This is about a homeboy from Clovis, California. My sister lives in Clovis, a city adjacent to Fresno. Jason Hubbard's brothers are buried in the same cemetery as my parents, my brother-in-law, and an aunt and uncle of mine.From the Los Angeles Times yesterday:
WASHINGTON — Nearly eight months ago, Iraq veteran and Fresno County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Hubbard lost the second of his two brothers in Iraq, leaving him as a "sole survivor" under military guidelines and requiring that he leave combat operations.
But after he returned home to Clovis, Calif., Hubbard, 33, was dealt another loss when the Army stripped him of his healthcare, took away GI Bill education benefits worth as much as $40,000 and demanded he repay his $6,000 enlistment bonus.
That is how the United States government under George W. Bush supports its troops.
Jason Hubbard saw his brother's body removed after a helicopter crash in Iraq. He had already lost a brother there. He had to come home. His wife is pregnant. And this is how his nation shows its gratitude.
The Hubbard Act would sort out the shit so this man and other men and women in similar situations are taken care of as they should be, not shafted in the midst of their families' grief. It has bipartisan support and should pass.
This sort of thing, I submit, has much more to do with patriotism than damned lapel pins (which are supposed to be considered as living things according to the current protocol, thereby elevating them to the level of the bodies we shatter and minds we traumatize sending them into needless war).
Don't. Get. Me. Started.
--the BB
