Written by Thomas Magstadt   

The young men and women who voluntarily signed up to serve this country in our armed forces have received some very bad news recently. It's a news story that has barely made the news. As a nation, we've become habituated to burying news about our wars and our warriors.

Since the draft was abolished in the wake of the unpopular and disastrous Vietnam War, the US military has been an all-volunteer professional fighting force. Abolishing the draft was a mistake of incalculable proportions, but one way to calculate it is by contrasting the high political costs of fighting a foolish and unwinnable war in the 1960s and '70s (two presidents were among the casualties of the Vietnam debacle) with the absence of any consequences for either of the chief executes who have presided during the waging of two utterly irrational and unwinnable wars since 2002.

Now that there's no conscription, there's no connection. That is, the American public, young and old, are now disconnected from our wars and from the men and women who wage them. We can go to war now without ever engaging the vast majority of middle-class voters, college students, parents, wives, families, friends, and neighbors on a personal level. It doesn't affect us directly (at least that's what we seem to think) so why get involved? Besides, "they" volunteered didn't they? And they're getting all sort of benefits, aren't they? I mean, really, there's plenty of money sloshing around in the Pentagon and the military takes good care of its own, right?

The answer depends on who "they" are. It also depends on what all of our enlisted men and women were promised when they signed up. And whether there really IS plenty of money sloshing around in the Pentagon.

Let's take a look at the last point first. Under the mindless sequester meat-axe the Pentagon has to cut a little over 9% out of its budget for the current fiscal year. That's a lot, about $46 billion. Wait: is it possible that $46 billion is only 9% of the defense budget? Indeed.

Do the math. By any reckoning, the defense budget is way over half a trillion dollars. It depends on who's counting, but by the narrowest, least-inclusive definition, US defense spending for 2013 is pegged at just under $614 billion. Use that figure, however, and the math doesn't work – 9% would be $10 billion or so more than the $46 billion being cut. Still, we're talking about not a just boatload of cash, but a flotilla of boats loaded with cash here. Make no mistake: the Pentagon even after the cuts will have at its disposal a sum roughly five times the size of the next largest military spender, China (PRC). It will have roughly 10 times the amount Russia will spend this year. And so on.

The Pentagon does not suffer from having too little money to spend; instead, it is besotted with too much. Which is why we can afford to build smart weapons while we continue to fight dumb wars. We don't have to be smart in matters of war and peace, like other countries. We can just throw money and muscle around and make it all go away.

And we've all borne witness to the results. We've all borne the burden whether we not it or not. It's just that since the Vietnam War era most of us have paid with tax dollars squandered on fights we have no business fighting and can't win, while a few – our active-duty soldiers – mostly from the ranks of the poor and lower middle class, have paid more dearly – with lives and limbs and a youthful innocence lost too early and irretrievably.

How many civilians can name a single soldier who has died or suffered traumatic injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan? During the Vietnam War, everyone could. Enough said.

Most of the young men and women who are serving in our Armed Forces were recruited right out of high school. On the front page of this week's edition of a local paper in a small town close to my heart – a town on Colorado's Western Slope – there's a picture of six boys (okay, young men, but very young) who will graduating from high school in May and have enlisted in one or the other branches of the military. Who has any idea what lies in store for them? Certainly they don't. How could they?

But you can bet that the recruiters are promising things – or at least were until the sequester forced a gluttonous military to go on the new 9% reduction diet. Among the promises made to all our enlisted men and women was the promise of college tuition benefits. Think about it: how else would the armed forces recruit young people? The "wages" a new recruit can expect to receive are paltry, the "work" is hard, and the discipline is strict. Not to mention, uh-uh, boot camp. Forget freedom for the next few years, boy and girls. It's all about duty and honor now.

So where's the honor in denying them the education benefits they were promised? That IS what just happened, you know. The Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard have all suspended these benefits as part of the Pentagon's response to the across-the-board budget cuts. (The Navy is the only hold-out.) Note: the tuition benefits, amounting to $4500 maximum a year, are not being reduced by 9%, they are being axed entirely. Everyone knows you can't go to college on $4500 a year, but for the progeny of the underclass it's a way to get a start – for many, perhaps, the only way. That was how they were enticed to serve their country while the vast majority of their more privileged peers do not.

On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a North Carolina Democrat, wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel protesting this action:

“I recognize that Congress’ inability to address our long-term fiscal challenges has forced the Department to make many difficult budget decisions. However, senior defense officials have continually discussed the dangers of creating a hollow force. I agree that we should not hollow out our most critical asset – the brave men and women serving…. Completely suspending this program, rather than simply reducing its funding by an amount proportionate to the cuts mandated by sequestration, is an alarming decision.”

Senator Hagan and others are trying to reverse this action and thousands of citizens have signed a petition to back this effort. Readers can cut and paste this link to join the fight:

http://www.change.org/petitions/restore-funding-to-the-military-tuition-assistance-program

The ultra-conservatives and corporate fat cats who dominate US politics now never tire of waving the flag and boasting about the superior quality of right-wing patriotism. What a laugh! Where are they now? Why has the Tea Party Caucus not taken up the cudgels?

"Support Our Troops" – a fine bumper sticker that costs next to nothing. For once, let's hold our political and military leaders' feet to the fire. For once, let's demand that they put their money where their mouth is.