Military Seeks Higher Funeral Stipends

Typical. Ask more of the soldier and their families, then leave them high and dry when crunch time is over. How many WW II veterans still don't have $500 headstones?

At least when the political stripes in government change, the treatment of the solders doesn't. Bastards.

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The preceding comment deals with mature subject matter, however immaturely presented. Viewer discretion is advised.

Agreed!

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"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
-Max Planck

hopefully this is not seen as off topic...however in keeping with the support
the troops motto...I sent this letter to the editor of the Calgary Herald. Can't
say whether they will print or not...

Dear Editor
Herald article from May 26, ‘Canadian Forces ‘lost a good kid’ to terrorist
bomb’ Your story listed the casualties in Afghanistan from various countries,
with the exception of one. You failed to tell the reader the number of
Afghanistan civilians who have lost their lives. Gen. Hillier is quoted again
reinforcing the need to ‘support the troops’. I have always been proud to
support, show respect and honour our dedicated men and women who stand
on guard for Canada.

We must be very careful in today’s political climate however, not to send the
wrong message. The current powers that be, seem to have difficulty in
understanding the difference between supporting the troops but not the war!

They equate any pro-peace concepts as anti-troop, any criticism of the war,
outrage over the death of innocents and collateral damage (as they call
civilians) as negative to troop morale, which is beyond ridiculous! Our troops
are trained to follow orders and therefore we must support them in their
duties. It is our role to ensure that our politicians also follow orders from the
electorate. That is their job. They work for us; sadly they often forget.

It is our duty as the electorate and taxpayers to ensure that our soldiers are
not following orders which are contrary to Canadians’ moral values. We do
that through our MP’s. If Canadians still stand for peace, we must ask why we
are supporting the American corporate military industrial complex as they
build empires around the world? When we ask our youth to kill for us, we best
ensure that is the last resort, rather than the first objective. When we send
our youth into Depleted Uranium poisoned terrain, we best ensure we are
willing to support the troops for the rest of their lives, should they return
alive. When the cancers begin or their children are born deformed, will we still
be there for the troops?

Support the Troops as they stand on guard for Canadians can best be done
by standing firmly for peace, peaceful resolutions to conflict and not
supporting illegal invasions of foreign nations. For the most part our
mainstream media has done very little to contribute to informing Canadians
about what is really happening in the Middle East, why we went to war in the
first place and what the long-term results will be for the environment and the
people. Canadian Action Party had a great t-shirt slogan, ‘Support the
Troops...draft a politician...bring our kids home’. I think that says a great
deal. Those who wage war, are rarely the ones who pay the ultimate price!
Support the Troops, Stand for Peace, let’s stop asking them to kill for
corporate greed!
yours truly
Catherine Whelan Costen


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"aaaah and the whisper of thousands of tiny voices became a mighty deafening roar and they called it 'freedom'!"' Canadians Acting Humanely at home & everywhere

<blockquote> When we send our youth into Depleted Uranium poisoned terrain, we best ensure we are willing to support the troops for the rest of their lives, should they return alive. When the cancers begin or their children are born deformed, will we still be there for the troops? </blockquote> This is the essence of it, Catherine! <p>Our history shows that we cast our soldiers aside though, when their "best before" date has been reached.</p>We should be supporting the soldiers who go into battle for us for the rest of their lives. And no expense should be spared those who were unfortunate enough to be maimed or wounded.<p>After all, why should it be the military-industrial complex that primarily reaps the rewards of war?</p> <p>---<br>"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." <br />
-Max Planck<br />
<br />

I am patriotic in saying "I do not support the troops in Afghanistan" They have no business being there and some even volunteered. Those same troops must realize that their actions over there, is not acceptable by the Canadian public. It is sad that when they die, even their government doesn't think it was an honorable effort. You would think that if the government & military feels the effort is worth dying for, then the death itself should be glamorized.

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Expect little from life and get more from it.

I certainly understand your sentiments; but for me it is an understanding that
as long as Canadians feel the need to have a military then we need the
soldiers to be willing to follow orders; if we had each soldier deciding for
themselves if a certain mission was worth laying down their lives, then we
would have chaos. We have to assure our soldiers that when they volunteer to
defend this nation, they will have our support, otherwise we won't have a
military; that being said, the only way we can assure them is by demanding
that our elected officials follow OUR commands, our ideals, our moral values;
that is the disconnect in my opinion. Each soldier does not act as a sole
individual. Each soldier acts as part of a unit, division, etc etc and then as
part of a country's representation.

They must be capable of trusting their superiors, they have a job to do. They
don't sit down and assess every political situation or spend their days
considering options etc. that is not their job.

In order for our ideals to follow down the
chain of command we must make certain that our message is heard loud and
clear. If not then we might as well not have a military at all, then nobody
would be asked to lay down their life for us, for any reason. It would be nice if
we could be at that point in history, however I don't think we are there yet.

So for me, I support the soldier by being vigilant and demanding
accountability from those who make the decision to send them on missions. I
support the troops by making sure that our decision makers are held to the
highest level of transparency and accountability for my money and my
nation's interests. I support the troops by asking the questions that enable
Canadians to have a dialogue and make informed decisions on what we
support. Do the majority of Canadians realize the levels of DU in the Middle
East and the impact on the soldier, the civilian, the environment and that DU
doesn't stay where it lands, it is airborne, it follows the wind to the ocean,
and eventually to the rest of the planet and that it last for billions of years?
This is serious stuff they are playing with and we are kept in the dark for the
most part. Somewhat like the use of Agent Orange in Canada and I suspect
the troops will be treated to similar care as those subjected to Agent Orange.

So for me there are several layers of issues here, but as long as we are going
to have a military and ask our youth to live and die for us; I support the
troops by speaking out and trying to make sure that they are not being
asked to do something contrary to Canadian ideals and are not part of
another nation's empire building strategy!

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"aaaah and the whisper of thousands of tiny voices became a mighty deafening roar and they called it 'freedom'!"' Canadians Acting Humanely at home & everywhere

"Lincoln Dinning has written three times to the Defence department to be reimbursed for the expenses related to the death of his son, Matthew, who was killed in Afghanistan a year ago.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dinning has also written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to ask why the families of married soldiers receive a $250,000 death benefit and the families of unmarried soldiers get nothing.<br />
<br />
He has yet to receive a reply."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070530.wdinning0530/BNStory/National/home">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070530.wdinning0530/BNStory/National/home</a><p>---<br>The preceding comment deals with mature subject matter, however immaturely presented. Viewer discretion is advised.<br />

"Each soldier acts as part of a unit, division, etc etc and then as part of a country's representation."

I've been there and tell you now, that it is a farce. The military react to orders but those orders are supplemented with a large bag of BS. The military includes officers who are PR men. They give the song and dance but no explanation when things go wrong. I have been duped and as an officer, by my superiors. It's all one pointless game and no war achieves anything that is long lasting. We have the Americans who will never ever stop in their attempt to domineer the word. Canadians are their patsies. I would sooner see Canadians on a defence then act aggressively to another country. I don't support the military as it is.

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Expect little from life and get more from it.