Carving Up the Promise

Those who are offended by political statements should stop reading here and go to a more comfortable place in cyberspace.  What I am going to discuss is political and may offend some readers.

As a Life Member of the Military Officers Association of America, I keep up to date on military issues through the organization's monthly magazine and its website.  In the December 2011 issue of Military Officer, one will find an article titled "Et Tu, SASC?  This headline caught my attention immediately, being that I have long been a student of Roman history.  It is a play on the last words of Julius Caesar as he was assassinated at the Roman Senate on the Ides of March, 44 BC, "Et tu Brute" or "you too Brutus?".  It was a statement that would become immortal as a synonym for betrayal as Brutus thrust his dagger into the withering body of Caesar.  Why would the MOAA head their discussion of military health issues with such a graphic and volatile reference?  Perhaps because the situation demanded it.

The managers of our trust, the government of the United States of America, have failed pitifully and have squandered the tremendous gift that "the greatest generation" gave to us — a nation virtually independent of foreign influence.  Today, we are becoming mere pawns on the world stage being sucked dry of our vastly accumulated wealth through a sea of errant thinking and mismanagement.  We have become a reactive nation rather than a noble leader in virtually all areas other than military.  We still possess the most effective fighting force the world has ever seen—what a shame that our diplomatic and economic skills are not up to that level.  The former Captains of Industry are seen as plunderers in the New World Order and it's a blessing to them that they all died long ago.  Most of their profit making ventures have been driven offshore by a national mentality where consumption trumps production, legitimate profit is assailed as social corruption and incentives to work are replaced by incentives not to work.  Those of us still dealing in Horatio Alger fashion with the idiocy of life simply get to stand by and watch our legacy vanish through self indulgence in the name of egalitarianism.

The socialistic largesse of government has buried us so far in debt that the wolves are at the door baying for lunch, and that is what the MOAA article is all about.  It is a synopsis of Washington infighting over the military budget and nothing is so sacred these days as to escape being offered as a sacrificial cow to the gods of finance.  One of the most sacred promises that the U.S. Government made to all career military personnel was a retirement system that promised health care for life.  There were no caveates or warnings that this was a tentative offer, it was an outright promise that the sort of health care that we received while on active duty would be provided for us in our retirement years.  Now, the Senate Armed Services Committee is playing the part of Brutus, standing in the Senate hall with a dagger about to draw blood from an old friend and indeed its mentor.  The committee is recommending that the military retirement system should be more like civilian retirement plans—in particular concerning healthcare.  Of course everyone knows what great shape the civilian retirement health care plans are in.

That train wreck notwithstanding, it might seem that this would be an improvement over the current Tri-Care system.  Tri-Care is so pathetic in its ratio of approved payments versus billed services that a frightening number of health care providers will not accept Tri-Care patients.  For those living in rural America, the nearest provider that accepts Tri-Care may be hours away from where one lives and choice is a pipe dream.  One is lucky to have coverage at all.  I actually wrote to one of my Senators about this problem and it was forwarded to the Pentagon's chief of health care services.  Springfield, Missouri is the nearest large city to our home (90 miles) and there are three major hospitals there.  All three have rejected Tri-Care coverage.  The letter I received in reply from the Pentagon was a curt admonition to stop complaining.  No great surprise I suppose.

Unfortunately, the net result of the Senate committee recommendation would be added cost to the military member and a further erosion of the promise.  It gets even worse when a retired military member turns 65.   Part of my military retirement package was medical care for life for myself and for my spouse during my lifetime.  The provider was "Tri-Care".  Over time, the government added a provision that when a retiree turns 65, the primary provider shifts from Tri-Care to Medicare.  That didn't seem so bad, since the coverage was similar, but they also started deducting nearly $100 per month from my Social Security check to pay for the Medicare premium.  So much for the free medical promise.  Now, they are raising the per month fee over the next couple years to some uncertain level (but certainly more).  While the actual premium that will be paid in 2014 is a matter of debate, and will undoubtedly be less than the $247 claimed by ultra-conservatives, there is little doubt that I will be paying more per year for my "free" medical coverage and we will soon have to pay double that per year to retain coverage on my spouse who currently is free under my retirement plan.  And, we have no choice in the matter -- the switch from Tri-Care to Medicare is mandatory.  That, in my estimation, is a broken promise.  This may seem like sour grapes, but all the years that I served in the military they factored in my retirement health care benefit as a part of my total compensation and paid me less because of it.  In other words, they treated it like cash in my pocket.  Now they are stealing the cash that I worked for and banked as retirement compensation. 

As military retirees were nostalgically carving Turkey this week in Thanksgiving, our elected officials were busy carving up the promises made decades ago.  In that light, how can any of us really have faith in the promises made today?

God Bless John Culberson

John Culberson

An editorial in the Washington Post of October 28 caught my eye with the headline: "Veterans allowed to rest in peace."  At first, I thought it was a story about repatriation of recently recovered remains of veterans lost during combat.  There are thousands of these cases still being worked by the Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command (JPAC), including the case on William Edward Cramsie.  But, no, this was about something even more head-turning.  It really is a little mind numbing and heart warming at the same time.

