Addressing the inequities our young people of military age face

Sen. Bob Corker
US Senate

Dear Sen. Corker,

Thank you for standing up for our troops by voting against Sen. Webb's amendment requiring more rest time for soldiers between deployments. Such a requirement would do tremendous damage to us internationally by calling our nation's manhood into question. The Chinese would have certainly taunted us by calling us--I hesitate to even put this word to electrons--"pussies." Can you imagine the effect such taunts would have on our important allies in the coalition of the willing? No doubt we'd lose Palau. They'd be gone the minute Russia said, "I bet you're a Capricorn."

Your daughter, Julia, doesn't get R&R. She's either buried too deep with sorority duties or on the run from one frat party to another. Her idea of a great R&R is receiving the simple gift of an iPhone. She only has two ways out: expulsion or marriage. Yet no one is asking to give her more time off between semesters, and she wouldn't want it anyway. She understands the concept of duty.

You did the right thing by voting against resting our troops, but you need to do more. You need to address the class-based inequities our young people of military age face. While your daughter dances her way to exhaustion, attempting to live up to the expectations we place on a Republican official's child, there are many soldiers from less deserving families lying in hospital beds and using their wounds as an excuse to avoid fulfilling their duty to us.

Wounded soldiers suck a tremendous amount of resources from our military while contributing nothing to the war effort. I hope you will propose an amendment requiring the military to make better use of these soldiers. There is simply no reason why they they can't be strapped to armored personnel carriers or tanks and be sent out on missions. To expect anything less from them is to not support them.

We're not Democrats. We don't disrespect our troops by demanding they be brought home. No, we show our support by providing them with the honor of risking their lives for something much bigger than them, the opportunity to save us from the embarrassment of admitting to making a mistake. There is no higher calling for a working class young man or woman than that.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, patriot