Will Returning Vets Be Screwed….Again?

First of all, there was another debate of the GOP candidates on foreign policy….let me sum it up the positions of ALL the candidates on foreign policy…..Obama Sucks!  There is NO definitive positions by any candidate!

Recently, our president made a speech about the need to help our vets in finding jobs because they fight so the rest of us do not have to…..it was all sorts of things….especially tax breaks for companies that hire a vet that has been unemployed for 6 months or more……first, why would they need an incentive?  The corporates have incentives for everything….probably even if they have regular bowel movements…..I think it is just sick that they (corporations) need an incentive to do the right thing……and now he has signed his proposal into law…..but will history repeat itself concerning veterans?

Let’s talk about SPN and RE  codes……..

SPD, SPN (Separation Program Number) and RE codes are issued to all discharging military personnel. These codes are placed on the DD-214 form and provide any who see the DD-214 a summary and characterization of the veteran’s military service. These codes are intended solely for use by military recruiters for re-enlistment review and the Department of Defense for statistical analysis. However, an increasing number of employers, Veterans Administration service officers, law enforcement agencies and prospective mates are using these codes to base decisions on employment, veteran benefit eligibility, criminal behavior modeling and marital compatibility.

Shortly after the Vietnam War when thousands of military personnel faced post-war, DoD drawdowns, negative SPN and SPD codes were handed out like speeding tickets at the Indy 500. Because private employers were discovered to be using these codes to deny employment during the so-called “nutty Vietnam veteran scare”, regardless of the veteran’s “Character of Discharge” being Honorable, The Ford and subsequent Carter Administrations ordered DoD to reduce its use of SPN/SPD codes and directed VA to assist veterans in obtaining a new DD-214 that did not list the codes. For a very brief time SPD and SPN codes disappeared from military use. But as America’s all-volunteer military kicked-in full steam, DoD found it necessary to provide additional reference data for military recruiters to help identify and screen-out individuals who performed less than model service in one branch then attempted to re-enlist in another branch. Hence, SPD codes were restored with a vengeance. The use and abuse of SPD codes have risen steadily since and have produced more chaos and pain in the lives of innocent veterans that make their post-Vietnam use relatively innocent in comparison.

Will returning vets have to face the discrimination that followed returning Viet Vets?  Will the codes be used again to eliminate some from good jobs?

Penthouse Magazine (I can hear the women cringing in the background) broke the story of how corporations were using the DD214 against returning Viet Vets….the series made the military look bad so they have gone to an alternative…..the vet gets two copies of the DD214…one with codes, one without…..and this somehow will protect the vet from discrimination…..and that my friends is ….B*LLSH*T!

Corporations have the power….Vets DO NOT!

The Prez will do the bare minimum to appear as if the government cares……..corporations must be enticed to help those that were out protecting their assets across the world….it is time for the country to wake up and realize just what we owe our veterans…….

VETS!  Make sure that you carry ONLY the one without the codes!  Personally, I do not believe that this problem has been solved!  Do not fall to the predator corporations as so many of us from another war had to deal with in the past…..Watch Your Backs!  The government will NOT do it for you!