| John Mitty Wednesday, April 25, 2012 |
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE COMMITTEE TO ELECT STEPHEN A. LABATE, INC.
11:00 A.M. EST, APRIL 24, 2012 P.O. BOX 6177
Contact: Chris Thompson NORTH BABYLON, NY 11703
chris@labateforcongress.com labate2012@labateforcongress.com
Stephen Labate Issues Comments on Afghanistan Media Coverage
Stephen Labate, candidate for Congress in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, commented on the recent publication, by the Los Angeles Times, of photos showing soldiers posing with the body parts of dead suicide bombers. “What purpose was served by releasing two-year old photos other than to tarnish theU.S. military and hinder what is a critical transition period inAfghanistan” said Labate.
Stephen Labate, the Republican who this November is seeking to unseat Congressman Steve Israel, a six-term incumbent pointed out that, “Our Soldiers have been deployed multiple times and are under tremendous stress, and this Brigade in particular lost 35 Soldiers, of which 23 were killed by suicide bombers. While I don’t condone the taking of these pictures, United States Soldiers should be judged by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), not by the editors of the Los Angeles Times. Secretary of Defense Panetta put it quite well when he described the actions as "immature reactions to battlefield stress".
Labate went on to say, “the country would be better served if the Times spent more time on the myriad of issues facing Veterans who come home from war”. Labate noted that “Veterans possess skills which would be great assets to any employer, such as responsibility, accountability, ethics, leadership, the ability and willingness to follow orders, and the ability to work under stress, to name a few, and yet still so many can't find a job. The overall unemployment rate for veterans between the ages of 18-24 is over 30% and for black veterans, in that same age category, stands at 48%” said Labate.
Labate also pointed out, “not only are our Veterans facing an unemployment crisis, but they are facing a healthcare crisis.” The number of service members back from war, out of the military, and seeking treatment from the Veterans Administration (VA), is over 700,000, with half suffering from mental health conditions. “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is rampant and often left untreated for a large number of our returning Warriors, and the suicide rate for Active and Reserve Soldiers is still unacceptably high” said Labate.
“As a 23 year Army Veteran who still wears our country’s uniform, I pledge to the constituents of CD-3, and all Veterans, that I will do everything in my power to turn around the deplorable situation our men and women in the military are facing. Our country is failing our returning Veterans and this is totally unacceptable” said Labate. As Winston Churchill said, “never had so many owed so much to so few.”
We owe this generation of America's volunteer Warriors a debt of gratitude that we may never be able to repay. It's with that in mind that we also should not be judging them from 10,000 miles away while they are engaged in the kind of life and death struggle that less than one half of 1% of the United States population have ever experienced.
jmitty@longislandyellowpages.com Appears In: Press Releases
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