A couple months back, I received an email forwarded from a friend.  It was a report about the Obama Administration forbidding prayer and other religious references at VA Cemetery services.  Not only that, there were reports of veteran groups like VFW and American Legion getting hassled by a VA Cemetery manager and threatened with expulsion for using a reference to God in what they said during presentations to a widow.  I thought this so bizarre that I immediately put it in the category of skinhead propaganda and hit the delete button.  When I realized that this Post editorial was about that very topic, I was shocked back to reality.  I know that the Post is sometimes a bit biased, though in my personal view with some justification, but I could not believe that they would have bought into something like this without confirmation.

As I read on, it became obvious that the story was true.  Now, I'm not saying that I believe everything that I read in the media, I'm just a tad less gullible than that.  What sealed the veracity for me was the report of John Culberson's involvement.  I happen to know and trust Mr. Culberson through my work with a non-profit advocacy group.  Representative Culberson (TX-7) has helped us on many occasions and is one of an honored few who have been recognized with our highest "Friend" award.  That aside, I read with considerable interest how he jousted with the Administration to change VA policy back to the sane traditional path that it had followed for as far back as my memory reaches, and that's getting to be a far reach.  I won't go into the details because the Post article is linked above and all can read it for themselves.  However, I did want to say here that its refreshing when a legislator has the will to engage and the audacity to demand redress of government excess.  This was not about religion it was about liberty.  We have become far too PC in America and are throwing out the baby with the bath water.  I wish we had more leaders who respect and tolerate personal rights and freedoms and less who insist on defining and enforcing a uniform code of existence.

God Bless John Culberson!

In Memory - an Archive

Memorial Day seems an appropriate time to report the growth of an activity that honors the service of those who served and those who died serving during WWII.  Two years ago, at the 416th Bomb Group reunion in Branson, Missouri, a topic arose that had been on the minds of many veterans and their kin in recent years.  The tangible links that many of us who served keep squirreled away in a chest (personnel records, photos, military orders and the like) tend to disappear at the end of our tenure here.  To those who hold these sorts of items dear, it is a tragedy.  We find it hard to imagine that a younger generation might not find some or all of these remembrances important enough to preserve.  Yet, every day, somewhere in America, history is destroyed in a burn barrel along with the kitchen trash. As a nation, we go to great lengths to preserve the smallest of objects from antiquity, but seem oblivious to the monumental importance of objects nearer to us in time.

Shortly after that 2009 reunion, I was copied on an email from a veteran's spouse that went out to several of the organizers of the very informal 416th Bomb Group Association.  The message reinforced what had been discussed earlier.  This spouse had numerous records and photos that belonged to her husband, a member of the 416th Headquarters staff from the earliest days to the end of the war.  There apparently was marginal interest in this material among the surviving family members and it needed to be cleared to make space in a downsizing operation.  After a round of email exchanges, I rather reluctantly volunteered to serve as a repository for this information until a suitable permanent home could be identified.  It was a selection pool of one.  Thus was born the 416th Bomb Group Archive and the loosely defined title "Archivist".

Since that day, the amount of information about the 416th Bomb Group that has come to light has been absolutely staggering.  The discovery and sharing of the personal photo collection of Capt. Francis J. Cachat, the 416th photographer, has added well over 900 hitherto unknown photographs of 416th personnel and equipment.  A windfall of data was added to the Archive through the thoughtfulness of an Air Force Historical Research Agency employee who made digital copies of wartime 416th records available.  Also enriching the Archive were donations of material from several veterans and/or their families.  This latter group shed considerable light on the history of squadron and group reunions dating back to 1946.

In addition to the preservation of primary sources, the Archive includes significant research tools.  Among the most important of these is the 416th.com website, which has been very greatly expanded and is growing almost daily due to the dedicated effort of Rick Prucha, the son of a 416th pilot.  Relational databases have also been created to record details of unit personnel (currently recording 2,460 officers and enlisted members) and 310 unit aircraft (181 A-20s and 129 A-26s to date).  Both of these databases continue to grow as additional records or photos are analyzed and new verifiable information becomes available.

New Home of the 416th Bomb Group Archive

The primary purpose of any archive is to safely store material for research.  Obviously, that means a place to store and a place to work.  An opportunity recently presented itself for my wife Doris and I to purchase what was formerly the Gainesville, Missouri City Hall.  It's an historic WPA building built in 1935 as a Community Center just off the town square.  Gainesville is nestled in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks, about 50 miles east of Branson, MO.  Our intention is to restore the building to something approximating its original state.  A dedicated area within this building will house the 416th Archive.  Also within the building will be a library and educational center for the study of historical objects from an earlier era.

Eventually, the Archive will need a permanent home.  With limited and shrinking budgets (and staff), the academic repositories that once would have been likely candidates are overwhelmed by the amount of material that has emerged as WWII veterans are leaving us at an accelerating pace.  By holding, organizing and preserving this information about the 416th, one small but important unit in the great war effort of almost 70 years ago, we can improve the viability of this archive complementing that of a more enduring institution in years to come.

416th veterans, family, or friends with items to donate or copies to share may telephone 417-499-9831 or write to Wayne G. Sayles, 416th Bomb Group Archive, P.O. Box 911, Gainesville, MO 65655