Welcome to The Veterans Blog
Before you start surfing The Veterans Blog I think it's only right that I introduce myself to you.
My name is Tony Bucaro and I am a 36 year old disabled US Army Infantry Veteran. I have spent from June 1989 to May 1997 in the Infantry with assignments in the following units:
A co. 6/502nd Inf. Berlin Brigade
HHC 1/187th Inf. “Rakkasans” 101st ABN
AMF (L) NATO Inf. Co. Mannheim Germany
C co. 1/24th Inf. 25th Inf. Div. “Tropical Lightning”
Although my Army career was cut short, my fight still continues not only for myself but to help fellow veterans like you. Wither you are disabled or not, you are entitled to many benefits just for being a veteran and having served your country. Most of you don’t know that you have these benefits which are yours by right. But, starting today it is my mission to help put out as much information as possible to help as many veterans as possible. So every veteran can become self-sufficient again and rely on no one.
posted by ArmyVet @ 1:18 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
great shot!
...nice blog, Tony. Great job!
Your blog makes me want to put on my army fatigues back on and getting to work soldiering some noble cause...lots of battles are going on out there; and you surely are reviving the fight in me....keep this up; put the "Fight" back int the "Old Dogs" out there.
I am a Vietnam era S/C disabled vet, former Navy corpsman with the Marines.
I wanted to post the following thoughs about a topic I'm passionate about and hope you will be too.
I agree with Representative Charlie Rangel's most resent proposal regarding reinstating registration for 'the draft.' But that should be only the beginning.
For one thing, draftees statistically have a lower AWOL and desertion rate than volunteers throughout all 20th century wars (according to researcher Charles Moskos of Northwestern University).
It is well known that only the most patriotic and least privileged among us serve in the all-volunteer armed forces. Our all-volunteer services, however, are not representative of our population as a whole. ALL Americans should serve the nation in some way. Here's the reasons why, with a real American plan:
I strongly feel it would be a privilege, and positive, life-enriching, educational and maturation factor in the lives of America's young adults to serve a mandatory period of service to the nation, with the additional goals of providing increased security or defense for our nation, the promotion of our democratic values, and to help those in this country and around the world who are oppressed or less fortunate. As a wartime veteran myself, I have found this to be so.
Such mandatory service could take the form of a period of contribution to the United States of America of at least two years in either a branch of the military, the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps or some other approved national-service entity.
The way it stands now, not all strata of society serve the nation equally. It is incongruous and shameful that we take for granted that the under-privileged and the poor alone should serve and defend the nation along side our most patriotic volunteers and military academy graduates.
A major advantage of mandatory service is that all would become at least minimally prepared to be citizen soldiers, or to assist first responders and other full-time law enforcement agencies. It has become obvious in recent years that the National Guard and Ready Reserve cannot shoulder the weight of all these commitments, nor can the Red Cross and other such relief agencies.
Another superb advantage of mandatory national service is educational. Most of our youth, and an embarrassingly high percentage of adults, know nothing of national or world geography, history, sociology, civics, cultures, or languages and other factors alien to their own immediate surroundings. (A recent poll showed hardly any member of Congress, and even fewer in a random sample of the general public, knew the difference between Shites, Sunnis, and Kurds -- and this after 3 1/2 years of war in Iraq.)
Service to this republic should not, however, be portrayed as "a draft" -- synonymous in the minds of most as a one-way ticket to Iraq or some other battle front. From inception, this union has known that to survive, all might have to become citizen soldiers at one time or another. That was, and is, an accepted fact of this grand experiment. Mandatory service only formalizes this known fact.
Since WWII, however, that necessary pride of service by all to this nation has waned until it is now accepted that there are some societal classes that need not serve the nation in even the areas of most minimum need, lest it divert them from some "greater career aspirations and goals." I need not name names.
National service, mandatory or otherwise, should be seen similar to life-long education, as an ongoing long-term commitment BY ALL AMERICANS to serve the nation, in peace or war, in some very real capacity in the areas where it is most needed -- NOT were it is most convenient to the individual.
That, my friends, is patriotism. If this is a surprise to most, then it is just as obvious we need to relearn what patriotism is. Words without action are meaningless, to paraphrase the scripture.
The media has proven itself just as under-educated as the population at large and has not, thus far, helped shepherd a serious discussion about national service, or in fully understanding the concept and its implications -- not while running such headlines or captions as "Rangel Wants to Send Your Kids to War."
I truly believe that after a couple of generations of mandatory national service, our obligations, military and otherwise, to the destiny of humankind as temporary residents of this republic would again be seen as an accepted and necessary right of passage and educational experience without which an individual's life journey would be noticeably diminished, as would this nation in which we are all blessed to live.
P.S. There are times in history when an idea comes and then may go for whatever reason; they are discarded or ignored. There are also times when an idea is revisited. This is one of those times. I might agree that the time of "the draft" or of "conscription" may not yet have come, but the idea of mandatory service to the nation by all has arrived and should be viewed as a real moral and ethical attribute of citizenship. I am not even sure if Charlie Rangel realizes how big this issue is. This is not about "the draft." This is about mandatory service by all to the republic. All are given a choice (military service being only one), but ALL serve -- with only health/physical or mental waivers. This is as it should be in a free society. The time is right. The need is apparent. The will is building. It will actually add an endearing, positive sense of selflessness of service, repayment if you will, to each and every citizens life for one's being graced to live in this land. Discuss this with those you love and respect. Then begin promoting where you are via letters-to-the-editor, calling, writing, faxing, emailing, blogging. The time is right.
I Am a Member: Disabled American Veterans, Veterans Against Torture, Patriot Guard Riders, Veterans In Action (formerly Veterans for Kerry), Veterans for Peace and Self-Sustaining Energy, Veterans and Military Families Against the Iraq War, Empowering Veterans
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