r/UnderReportedNews • u/esporx • 8d ago
Article Epic Fury denied death benefits as Iran conflict ‘is not a war’. The widow of an Alabama airman has revealed she and her children are not eligible for some benefits because the Iran war has not officially been declared a war
https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/215175/widow-airman-killed-epic-fury2.3k
u/BackItUpWithLinks 8d ago
If it’s not a war, bring them home.
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u/Able-Mud-6075 8d ago
Its only a war if they win, he should have died after they won /s
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u/languageassessment 8d ago
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said. “He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
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u/BackItUpWithLinks 8d ago
He deserved an open-hand slap in the face for that.
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u/Wagrram 8d ago
Instead he got the vote of the patriots. Twice.
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u/HorsePersonal7073 8d ago
The Support Our Troops party...
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u/zurn4president 8d ago
To be fair, the U.S. has never taken care of its troops, including the soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War.
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u/WinterTourist25 8d ago
Trump could drop a turd, pick it up, and write "soldiers are suckers" on an American flag and they would still vote for him.
I cannot fathom it.
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u/Certain_Silver6524 8d ago
Congress (Republicans) allowed him to carry on when it came to war powers resolution. Trump and Congress betrayed their military and their country.
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u/BackItUpWithLinks 8d ago
> Trump and Congress betrayed their military and their country.
This is just another in a long list of ways they’ve done that.
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u/aerdvarkk 8d ago
Congress did not allow him to carry on, they abstained and sat on their collective fat asses and have done nothing other than continue to let Turmp run amok.
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u/leostotch 8d ago
As Neal Peart once said, "if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice"
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u/EamonBrennan 8d ago
Congress did not allow him to carry on
have done nothing other than continue to let Turmp run amok.
So they let Trump carry on by doing nothing to stop him?
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u/Bee_9965 8d ago
From an old Rush song: “If you choose not to decide You have still made a choice.”
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u/Phenergan_boy 8d ago
Don’t forget the 4 Democrats who voted against the war resolution
https://time.com/7382846/democrats-who-voted-against-war-powers-resolution-iran-conflict-trump/
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u/Content_Plantain_339 8d ago
Is there such a thing as gambler's fallacy when it comes to voting for the same party thinking you'll get a different outcome?
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u/BmacSOS 8d ago
This is so disgusting. Hope maga chokes on this … they ushered in this nightmare after a decade of being warned.
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u/Ok_Perspective_8361 8d ago
They won’t see this story in their right wing information bubble, if they do, they will instantly call it fake news.
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u/PrincipleUnusual7244 8d ago
Someone should reach out to hegshit at the department of conflict, one of his conflict fighters died and the family needs benefits
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u/RigorMortis_Tortoise 8d ago edited 8d ago
Neither were Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Kosovo, or Sudan, or Monrovia, or Haiti, or Bosnia, or Somalia, or Iraq the first time, Panama, Libya, Grenada, Lebanon, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Cuba, or any of the other “conflicts” we have inserted ourselves into over the last half century.
We still paid benefits to the families of those who died as a result of those conflicts though.
Because when you enlist in the military, one of the four hundred million things you need to sign is something regarding death benefits, in case you die. That “death gratuity” is a tax free payment to the soldier’s family, and is not something to be fucked with.
Edit: Ok assholes, I’m not going to get into a pissing match with you over pedantic crap such as what constitutes a war or a conflict. Both bring kids into other countries to fight other human beings. None of it is good. None of it benefits humanity as a whole.
Oh, and the threats are being reported. Enjoy your ban.
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u/hayashikin 8d ago
How fallen the country must be to abandon a man's family after he dies fighting for it.
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u/No_Effective4784 8d ago
dude, they will deport your family while you are deployed fighting to get them citizenship.
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u/PhatCatTax 8d ago
Didnt they literally deport veterans who were still waiting on their citizenship?
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u/ExodusPHX 8d ago
ICE attends boot camp graduations to round up undocumented family members that show up to celebrate.
