SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS IS NOT JUST A BUMPER STICKER
By R J Shulman
GRAYSON, New Mexico – It’s the day after Memorial Day. We move from thoughts of soldiers who have died while serving our country to those troops now serving in harm's way. We look at the yellow sticker slapped on the back of our SUV’s and feel very proud to be an American. But maybe before we slip back into our daily lives, we could take the time to ponder what we could do to support our troops in addition to attaching a decal, probably made in China to our vehicle, probably made in Korea. Here are some random thoughts on what supporting our troops could mean:

1. Send them to wars as a last resort, not as a photo op or vehicle to provide a leader “political capital”
2. When we do send them into battle, make sure that they have the proper equipment and not something slapped together by a no-bid contractor friend of those sending the troops off to war

And do all we can to make sure that when the troops finally come home that America is a country that:
1. gives the kind of support, mental, physical and otherwise to the retuning men and women to make the soldier’s transition back to civilian life as easy as possible
2. makes sure Veterans Hospitals are filled with great doctors and medical care and not rats and mold
3. provides a free education to returning soldiers so they can achieve excellence in civilian life
4. makes sure good jobs are still here and have not shipped overseas so a few can reap bigger profits
5. puts war profiteers in jail, and not war protestors
6. removes bad leaders, even Presidents when they show they have little regard for the rule of law
7. when it talks about race relations, means how the human race relates to everything else on the planet
8. doesn’t just talk about family values, but values families by providing them support and opportunities to better themselves
9. believes in freedom of religion and from religions that want to use the law to prove their god is better than someone else’s god
10. assures that people are secure in their homes from unlawful searches, seizures, wiretaps and free from predatory foreclosures
11. still thinks that an extraordinary rendition is a great version of a song and not a approved clandestine railroad to torture
12. values human prophets above corporate profits
13. is more concerned whether a soldier is happy than whether he is gay
14. makes sure that when the troops come back, that their city is still here and not devastated by an unnatural response to a natural disaster
15. makes sure all the votes are counted and all its people count
16. has protected the Constitution at home as well as the troops have protected it oversees.
The list could go on. But the conclusion is the same: supporting our troops should not just be a bumper sticker.