade at Walter Reed, charged that even though medical professionals had determined Lt. Whiteside had a “severe mental disease or defect, she knowingly assaulted and threatened others and injured herself.” Another commander wrote that Lt. Whiteside’s “defense that she suffers from a mental disease excusing her actions is just that…an excuse; an excuse to distract from choices and decisions made by Lt. Whiteside.” These statements are contrary to the apparent recommendations of Lt. Whiteside’s battalion commander in Iraq that disciplinary actions not be taken, and show a callous disregard for the diagnosis of qualified psychiatrists at WRAMC, who found that Lt. Whiteside suffered from a “severe major depressive disorder and a personality disorder” and “disassociation with reality.”

“We believe that service members should be held accountable for their actions, and we recognize that the Manual for Courts-Martial provides procedures for handling mental health issues in judicial proceedings. However, this case highlights the need for the Department to review its administrative procedures and training programs to ensure that commanders give full and fair consideration of the recommendations made by trained mental health providers before initiating disciplinary actions against soldiers suffering from mental diseases.

“Additionally, as Senators who have worked extensively to improve mental health care services for our armed forces, we find it unacceptable that officers with no medical training-who are required by law to protect the impartiality of the military justice process-would make dismissive statements regarding Lt. Whiteside’s mental health condition. These comments only undermine respect for the mental health profession and increase the stigma associated with seeking mental health care.

“According to the Congressionally-mandated report of the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health, “every military leader bears responsibility for addressing stigma; leaders who fail to do so reduce the effectiveness of the service members they lead.” The Department is best served by ending policies that discriminate against service-members who suffer from mental health problems and working to eliminate the stigma that prevents too many from seeking care. That is why we strongly urge you to ensure that the recommendations of qualified medical professionals play a clearly defined and important role in proceedings to discharge or punish any service member with an underlying mental health condition.

“Thank you for your consideration of this important request.”

This is cross posted at the Huffington Post.  If you’ve seen California Lt. Governor John Garamendi on CNN or MSNBC today, you’ll agree with his statement that, “we need our troops back from Iraq.”
This post deals with that.

Where is the National Guard?

Today, we all extend our sympathies and prayers to those devastated by the wildfires in California.  Millions of Americans are impacted by this natural disaster.

Neighbors should help neighbors in their time of need.  As Governor of New Mexico,  I ordered two fire crews (strike teams, with 5 engines and 21 crew members each) to California. As a candidate for President, I donated to the American Red Cross and I encourage you to do so as well, click here to do so.

But as someone who believes the war in Iraq is a complete disaster and that we need to get our troops out now (www.getourtroopsout.com), I look at the natural disaster in California and feel compelled to also ask President Bush and every candidate who thinks it is okay for our troops to remain in Iraq until 2013 or longer – where is our National Guard?

It is a sad irony that yesterday, the very day I sent fire crews to California, 300 more New Mexico National Guard members were sent to Iraq.  Just when we need them most at home, more of our brave men and women, true public servants, are sent away to a war we cannot win.

Never before in our history has our National Guard, a group of dedicated men and women who serve our country and provide critical aid in the time of natural disasters been used, and re-used, for so long to fight a war tens of thousands of miles away.

In California, the Guard force is authorized to have over 21,000 members. Today, that number is just under 15,000. Why the decline? I believe it has nothing to do with a diminished commitment to service, but rather is a frustration with having that commitment abused, and families turned upside down, just so President Bush can continue to pretend his war can succeed. 

George Bush, his Republican friends and the Democrats who continue to allow this war to continue have not only broken our military, they’ve broken our National Guard. 

The news this morning had images of Americans fleeing to a huge sports arena for shelter during a natural disaster that struck a familiar chord.  When Katrina struck and the floods hit two years ago, a good portion of the Louisiana National Guard was in Iraq. How many people died in the days it took to get proper personnel on the ground in New Orleans?  Today, as the fires rage, California has National Guard men, women, and critical equipment thousands of miles away in Iraq. 

They need to come home.  We need them here.

This has gone on long enough.  When a national disaster hits, our states depend on the National Guard.  Right now, President Bush is robbing Peter to pay Paul to continue his disastrous adventure in Iraq, and when tragedy hits us here at home, Americans are stuck with the bill.  This cannot continue. 

