The VA held back a portion of my son's 70% Disability Payment until he paid back every cent of the severance money that the Navy awarded him upon his medical discharge. He should have received 100% since he is basically unemployable because of the medication he has to take to keep the pain and muscle spasms in check. He was a SEAL for 9 years. He was healthy enough to make it through BUDS and earn his Trident when he joined the Navy. When the discharged him he couldn't pick up his 3 year old son. That sucks. They continued to dock his VA benefit even after he paid back every bit of it. He had to go through so much BS to get the money back that they overcharged him. That really sucks. I was a SEAL and served in Vietnam and they tried to screw me out of my VA Disability but I fought it and was lucky enough to win. The VA is a mess. I feel bad for the Veterans coming out of the service today.

Asking for trouble is what this is. The Navy already has problems with pregnancies on board regular ships where quarters are not as close. I am a former SEAL and would not want a female in SEAL Team because of the friction and the damage stupid male competition would cause to the operational integrity of the platoons and squadrons.

But lets get it done and if the "civilians" are too stupid to get out of the way then all I can say is they should have known better. In WW1, WW2, Korea and Vietnam we say numerous films and photos of refugees of the war torn countries leaving their homes and possessions behind to escape the danger of combat. These people in Afghanistan and Iraq had better do the same or they are part of the problem. War is nasty, dirty and horrible. If you don't want to get killed get out of the way. I happen to love Australia almost as much as I love the USA. God Bless OZ.

I agree with dumbledoresarmy for the most part. I believe that we should put a great deal more effort into the Phillipines in military and naval committment. We should also use our Civil affairs units and NGOs to aid in the recovery and development of the Phillipines. No matter what we do in Afghanistan or Iraq they will still be tribal nations ruled by one faction or the other of Islamic clerics and Sharia law. I don't see the point of sending men and women to fight for a democracy that is not going to happen. We should should use the full force of our military to crush Al Quead and the Taliban and if that means collateral damage and doing cross border ops into Pakistan or where ever well so be it.

The Phillipines is a country where we should be putting more American military and naval support. They were our allies in WW2 and we had bases there for many years. We do need to repair the damage we did by supporting Marcos as well. We do Special Operations Forces training the Fillipino Special Forces and other branches of their armed forces. Perhaps we need to up the ante by putting some heavy duty firepower on the heads of Abu Sayyaf. I visited the Phillipines as a NAVY SEAL on the way to Vietnam. My son was one of the last Navy SEALs stationed there before the base closings. He liked it as well. The Fillipinos don't need to suffer at the hands of Muslim extremists.