We've gotta do the right thing!

[markay714]

I'm so mad this evening at how we're treating one group of returning LA National Guard soldiers. They've been on active duty since May and have been in Afghanistan. 35 of them have apparently been delayed 2 weeks from returning and the Army and/or Air Force is in no hurry to get them back here . It took a week to get them out of Afghanistan and on to Germany. And, now they've been in Germany with no set time to return to Louisiana. The other 550 or so of their group has been back for a week to a month or so. Apparently they are going to be moved off base tomorrow and are supposed to pay for their own food and accomodations - that's appalling! And, it was suggested that the Air Force could possibly get them to Dover, Delaware where they could pool their money to rent a van to come to Louisiana. This is absolutely pitiful! We apparently didn't have a problem getting them to Afghanistan, its the absolute least that we can do to get them back to Louisiana with the same expediency. The very idea that we're going to expect them to pay their way home has my blood boiling. I've written my congressman, both U.S. Senators, Governor Foster, and General Landrineau of the LA National Guard - somebody has to make this right!

I'm guessing that the German base is busy shuffling people to Turkey, Kuwait, etc. in preparation for Iraq's annialation, but still we've got to treat people right when they've done what they were supposed to. We're a mighty nation - we can multi-task!

[Dawgbitten]

They will be reimbursed.

Sure it is probably an aggravation (especially the delay) for them, but trust me, they don't care how they get home at this point. They are coming home and that is all that matters.

Of course Gen. Landrineau wouldn't understand any of this anyway since he was on the first flight out 12 years ago. Although, he is a good guy and General is probably already hard at work on this. They will be taken care of.

[markay714]

They finally made it back this morning - AFTER the welcome ceremony held for the other 540 of them on Friday. That was supremely tacky! I'm not sure what they ended up having to pay out of pocket or how they actually came to arrive at Ft. Polk. But, they are home and that's great. I sure wish we'd spend as much time taking care of these guys logistically on the back end as they do on the front. I still think we need to respect our soldiers more - these guys started their journey home over 3 weeks ago! That is incredibly wasteful - they could've still been building stuff in Afghanistan for all the time they wasted sitting around waiting on airplanes in strange lands.