Bush won’t end this war.  Congress must.  And they must end it now.  We shouldn’t have to wait until January, and we certainly can’t wait until 2013 – we need our troops out of harm’s way and our National Guard members back home where they belong. 

Join my call at www.getourtroopsout.com to push Congress to begin ending this war now.  Not in January, not next spring, not next year – now.

The war in Iraq is a tragedy, and compounding it by leaving our citizens here at home defenseless is an even greater crime.

Forget Posse Comitatus:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling up 1,500 National Guard troops to deploy to the Southern California wildfires.

He’s also asking President Bush to authorize San Diego-area military forces to begin coordinating to provide cots, first-aid equipment and possibly personnel to aid evacuees and firefighters.

This is why we have a National Guard, it sucks Arnold won’t stand up to Bush and act as he should as the Commander in Chief of our National Guard. The “National Guard” has no business in Middle East Adventurism and Arnold should publicly point out he has be emasculated as Commander in Chief of the California National Guard. As SoCal Burns, Arnold looks like shit as people wonder why our Guard isn’t available to do what they signed up for.

( – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Arnold Schwarzenegger has rejected the Bush administration’s request for more troops along the border, but some Dems wonder if that’s the whole story. 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office said Friday that he turned down a White House request to more than double the number of California National Guard troops that will be deployed to the border, fearing the commitment could leave the state vulnerable if an earthquake or wildfire erupts.(LA Times 6/24/06)

More on the flip.

The Bush administration this week asked California to send an additional 1,500 National Guard troops to the Mexican border, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied the request, two California National Guard officials said Friday.

The National Guard Bureau, an arm of the Pentagon, asked for the troops to fill recruiting shortfalls for the mission in New Mexico and Arizona. But Schwarzenegger said the request would stretch the California guard too thin if an emergency or disaster struck.

The overall deployment for the border mission would remain at 6,000, the guard officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.  Schwarzenegger’s communications director, Adam Mendelsohn, said the governor felt sending more troops was an inappropriate burden on the state and would disrupt the guard’s training schedule. (MSNBC 6/23/06)

Well, I thought this was the case with the first 1,000.  But I guess this was some sort of straw that broke the camel for Arnold I suppose.  My bigger problem with the National Guard on the border is the effectiveness issue.  Are they really doing anything that’s worthwhile of our resources?  Has anybody explained to the American people what the hell they are doing there?  Well, to my satisfaction, the answer is no.  Our National Guard is already overburdened with Bush’s War, we don’t need to have them down on the border with some vague non-strategy.

UPDATE: The LA Times  also has a story about this. (H/t to It’s My Right to Be Left )  Some Dems have an interesting, and not too unlikely, take on this.  This “request” was really just an opportunity to give Schwarzenegger some political cover for the first 1000 troops. It’s a little conspiratorial, but doesn’t it just sound like a Rove/Schmidt tactic?

Schwarzenegger is running for reelection this year — at a time when his support among Latino voters is sagging. Recent polls show Schwarzenegger has the support of 25% of Latino voters — 7 points below what he received in the 2003 recall election
***
Assemblyman Hector De La Torre (D-Southgate) said of Schwarzenegger, “This is a way of letting him have it both ways — having the National Guard there, but at the same time letting him be the bulwark against placing additional troops on the border.”
***
Bob Mulholland, an advisor to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides, said: “This so-called request [from the White House] was a phony political request to try to give Schwarzenegger political cover: ‘Look it. I’m standing up to Bush.’ But last week Schwarzenegger was a French poodle in Bush’s lap — authorizing 1,000 stressed-out, overextended National Guard members to spend weeks and months at the border, even though many of them have done two tours in Iraq.”(LA Times 6/24/06)

Yeah, it’s a bit cynical, but isn’t that really the problem?  We’ve been forced to cynicysm by manipulative administrations, both in Sacramento and Washington.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has okayed the deployment of California National Guard Troops.  Under the rights bestowed upon him by Darrel Issa the state and federal Constitutions, Schwarzenegger had the authority to approve the deployment within the state.  (Note that the states do not have authority to block deployment overseas due to the Montgomery Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1987.  See “PERPICH v. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, 496 U.S. 334 (1990)”.)

