Letters: It was heartwarming to see the Army celebrated at the parade in Washington

Chicago Tribune

9 hours ago

It was with patriotic pride that I watched the 250th anniversary parade for the Army. As a veteran, I can attest to the significant contributions our fighting Americans have made to our country. My family members have served in the military since our country's founding. Their sacrifices, like the sacrifices of many other soldiers, have produced the greatest country in the history of the world. Millions of people today owe their freedom to the U.S. military.
It was heartwarming to see the people in attendance supporting our troops and celebrating our Army's history. Well done to the Army and all the other branches of service that ensure our freedom!
I am proud of my service to the United States. I stand alongside our active-duty troops to support their mission.It's hard for me to understand how the Tribune can splash a large picture of a demonstration by un-American protesters on the front page of the paper and yet relegate the story about the Army parade to Page 7 of Section 2. If it wasn't for the Army and the other branches, the Tribune would be publishing its paper in German.
Please go back to reporting..There has been lots of complete media coverage of the fine military parade, honoring in large part the 79th birthday of President Donald Trump. There has been no mention of the 'bone spurs' diagnosis that kept Trump out of military service and exempted him from serving in Vietnam. And Trump called those killed at Normandy 'losers' and 'suckers'!
Good journalists should include these items when reporting on Trump's dealings with the military. He will never be supported by veterans who know these truths and facts. He was and is a bone-spur draft-dodging grifter.I am an Army veteran (Vietnam, 1968-69), and I am appalled at the inexcusable behavior of soldiers of the 82nd Airborne last week who loudly jeered the media and former President Joe Biden at the urging of President Donald Trump. They seemed to forget that Biden was their commander in chief in January. More troubling was the silence of sergeants, officers and other command personnel during and after the outrageous behavior of the soldiers in attendance.
I am certain that there would have been hell to pay from my first sergeant and my company commander, a West Point graduate, had the men in my company — Echo Company — behaved so badly at a military assembly.
My father-in-law served in the 82nd Airborne in World War II, trained at Fort Bragg and helped fly a glider plane behind enemy lines on D-Day. The behavior last week is an affront to the memory and service of the men of the 82nd who served bravely in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.
Just disgraceful.It really disgusts me when I see President Donald Trump speaking at West Point or reviewing troops at his birthday parade. Here's a guy who used his father's connections to avoid military service due to 'bone spurs' in his heel but can golf 100-plus rounds of golf each year.
I'm all for cutting government spending in a responsible way, unlike the Department of Government Efficiency's methods, and reducing the deficit, but his 'Big Bloated Bill' will do neither. Republicans used to be the party of fiscal responsibility, but the last federal surplus was under Bill Clinton. After 9/11, George W. Bush ran $1 trillion deficits, and Barack Obama followed suit. Trump's first term increased the national debt by nearly $2 trillion, then Biden and Trump's second term will have exceeded that mark.
Tax cuts and supply side economics have not worked in the past. Hoping that they will in the future is wishful thinking. If our members of Congress ran their personal finances the way they run the government's, they'd all be on welfare.
I saw a recent interview on PBS with U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin who is appalled at the size of the national debt and the lack of concern shown by his cronies. This shows that there are at least a few sane people in government who are willing to take an unpopular stance and buck the president to save the country. Let's hope he is joined by others with integrity.Calling Minnesota political shooting suspect Vance Boelter a 'devout Christian' is a misnomer. There is a huge difference between a devout Christian nationalist, which Boelter is, and a devout Christian — those who follow the way of Jesus.
Please ask your reporters and editors to use the correct identity when reporting. Those of us who try to follow the way of Jesus should not be lumped into the same category with Christian nationalists and the hatred they spew.Once again, I am appalled at the state of the . Recently, elected officials were murdered in Minnesota. The president never called Gov. Tim Walz about this tragedy in his state because he doesn't like him. What happened to the 'United' part of the United States of America?
The president seems to only care about the people who support his twisted agenda, not all the people he pledged to defend.
Please, people, vote your conscience.I trained in pediatrics at Children's Memorial Hospital, now known as Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, from 1981 to 1984 and practiced primary care pediatrics until my retirement in 2020. I have never seen a case of polio, smallpox, tetanus or diphtheria. Why? Because of the vaccines developed prior to that time.
I seen death, sepsis, meningitis, epiglottitis, birth defects, encephalitis, seizure disorders, hearing loss and brain damage from what are now vaccine-preventable illnesses.
Our current administration places these lifesaving medical advancements in grave danger.
You, parents, still have the power to keep our children safe. that your insurance companies cover these safe and effective vaccines. that your schools demand that a safe and reasonable vaccine schedule is followed.
You, parents, hold the power at the ballot box. Make your voices heard! I pray that the current pediatric trainees do not have to see what I have seen to effect change. Children's lives are at stake.Cuts to Medicaid will come at a cost — the cost is in loss of life for individuals living with cancer.
There is simply no way that cutting $793 billion from Medicaid will make the program stronger. Cuts of that magnitude will cut patients off from their health care, harm hospitals and clinics, and weaken state economies. The truth is that almost all the fraud, waste and abuse in the health care system comes from the billing and payment processes and skyrocketing prices, not from people who rely on Medicaid for essential care.
As a breast cancer survivor, I know the importance of access to quality health care.
In Illinois, over 3 million residents rely on Medicaid for health care coverage, and doctors rely on it to be paid for their services. Lawmakers might not know that the folks who rely on the program are mostly those who work jobs that don't provide benefits, or those who work seasonal jobs. These are huge parts of our economy. These people work hard and are in no way asking for handouts, but also often cannot afford the high prices of private insurance, which will be driven up further by cuts.
As a cancer survivor, I urge U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth to stand up to protect the health and lives of all Illinoisans.