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Wednesday, August 18, 2004

"Bring Them Home"?

This week's proposal by Dubya to shut down many of our overseas military bases and move that personnel back to the states smacks more of election year politics than anything else.

Let's get something straight here: Being stationed overseas in Germany or South Korea is entirely, entirely different than being sent to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. That will probably be lost on a wide number of people, who will get caught up in the "Bring Them Home" rhetoric.

Writes the L.A. Times: Republicans are also hoping the proposal produces a more precisely targeted political benefit: They believe it will be popular with military families, many of whom have been stressed by the extended deployments in Iraq.

Addressing enthusiastic VFW members amid cries of "four more years," the president's remarks were apparently directed toward soldiers and their families at a time when critics charge that extended deployments in the Middle East are putting undue strain on the military.

"Our military spouses will have fewer job changes, greater stability, more time for their kids and to spend with their families at home," Bush said.


Having grown up in a military family, I gotta say, that's a load of crap. First of all, getting a chance to live a few years overseas is one of the perks of having to move from base to base every three years. You're still living in an American environment, but for three years you have a chance to explore an entirely different country. And among us grown-up military brats, we recite all the places we've lived with a badge of honor -- particularly stressing the times we lived overseas. (Plus, the DOD schools are generally considered much better than their stateside counterparts. In the third and fourth grades, my teachers both boasted doctorates.)

As for "fewer job changes and greater stability" for military spouses and children, the military will continue to reassign personnel every three or four years, so how does this change things? There's very little difference between your military parent/spouse working a 9 to 5 shift at a military base in Germany vs. working a 9 to 5 shift at a base in San Antonio -- you're not going to suddenly gain more family time just because you're back in the states. (If anything, being stationed overseas promotes more family time -- being moved as a family unit and plopped inside a new country is quite a bonding experience.)

Maria and I spent a week in the Philippines in February, when I got the chance to see my old neighborhood for the first time in 21 years... living overseas at Clark Air Base was one of the best experiences I had as a military brat.

There's a debate to be had about the necessity of overseas bases in this post-Cold War era (I, for one, believe they still have a role)... but leave the military families out of it. They don't need that sort of pandering. (Um, how about improving pay and benefits for enlisted folk instead?)

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