By Peter S. Gaytan

 

My nephew is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan this month. When he joined the service, he believed that our country understood it owed a lifetime debt of gratitude to those who choose to volunteer to put their lives on the line to protect our liberty. As George Washington said, “The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.”

 

Without question there has to be serious cost-cutting in our nation’s budget. But to make military retirees pay more for healthcare coverage is not now, nor ever, the right decision. Since 2001, we have been engaged in battlefields on two fronts, Iraq and Afghanistan. The physical and mental toll on those who serve has been devastating. No one emerges from their time in service without being affected by the experience, even if they are lucky enough to escape without any physical scars.

 

Today Congress is considering raising enrollment fees and imposing restrictions on TRICARE, the military’s health care program. Even if current military members are grandfathered in, what does such a change signal to those wondering if they should enlist in our all-volunteer military force? Does it tell them that our nation is not committed, as Abraham Lincoln, promised “to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan”?

 

Cost-cutting savings cannot be made on the backs of those who have willingly accepted the danger of service. Contact your Representative and Senators and tell them to spare military health care benefits.

 

For more information on proposed changes to military benefits, go to: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hX5XyXVSkS7KaBWCxV-OyYeV0asQ?docId=56e087d844b04d76a68a01125468517a

 

Peter S. Gaytan is the author of For Service To Your Country – Updated Edition: The Essential Guide to Getting the Veterans’ Benefits You’ve Earned (Citadel, 2011), available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other booksellers. He has served as an advocate in securing and protecting the earned benefits of America’s veterans for more than a decade. Gaytan is the Executive Director of the American Legion, the largest veterans service organization in America.