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Subscribe to RSSBinge drinking and prescription drug abuse among the nation's military has grown and top military leadership should address this "crisis," according to a new report released Monday.
The study, by the national Institute of Medicine, called its findings of alcohol and other drug use in the armed forces "a public health crisis" and characterized the level of use as "unacceptably high." The institute is part of the National Academy of Sciences.
The report found that 47 percent of active duty service members engaged in binge drinking in 2008, up from 35 percent a decade earlier. Heavy drinking was reported in 20 percent of active duty service members in 2008, up from 15 percent in 1998.
The number of prescriptions military physicians wrote for pain medication quadrupled since 2001 to almost 3.8 million prescriptions in 2009, according to the report. However, some attribute this growth to combat-related injuries and strains from carrying heavy gear.
Current approaches to preventing and treating substance abuse are outdated, the report said.
"We commend the steps that the Department of Defense and individual service branches have recently taken to improve prevention and care for substance use disorders, but the armed forces face many ongoing challenges," said University of Pennsylvania professor Charles P. O'Brien, who chaired the committee that wrote the report.
"Better care for service members and their families is hampered by inadequate prevention strategies, staffing shortages, lack of coverage for services that are proved to work and stigma associated with these disorders."
Related: US Army investigated soldiers over suspected drug abuse in Afghanistan, data show
The Institute of Medicine wants military leadership to acknowledge these facts and to attack "substance use problems before they begin by limiting access to certain medications and alcohol." Among the committee's recommendations are to curb easy access to inexpensive alcohol on military bases, reduce the number of outlets that sell alcohol, restrict their hours of operation and reduce the type and amount of alcohol purchased.
Barriers for military members to get help for substance abuse is also an issue, the committee wrote. Fear of negative consequences, gaps in insurance coverage, lack of confidential services and stigma are among the obstacles, the report listed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Some of these activists just aren't going to stop until there is no military left. Seriously? They want to try to discourage soldiers from drinking? What planet are these people living on?
The pills are definitely a NO-GO, but I have no idea why alcohol, or the use of it, had to be mentioned.
I agree. Spend 70 days underwater in a nuclear tube; you definately need to burn off steam.
i'm sorry i thought i was first i can see it caught your eye too,alcohol in the right person will send them into the days of wine and roses.
Military doctors have become far too quick to just write prescriptions instead of addressing the causes of problems. If they can control the symptoms with a pill and get the guy back into the fight that is what they will do. Finding and treating the real cause of the pain is just not a priority to them. It used to be that soldiers were known for popping Tylenol and other OTC pain meds like candy. Now, with the very liberal attitude towards pain meds on the part of military doctor, those OTC pain meds have been replaced by prescription drugs like Tylenol w/ codeine, vicodin, and percocet. The guys then get hooked on the pain meds and then when the doctor will not give them any more they turn to street drugs as a replacement. The military doctors are inadvertently turning the troops into drug addicts with their lax attitude towards prescribing opiate pain relievers.
Shall we continue to ignore the sickness of intolerance, hate and economic conquest which drives the 'need' for a military. That issue is of MUCH greater importance than the article.
When we quit training people to go kill other people's kids the mental sickness which results will simply cease to be. War is a complete waste of every sort of resource imaginable - land, lives, environment, plant and animal life, plus the time and inputs needed to create weapons used to kill. That's the elephant in our living room no one wants to deal with. Just my two cents.
Before you BBQ me for this opinion ask yourself wouldn't this planet be better off without war?
yes
But don't worry folks; this has absolutely nothing to do with the repeal of DADT and it is just a coincidence that this all started happening the day after we liberated the military from the moral high ground.
Pay no attention to that man behind the green curtain!
Randy, you couldn't be farther from the truth with your assumption that DADT has even 10% culpability in the items you listed above. The truth is that the Military is stretched entirely too thin, our commitments around the world increase as the manpower and funding for personnel and actual military units decreases. Too many senior leaders are afraid to stand up to civilian leadership and tell them enough is enough as far as the the amount of time spent away from home. As a member of the Navy, I can say with great confidence that our ships are beat down and the great majority of the funding that the DOD provides is to the Military Industrial Complex companies and contractors, not the service members, not their families and certainly not the ships and submarines that we are asked to operate without much support from the hallowed halls of Congress.