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has scheduled a press conference for 2 p.m. to announce that he has reached an agreement with the federal government to deploy California National Guard troops on the Mexican border, according to a source in the administration.

Details of the agreement were not available. But at a state Senate hearing on Wednesday, the guard’s Major Gen. William Wade said up to 1,000 state troops would be deployed in a plan that would take effect in the middle of July and run through 2008.
Bush said he wants the troops to provide construction, surveillance and intelligence support until the federal government can fund, hire and train 6,000 additional Border Patrol agents. (SacBee 6/1/06)

So, the Governor has a chance to buck the President, but chooses not to.  This National Guard at the border is quite simply a bad idea, and it’s a bad idea on many levels.  First of all, the National Guard is already over stretched.  These people signed up for “One weekend a month, and two weeks per year.”  Instead they are getting “24 months on, followed by 24 months off.”  Um, well, that’s terrific.  We are abusing the National Guard and some of the governors should stand up to this.  If Bush wants to have his wars he needs regular Army, not National Guard.  If he wants to have a draft, let’s see him get that through the Congress, rather than bypassing any real decisionmaking.  All of America should be sacrificing equally for the War, not just the poor.  The children of the rich and the poor should be serving in this War equally. 

The National Guard does not even get the same benefits as the regular Army:

JUDY WOODRUFF: Currently, there are more than 440,000 civilian soldiers serving part-time in the Army and Air National Guard.

Guardsmen and women usually drill one weekend a month and two weeks a year under the command of state governors.  But during war or emergencies, the president can press them into federal service. Most deployments are limited to 24 months.

When on active duty, Guard members get paid the same as regular forces and are eligible for pensions, but only receive limited benefits. The Pentagon has resisted efforts by Guard leaders and governors to include a Guard general as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (NewsHour with Jim Lehrer 5/17/06)

So, they don’t even get typical benefits, and are forced away from their civilian jobs for two years.  It’s hard on the economy because employers are legally bound to maintain a job for them while they are out.  It’s hard on the families, as they weren’t expecting to be gone for two years at a time. 
And then we also must bring up the question of who will be our emergency force?  You know, when a real emergency hits?  Like…say…a earthquake?  Will we be fully equipped to respond to such a natural disaster?

In addition to overseas combat assignments, the National Guard is often called to respond to natural disasters at home. This week, the Massachusetts and New Hampshire governors dispatched their National Guards to help respond to record flooding.

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 50,000 Guard troops from across the nation were deployed to the ravaged Gulf Coast, while portions of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard were on duty in Iraq. (NewsHour with Jim Lehrer 5/17/06)

And finally, we have to consider whether we think it’s a particularly good idea to be stationing military personnel within our state.  It’s just one more step to the police state that the Bush Administration has been building towards.  Clearly Schwarzenegger is acting as an enabler.  We need a Governor who will truly consider the costs of these actions with a critical eye for the state. 

The National Guard as border enforcement presents a very difficult issue for Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Does he play to the Right and send them down there?  Or does he play to the Left and reject the President’s request. Schwarzenegger is attempting to play to some sort of middle ground.  Of course, he is being helped a bit by the fact that the actual mission of the Guardsmen is totally unclear.  They won’t act as border patrol people, so what exactly are they going to do?  It at least gives him some room to wiggle for the time being.  Added to that is the fact that the federal government has yet to appropriate any money to pay for this guard service.  But ultimately, there will be some sort of reckoning here.  Either he sends them or he doesn’t.

But the governor continues to refuse embracing either side’s all-or-nothing approach. He has said he does not like the idea of sending Guard troops to the border, but he has also said he would consider doing so, if it were a temporary solution.

And therein lies his problem. The governor is getting toasted as a waffler who is either pandering to both conservatives and liberals, especially Latinos — or scared to rile either in an election year.(CC Times 5/21/06)

Immigration is such a challenging issue, for both Dems and Reps.  I’m not sure how a Democratic governor would deal with this issue either.  Would  it be a natural for Gray Davis to just reject it out of hand?  I doubt it.  But, Schwarzenegger’s waffling and lack of decisiveness is a problem.  He has yet to say anything of substance on the immigration issues of the day.  California’s governor should have some sort of position on these issues and provide leadership.  Shwarzenegger has not.