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Do you want to hear a joke?

You know I don't like your jokes.

Are you still upset about the military personnel? …Come on they had it coming. How many years have they been paid for little or no effort? They're trained to fight, so they should fight.

I thought they were mainly for protecting the United States and mostly by just being big and ready, the whole ‘peace through strength argument,’ not some 'peace through kicking ass' argument.

Whatever. But you weren't pissed off before. So, it must be something else... and your heat level rose when the military was mentioned… Is it the cut in veteran benefits? You're big on keeping deals, or so you like to think. You think some deal was broken with the people in the military.

Well, when you have people sign up for the military and the benefits are one thing and then you change them to something lesser while those folks are actually in military service, that’s a pretty ignoble act.

Listen, the veterans have been screwed over for years and years. This just makes it easier. In the old days people were convinced that only physical injuries were worthy of compensation, if you complained about the psychological problems you were called a ‘wuss’ and told to get over it. But, now people are more aware about the mental anguish of war and realize that the damage caused to the mind can be more harmful than most of the physical damage. You know the cost of mental health, that's pricey stuff. Costs had to be cut somewhere. You would probably not care so much if you didn’t have a Vietnam vet as a supervisor. And when did you start using the word ignoble?

Well, there seems to be a problem when you have to make certain your supervisor hears you coming or he might 'put you down' because for a few years, decades ago, hearing people sneaking up on you meant life or death. And, then when he finally goes for compensation, he's told it can't be proven that his time in the service is to blame. And his situation only gets worse when this country is at war.

You knew all this before, what's the big deal now?

Maybe because it's harder to look away without seeing something else I don’t want to see. You know the whole “if you’re not part of the solution, then you must be part of the problem” argument.