And finally, the moral high ground is non-existent. I have known far too many "Flaming Hetero's" that were hell raisers, drunks, beat their wives/girlfriends and were generally worthless. Just because they were straight, does that absolve them of these mis-deeds? According to your flawed mind it does. Hopefully your service was limited, as I would hate to have watch your "leadership" in action.
Chris,
The actuals do no reflect your ridiculous assertions to the contrary.
I do not believe in the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, or Coincidence; and it is not coincidence the the moral in the U.S. military hit the crapper at the exact same time unrepentant sexual deviants were permitted to serve. Personal responsibility was a tenant of military culture, but now they embrace those who refuse to acknowledge their own responsibility for the things they do in this life.
And your reality must be rooted in such fallacies. If you believe in God, then you are exactly the person you described that believes in fiction and ridiculous myths. Homosexuals are no more dangerous to good order and discipline than drunks straights who worry more about how others live their lives instead of taking care of their own business. If people are so afraid of homosexuals, perhaps they have no business representing our country in uniform then. The US Military has been on the down slide since the early 90's.
I believe in the laws of nature and natures God. You know; this nations founding principles!
The right of conscience and the free exercise thereof is an authentic civil right in these United States; unlike the sexual depravity you pimp as the truth according to you so help you you; which does not even warrant an honorable mention. Your expressed disdain for the authentic civil right of faith shows you to be an enemy to this nation.
I'm glad that your hypocrisy is so evident and validated. You don't believe in fictitious things, but you thrust up a fantastical idol that is omnipotent and yet strangely absent through all of the things that shape our world and the people in it. I don't need to "pimp" any sexual depravity that you speak of, as if we all lived in your world, segregation and slavery would still exist and evolution would be banned due to it's sensibility and obviousness. I have no problem with people of faith, but I don't share that faith and will certainly not accept that our laws be dictated by that faith, anymore than I would allow Sharia law to govern our society either. Please don't question my patriotism as I have served and continue to serve this great nation in spite of the stupid, backwards and biggoted opinions of people like yourself.
Our founding fathers realized how dangerous religion was and as much as people like yourself like to try and convince others that GOD was a founding father, he wasn't. Religion is a virus that blemishes reason, acceptance and selflessness. If you don't believe that statement, explain to me why so much is made of the "Evil of Islam"?
I think that all intoxicating substances should be prohibited while serving in the United States military.
Drug addiction among soldiers and the ensueing problems have been well publicized since the Vietnam War where majority of the combat troops were 'stoned' on something: Cannabis, alcohol, heroine, cocaine, opium, .... etc.
Nothing has changed in the US military except for the wide-spread rape and sexually assault of female recruits as more women are joining the military service as employment of last resort. The violence against women and the drug addiction merely reflect the American society at large. The combined daily number of rapes in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, NYC and Phili exceed the combined annual number of rapes in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The number of criminals incarcerated in California alone exceed the combined numbers in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Singapore.
While America doesn't produce much of consumer goods, it is the leading producer of rapists, drug addicts, and criminals. America has the dubious distinction as a nation of drug addicts and rapists, and as the world's leading warehouse of criminals.
The American justice system, the only growth industry in USA, spends hundreds of billions of dollars annually. It cost more to incarcerate one inmate than to send him to Harvard as a freshmen. If Bangladesh received the same amount of money as America spends on the criminal justice system annually, that nation would have become a modern developed nation surpassing India.
Hahaha, thanks for the laugh, Randy.
I have no idea why you'd want to serve in the military these days, unless you enjoy crappy pay, fighting in hostile environments that usually serve no interest in the defense of the country at large, with a little bitch of jingoism mixed in, and having no real career prospects if they want to leave. Then you want to take away their ability to even have a beer if they want?
I hope the brass isn't listening to your suggestions.
Randy - you believe in the laws of nature? Well....it's a hole. Holes are meant to be filled. The end.
__________________________________________________________
Really!???!
How about first addressing the crisis of sending our valuable citizens and loved family members off into illegal/immoral wars with no basis of our national security.
