We stand with our men and women in the military to ensure that they and their families receive the support and respect they deserve here at home, and furthermore we support legislative efforts to improve the level of support for military and their families, especially those killed or injured while in action.

***If you prefer you can print and mail your signed petition to:

Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission, Inc. P.O. Box 7802 St. Paul, MN 55107

Two other marines, known as B and C, were acquitted over the shooting of the unknown man while they were on patrol in Helmand, Afghanistan, in 2011.

Marine A faces a mandatory life sentence and was taken into custody.

Brigadier Bill Dunham, of the Royal Marines, said the murder was "a truly shocking and appalling aberration".

It is the first time British forces have faced a murder charge in relation to the conflict in Afghanistan, said BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt.

There were tears from their families as the verdicts were read at the Military Court Centre in Wiltshire.

Marines B and C are now free to return to military service, the judge said.

'9mm pistol'
Marine B had inadvertently filmed the murder, which happened on 15 September 2011, on his helmet-mounted camera and the footage was shown to the court during the two-week trial.

It showed Marine A shooting the Afghan prisoner with a 9mm pistol, and saying: "There, shuffle off this mortal coil... It's nothing you wouldn't do to us."

Americans are encouraged to reaffirm their patriotism and allegiance to our flag and country, and to honor our brave men and women in uniform who are selflessly putting their lives on the line to protect and preserve our way of life.

The 5th Annual Day of the Deployed is recognized on October 26, by Soldiers Angels and many governors across the nation declaring the day of honor with the following proclamation:

Proclamation Day of the Deployed October 26

Nathan Cirillo was standing guard at the War Memorial when he was shot and killed.

Photo source: facebook

Mateship is often associated with Australia's diggers in World War I.
It is a term that conjures images of young men providing unconditional support for one another amid the toughest of conditions.

The memorial is comprised of four black marble obelisks engraved with the words “courage, endurance, mateship, sacrifice”.

I can tell you from experience...that that Digger Mentality stills flows within the 3 services of the ADF now, and to have some people who have never served a day in their life's think that changing Mateship to Friendship means the same thing then they are delusional.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/11/military-debt-commission-recommendations-111010w/

Panel calls for 3-year freeze on military pay

By Chuck Vinch - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Nov 11, 2010 12:48:54 EST
A three-year freeze on basic pay and military housing and food allowances is among 58 recommendations contained in the draft report of President Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform that was released Wednesday.

The Debt Commission, as it is informally known, said Regular Military Compensation - basic pay, basic allowance for housing, and basic allowance for subsistence, as well as the tax advantage of those two tax-free allowances - is expected to grow by $9.2 billion from 2011 to 2015.

"A three-year freeze at 2011 levels for these compensation categories would save the federal government $7.6 billion in compensation and tax expenditures," as well as another $1.6 billion in future retirement pay, for a total of $9.2 billion in savings in 2015.

Combined, the 58 recommendations would save $3.8 trillion through 2020, mainly by making cuts to Social Security and Medicare, reducing income-tax rates and eliminating tax breaks, including the mortgage-interest deduction.

But the commission's co-chairs, Erskine Bowles, former White House chief of staff under President Clinton, and Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, had plenty of other recommendations for savings within the Defense Department budget.

The proposed three-year freeze on military compensation is the most eye-opening military-related recommendation in the report, and it could prove politically untenable. But other defense-related recommendations pick up on ideas that have been discussed before at length, some for years.

For example, one recommendation calls for adjusting Tricare enrollment fees, co-pays and deductibles, an idea that the Pentagon has proposed - unsuccessfully - for three years running as a way to address its soaring medical budget.

The most recent Pentagon proposal called for allowing those beneficiary costs, which have not changed since Tricare was launched in the mid-1990s, to rise with inflation. The new Debt Commission recommendation would raise premiums and co-pays by smaller, unspecified amounts and would squeeze most of its cost savings from a new requirement that private-sector employers reimburse the government for the employer share of health care costs for working-age retirees who use Tricare instead of their employer-provided health plan.

"This would eliminate a subsidy by the government for what is a normal business expense, and provide the government with about $3 billion," the commission report said.

A related recommendation would require all beneficiaries to pay a "modest" enrolment fee for each of the three Tricare plans, and designate whether they are using Tricare as their primary insurer or as a supplemental policy.

"To reduce higher-than-average usage of health care by families of service members, the option would also raise co-pays for office visits from their current low levels closer to national averages," the report said.

