Veterans Council is not political
As president of the Rowan County Veterans Council, I would like to respond to a letter submitted by Comrade Rodney Cress in the Post on Monday, Nov. 16.
Previous President Comrade Don Web began approximately six to eight months prior to the Oct. 31 deadline to submit nominations for the Veteran of the Year, Chaplain of the Year and Service Officer of the Year.
Each post in the Veterans Council ó which consists of 18 posts, VFW, American Legion and AMVETS ó has a voice in the council by virtue of representatives from each unit. These representatives have one vote.
In the November meeting, I nominated three representatives from the council, which were not officers, and gave them the task to choose winners for each position available. There were two nominations for each position. Qualifications were read and decisions were made by the committee. No outside influence was used to make the determination on who the winner would be.
Comrade Elaine Howle was nominated by her post and for no other reason.
When the county commissioners have a meeting, the speaker is limited to only three minutes. and only one person can state their situation. For this reason, no one other than the one person was able to speak.
As president of the Rowan County Veterans Council, I don’t want to take away from any veteran who can take the time and effort to assist other veterans. There are so many veterans who need our help. We need more volunteers to go and sit with vets in the hospital and just talk to them and smile with them and maybe shake their hand for their service.
Finally, the Rowan County Veterans Council is not motivated by any political agenda and should not be viewed as such because of the letter which appeared in the Salisbury Post.
ó Homer Robertson
Salisbury War wrong approach
We are going through a period of decision-making in this country which will affect deeply the quality of life of every citizen. Therefore, I believe it is extremely important for everyone who loves the United States of America and wants the country to survive as a developed nation, to become actively involved in the process of change.
In order to participate positively, we need first to be well informed about the facts, and learn them from many sources, including those who you might dislike for whatever reason. Such approach will help each one of us to have a balanced understanding of the facts.
Right now, President Obama has made a wrong decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan. As much as I respect him and believe he is well-intentioned, this decision, I believe is mostly based on the political environment within the country, and it is totally counter-productive. We are repeating the same mistakes of the early 1980s, when the United States provided weapons and trained the Taliban and Al-Qaeda members in Pakistan to fight against the Soviet Union.
Today, The United States is setting training camps, providing financing and weapons to train Afghans to fight terrorism, but the U.S. does not know how many of those enlisted for training are terrorists themselves, who will use the training to fight against the United States.
If the reader has a real sense of patriotism, please tell the President and Congress that this is the wrong approach in the war on terror.
ó Miguel Reinoso
Salisbury