"Troops Return From Iraq With Money to Burn"

[GreenPartyVoter]

HINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) - One short test drive and Army Spc. Todd Strange is gushing "Oh, sweet! I love it!"

He's been home from Iraq a little over 30 hours and already he's trading in his little 2001 Dodge Neon for a muscle car - a 2006 Mustang GT, V-8 engine, price tag $26,320.

"I'm buying the car to show off, pretty much," admits Strange, 26, of St. Louis.

Business has been booming in this southeast Georgia town since just after Christmas when thousands of 3rd Infantry Division troops from neighboring Fort Stewart began returning from a yearlong tour in Iraq and finding their bank accounts flush with combat pay, tax breaks and bonuses.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20060122/D8F9DVQO0.html

[demosincebirth]

1. I guess they'll find out the same way I did..."you get old too fast and

smart too late.

[FreedomAngel82]

5. Yep

Instead of saving money they're spurging. Buying yourself something nice here and there is fine with me but I wouldn't, personally, buy a new car unless I really had an old junk one that needed updating.

[Burried News]

2. Can see same phenomenon on NC70 from Raleigh to Jacksonville.

Many small businessmen love war - any war. Returning troops buy boats, motorcycles, jewelry etc. in great quantity. Yeah they support the troops - and when the troops default on payments the businessmen go running to their Congressmen who in turn pressure the military to 'counsel' soldiers on how to be more responsible. Different war, same assholes and same shit.

[LynnTheDem]

3. It's called PTSD.

We see it every day on base. Soldiers trying to buy back happiness and peace of mind until they're so far into debt they can't afford food.

Thanks to bush, they're fucked coming and going.

[FreedomAngel82]

6. Sounds like what is going on

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. When the thrill wears off and they realize how screwed up their lives are

thing will settle down. I had a buddy that did the same thing with a '64.5 Mustang
when he got out of the Corps. After a while he totaled it. Took him 5 years to blend back in to society.

Poor bastards.

[kevinbgoode]

7. I worry about them. . .sometimes I read entries

on anysoldier.com and occasionally a soldier will tell a story about not sleeping well at night, or sometimes you get little hints about how they are doing. Most are generally upbeat, but even though I'm probably living on about 1/3 of what they are making over there, I send packages hoping to help with reminders of home to cut the edge out of the situation.

The single ones. . .well, if they are smart, they would have a family member tuck some of that cash into longterm IRAs or something while they are still overseas, and leave enough for the soldier to splurge some when he/she returns. It has to be hard to go without so many basics for so long - I can imagine they are just happy to see and taste everything they've missed as soon as they come home.

[Breeze54]

10. I don't think they're going without....

most of the basics...
except Kevlar protective armor and armored vehicles! :sarcasm:
Some are going without, at the forward isolated bases,
but those at larger bases are eating pretty well
for free and they have stores/PX's to buy things!
A lot of soldiers are getting satellite DSL service too!

I don't blame them one bit for getting new vehicles!
They probably saved up the money for it!
And THEY HAVE EARNED IT!!
Good for them!
:thumbsup:

[kevinbgoode]

11. Oh, I know some of them have it pretty good over there. . .

most have electricity and laundry service - 2-3 hot meals a day. . .but the guys and gals in the FOBS sometimes really go without a lot. And some of those PX's must not be too well-equipped . . .if you look at this site:

http://www.anysoldier.com

you'll see some entries that keep asking for long underwear, toiletries, toothpaste, good gloves or hats. . .and of course, snacks . . .I think the little reminders of home are really important, especially for the young soldiers who have never been stationed so far away from home.

[B Calm]

8. Isn't there a lot of money missing in Iraq?

[B Calm]

12. $100 million missing in Iraq! ‘Worse-case scenario is that someone took

it home!

WASHINGTON - Americans overseeing cash handouts for rebuilding in southern Iraq could not adequately account for almost $100 million, and now criminal investigators are trying to figure out the money trail, according to a new audit by a government watchdog.

The Rapid Reconstruction Response Program or “R3P” was supposed to allow Paul Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran postwar Iraq, to quickly get local construction projects under way, in an effort to juice up an economy mired down by violence, corruption and chaos.

But an audit by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found that in the South Central Region, based in Hillah, officers “cannot properly account for or support $96.6 million in cash and receipts.”



more:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7737306/

[stellanoir]

9. "can you say

hush money. . .?"

[B Calm]

13. Maybe!

[AwakeAtLast]

14. Well, when my husband returns, we won't have money to burn

We barely make ends meet. Granted, this is mostly about single people or
those without kids. Soldiers with families are doing the best we know how to
stay afloat. My husband is National Guard, and we are too far away from the PX,
spend roughly $100-$150 a month on phone card calls, and I send him most of the
food he eats. We live in a 1000 square foot mobile home and have a 4-year-old
daughter (and I am a full time teacher).

I wish we had $26,000 - that would be a great down payment on a house!

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. I hope he comes home soon!

[AwakeAtLast]

16. Thanks!

We have 6 months to go on an 18 month deployment. I am starting to see
the light at the end of a very long tunnel.

:hi:

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. And that light will be a little bit closer every day. *hugs*