home

Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'Anti-Army'

By TChris, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Wed Oct 12, 2005 at 07:39:16 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

by TChris

The mayor of Colorado Springs refuses to support a program that matches volunteer mental health counselors with soldiers who served in Iraq because, he says, the program’s supporters are “anti-war” and “anti-Army.” The two men who organized the program both served in Iraq. What’s anti-Army about their desire to help soldiers cope with the stress and trauma of war?

The mayor initially supported the program, but later flip-flopped.

Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, which is underwriting the program, accused the mayor of pandering to military brass in Colorado Springs. “Someone convinced him that it was better to shoot the messenger than support the program,” Robinson said in a telephone interview Tuesday evening from Maryland.

The military contends that it provides adequate care on base, rendering the volunteers unnecessary. Program supporters fear that soldiers won’t seek help from the military because doing so might adversely affect their careers.

< More News About Frist's HCA Stock | Presidential Fidgeting >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'Anti-Army' | 11 comments (11 topical)
    Re: Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'An (none / 0) (#1)
    by aw on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:55 PM EST
    So, does the mayor have the ability to actually stop the program? If not, who cares what he thinks? This is bigger than he is.

    Re: Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'An (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:55 PM EST
    Rivera is in the pocket of Ted Haggard, New Life Church, and Dobson. If they don't want something done, he doesn't do it. BTW, they all claim to be Christians.

    Re: Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'An (none / 0) (#3)
    by roger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:55 PM EST
    Why do veterans hate America?

    Re: Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'An (none / 0) (#4)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:55 PM EST
    LOL Roger I was gonna say that...

    Re: Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'An (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:55 PM EST
    The powers that be are terrified at the prospect of their Soldiers getting out side help will, somehow be used against their mission in Iraq. I know they would not give out priviledged information such as names or the nature of their problems, but there is information that could be embarassing such as the number of GIs seeking help.

    Re: Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'An (none / 0) (#6)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:55 PM EST
    Clearly my brain is just too morally unclear to see all the America-loving here.

    Re: Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'An (none / 0) (#7)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:55 PM EST
    Clearly the military brainwashes on a regular basis. Any counseling would be in direct contradiction to their shoot-first-and-in-all-directions-until-everyone-is-dead-and-then-ask-a-few-questions policies. Joker: "How can you shoot women and children?" Chopper gunner: "Easy. Just don't lead 'em so much." Says it all.

    Re: Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'An (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:55 PM EST
    Nothing New Under The Sun Department:As late as the autumn of 1970, well after the Vietnam War had fallen quite deeply into disfavor, after Secretary of Defense McNamara had abdicated, after nobody with a brain entertained the faintest fantasy that the war was "winnable" I (very politely) spoke out against our continued involvement at a discussion group during a college reunion. I was a former Marine Sergeant, I was back in college from the war (where my company had suffered 130 KIA between 1965 and 1969), and I'd been medically retired because of near-fatal head wounds suffered during the Tet Offensive in February, 1968. A lot of conservative alums ("hawks" in the parlance of the day) were there that day and they gave me a big round of applause when they heard about my recent military background. Their glee was short-lived, however, because after listening to to me say we should withdraw our forces from Vietnam immediately since the US could never win a guerrilla war in Asia (which General Douglas McArthur had said many years earlier), since so many people, on both sides, were dying, since nobody could give a cogent reason for why we were in the war, etc., several people in the group told me I dead wrong and that I must be suffering from "shell-shock" and our discussion ended abruptly.I think we all know how that war came out. Fortunately, this time around, Americans are catching on to the idiocy of trying to win a guerrilla war with a conventional army a lot more quickly than they did 35 years ago. The mayor should think twice and let the program go forward. Nobody knows better than a veteran what veterans need to recover from the difficult experiences of war.

    Re: Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'An (none / 0) (#9)
    by jen on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:55 PM EST
    Peer to peer counseling among people who have fought for the freedom to do so. I don't see the bad. Who is this joker and why does he hate the troops? FTA.

    Re: Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'An (none / 0) (#10)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:55 PM EST
    Genuinely small-government conservatives should embrace the program as privatization.

    Re: Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'An (none / 0) (#11)
    by Steven Sanderson on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:56 PM EST
    From the BushCo Dept. Of Faith-Based Initiatives: who needs mental health counseling when god's on your side?

    Mayor Contends Program to Help Soldiers is 'Anti-Army' | 11 comments (11 topical)