Useless Wars based on total lies that chew up our service men and women with multiple deployments while their families suffer emotional and financial strain in their absence or death.
Stop worrying about substance abuse and worry about what drives that abuse.
Worry about the skyrocketing suicide rate if you want something to worry about.
Most of all,,, ,,,,,,worry about our ignorant presidents who start wars based on pure lies and fail to live up to PROMISES to end those useless wars.
___________________________________________________________
Barack Obama Promise to End War
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the
time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home.
We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank. "
- Barack Obama Campaign Promise - October 27, 2007
______________________________________________________________
LIAR!
.
FatCat,
I agree. Most of the current problems the troops are having are simply due to stress, from no pot and no short time.
Chris Kudo's for #1.11 Very well put especially the last paragraph.
The military is a small portion of the population. If you limit your studies to that small 1%, you get numbers that are disturbing to some. Across the entire US population, those numbers match or are smaller overall. The people who belive these studies should go to school. I know more drunks on the civilian side than I ever met in the military. Give me a break.
Randy...you sir are an idiot. DADT had/has nothing to do with this. The direct cause is WAR. These kids come home from "playing" on the beach with no ocean and have seen ungoddly things that can't be unseen. Friends who have died in their arms or blown to bits from an roadside bomb. Do you really think that these kids care on whit if the person beside them is gay or not?!? They all just want to get home in one piece with the majority (read - any) of their morals and sanity left.
And Hope...my answer is yes, no more wars.
substance abuse has been around the Military since day one. You train people to kill, expect them to go off and fight somewhere and see the worst of the worst mankind has to offer, and some idiot behind a desk is worried about drink? You wont see a heck of alot of drug use anymore in the field. You will see someone on leave drinking to forget the crap they have been dealt and have seen, more them most Civilians would ever imagine seeing in their lifetime and i would be the first to buy anyone on leave a drink or three...Been There.
Bill,
You hit the nail on the head.
Folks will tend to self-medicate rather than submit themselves to the military doctors and risk being medically discharged. I have to agree with the sentiment of many here that it has been the endless deployments and constant war that has added to this, not the DADT. I am a veteran, I am straight, but I am proud that our country has allowed *everyone* to serve their country regardless of rampant religious bigotry.
as a vet who has walked on the edge for a long time never going into the abyess so to speak being a functional alcoholic,something aa people (some)don't believe,a good friend of mine says b.s.to that premise,anyway i can relate to this story due to the fact doctors sometimes need to stop giving them early,there is a lot of dead kids from abuse of prescription drugs cause when they were stopped they started using heroin that was cheap on the street but in the long run it causes death,jail,oryou quit and that is hard,a friend from early years who was a viet vet told me one time that his life as he knew it was essentially over after using heroin,he lives in a prison probably dying from hepatitis or liver disease i've not seen him for a long time so i'm assuming which you are not supposed to do.i'm the first poster so i guess this is backburner for problems in america.
Having been a vet on the edge qualifies you as what in this court?-?-??? Besides you Viet vets are wimps compared to what my dad and too many others faced at Normandy and Guadal Canal. Then using even more ignorant statements about AA to boot. You're obviously an alcoholic, and this article struck a nerve. Best quit the denial crap and go get some help.
Stereo DC
Please put down the G.I. Joe comic books and back off.
Prover fact: The average Vietnam combat vet saw more action ( combat ) in one year than the average WW-11 vet did in four years.
Give mikevietvet68/69 a lot of credit here. He like me admits he has a problem. AA draws a hard line in the sand. Most of us blur that line. AA says that if you drink one drink a day every day than you are an alcoholic. I ask are you really ?????? Combat has been described as periods of intense action followed by periods of extreme boredom . The main culprit here is ADRENALIN RUSH. Adrenalin is produced by the body naturally . Your body gets use to that rush and craves for it forever after. After the fight is over and you go home your body still craves for another rush and you fight it off best you can for the rest of your life.
bob
WOW! Stereo DC...I thought Randy was a putz from the earlier thread. You take the cake! Not quite sure if you're trolling or really that stupid.
