If you want to get the unfiltered skinny on how the never-ending war with Iran is going, it’s written in the dust. Responsible Statecraft’s Trita Parsi reported this week that U.S. service members marooned in the Persian Gulf have been expressing themselves in messages fingered onto a dusty aircraft flap. The anonymous graffiti, which calls to mind the helmet scrawls of disgruntled soldiers in Vietnam, include “Operation Epstein Fury,” “Peace deal #64 incoming … ALL THIS FOR THE HOLY LAND,” and “Bibi’s cucks.” Sounds like things aren’t going so well! “I have no frame of reference, I can’t compare it to the sentiments of U.S. soldiers in previous conflicts,” Parsi wrote. “But I suspect these are new sentiments, or at least a new willingness to express them this openly and directly.”
Whether these sentiments are new is indeed unclear, but it’s not without a frame of reference. Trump has always been fairly explicit in his disrespect for the grunts who do most of the work—and all of the dying—in this racket that we call “war.”
In my military service, we saw Republicans praise us publicly, but then turn around and cut all our benefits and funding behind the scenes. The only reason military members still have any benefits are because of Democrats blocking Republicans. Otherwise, we’d be borderline slaves; nothing but warm bodies for the government to throw at our enemies. (If you serve in the Army or Marines, you’re practically that already)
My uncle retired from the US Air Force in the mid-'90s. Because he retired, he was automatically given free medical and dental for the rest of his life. He never earned any disability rating from the VA, but they’re covering him completely. His civilian spouse also got free medical and dental for life, just for being married to him.
I retired in 2022 from the US Air Force. They told me I would only get medical coverage for any disabilities the VA approved a claim on. Everything else, I’d have to get my own separate civilian medical insurance to cover. My wife had to serve herself and earn her own disability ratings to get any medical coverage. That retirement benefit has been extremely neutered in the past couple decades, thanks to Republicans trying to end VA coverage for veterans.