Thank Me For My Service

Let me start this off properly and cross my T's and dot my I's so that someone doesn't come at me and try to twist my words to say something I didn't, or worse, someone comes at me like I don't have the right to say something about this matter. If you haven't read the "About me" section yet then I suggest start there.

Below I will start with a quick summary and then I will get into the reason for this post.

Hi. I'm S. L. McKinley. I am a writer and a photographer. At least that's how I explain to people when asked most of the time.

However,

I am a Prior Marine Raider and spent 10 years serving this country. I am now a Private Contractor currently in Iraq again. I had a great decade in the military and I dont regret a single thing I have done and I dont hate that anything happened to me. I wouldn't change it and I wouldn't ever talk shit about the experience as a whole. To say it was peachy and perfect would be a lie but I got out honorably and on my own terms. I could have done another ten and been just fine but I wasn't happy anymore. I wasn't hateful or vengeful or disgusted with anything. I don't blame anyone in particular for my change of mindset to get out and nor do I think if I did, they (whoever it would be) would care. So why put myself through that mindset and turmoil? I wasn't a water walker and I would never claim to. I didnt get am NJP or Court Martial so I would say I wasn't a horrible Marine either. I once had a Colonel say "Some people drink the Kool-aid, But S. makes it and we are just happy to be apart of it!" and I've had a SSgt say "you are annoying me with your backwards hat and I dont understand why you dont understand that."

I take both as two very true opinions about me. If I want something, I will make it happen. If I respect you, Ill show it. If I dont respect you, you'll know it. If I dont agree with the rule, You'll know it. I knew the rules wherever I was because if you dont know the rules and you break them, youre ignorant for not knowing the rules of your environment. But if you break them because you knew them and tried to get around them, least youre thinking for yourself. Which, as we know, isn't always the wanted attribute in the military, nor should it be the full mindset that you have in the service. Why would you join the military to be your own person? That makes no sense. At all. You are a number and a piece of the puzzle that makes up the Military as a whole...you are nothing more than a number.

Thats all I will say on my service for the time being. Now to get into why we are here today on this post.

The United States of America is in Trillions and trillions of dollars of debt. It has been since I was a kid. I think the last time I paid attention to it, It was Obama era and it hit 8 trillion dollars and my dad would say, wow, what a shitty president. Now im older and the debt is $31,637,185,801,784.00 (USdebtclock.org) and that is constantly going up by the seconds.

That is a huge difference compared to 8Trillion USD.

But why are we talking about the US Debt right now?

Because once again, we are coming up on the "Debt ceiling" which is when the Government has two options.

1) raise the debt ceiling and just keep accumulating more and more debt

2) cut things out of the programs ran by the federal Government and then the country will be "fine".

In the mean time while they decide what to do, the Government will most likely shut down...Again. It has before and it will again. Many of times. Whats that mean? The military will still work and most of them will get pay because of Credit unions but federal civilians won't get paid or work because they won't have the funding for it. They will continue working when the government opens back up. Both of my parents work for the government so this has happened many of times in the past.

Recently, we have been sending a lot of money (like always) to other countries to help them out in times of war and hardship. As of Feb 12, 2023 (Foxnews.com) the US has sent a total of 196 billion USD. Thats a lot of money. Germany right behind them with 170Billion.

Thats only 200 billion out of a 31 Trillion dollar debt so that little bit isn't going to put a dent in the debt at all. Thats an obvious thing. However, what has come down from the Congressional Budge Office (CBO) that we in the States have to cut 300 Billion from 10 programs in the country in the next 10 years to "balance the budget".

The CBO gave a list of options back in December 2022 of 17 options that would each cut the debt by 300 billion at least each section. And the government has to pick 10 of them. Not 17/17. but 10/17.

This was released back In December. And no one has been talking about it at all.

But this week, March 2023, the veteran and service member community blew up in what I would like to classify as a tantrum of premature proportions.

NOW we are finallllly to the point of this post.

Where in the contract of serving this country, did it say that the country will take care of us fully and fairly upon completing a contractual enlistment?

No where in the contract does it say that we will get first class medical, first class amenities, and in no way does it say we are GUARANTEED disability or monetary gains after leaving the service. No where does it say we are entitled to anything of the sort. Free health care, College (if served long enough) and that's about it....

