Letter: Sacrifices of military, vets not appreciated

Friday, March 14, 2003 | 8:57 a.m.

Going back to my service with the 7th Infantry Division in Korea during the war, I question the intelligence, the logic and common sense of our elected people in Washington, then and now.

During the Korean War, our military sustained thousands of casualties because Washington restricted the intelligent use of our military power, and as I write, some 8,000 men are still listed as missing from that conflict. Later, in the Vietnam War, again the military was turned into cannon fodder because Washington tied one hand behind their back, so to speak.

Today we again have trouble with North Korea and its saber-rattling dictator. Now Washington has decided to continue shipping foodstuffs to North Korea under the misguided assumption that it is the humanitarian thing to do. Surely Washington must know that such foodstuffs would go to the North Korean military rather than to the civilian population, which goes hungry. Talk about aiding a potential enemy in helping to kill more Americans.

Our military is reduced to armed policemen and shipped all over the world, put in harm's way, and we hear the same rhetoric: The soldiers did not die in vain.

When things go awry, the U.S. military becomes second-class citizens, as do the veterans, who sacrificed for their country and are not given as much consideration as immigrants, and go hat in hand to the VA even for service-connected problems.

WALTER GUNTHER