Op-ed: 

'Don't mess with a soldier's mail, his money, 

or his chow'

By: Diane Sori

I'm floored...NO other way to say it as yesterday a friend asked me if I knew that some of our troops in Afghanistan are NO longer being served a cooked breakfast.

Sadly, I didn't know but I sure made it a point to educate myself post haste, and what I found made me angry beyond anything mere words could express. Yes, it's true...some of our brave men and women in uniform, the very ones who lay their lives on the line everyday to keep us safe and free, are now in certain areas of Afghanistan being denied a cooked breakfast, including those heading out on patrol.

There is something very wrong with this picture and grrrrrrrr...is the only polite thing I can say.

Barack HUSSEIN Obama, this miserable excuse of a Commander-in-Chief, the man who gives away billions of dollars, F16's, and Abrams tanks to Egypt, a now Muslim Brotherhood controlled country, won't feed our American troops three squares a day.

Gee, I wonder just how many hot breakfasts for our troops equals one of Obama's Hawaiian jaunts...how many troop breakfasts could be had instead of spending money on Michelle's ballgowns and endless vacations...how many troops breakfasts could be had for the 100+ golf forays he's had...how many troop breakfasts could be had instead of wasting monies on satisfying campaign contributors' pet pork projects...and how many troop breakfasts could be had with all the monies Obama funnels into those freebies and handouts he gives to the ILLEGALS and especially to the 'sponges' of our society, including the welfare food stamp recipients, to buy their votes and allegiance...NO, instead of cutting all this nonsense he chooses instead to stop feeding our troops hot meals because his vacations and allegiance buying is more important than those fighting for our country.

And while some will say it's NOT Obama directly who's ordered this I say, bull, because as Commander-in-Chief and president he could have stopped this just by saying 'NO way...cutting meals for our troops is NOT an option and will NOT happen on my watch'. But a man who sides with our enemies and apologizes for our troop's actions every chance he gets could care less what our troops are fed.

And so the Pentagon, with NO opposition from Obama, decided to cut cooked breakfast for some troops in Afghanistan by claiming it was because of the troop withdrawal schedule. Currently, 17 bases have suspended serving troops cooked breakfast and more bases will stop on February 1^st. I guess they figure if the troops are eventually coming home, and with the draw down in progress, why spend the money to feed them even though we've all always been taught that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and that would be especially so for troops on the front lines.

And while these meal cuts have a lot to do with morale more than with hunger per se, the MREs being offered as a replacement are NO substitute for a hot meal, especially for those who might at a moments notice be called to fight...for those who might come home without arms or legs...or even worse...in a body bag.

Adding to this is the simple fact that this cut is way out of line if for NO other reason than that as long as any of our people are in harms way the least we can do is feed them as these bureaucrats would feed themselves...as in three squares a day.

And guess what...in preparation for sweeping budget cuts across all military programs scheduled to begin as early as next month, more cuts for our troops were recently announced, including laundry and recreation, again using the excuse that it has to with the final troop pull-out, which by the way won't happen until 2014 so why cut meals or anything now...or ever.

It has gotten so bad that one soldier wrote to the Home Post Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/homepost?sk=wall) :

I am currently in Paktika Provence and we do not have breakfast or midnight meal. We are down to 2 hot meals a day (lunch and dinner) or guys who run missions at night and work night shift only get one hot meal a day. The Battle Space owner out here instructed the Contractor who is in charge if the chow halls out here to cancel the meals. What they did not consider is that there a lot of units that are still out here and will be here for quite some time to come (my unit). I don't know why the DOD is not owning up to the facts. It appears to me they are trying to cover up the fact that we are not being fed.

Another soldier, 'Disappointed in Afghanistan' wrote:

I am here and its breakfast time and the dining facility is CLOSED. There were a box of MREs out at dinnertime last night for the taking, but no one seemed to be taking them (no surprise)...so, I surmise, most, like myself, are simply skipping the most important meal of the day. Bad decision by someone. Hot chow in the morning is not only good, its good for morale. Probably why on missions or exercises when MREs are necessary, they are offered for the LUNCHTIME meal, with hot breakfast and dinners. Why do Soldiers here have two hot meals back-back w/in three hours of one another, and then go without for 18 hours? Doesn't make sense. All leaders know (or at least should know), there are three things you don't mess with: A Soldier's mail, his money, or his chow. Hopefully common sense will eventually prevail.

NO cooked breakfasts...so unfair and so wrong, and some of the troops have began writing home to their families to please send them breakfast care packages, and some of those families in Iowa contacted their Congressman, Representative Bruce Braley who issued this statement:

“I am troubled that the Army would deny any deployed troops three meals per day, regardless of force size,” Braley wrote. “These men and women put their lives on the line every day to protect the very freedoms we cherish. The exhaustive mental and physical labor that is required by soldiers to fight in harsh and unforgiving conditions is tremendous. We shouldn’t deny our troops something as fundamental as a proper meal. I am positive that with the logistical mastery the Army has exhibited in combat operations around the world, you can logistically administer the procedure of serving breakfast every day.”

Oh how right he is as this cut is beyond wrong...it goes all the way to a deliberate slap in the face to those serving...but then what can you expect from an administration, and especially from a president who sides with those who hate America (just like he does) every chance he gets.