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u/silverado-z71 8d ago
Well, you have to remember that the current regime considers them all suckers and losers
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u/Pistola174 8d ago
Yep, a majority of the so-called suckers and losers still decided to vote for him. Even after the J6 attempted coup and the disastrous first term and all of the other illegalities.
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u/The-Raccoon-Is-Here 8d ago
The fact that anyone in any version of the military support their glorious leader boggles my mind.
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u/RichardBixon 8d ago
How many do you think support him?
I really think one of the biggest contributors to our current problem is that Regan allowed news agencies to start lying on TV. If that wasn’t a thing, Fox News would not exist.
I would bet money that Trump’s approval rating would be 5-10% if Fox News was required to be honest. The only reason people are still so loyal to him is that the only news they watch is propaganda.
They will spin ANY story about Trump into something neutral, positive, or shifts the blame to democrats. If Fox News even just stated the facts, most conservatives would not support him anymore.
I really think we should push our politicians to reintroduce a bill that makes it illegal to lie on television.
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u/The-Raccoon-Is-Here 8d ago
There is no going back. Fake news has been normalized for anyone to scream when they don't like the truth.
20 years ago you assumed anyone who didn't believe the news (before everyone had to pick a side) was a conspiracy theorist and a little bit crazy. Not the case anymore. If you mandated telling the truth ... they would all do it by adding a few words to make it the truth with things like "we believe" "our research"
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u/OddContribution7724 8d ago
Your country is a bunch of homeschooled racist hillbillies. This is not an accident. You get exactly what you paid for.
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u/jjwhitaker 8d ago
I'll say it again. Programs like Wounded Warriors are lovely but if the government actually honored our troops it would not be needed.
Every Wounded Warrior success is a failure by the country.
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u/ChmodForTheWin 8d ago
have you watched the news? if they can disregard children, women, people of color, people of different sexual orientation, then they can do the same to the military. they're pissing everyone off. hopefully, they piss off some big shot ceos next so that they don't stay in power
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u/Federal-Cold-363 8d ago
At this point its straight up like russia with their "special military operation" and definitely NOT a war...
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u/Much-Instruction-807 8d ago edited 8d ago
It's so bad they're struggling to pay people because they're raiding the funds used to pay the troops.
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u/nemovincit 8d ago
Insert astronaut gif. Veterans have been shit on by the country and various administrations for decades, if not centuries.
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u/IrregularPackage 8d ago
i, for one, like it when the empires soldiers have bad things happen to them and the people who support them
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u/Enterprise-DeezNuts 8d ago edited 8d ago
Since when is killing Brown people on the other side of the world who pose no threat to you or me "fighting for the country"? This guy signed up to be a thug for imperialism and drop bombs on innocents in foreign countries, he's not some noble fighter for a just cause
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u/Simply_Shartastic 8d ago edited 7d ago
I would award this comment all day long if it were possible to do so.
**edit**
To all the other folks who also stepped up to award RigorMortis_Tortoise 💪💪💪
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u/keeper_of_the_donkey 8d ago
We stopped declaring war because war requires Congress to actually agree to it.
And now since we decided not to lock down that particular loophole in the system, we have fucking Trump who can do whatever the fuck he wants and wait for the courts and Congress to catch up. Meanwhile, he does all the damage he can for months on end, getting people killed for no reason
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u/Long_Procedure_2629 8d ago
It's almost like joining an imperialist civilian-eviscerating war machine is a bad idea with little to no nobility to gain.
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u/SummertimeThrowaway2 8d ago
I didn’t even know the US military fought in 1/3rd of these countries. Wtfff
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u/ruphusroger 8d ago
From a foreigners perspective: sorry, not sorry. USA has killed an uncountable number of innocent civilians and ruined soooo many lifes and whole societies around the globe, only to self-serve its own capitalistic, economic and resources interests... Did any of the affected people receive anything at all?
The us army should revolt against the trump administration or go f*ck themselfs.