WWII, Korea, Nam and the war for oil solders all suffered from PTS equally. It doesn't matter where you are, if you see your buddy's head explode next to you...you WILL be effected for life.
stereo you don't know one thing about me so i'd appreciate that you don't assume anything here,and don't think you father was the only american who went to ww2 my father went,uncle 3,one got killed 1945 okinawa,so don't use your alcoholic rage on me,you go to the meetings for me,i said i was on the fence so i know what it could do to someone.azzhole
Who is surprised? You send soldiers into hell--repeatedly--where they see unimaginable horror and come back shell-shocked, burnt out, no job, home foreclosed, and forced to jump through hoops at the local V.A., and someone's surprised they turn to drugs and alcohol for a little relief?
good post
The military now is nothing like when I was in. These kids can't curse without getting in trouble. Since the military drug tests the kids nonstop, they can't smoke pot, so they are turning to legal painkillers instead. I think the marijuana was less dangerous.
jw,
Not only can they not smoke pot, but they don't get to fraternize with the local women. What kind of war is it when not a single trooper brings home a prostitute/war bride. I knew two guys who re-enlisted, because they missed their girlfriends. Nothing like that is going to happen now. I feel bad for them. The only life they have, is duty, facebook and video games. No wonder they're popping pills.
Whoa! People in the military are drinking!!
Oh, the horror!
Why not address the low pay, long, repeated deployments and cutbacks that will gut the infrastructure?
Drinking and drugs aren't the problem, they're the symptom.
If people choose to live the military life then don't complain. When I was in the army in '70-'73 I cleared my first pay-check, 55 bucks, and what do you get as a private now? I don't want to hear it. You get three meals a day, no bills, other than the ones you create for yourself, and a place to sleep plus 1100 bucks a month to live on and as you move up in rank you get even more money.
Back in those days, a 48 oz can of Hi-C was $.25, but I do think the military pay is too much now.
You ever heard of the term, "inflation?"
I was in at the same time. At the PX, a pack of smokes was 24 cents and a fifth of Canadian Club was 4 dollars.
I'll also second or third that...and lets do bear in mind that since the draft ended only 2% of the population of the total population of this country has heard the call to duty and stepped up and served!
Steven, the low pay...I know it was a long time ago, and there was a draft so the Army could tap into a large reservoir of people, but the pay is astronomical now compared to when I served. My first tour in Vietnam, while getting jump pay, hazardous duty/combat pay, base pay and no taxes being taken out, I made a whopping $325 a month. Now, I'm all for paying the troops better...but poor pay is a relative term. And I think there's a little fibbing going on here...cause guys...I served from 69' through 79', and a pack of cigarettes was more like 75 cents and I don't know about Canadian Whiskey, but a bottle of Jim Beam was closer to $5 than $4. These kids are pulling down some serious money and they get paid for stuff that we never got paid for (hell, they buy their underwear for them, we got what, six pairs of boxers right?). I don't begrudge the new generation better pay, but I draw the line at whining about it. Remember, not a single one of these kids was drafted, it's an all volunteer army now and with computers all all that's out there, it's no surprise about what the pay is. Anyway...I hadn't thought about little crap like what I paid for a pack of butts in a long time...nice chatting with you.
The U.S. militarty went from being the most powerful military in the world. To become corrupt and totally WORTHLESS. Time to kick them all out and start over
How lame.
It does show the typical 'liberal support for the military' though.
Sad how you feel as if his comment is representative of "typical liberal support for the military". I am a liberal, through and through. However, I do not share Trantham's sentiments. I come from a deeply rooted military family, my husband is active duty Navy, and I will be too next winter.
The field that my husband is in is highly stressful, with one of the lowest retention rates in the Navy, and I have seen many of his fellow sailors medically discharged for depression, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, etc, all in a need to cope with the requirements of their jobs. And this is just a single aspect of the military as a whole. The men and women who are or were overseas, they have it 100 times worse than others.
It is true that if a military member seeks help, there is a stigma attached to it, one that often can never be recovered from. Not only this, but it can and does go on a member's record and will result in severe consequences in the future, ranging from promotions to benefits after service.
It is not time to "kick them out and start over" as Trantham put it. It is time to look at what is best for our military, active, discharged, and retired, and get them the help they need.
