Fare relief for troops a tough fight

Our attempt to help local military families is going a bit like the war itself: Some progress has been made, but there's no resolution in sight and the frustration is building.

[Betamax]

{{{We take these young kids, ship them halfway around the world to risk their lives in some God-forsaken desert, and then we won't even fly them all the way home?}}}

I hate to break the news to y'all Bob, but we don't fly them home durin' peacetime either.

Couldn't y'all once, wirte a story without tryin' to make it sensationalized, like y'alls media hero Jerry Springer, Bob?

I also have family members servin' in Iraq, and they know far in advance when they are gettin' leave and arrangements are made in advance at a moderate cost.

Though some leaves are last minute deals, it certainly isn't a last minute thing for all of them.

On a ten scale, y'all at best, get a 2-1/2 on this story Bob.

[josh]

hate to break the news to you betamax but I am in the military and hardly ever know in advance exactly when my leave is. I may know a "round about" time when I deploy and that changes last minute too. As far as leave goes before I deploy and after, I usually find out the exact days maybe a week or rare cases two weeks beforehand. You may have family members serving in Iraq or maybe heard from a guardsman or of the type, they don't have the same issue, but for the majority of active duty like me, we hardly ever see our family from back home. I haven't been home in nearly 2 years, and this is after a 14 month Iraq deployment. Guess what the reason is for that?: I cannot afford the plane ticket home. So I save up for a ticket before I deploy, again also this January, and will pay for that ticket about 1 week or 2 weeks beforehand because thats when I'll find out the exact dates I can go, because thats how it always has happened in my 5 years of military service. So Bob, that was an excellent story that could not be more true..this coming from a soldier who has gone through this situation many times and is going through it now.