We can apply. We can hope. We can wish. but it is on us as the service member to prove we have a service connected disability and it is on us to document and plan for the future. It is on us to make sure we take care of ourselves because why in the world would someone take care of us outside of the machine when the entire time we are in, we had leadership that didnt take care of us?

The Communities of the Vets and Active, exploded because they felt it was unfair that the Government would take away disability from people who's annual household income was about 120,000 by one dollar every 2 dollars over 120,000$. and if your house hold income is above 170,000$ then you will not get disability at all.

Do I agree with that? Absolutely not. I dont think that the government should do that. I dont think that it would be right or just because of the men and women who fought for this country and got service connected injuries, physical or mental, and now they are being left to fuck themselves.

But here's the thing.

No one at all, said that the government was choosing that option. It didn't say we are voting on this option today and we are going to make this happen.

It is on a list of 17 options and it is number 10.

Why? because it IS an option. It makes sense. We have a lot of people on disability and it costs money. Dont get mad because its true. IT IS TRUE! it costs the government money to pay people their disability.

Doesn't mean that it isn't needed for the members who get it. Doesn't mean it isn't going to be useful down the road for the members. But the reality is, it costs money to pay people. We as America dont have money.

However, it was ONLY an option on a list of 17 and they have to choose 10. No one said this is the option we want. They looked at the programs and they chose which ones would make the biggest retune on balancing the budget and that's it.

So why in the world did the veteran and active duty members get so heated in march of 2023 instead of heated in December of 2022? Where was the outrage there?

And when in the fuck did the mindset of "they owe us" become the way to think? They dont owe us a fucking thing!

There isn't one member in this government that owes a single member of the military a single dollar or benefit other than free health care and college if we served long enough to earn the college.

There isn't one statement in the contract that we sign VOLUNTARILY to receive money upon exiting the military.

If you document and you do the work to make sure it is all in your file, you can apply and if you get 100% you get 100%. If you get 5% then you get 5%. But you dont DESERVE disability just because you served. You dont DESERVE money just because you served.

You deserve free health care and you deserve free college if you served long enough to obtain that free college.

I saw all these people, say how this is fucked up that they are trying to take our money and take our rights and take our benefits....first off, active duty member, it isn't YOUR benefits. Its our who served and got out. Not yours who is still in. Secondly, If you are a veteran and you say they are trying to take our benefits and money....you are mistaken because they aren't trying to take it, they stated that it would be an option if they wanted to go after it. If they wanted to save 300+ billon dollars, they could choose that option and it would serve that purpose.

NO ONE SAID IT WAS HAPPENING!

We dont deserve a fucking thing from this government! Who thinks that they need to take care of us? Why would you think that? while you were in, you were the one to say that your leaders dont look after their people and the leadership sucks....Then you get out and you start talking about how they need to take care of you?!

GROW UP PETER PAN!

The government doesn't give a fuck about us. It didnt care during ww1 when shell shock was a thing and they sent them to the mental wards and discharged them because they were "unfit to serve". They didnt during ww2 when combat trauma was looked at as a weakness and a mental illness that showed "weak character", And they didn't during the afghan and Iraq wars. So why....please explain to me why they would care about us AFTER we got out of our contract to serve and defend the country against enemies foreign and domestic on our own free will with zero draft and the knowledge that Life limb eye sight is the possibility of our future loses and not to mention the mental trauma that is possible.

You are silly if you think that when you get out, you DESERVE anything from the government of the United States of America because you chose to serve and fight. That you chose to sign the dotted line and put your life, body, and mind through the rigors of the military and possible deployments. Whats hilarious to me is that a lot of the people I saw complaining looked like little kids who are still serving and just got out of high school. Then I see older service members complaining because their future plans of collecting a paycheck is getting ruined and then I see vets who complain about it because they don't want their benefits getting cut.

Now, If you are getting disability and you have a civilian job and you are making more than 70,000$ by yourself and your household income is more than 120,000 then I see you getting upset.

If you are single and have disability and you have a civilian job and you are making more than 120,000 or 170,000 dollars, I would applaud you!

BUT I wouldn't say you don't deserve disability because you make money in the civilian world. If you got out of the military and you make it good in your job...I AM HAPPY FOR YOU!! Truly. If you are successful with a disability, that's even better!