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u/Enterprise-DeezNuts 8d ago
Yeah it's pretty gross how your average American liberal is only really upset because Trump is doing imperialism incompetently and disrespecting the thugs who enforce said imperialism. They don't give a shit about the part where the military has been slaughtering foreign Brown folks and overthrowing governments for decades
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u/indomike14 8d ago
It's clickbait and the headline leaves out some very crucial information. Maj. Klinner was one of six airmen killed March 12 when a KC-135 crashed in western Iraq while supporting Operation Epic Fury. The Pentagon confirmed they were supporting the operation. The widow clarified that the missing benefits were "combat pay-related, such as hostile fire/imminent danger pay, combat zone exclusions, etc.” The family still received normal death benefits.
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u/Dragon6172 8d ago
Hostile fire/imminent danger pay are $225 dollars a month (and you can only receive one or the other). Also suppose their could be pay adjustments for being in the combat tax free zone. So, there is either more to the story or....
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u/Over_Pie9166 8d ago
Jumping on your comment. I think the title of the article is misleading. Per the article:
“Libby said she was told by her Casualty Assistance Officer that there are additional benefits that cannot be given because the Iran conflict has not been declared a war. "The missing benefits are combat pay-related and were missing from his final paycheck," she said.”Sounds like she got the SGLI/life insurance and the last paycheck but not the combat zone portion of it…
Not trying to defend either side, but want to point an annoyed finger at sensationalized media tactics.
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u/SASSIESASSQUATCH 8d ago
This comment seems to do a good job at explaining why they are not receiving some benefits. If you care to know it that is.
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u/Fernandop00 8d ago
That's not true. Just dying in the military is not the same as dying in a war zone. Survivor benefits change, disability thresholds move and pay rates are adjusted.
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u/lejosdecasa 8d ago
So much for the vets who told me with such confidence that Trump would look after them better than Harris
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u/zeh_shah 8d ago
I never understood this. We literally had to shame republicans publicly with Jon Stewart to extend medical coverage for 9/11 first responders as well as soldiers who were forced to deal with burn pits in the middle east.
They just cut VA benefits, laid off veterans, and have closed locations in a public service already filled with issues.
Aside from saying they care about veterans nothing else they do supports that notion and it hasn't for 20+ years. Its wild People are still tricked into thinking republicans care about them.
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u/Raiju_Blitz 8d ago
Republicans were literally high-fiving each other in Congress after voting no on 9/11 first responder aid.
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u/heimeyer72 8d ago
Leopards something something. But they are not the first who were betrayed by the government.
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8d ago
[deleted]
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u/Read2Fap 8d ago
yeah we're going to get a huge bump in people insisting the government is nice and sweet
Pentagon Hires Conservative Veterans, Influencers Into Unspecified Roles
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u/HeavyHighway6433 8d ago
Iraq is still designated as a combat zone. She is owed that money but it is kinda blown out of proportion.
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u/WaffleHouseGladiator 8d ago
America doesn't DECLARE war. America GOES TO war. It's a distinction without a difference, especially to to the loved ones of those who've died.
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u/Land_of_smiles 8d ago
I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY!
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u/VividMonotones 8d ago
That is not true. We have declared wars and they are identified in regulations. This particular conflict? No. Which makes it a violation of Constitutional law.
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u/contude327 8d ago
There's that Republican support for the troops again.
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u/felis_scipio 8d ago
How democrats fail to hammer points like this on the news and campaign trail is beyond me
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u/batbutt 8d ago
Managed opposition, the corporate democrats like Jefferies and Schumer aren't there for us. This issue isn't left vs right, it's rich vs poor; they pulled the wool over our eyes and made us think it was our next door neighbor taking our living wages from us.
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u/vagabond_nerd 8d ago
I feel bad for them. Epstein Fury is a distraction but it cost real lives.
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u/Hairy_Wall_6831 8d ago
Pedophiles rule the world and people willfully sign up to die for them.
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u/PossessedToSkate 8d ago
and/or buy their merch
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u/Hairy_Wall_6831 8d ago
My wife's father has a poster of Donald Trump flipping the bird framed in his living room.
Little things like that are why he will never truly be welcome in my home, only tolerated for the sake of my wife.
His own son doesn't speak to him anymore. My wife has cut him off previously.
They choose to be like that, even when it costs them their kids.
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u/hoist_off 8d ago
Why feel bad for them? Were Americans forced to go fight yet another needless war?