I consider myself quite liberal, and you know what I think the best thing you can do for out military members is? Not sending them off to die in useless, elongated conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan.
I know quite a few Marine Corps servicemen with wives and children, and I'd like them to be able to see their sons and daughters grow up; not see them brought back home in caskets because our politicians in Washington are getting second helpings from defense contractors.
I am in the most demanding(intellectually, and work load) of the Navy(excluding EOD and Divers), and I can tell you that, yes there is a lot of drinking, but you must also keep in mind, most of the sailors in this pipeline are around 21. Many, many sailors are discharged or kicked out of the program due to inability to keep up with the fast pace, and other sailor responsibilities. Being a nuke sucks, but when articles like this come out, it makes sense that MSNBC tries to go around the problems(other fields have issues with stress too.)
I to have been called a liberal...I'm still a Vietnam vet who salutes the service of my fellow patriots!
So Trantham, how long did you serve?
&^#$%$ troll
Oh, those rascally right-wing stormtroopers.
Partying and getting high while on the government dime.
Nice gig if you can get it, I guess, then go and blow somebody up for @!$%#s and giggles...
And maybe get killed or maimed.
I noticed you left out that part.
Millions of these brave souls give their lives so you can spout your offal.
steveb i see what i think is a b-52 on your name that truly is the way to go the vibrations make you wonder if anybody can survive the effects of it,keeps maiming to a minimum on the delivery end,then young men get to live a long life.sometimes.
A comment on your screen name young "Tax the Rich" and inane post. I would guess you are recent in your graduation from the indoctrination public school system social engineering experiment.
Currently the higher "1%" tax brackets account for over 36% of all tax revenue. The higher 25% tax brackets account for 86% of all tax revenue. Just how much more Tax is fair? By the way, the tax reform of the Bush administration resulted in increased tax revenue from the higher tax brackets and decreased tax rates for the lower tax brackets ..... currently the lower 50% tax brackets account for less than 3% of tax revenue and 45% of that group account for 0%. Which part of that would you suggest changing and what would be a fair result?
It is easy to spout childish less than two working brain cells rhetoric but lets take a look at your "rightwing stormtroopers" mistake that the elitist left like to use shall we?:
"We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are determined to destroy this system under all conditions." Adolph Hitler
Have you ever contributed to society or your fellow citizens of the Republic in a constructive way or are you to good to dirty your hands with the responsibility that comes with freedom. I dont blame you, 3 generations of indoctrination and now there liberal arts graduate mentality pervades.
Substance abuse increased? Sure, what do they expect? While they are military members they are human beings first and foremost- unlike the upper brass and politicians who keep them overseas fighting useless wars
What a pointless article, didn't I just read that substance abuse on the rise for EVERYBODY? So theoretically you could say substance abuse is on the rise for msnbc employees, government officials, or any other group... since it's on the rise for the whole country. Military personnel are people too, great revelation here.
this isn't news...been like this since I have been in, only difference now is instead of taking care of our own we pawn them off to the pill passers in medical or the VA, and it isn't hard to figure out when the monthly wiz quiz is so the average druggie can bypass that hurdle..now the booze.......that is how some people cope and to be honest and real..the feeling was as long as you came into work and did your job what you did off duty was your own business, now if it did affect your job, command or public view of the services then you were dealt with in house....Now I am not condoning drug use or alcoholism but until we all remember how to take care of own then it will only get worse
true
Agree with you VH, this indeed isn't news. I was in the Army three years, 70-'73, and if people weren't drinking they were rolling a joint when I was in Korea. I smoked dope and dropped pills like taking aspirin back then and so did half the people in my Company while I was at Camp Liberty Bell, Korea. I got out of the Army and my brother was stationed at Fort Lee, Virginia. He just got his commission and was a 2nd LT. I was enlisted and thought what I did was bad. I went to the Officers Club with him and people were drinking as if it were there last day on planet earth.
I don't understand how the IRS would be entitled to any of this money. If the gold and coins were purchased or acquired with pre-taxed income then wouldn't the IRS be double-dipping? hummmmm
You dare to question what the almighty IRS is, or is not entitled to?
Call in the G-Men.
Enough already! Where's my bong?