Another recommendation would increase out-of-pocket costs for veterans in Priority Group 5 who are enrolled in the Veterans Affairs Department health care system. That category is for veterans who do not have service-connected disabilities and whose income is below a VA-defined threshold.

Those patients now pay no fees for inpatient or outpatient medical care. The commission calls for establishing co-pays for medical care provided by VA to those veterans.

The commission also suggests major changes to the Defense Department's dependents education system, and morale, welfare and recreation activities.

The report calls for consolidating the Defense Department's commissary and exchange systems, an idea that has been floating around Washington for years. The commission says consolidating the stores into one network over five years eventually would result in savings of $1.7 billion a year - if the new facilities "raised prices 5 percent on average."

"It has been suggested that some of this savings could be returned to military families in the form of a $600 [monthly] grocery allowance, which would more than offset the 5 percent increase in prices. This would leave over $800 million in savings annually," the report said. "One argument against the grocery allowance is that the exchanges would still be able to offer below-market prices for goods."

The commission also recommends shutting down the military's stateside school system, which operates mostly in the South as a legacy of the Jim Crow era, when the military was desegregated but civilian communities were not. Noting that most service members now live off base and send their children to private-sector schools, the report said it is "no longer clear why the system is still necessary, or why the Defense Department plans to spend $1.2 billion ... to rebuild these schools" from 2011 through 2015.

The report suggests increasing federal funding to public school districts that would take in additional military children if the DoD schools closed.

Other military-related recommendations in the report:

• Reduce military personnel stationed at overseas bases in Europe and Asia by one-third.

• Cut spending on facilities maintenance.

• Apply the $100 billion in overhead savings that Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to squeeze out of the defense budget to deficit reduction, rather than reinvesting it in force structure and weapons modernization, as Gates would like to do.

• Freeze federal salaries, bonuses, and other compensation for the DoD civilian workforce for three years.

• Double the number of defense contractor positions scheduled for elimination from 10 percent of current staff augmentees to 20 percent.

• Reduce procurement by 15 percent, or $20 billion.

• Eliminate the V-22 Osprey program, the Marine Corps' Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program, the Navy's Future Maritime Prepositioning Force, new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, the Ground Combat Vehicle, and the Joint Tactical Radio.

• Cut the planned number of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in favor of more F-16s and F/A-18Es.

• Cancel the Marine Corps' F-35 program.

Under Obama's executive order last February that created the commission of 12 members of Congress and six private citizens, 14 of the 18 commissioners must agree in order to send any package to Congress for a vote in December.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who will remain the House speaker until January, have promised in writing that the Senate would vote first and, if it approves a plan, the House would vote as well.

If such a package falls short of the necessary 14 votes among commissioners, some of the recommendations could be developed piecemeal to reduce the federal deficit once the economy fully recovers.

Reacting to the report, a long time expert on military pay and benefits said the recommendations will be the start of a prolonged battle.

"I take this as a serious threat, although not necessarily an imminent threat," said Steve Strobridge of the Military Officers Association of America. "We face an era of national belt-tightening that is going to last a number of years. If they don't cut military retired pay this year, or next year, that doesn't mean they won't do it the year after. Nothing is safe."

Additional websites:

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/nov/12/tom-philpott-debt-panel-eyes-tricare-fee-federal/

http://www.stripes.com/panel-eyes-tricare-hikes-federal-pay-freeze-1.125236

Since 1999, the ADF has endured an operational temp not seen since the Vietnam. Government Foreign policy has seen the ADF involved in worldwide conflict and peacekeeping missions on a ever increasing scale. They are working harder then ever before, with less equipment and even less people in uniform to get the job done.

The military wants their pension returned despite internal surveys stating otherwise. I call on the Australian Government to re-introduce the pension to the ADF who put their lives on the line for their country. Service people can spend 9 months or more away from families year in, year out. Doing one of the hardest jobs possible for 20 years deserves a modest pension.

Give service people an incentive to complete 20 years service, otherwise people will continue to leave early and the shortage of service personnel will continue.

If it's good enough for Politicians to get a pension after 12 years in the trenches of parliament, it's good enough for a digger in the trenches of Afghanistan. The military pension is a fraction of what the pension Australian Politicians receive.

I Propose that the military have the option to return to the DRFDB system as the MSBS system has changed significantly since its inception. We had no financial advice at the time, other than being told that it was a better system, which turned out to be false. Military superannuation is currently being reviewed, yet a pension is not on the cards. WHY?