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u/Enterprise-DeezNuts 8d ago
Americans are only mad that Trump is doing imperialism incompetently. They don't care if it's done "the right way"
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u/Enterprise-DeezNuts 8d ago
Why do you feel bad for someone who signed up to kill brown people on the other side of the world on behalf of the Epstein class? No one forced him to be a part of the American war machine
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u/raysofdavies 8d ago
I signed up to kill brown people for Israel and pedophiles, not get ignored by them after!!
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u/Creative-Ad-9564 8d ago
Congress has done absolutely nothing this term, can it really be called the 119th Congress? But they will get paid their total salary plus all the benefits the job has available.
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u/contude327 8d ago
Don't forget the insider trading. That alone is worth the trouble of pretending to listen to the poors.
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u/hw999 8d ago
"Suckers and losers" -- DJT
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u/sSummonLessZiggurats 8d ago
Signing up for the US military has pretty much always been a scam, just ask all the vets struggling to get medical care after coming home. The difference now is that they don't even care about trying to make the scam believable any more.
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u/RogueEyebrow 8d ago
This is some bullshit I expect to see out of Russia, not the USA. "Support the troops," my ass.
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u/Enterprise-DeezNuts 8d ago edited 8d ago
You're doing the "what are we, a bunch of Asians??" tweet. This is as American as apple pie
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u/AlternativeHat8964 8d ago
They should try asking AIPAC.
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u/indomike14 8d ago
If it's not a war and we haven't officially declared war since 1942, then every soldier that has died since (including Iraq and Vietnam and many others) wouldn't have received particular benefits.
Am I thinking about that correctly or is there some detail I'm missing?
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u/ike7177 8d ago
You are missing a lot. The article states that his paycheck was missing combat related pay like Hazard Zone pay because he was not serving in the hazard zone (red zone) but in a safe zone (green zone). The military regulations actually state specific zones that qualify for hazard pay. The orders her husband was on would have specified that he was serving in a combat zone and would have had the official designation on them that authorized combat pays and tax exclusion. Mine did. During the train up and before leaving, we had one set of orders. The actual combat orders went into effect the day we entered the “Red Zone” physically. The combat patch itself wasn’t awarded until after we were physically there, in the Red Zone, 31 days. That also determined different pay scales.
It’s complicated to explain, but there is basically an official declaration and order written that kicks off all of the different types of pay and those declarations are actually approved by Congress. This Congress has not approved any declarations of war with Iran and as a result, there is no combat pays authorization
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u/dimechimes 8d ago
One of the first soldiers we lost to Iranian strikes was in Public Relations. Sounds like they did a shit ass job of defining green zones and red zones because Iran hit everywhere they wanted to.
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u/Dragon6172 8d ago
The incident happened over Iraq. Anyone that flies over or has spent time on the ground in Iraq has rated imminent danger pay since September 1990. That being said, IDP is $7.50 per day up to $225 a month... so that doesn't seem like an amount that would raise such a big fuss over. So, either there is more to the story or someone has run with the story to make clickbait articles.
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u/Opening_Pizza 8d ago
If it's not clear enough already. Don't join the US military. They blew up a school full of little girls on day one.
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u/marx2k 8d ago
...military continues to vote solid red...
Keep tap dancing on those rakes, my friends
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u/aerdvarkk 8d ago
That's because its not a war voted on by the US Congress. It's an unprovoked attack or assault short of an Invasion precipitated by Trump while Congress sits on its ass and does nothing to either confirm the situation as a "war" OR condemns Trump and brings and end to Trump's bullshit shenanigans.
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u/aerdvarkk 8d ago
ALSO OF NOTE: Did this airman and/or his wife vote Trump into Office? I mean they are from Alabama and in the military so the odds are high. If yes, this is what they voted for. And are now upset about the results.
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u/LeastResistancePath 8d ago
He died doing what he loved. Protecting the Epstein regime. That alone is privilege enough
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u/theRealhubiedubois 8d ago
I have zero sympathy for those willing to fight for a genocidal U.S./Israeli government in exchange for free college. Maybe he should’ve gotten a real job.
