Supporting the Troops

Two tidbits of news regarding Defense Department policy just nestled into the headlines. The first is that the Pentagon will pay for the families of deceased soldiers to attend the arrival of their fallen kin in Dover, DE. This comes as part of the Obama administration's plan to lift the ban on media coverage of the return of soldiers killed abroad that has stood since the first Gulf War. The second is that the Pentagon plans to cease widespread use of the Stop-Loss program that kept soldiers on duty past the end of their tours, and further compensate soldiers deployed under such a program.

It still seems somewhat baffling that those who, with so little forethought and so little competence both abroad and at home, would send soldiers to the Middle East to kill and die managed to thoroughly claim the "support our troops" terminology. Meanwhile, policy directions like this one, that lend themselves to sustainability and respect, are confronted as cowardice and defeatism. Go figure.