National Guardsmen who owned small businesses being screwed by BushInc.

[blm]

Bush Administration Fails Self Employed Guards
August 8th, 2005

The Sunday Boston Globe has a telling piece on the toll that Guard duty has taken on the self-employed National Guard — For self-employed, Guard duty has a price.

Self-employed Guardsmen do “not enjoy the job protection that businesses are required by federal law to extend to their workers.” However, as the article points out, John Kerry has been fighting for the rights of these Guardsmen and protection for their businesses for years…

‘’There’s really not a whole lot to help somebody who’s self-employed,” said Major Rob Palmer, a Defense Department spokesman. ‘’It’s a major shortcoming of the law.”

Senator John F. Kerry, who has proposed a Military Family Bill of Rights to offer financial help to the self-employed, assailed the Bush administration for speaking publicly about the need to support the troops, but failing to enact an economic safety net for all vulnerable National Guard members and reservists.

‘’It’s a serious problem. There’s a real hidden cost of the war for these guys,” Kerry said. ‘’The bottom line is they’re getting hurt, and nobody is paying attention.”

Palmer estimates 10 percent of Army National Guard soldiers who have been deployed overseas are either self-employed or work in small businesses. According to the most recent data from the National Guard Bureau, 126,488 Army National Guard troops have served in Iraq or Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001. Currently, 54,444 Army National Guard soldiers are deployed in those countries.

MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=175

[sui generis]

1. gotta love those family values

and some of those 10 percent have wives and children to support. . .

We were unprepared for this "war" in so many ways . . . but WE knew that.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. But Bush understands small business since he was one...

[blm]

9. Correction: Bush understands Saudi money launderers cuz he was one.

.

[SillyGoose]

3. Have you see this about some FL Nat'l Guardsmen losing gov't jobs?

http://www.ngwrc.org/index.cfm?Page=Article&ID=1988
April 13, 2005
Amid the chaos of war, Sgt. Roberto Orozco and about 35 other members of the Florida National Guard sent to Iraq relied on what they knew for certain: their military training, the love of their families and their government jobs back home.

Then one day in the combat zone, the men got a letter. When they returned home, the letter read, their jobs as full-time members of the Guard assigned to a federal drug interdiction program would be gone.

"We got shafted," said Orozco, 43, a Miami father of three. "We come home from war, and this is what we get."

Now, Orozco and several other Florida National Guard soldiers out of work since the death of Operation Guardian six months ago are considering drastic steps just to get jobs: Volunteering for active duty and a return to combat.

Indeed, had the soldiers worked for a civilian firm, and not for the federal government, they might have been covered by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, which protects reservists from discrimination and job loss when called to active duty.

-------------------------------------------------

Its a damn disgrace how this nation is treating its war veterans. Cutting the budget of the VA, jeopardizing their employment and smearing them when they run for office.

:mad:

[blm]

4. So taking their jobs away will FORCE them to RE-ENLIST.

BushInc is EVIL.

[SillyGoose]

5. Clever, isn't it?

They are heartless bastards who obviously don't give a rat's ass about our war veterans. I'm not surprised because few if any BushInc members have any military service under their belts.

[blm]

7. This is a very under-reported story.

I know some Dems have been pushing it for a long time and can't get more than a passing glance from most media.

[peacebaby3]

6. A guy who served in Iraq with my husband had this problem.

His business almost completely went under while he was gone. It is still on shaky ground now. He had to take out a rather large business loan to get everything up and going again when he got back.

[blm]

8. BushInc makes it easier for bankers' to profit from the woes he heaps upon

those serving.

The Republican fascists MOCK the military, they certainly don't honor them.