<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div></div><div>Courtesy of the Army Times.</div><div><br></div><div>-------------------------------------</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><span class="maintitle" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><b>McCain’s stance on benefits cuts catches some by surprise</b></span></span><p align="justify" style="font-family: Times; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><span class="abody" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">By Rick Maze</span><span class="abody" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "> <br><a class="email" href="mailto:rmaze@militarytimes.com" target="_blanks" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(0, 0, 255); "><a href="mailto:rmaze@militarytimes.com">rmaze@militarytimes.com</a></a> </span><span class="abody" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><br><br>He’s not the only lawmaker talking about cutting military pay and benefits in the name of deficit reduction, but Sen. John McCain’s recommendations on retired pay and health care are a shock to those who remember when he was a champion of people in uniform.<br><br>Steve Strobridge of the Military Officers Association of America said the Arizona Republican’s support for cutting military benefits was unexpected.<br><br>“MOAA is surprised and disappointed ... especially since Sen. McCain was one of the champions of repealing Redux,” Strobridge said.<br><br>He was referring to the 1999 repeal of a reduced retirement plan, known as Redux, which Congress created more than a decade earlier to reduce personnel costs. The plan prompted many troops to leave the service midcareer. At the time, McCain, a Navy retiree and Viet nam veteran, was a chief co-spon sor of legislation that restored the value of military retired pay —</span><span class="abody" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "> and also boosted education benefits, established higher pay raises and opened the government’s Thrift Savings Plan to service members.<br><br>McCain, responding to the recent criticism, said he expected complaints.<br><br>“As someone who has committed his life to serving our nation and the men and women who protect it, this was not an easy decision,” he said. “I believe we must all share in the burden to ensure that our nation’s debt does not imperil our economic and security future.<br><br>“Supporting modest Tricare reform to protect the long-term viability of this important program is a step we must strongly consider,” McCain said.<br><br>Richard DeNoyer, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the VFW is “very disap pointed” with McCain and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., head of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “With less than 1 percent of our citizens currently in uniform, any degradation of these hard-fought for programs will break faith with those who sacrifice the most, and will place the continued viability of the all-volunteer military in serious jeopardy,” DeNoyer said.</span></p><p align="justify" style="font-family: Times; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-size: 17px; ">-------------------------------------</span><br></font></p><p align="justify" style="font-family: Times; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 17px;">So . . . McCain favors reducing pay and health care benefits of military retirees, including those with service-connected disabilities (including yours truly) for WHAT? To ensure tax cuts for the unimaginably rich?</span></font></p><p align="justify" style="font-family: Times; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17px; ">Seeya round town, Moscow.</span><br></p><div><br></div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">"Honest and true,</span></div><div>As the morning star.</div><div>Vote for just two,</div><div>Ament and Lamar."</div></div><img src="cid:945600D9-2E29-4EFA-93F0-DFE2D0AA7CBD" alt="image.jpeg" id="945600D9-2E29-4EFA-93F0-DFE2D0AA7CBD" width="200" height="100" apple-original-width="200" apple-original-height="100"><div> </div></body></html>