Way back in 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the nation about the threat from the Military-Industrial Complex.
He was worried that Congress would be influenced by industrial corporations to increase defense spending, not necessarily to increase our national security but to benefit the industries. A modern example of that is the shrinking size of our Navy; we no longer have a reserve fleet, all of those mothballed ships have been scrapped. This ensured that they would never threaten future ship building.
An entire class of surface combat ships, Spruance-class destroyers, were retired completely by 2006. There were many of these ships that had recently received expensive upgrades, only to be decommissioned and scrapped. The Navy is shrinking because these powerful ships were destroyed before new replacement ships have even been designed. This kind of policy affects all branches of our military; older serviceable equipment is being disposed of simply to benefit the industries that supply replacements.
It’s scary.
This election season, think about electing people who will build up our defense properly; not squandering our strength to profit the corporations.
Now, something positive. The American Legion has an annual High School Oratorical Scholarship Program, a constitutional speech contest. Participants would compose and present an oration on a constitutional subject, lasting from five to six minutes.
Awards at the state-level include scholarships up to $5,000. Contestants who reach the National level could receive up to a $25,000 scholarship. For information about this contest, contact the American Legion Post 41 Service Officer at 417-967-7119 (for Houston High School), or your local American Legion Post.
Texas County veterans organizations:
•Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 473 meets at 6 p.m. on the last Thursday of each month at their Post Meeting Hall on Highway 63 north of Cabool.
•American Legion Post 559 meets at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at the VFW Post 6337 meeting hall in Licking. Post 559 has been revitalized by past members and will be looking for new ones.
•Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6337 in Licking meets at 5:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month at its Meeting Hall on Main Street just south of Highway 32.
•Fleet Reserve Association Branch 364 meets at 2:30 p.m. every fourth Sunday of each month at the American Legion Post 41 meeting hall in Houston. The FRA exists to serve all veterans and active-duty members of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard.
•Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7222 meets at 6 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month at their meeting hall just east of Summersville.
•American Legion Post 41 meets at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at its meeting hall on the west end of Chilton Oil Company in Houston, (just north of Pizza Hut.) Changes to membership eligibility now allow U.S. veterans of all branches and periods of service to join the American Legion.
Houston resident Robert E. Simpson is a retired U.S. Navy chief electronics technician who served from 1969 to 1990. His columns are posted online at www.houstonherald.com. Email gfjjkaa@gmail.com.
