Thousands of U.S. military veterans are heeding the rallying cry of Occupy Wall Street, saying corporate contractors in Iraq made big money while the troops defending them came home — and can’t make a living now.
“We are marching to express support for our brother, (Iraq war veteran) Scott Olsen, who was injured in Oakland,” said Jerry Bordeleau, a former Army specialist who served in Iraq through 2009.
The veterans were fired up by what they call brutality against the Marine veteran whose skull was fractured last week at an Occupy Oakland protest. Oakland police are now the subject of a formal investigation by the city’s Citizens’ Police Review Board.
The Occupy Wall Street protesters also planned an afternoon march in solidarity with Occupy Oakland.
Bordeleau is among thousands of veterans who have joined the movement that started in Manhattan in mid-September with a rally and march of about 100 people in the financial district.
“Wall Street corporations have played a big role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Bordeleau, 24, who attends college in New York.
He said private contractors have reaped big profits in those countries “in pursuit of corporate interests that have had a devastating effect on our economy and our country, benefiting only a small number of people.”
“The 99 percent have to take a stand,” Bordeleau said
.
“Halliburton and Bechtel think these wars are swell,” they chanted, invoking the names of American companies who received contracts for work rebuilding Iraq.
At Broadway and Wall Street, the veterans stopped to observe a moment of silence for Olsen, who remains hospitalized.
Once they reached Zuccotti Park, the veterans addressed protesters and bystanders.
“For 10 years, we have been fighting wars that have enriched the 1 percent,” said former Army Sgt. Joseph Carter, 27, who served in Iraq.
Here is the key....
The veterans say those who fought for their country have the right to protest an economy that gives them a slimmer chance of finding jobs than most Americans.
From 2008 to 2011, the veteran unemployment rose 5.1 percentage points, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And in 2011, the combat veteran unemployment has been consistently more than two percentage points higher than the national average of about 9 percent.
Veteran unemployment is projected to worsen after 10,000 servicemen return from Afghanistan and 46,000 come home from Iraq by year’s end.
Bordeleau, who served in the military police, said his diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder has made it impossible to pursue a career in civilian law enforcement, and that he’s had a hard time finding jobs that pay more than $10 an hour. He has worked as a groundskeeper at a New York public park, while living on disability benefits.
“I can’t really survive on that,” he said.
I hope and pray that at this rally when you have the meetings at the hotel, this be addressed, and talked about./ For you have 2 factions here. Those vets for the Ocupied Rallies and those against. This cannot be denied. It is somethign that no one is addressing. This is a huge program that is growing.
It truly can be Patroits for America, this Patroits Union and other vets group that can lead the charge. The way to help these vets. So they do not turn to the other side. Working with these vets. Helping them.
This is all I am saying. For not all vets are on the same page with those organizing this event. There is a faction of the Vets that march on Wall Street. That march that had mast week was heavily publicized to.
But no one is bringing this up....
Instead of a march, the vets should meet with their reps and senators go to the offices, and talk with them or their staffs. The call should go out the plight of the vets. Our Northeastern Tea Party had a group that works with the Vets speak to our group. Our Tea Party is getting involved with helping this group.
For IF this is not resolved, more and more vets esp form Afghanistan and Iraq will join the Occupy Cause.
I PRAY Maria this issues get brought out to the table. No group can do tha tmore than the Vets.
God Bless Joe
Replies
which is precisely why i posted this....just so folks would know. did some follow-up also and found the following....
JT Ready and his crew who call themselves the Arizona Guard have been protecting Occupy phoenix, the sad thing he and many of his followers have criminal records and are socialists. They call themselves veterans but JT for one was discharged other than honorably.