This is just scandalous. Why are men and women who serve in the Armed Forces ever deported?! I can understand if a serious crime has been committed. But, man, any foreigners who serve should be fast-tracked for citizenship. Our government is so damn depressingly stupid. Whatever happened to common sense?
ajh
Writers with the Associated Press recently analyzed veteran disability and survivor benefits paid out by the federal government.
Included are veterans and relatives from long ago conflicts, from the Spanish-American War of 1898 and World War I.
There are 10 living recipients of benefits tied to the 1898 Spanish-American War at a total cost of about $50,000 per year.
World War I is much more costly.
World War I, which ended 94 years ago, continues to cost taxpayers about $20 million every year.
There are more than two thousand people linked to the First World War.
Of the 2,289 survivors drawing cash linked to WWI, about one-third are spouses and dozens of them are over 100 years in age.
The Second World War is in the billions.
World War II? $5 billion. Compensation for WWII veterans and families didn’t peak until 1991 — 46 years after the war ended — and annual costs since then have only declined by about 25 percent.
What surprised me most is the fact that there are still payouts for the American Civil War. The Civil War?!
Two children of Civil War soldiers — one in North Carolina and one in Tennessee — likely Confederates, receive $876 a year.
AJH
AARON HILL’S NOTEBOOK 