upChuck Rangel Makes The Inconvenient Blog 'S' List!!

Congratulations Charlie, you just made the S-List. I know you have been trying for a long time and all that hard work of being a completely dishonest jerk has finally paid off! I am sure you knew this moment would come, but I am equally sure that doesn’t make it any less sweet. You’ve earned your place here upChuck.

Mr. Rangel intends to try again to reinstate the draft. These poor people who are being hurt by the thought that the only way they can go to school is to join the military, are the ones going to suffer more.

Is joining the military the only way to go to school? Of course not. Anyone can get student loans, and if you are poor you don’t just get loans you get grants too! (For upChuck’s benefit it may help to explain: a grant is free money you use to go to school. You never have to pay it back, and that is your reward for being poor. I say that having used grants before. I am not opposed to them, but I don’t get them anymore because I don’t need them. There is nothing wrong with helping the guy who needs help but is TRYING to be the guy who doesn’t need help.) To think that the military is targeting the poor by offering school is absurd. Wouldn’t the poor rather just take the state and/or federal handout of a grant? Of course they would.

I joined the military for lots of reasons. Let’s put aside the ones that have to do with my personal feelings and ideals and talk about the physical rewards.

1. I got a bonus to sign up the first time – These go away if you have no choice.
   
2. Tuition Reimbursement and Tuition Assistance – More soldiers with their hands in the less there is to go around. Did I join because of this? It had a part in it. I think it is a nice benefit and it makes sense to help soldiers get an education. Duuh!
   
3. My re-enlistment bonus – I am up for re-enlistment now. What would these look like? More? Less? It costs more to train a new soldier than to keep one. You could argue that this would get better for me, but if they have a ton of people going through all the time that they HAVE to train, they are not going to need me, so why pay me? Why pay off some of my student loans and give me a cash bonus? They have to spend 10 times the money to train someone who doesn’t want to be there for the next two years. Are they really going to WANT to make it worth my while?
   

My 1st Sergeant takes me into his office once a month and tries to get me to commit to a re-enlistment. He makes an effort every month; because he knows I am well trained and can handle the job. I have proven myself in Iraq, not just at home.

Costs would go through the roof if instead of paying me $35,000.00 in cash and school loan repayment to stay for another 6 years they have to pay to train 3 more soldiers @ 2 years each to get the same commitment of time. I don’t know what it costs to put a soldier through Basic Training & AIT, but let’s say it cost $20,000.) (I think that is being conservative too.) Taking into account his pay, the pay of the support staff, equipment, food, services, etc. That’s $35,000.00 to keep me but $60,000.00 to replace me for the same amount of time (and brother, they ain’t as good as me.) They would HAVE TO pay that $60,000. The Army could not choose. They are not going to throw on top of that another $35,000 to keep me. They just want bodies that high on the chain; they don’t care how good I am.

But why should upChuck care? This scum won’t even pay his own taxes so it isn’t his money, it’s yours.

Choice is always a better way to go for the soldier. If he cares about them, he needs to find something else to try and distract us away from his corruption.