MESSAGE: I CARE

President Bush has launched a Midwest bus tour with a proposal to boost benefits for national guard and reserve troops....

At a rally in western Wisconsin, Bush said he wants to increase education benefits for those who see three consecutive months of active duty. He'd also boost aid to help their children change schools.

--AP

Well, gosh, what terrific initiatives! That George W. Bush sure is a compassionate conservative! Why, I'll bet these initiatives must cover every conceivable problem reservists and Guard members have right now!

...right?

He’s 57 years old, afflicted with skin cancer, partially deaf and suffers from high blood pressure. But the U.S. Army still wants Master Sgt. Luis Jaime Trevino.

On July 14, the Vietnam and Desert Storm veteran received his third order to report to active duty -- mobilized for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"I was very shocked," Trevino said, a member of the Army’s Individual Ready Reserve....

But there was no mistake. Trevino is to report to a mobilization unit Sept. 15 at Fort Jackson, S.C. "If I do not execute these orders, I go to jail," he said....

--The Monitor, McAllen, Texas

An overwhelming number of U.S. Army reservists are having problems getting paid, and many are paid late.

A report issued today by the [Government] Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, discovered major problems with the way the Army compensates its reservists.

Such problems are causing a considerable hardship for Melinda Delain, a single mother who had just purchased a new home when her reserve unit was deployed to Afghanistan.

Like everyone else in her medical unit, she did not receive her full paycheck for three months.

"I couldn't even buy things without worrying [about] spending too much money for simple items like shampoo and deodorant," Delain said.

She missed mortgage payments on her house, struggled to pay for child-care services for her daughter, and ran up credit card debts.

"You've got to remember, it is just not the three months that I didn't receive the pay. You know, I had to pay all the late fees to the creditors," she said.

In its report, GAO investigators found that 95 percent of Army reservists had pay problems....

--ABC

Army Spc. John Ramsey does not wear the combat patch he earned for service in Kuwait and Iraq because he doesn’t consider his combat tour to be over.

The Florida National Guard soldier said he’s fighting to get the military to pay for his medical bills for an injury he incurred on active duty, and to get follow-on care in an active-duty status....

Ramsey, who deployed from January to June 2003, was one of four Guard and reserve members who talked to lawmakers March 30 about the care they received when called to active duty and after demobilization.

Among the problems cited: undocumented medical records, unanswered requests for behavioral health counseling and expiration of active-duty orders while the troops still needed care. Delays in getting paid also cropped up. One injured soldier had to pay out of pocket for his hotel while awaiting an outpatient appointment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, although he later was reimbursed.

Ramsey said he receives phone calls nearly every day from health-care providers trying to collect more than $15,000 worth of unpaid medical bills....

--Army Times

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Labor Department reports receiving greater numbers of complaints under a 1994 law that is primarily designed to give Guard and Reserve troops their old jobs back, or provide them with equivalent positions....

While the 1994 law strengthened previous protections, it doesn't help doctors, lawyers or small-business owners who depend on maintaining a client base. It doesn't save jobs eliminated by plant closings or budget cuts. And it doesn't help injured troops who can no longer perform the work they once did....

--ABC

Besides the emotional burden, the deployments can put unexpected financial hardships on military families - sky-high telephone bills, unanticipated travel costs, and, perhaps most devastating: the loss of income from a full-time job.

For the past three months, Isabel Raymundo of Manchester, N.H., has had to contend with many of these burdens. Her husband, Mario, was deployed to Iraq in early March as part of the Army's 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain). Because Raymundo is a diesel mechanic for General Motors in civilian life, the family's finances are pinched while he's on active duty. As a result, Isabel, a nursing assistant, has had to take a second job cleaning offices. Working two full-time shifts back to back and caring for her children, she has time for only about six hours of sleep a day....

--Christian Science Monitor

Failure to pay child support for any reason - including service as a military reservist and the drastic cut in pay that comes with call-up orders - can mean jail time. Because of this sad reality, more than 7,815 non-custodial parents who are among the 81,403 reservists may face incarceration, simply because they answered their call-up orders as military reservists and subsequently could not pay their court-ordered child support....

Reservists can find some financial help. Under provisions of the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940, reservists may be able to qualify for reduced interest rates on mortgage payments, a reduced interest rate on credit card debts and protection from eviction. Despite these protections, the act does not offer assistance to reservists with child support determinations or debts....

--American Partisan

Whoops! Guess not!