Lets be real though, How many people are getting out and making over 120,000 dollars house hold income? The average house hold income in 2021 was $70,784 according to census.gov (Full Link below).

Does that mean that it's not happening? No of course not. If you are contracting for example, its super easy to make that by yourself not including your wife or husband if you are married. That would be a reason to be upset sure, IF the option wasn't just on a list of 17 and was THE option or one of the 10 options chosen.

But if the average household income in America is 70,000$ and you're mad because the Va is going to cut your disability off at 170,000 then shut your mouth and sit down because it doesn't even hurt you.

If you are making that income and you are getting disability, its understandable that you would not want it to pass. You would deserve to protest and get angry because youre making money and even though you have a disability you are successful! Thats awesome!

Thats the goal right? To serve, get free college and then make that money on the outside right?

My last point,

I have seen a lot of pages talk about how this is unjust to so many who have selflessly served this great country. Selflessly...We all joined for a reason. Not many are serving to be Captain America and save the country from terrorists. They are serving for free college. Free medical. Free chow. Free housing over their head. A job. A skill for the outside perhaps.

Even when the war is going on, we almost all served to kill bad guys, do our duty to our country, or travel. All of those are selfish reasons. Pride, Ego, Pleasure. Im not saying its wrong. Not one bit. If you serve for free college, Hell yeah, college debt is stupid. If you serve because you want to travel, fuck yes, I love traveling, if you serve so you can kill bad guys, do your thing man but careful what you wish for sometimes.

But to say it is Selfless and FOR the Country is a lie and you know it. But it sure does sound so good when you say these brave selfless men and women served their country and are now losing their benefits. Again, No one is losing anything yet. Most won't lose anything ever because they dont make enough money to lose it. Or the Benefits that are available aren't Promised at all. They are granted if you meet certain criteria. Not because you deserve it.

Now to summarize:

1) This option list was released in December of 2022 and no one complained about shit until March 2023 because someone posted about it and took a single option and blasted it on the internet with no back story.

2) This is 1 option on a list of 17 options that the government has the ability to choose but MUST choose 10 options. Didnt say THIS was one of the 10. Just needed to know what was out there so they could decide. To be mad that they even put it on the list is silly because that's like you being asked how many dependents do you have and you leave one out because you didnt want to offend your current baby mama/baby daddy by including the other child. No, you state all the assets and then you decide which child, I mean, program you like better lol.

3) IF this was an option, I totally understand and agree an outrage and protest and more is a good choice of reactions. But its not THE option (at the time of this post at least).

4) Most people who rate disability, won't be making enough to get cut according to the national average of 70,000$ USD so calm the fuck down there terminal lance with zero skills besides drinking yourself into a stupor every weekend and thinking its something to be proud of. Or you SNCO/Officer with a stay at home spouse who doesn't contribute to your household income so you still dont make enough to worry about 170,000 making it so you dont rate your disability.

5) If you are not affected by this option, IF it were to go into play, why are you mad and saying fuck the government?

6) YOU(or me) don't deserve anything JUST BECAUSE you served.

7) The government DOES NOT care about you and never said it would or does.

8) We as a Country are so backwards right now but somehow vets think that they are above everyone in the country and active duty personnel think they are spartans and vikings who are these hard charging badasses but your TikTok videos/ IG reels of you dancing in uniform tell me you're nothing but a child still.

9) Active military and Veteran title doesn't make you a better person because of that title. You have to be a good person to be a good person. You just happen to be a vet or service member who is a good person.

10) We are nothing but numbers in the military, what makes you think that you are somehting more when you are out of the military without making a positive contribution to society or your community? Thank me for my service and tell me im a hero...

You deserve to be proud of your service.

You deserve to have the benefits they promised us (Free college if you meet the term requirements, health care that provides the basics at least, and Applebees discounts for life)

The rest…that’s on us as individuals.

(https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/demo/p60-276.html)

***this is NOT grouping all vets or all service members into a group and saying fuck you. This is strictly talking about the ones that I have seen and witness on a constant basis talk shit about the government when they are collecting government money and saying fuck the system. Or the ones who are mad about this particular issue recently without researching anything besides the ig post they saw some "vet owned/operated" "active duty owned" page posted.

There are a lot of good vets and a lot of good active/reserve members out there and they probably out number the shitty ones. The problem is that, just like most things, the shitty people stand out more and overshadow the good ones unless you really look.