Thank You Stereo Finally a comment that makes sense. I guarantee you if the Army embraced that instead of Alcohol there would be Fewer Problems in the Ranks. All these cigarette smoking Beer Guzzling out of shape Gi's that can't pass PT.
Send people into harm's way time after time after time and sit on your arse and wonder why they abuse alcohol and pills. Let's bring back the draft and let some cowards and rich kids do some fighting for a while.
BTW: 43 years later, I still wake up with nightmares and sweats every once in a while. There's nothing like it. Come-on get off mommy's couch and get into the action. See how easy it is to crawl into a bottle after a few tours where it isn't a computer game.
yes and take stereo c with them
Simple fix. quit sending the military all over the world, actually pay them a decent wage, decent working hours, and maybe they would quit crawling in a bottle on their off-time to cope. That being said, civilians need to f*ck off and leave the military alone. You don't understand what we do, or what we go through. We get the job done, and do a dam good job of if. If we want to party it up when we get back from risking our lives for your sorry asses, why are you trying to deny us that.
you got it gringo. i find the suggestion in the article to restrict the freedoms of the very people who perform the duties to secure the freedoms of americans everywhere to be completely ridiculous.
I don't have a problem with you partying it up, and if I was there, I'd buy you a shot man. However, if the symptoms of combat and our military policy are leading members of our military down a road of addiction and sending them into debt or on the streets, that's where I have a problem. We already have enough people in the military being shafted by the government and the VA.
This article deals with active duty military, right? Okay...we cleared that up.
For a second there, I thought you were talking about an honorably discharged retired college educated veteran who is post operative back surgery, in addition to a half dozen other surgeries directly related to her/his service in the military. My question is...if this is who you are so concerned about....WHO IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE???
Are you seriously going to harrass the very person who damn near died just so you can choose which school to send your children to...or the other freedoms you take for granted?
Currently, it is a violation of the Constitution (search and seizure) to drug test state employees for any reason...but you are in favor of forcing honorably discharged disabled veterans to drug test??? Really???
If we are talking about active duty military, which I assume we are...drug testing and all this fancy garbage seems appropriate. Everything else makes you look like you need to politically re educated with indiscriminate indiscretion.
Free weed for the first few years after active duty to help in the decompression effort.
It's not easy to go from that extended heightened state of alert, to just chillin with family.
sounds good sane central. we all need to buckle down on the home front and start growing. when the troops come home we can tell them thank you for serving our country and then blaze a fat spliff as a token of our gratitude. it is time we express our freedoms in the form of civil disobedience, if every smoker began to grow and ignored the unconstitutional protests from the powers that be there is no way they could stop it.
Of course. Homosexuals have a higher substance abuse rate than the general population.
This is news? I was stationed in Nam in '71 & '72, in an area that was pacified, i.e. no fighting. The daily schedule for most of the men included around 2000 - 2300 at the base club, mostly at (or under) the bar. I was stationed on a minesweeper from '73 - '76. About three-quarters of the active duty crew of 62 were evenly divided between juicers and dopers with some of the younger men in both camps. In three years, six men, mostly senior petty officers were sent to alcohol rehab. There was one chief on board who was a living example of the old cliche, I never knew he drank until I happened to see him sober one day. Alcohol has been an integral part of the military for many generations partly because of stress during war time and boredom during peace time, especially before the advent of the internet.
My grandfather just recently passed away. He was lucky to live a very long, happy life, save for his involvement in WW2. He was 90 years old. From the time he was a young adult to very old age, on a weekly basis, he would wake up, screaming, from nightmares about being back in Crete. He fought for Germany and my other grandfather fought for the US. They were great friends and they both agreed that anyone who has ever fought in a war will tell you that NOBODY EVER WINS.
I hate to disagree with your grandparents but I would have to say that yes there are winners. Your fathers and yourselves as well as any descendants you may have ......... you were able to grow up free from the madness of an insane National Socialist world. THAT is why people suffer the service, for their wives and descendants.. One of the side effects of long term period of conflict will be drug and alcohol abuse, for most when removed from the conflict the abuse ends.