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UPDATE: The link to the petition have be sent to the Defence and shadow ministers. Lets see if there is a response. Also a letter has been written to be sent to major newspapers. We wait and see Ladies and Gentlemen.

UPDATE 2: Emailed link and a letter to the Governor General, the PM, both Defence Ministers, Daily Telegraph, SMH, Courier Mail, Herald, The Australian, TT, ACA and 4 Corners. Sincere thank you to those who have signed. Keep those sigs coming people, the more exposure the better.

UPDATE 3: So far only 4 Corners have bothered to reply, Thank you ABC.

UPDATE 4: Well it took long enough, but Defence has now blocked access to this petition from any defence PC. This co-incides with the slow down of signatures. Thanks for the emails people, but there is zero I can do.
I'll finish with a quote from our defence minister.

"JOHN FAULKNER, DEFENCE MINISTER: Our commitment to supporting the men and women of the ADF is unwavering.

Oh really?

Further Update:

I received a letter from the minister stating that there is no chance of a pension for the ADF . Basically he states that you signed on the dotted line and deal with it. They state that we were given the choice to stay with DFRDB. My reply letter included the fact that what choice? considering you changed the goal posts after people changed to MSBS. I also stated my disgust at defence banning access to the petition. If it's not an issue then why ban it?

The press isn't interested, the government isn't interested, so it's case of keep begging for a pay increase of 4% over a couple of years of course. To all the defence personnel out there, best wishes and best of luck in getting the job done as more people leave.

To you pollies out there, enjoy your pension, you've earned it with your hard work, time away from family, in the firing zone from the press gallery, low salary etc etc.

Update 12 Feb 2010: I have decided to print out all signatures and if possible comments and mail a very large documents to all previously emailed members and institutions. I have decided not to let this rest and ramp up the fight for a pension in 2010. Anybody viewing or signing this petition, I urge you to pass on the link to others and contact your local member.

Update May 2010:

A printed out copy of this petition has been sent to MP Louise Markus, Shadow minister for Veteran Affairs. A second printed copy is being mailed to the editor of the Daily Telegraph. Future update with responses will be posted here.

Update April 2011:

Email with link to this petition sent To MP Andrew Robb, Opposition spokesperson for Finance as he raised in parliament the idea of raising the pension for ADF members.

Thank you,
- Defend Arlington

Following Joe White's leadership, there is a national effort to establish March 13 as K9 Veterans’ Day. Several states have already taken that step. Our goal is to have March 13 proclaimed as national K9 Veterans’ Day, similar to our current Veterans' Day.

K9 Veterans Day is intended to honor military dogs as well as those working with police, customs, border patrol, service, therapy and other working dogs whose mission it is to protect and serve the homeland and people within it.

Working dogs are commended for their loyalty and devotion and are known for placing themselves in harm’s way even to the point of making the ultimate sacrifice for their partners, handlers, and trainers.

Needless to say this left thousands of personnel carrying out their National Service with no State recognition whatsoever.

Next year, 2012, is the sixtieth year of our current Monarch’s reign and no doubt in recognition of that, along with Her Majesty’s 25th Silver Jubilee and 50th Golden Jubilee a medal to record this auspicious occasion will be awarded.

With the Silver Jubilee Medal there was a definitive restriction on the number awarded, by the time of the Golden Jubilee more medals were awarded. Would it not be a gesture of recognition if for the Diamond Jubilee we could honour not only our current, serving Forces Personnel but all those men and women who have served Her Majesty in the past.

Obviously in these financially restricted times to do so would be an unbearable financial outlay. So bearing that in mind the following is proposed:

1. Honour those serving at present with the award of the Diamond Jubilee Medal.

2. Allow all those who have served previously for a minimum of 2 years with the option of purchasing the medal. Therefore including National Servicemen who served their full time.

3. Those who purchase the medal would be able to wear same at all official functions and from that purchase money £1.00 would be donated from the company selling the medal to the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.

By taking this course of action the benefits are:

1. Finally, recognition to all those National Servicemen and all other ex-service personnel who have served Her Majesty during her glorious reign.

2. No cost to the Government.

3. A substantial amount of money raised for The Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal which could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, thereby helping other ex-service personnel and their dependants in their hour of need.

4. Relatively secure employment for those employed in the medal companies.