When they came home from Iraq, 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard had been deployed longer than any other ground combat unit. The tour lasted 22 months and had been extended as part of [George] Bush's surge.The disgusting way this administration has treated our troops in Iraq is not news, it is just news that wingnuts refuse acknowledge. Of course, if your ranks are dominated by chickenhawks who fake their 'support' but who are in actuality, troop-hating phony-patriots, it isn't a surprise at all.
1st Lt. Jon Anderson said he never expected to come home to this: A government refusing to pay education benefits he says he should have earned under the GI bill.
"It's pretty much a slap in the face," Anderson said. "I think it was a scheme to save money, personally. I think it was a leadership failure by the senior Washington leadership... once again failing the soldiers."
Anderson's orders, and the orders of 1,161 other Minnesota guard members, were written for 729 days.
Had they been written for 730 days, just one day more, the soldiers would receive those benefits to pay for school.
"Which would be allowing the soldiers an extra $500 to $800 a month," Anderson said.
From Bush and Rumsfeld declaring in the beginning of this fiasco that, 'imminent pay is a budget buster', to this administration refusal to supply our troops with MRAP's to extending their tours to 15 months, no one should be surprised.
At least to those of us who actually do, 'support the troops', it's not.