"People sleep easy at night only because rough stand ready to do violence on their behalf". George Orwell
My grandfather during WW2. My father during Korea. Myself during Vietnam. My son during the mideast. Todays military has the added stress of limited manpower thanks to clinton gutting the military for his "peace dividend". Now add the fact that the Republic supplies inferior materials made in third world nations thanks to clintons "new economy" and "no more manufacturing in America".
The soldier stood and faced his God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as brightly as his brass
"Step foward now you soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek,
And to my church have you been true?"
The soldier squared his shoulders and said,
"No Lord, I guess I ain't,
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can't always be saints
"I've had to work most Sundays
And at times my talk was tough
And sometimes I've been violent
Because the streets were awfully rough"
But I never took a penny,
That was'nt mine to keep
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills just got to steep,
And I never passed a cry for help
Although, at times I shook with fear
And sometimes, God forgive
I've wept unmanly tears
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here
That never wanted me around
Except to calm there fears
If you have a place for me here O' Lord
It needn't be so grand
I've never expected, or had so much
But if you don't I'll understand"
There was a silence all around the throne
Where the Saints had often trod
As this soldier waited quietly
For the judgment from his God
"Step foward now you soldier,
You've borne your burdens well
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell". Unknown
I love the liberal press. Last year it was an Army of Crazys with PTSD who were wandering the streets; this year it's an Army of Drunks - I forgot, Gay Drunks. Yet whenever a President wants to show his leadership he has no problems committing these Crazy Drunk to getting killed or blown apart - Hillary just used them as White House waiters.
we are all disposable to the elite
Spoken as the result of 3 generations of social engineering in the public school system. Do a little research in economics, politics and history. I suggest starting with "The Federalist Papers" by Hamilton, Madison and Jay then progressing from there.
Here's the cure to the substance abuse problem:
Get our troops the f--k out of the middle east. Stop shedding blood for millionaires and billionaires. Aside from blowing the head off that piece of $hit Osama, we have had NO BUSINESS in the middle east since Kuwait. Bring them home, let them support border patrol, and the 'problem' will go away.
There is no glory, no honor, no pride to be won fighting in the middle east. Let the barbarian pedophile worshippers go back to their primative tribal feuds and genital mutilations. Stop wasting our time, money and soldiers trying to humanize them. Leave that for reincarnation.
Based on the below words of our CinC why NOT drink and do drugs. You can go on to be President!
Here's
the passage from his book, Dreams from My Father, where he discusses his
drug use:
"I had learned not to care. I blew a few smoke rings, remembering
those years. Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could
afford it. Not smack, though—Mickey, my potentional intiator had been just a
little too eager for me to go through with that. Said he could do it
blindfolded, but he was shaking like a faulty engine when he said it. Maybe he
was just cold; we were standing in a meat freezer in the back of the deli where
he worked, and it couldn't have been more than twenty degrees in there. But he
didn't look like he was sweating, his face shiny and tight. He had pulled out
the needle and the tubing, and I'd looked at him standing there, surrounded by
big slabs of salami and roast beef, and right then an image popped into my head
of an air bubble, shiny and round like a pearl, rolling quietly through a vein
and stopping my heart... Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd be headed: the final,
fatal role of the young would-be black man. Except the highs hadn't been about
that, me trying to prove what a down brother I was. Not by then anyway. I got
just the opposite effect, something that could push questions of who I was out
of my mind, something that could flatten out the landscape of my heart, blur the
edges of my memory. I had discovered that it didn't make any difference whether
you smoked reefer in the white classmmate's sparkling new van, or in the dorm
room of some brother you'd met at the gym, or on the beach with a couple of
Hawaiian kids who had dropped out of school and now spent most of their time
looking for an excuse to brawl.
During the Vietnam war there was a study done about opiate use among military. When tested 50% tested positive for opiate use and admitted daily use for over 30 days, hard core addicts right? Well guess what ....
"Almost half of the “general” sample tried heroin or opium while in Vietnam and one-fifth developed physical or psychological dependence. In the 8- to 12-month period since their return, about 10% had some experience with opiates, but less than 1% had shown signs of opiate dependence. In the “drug positive” sample, three-quarters felt they had been addicted to narcotics in Vietnam. After return, one-third had some experience with opiates, but only 7% showed signs of dependence."