(HOST) Commentator Bill Seamans has been thinking about jobs, vacations and returning veterans – not necessarily in that order.
(SEAMANS) Our fear factor concerning the threat of another major terrorist attack here at home has been raised to an even higher level by a "gut feeling" and warnings from high Bush administration officials that the enemy bomber is near to knocking on our door. The threat crisis is so great that our Congress persons are facing it by going on vacation for the rest of the month – this after criticizing the Iraqi Parliament for also taking the month off. In the meantime, no vacation for our troops – an average of five GI’s and Marines will be killed and countless others grievously wounded each day that our governing body is vacationing.
Away from Washington, however, our legislators will come face to face with their home-state war veterans who will tell them yet again that they are not enjoying a vacation away from the difficult problems they are facing returning to civilian life. It seems now that the storm of publicity surrounding the Walter Reed Army hospital scandal has faded away so has much of the attention our politicians are paying to the problems of homecoming veterans. The whole nation was in an uproar about the shabby treatment accorded our
veterans but now’a-days you don’t hear much about veterans problems especially from those talk show patriotism hawks who swoop down on any one who criticizes President Bush’s handling of the war.
Now, the Washington Post which broke the Walter Reed story has pulled another one out of the media shadows. The Post reported that for tens of thousands of members of the National Guard and reserves returning home safely may be the beginning – not the end – of their worst nightmare. Many are finding their civilian jobs gone and – the Post says – they face unsympathetic employers and a government that has restricted access to civilian jobless reports rather than prosecuting offending employers.
According to law, the Guard and reserves are supposed to be protected from job loss, demotion, loss of seniority and loss of benefits when they are called to active duty. But the government has made the burden of
proving that their jobs were taken away because of military service so difficult that it discourages many veterans from even trying – especially when it involves lawyer’s fees they cannot afford. The Washington Post says the Pentagon has effectively made
legislative oversight – which the veteran’s congresspersons should be fighting for – almost impossible.
I regret that the Post did not mention the many employers who are doing the best they can to support their National Guard and reserves some even making up the difference between their service pay and their civilian paycheck as well as preserving their jobs.
But it’s a problem that our Congresspersons should forcefully look into when they return to Washington refreshed by their month-long vacation.
Bill Seamans is a former correspondent and bureau chief for A-B-C News in the Middle East.