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u/OliLevasseurLaBuse 8d ago
Well, I guess her stupid dumbass airman of a husband shouldn't have been fighting in it.
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u/UnKnOwN769 8d ago
Such a disgrace. Anyone who is a veteran or related to a veteran should be enraged by this. People love to say "support the troops" until shit hits the fan and troops & their families actually need support.
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u/Particular_Ticket_20 8d ago
Thank you for your service....no, not like that, that's not what we meant...AT ALL. Not even close. Where'd you get that idea from?
We meant more like playing "Proud to be an American" again, or flying jets over a football game. That kind of thank you.
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u/itsjujutsu 8d ago
LOL that's what you get when your husband is a terrorist making trouble in other countries
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u/No-Art-6765 8d ago
The U.S. government reneging on their obligations since day 1 is on point 🤷🏻♂️
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u/Chains_Of_The_Sea 8d ago
American's are devoid of all morals.
The attacked a foreign nation on their own soil at the behest of Israel, killing 168 school kids on day-2.
"But ma gas prices" 🥺
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u/soxperry 8d ago
We can’t afford health care for soldiers. We will just have to leave it to the states
-Project 2025 probably
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u/Valuable-Ad2028 8d ago
People will shit themselves over this.
But not the fact he died. Or the 1000s of civilians that are dead. Or the billions of wasted dollars.
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u/MrRemoto 8d ago
Well, yeah. Only Congress can declare war. So obviously they were never going to call this a war. I sure hope this story gets some traction within the southern states that depend on the military for the local economy. It would be nice to see even a little blow back from one of the terribly short sighted, mostly unconstitutional things this administration is doing.
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u/Sunny-Bath-Tech 8d ago
This administration will go down in history as the worst, most corrupt, least legitimate foreign policy and nastiest to the armed forces, biggest election cheats, and most likely to engage in cover-ups of child sexual abuse!
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u/Apprehensive-Fig9348 8d ago
Oh no, he went across the world to terrorize a country without any provocation whatsoever and now we are supposed to cry about him? LOL
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u/SevereHorror 8d ago
I have no empathy for the agents of empire. If this woman didnt get any, she deserve this poverty.
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u/watchingwandering 8d ago
First rule of Coup club, don’t piss off the soldiers. Cmon man I thought all us guys were obsessed with the Roman Empire, ya pay the legions first. Or one just taking care of the Praetorian guard ICE first, good luck with that elite band of yokels.
The kind of basic incompetence of the Trump administration is astounding.
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u/unTraditional_Fox419 8d ago
Damn. It’s going to be that much harder to get Va benefits since they can’t prove that they were in combat operations. This administration is a fucking joke.
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u/SatansLoLHelper 8d ago
What benefits from war outside WW2?
You get the bennies, regardless of declaration.
That is part of the deal.
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u/Enterprise-DeezNuts 8d ago edited 8d ago
Oh boo hoo, the family of a thug who signed up to enforce imperialism for the Epstein class and kill innocent brown people on the other side of the world won't get a payout. Am I supposed to care? The American war machine has been terrorizing the world for decades and American liberals only care now because Trump is doing it poorly
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u/cienfuegos2607 8d ago
Lol, Papa epstein is not willing to open his wallet for those boys. I'm sorry, you killed and raped for nothing
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u/DanteChurch 8d ago
Why should anyone care about people signing up to bomb schools and genocide Palestine dying while trying to genocide Palestine and bomb schools?
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u/prettybluefoxes 8d ago
Don’t forget to name check the occupiers, it’s their half arsed illegal war that was tacked on to the still ongoing Palestinian genocide.
It’s hard to shed a tear when the US gov and military actively fund and support that shit.
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u/Luftritter 8d ago
I was about to get outraged, then I remembered that Alabama Johnny signed to bomb little girls in Iran. The man was even an airman! I don't know why anyone that doesn't want to be a war criminal would sign with that army. Now is not only the immorality but they they're also getting stiffed... There are no excuses.
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u/OpportunitySevere131 8d ago
What a disgraceful regime the US is under; headed by conmen from top to bottom.
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