Full 2016 Platform

46^th 2018 DRAFT MILITARY & VETERANS AFFAIRS

We are proud to honor those who have chosen to serve in our country's armed forces.  We insist that military personnel be used only in accord with the Constitution–to provide for the common defense.

We support:

1. Our troops and our veterans. Therefore we support:
2. Increased benefits and quality medical care for troops, veterans and their families, including treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and traumatic brain injuries
3. Full funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
4. Enhancing the quality and availability of VA medical benefits to that of Medicare
5. Mandatory breaks between overseas tours, strict time limits on each tour of duty in a combat zone, and strict limits on the total number of combat tours
6. Instructing military personnel in their rights and responsibilities under the Geneva Conventions and protecting them from reprisals when they refuse to follow illegal orders
7. Protecting them from sexual harassment and assault, providing safe reporting of assaults outside of the chain of command, and, when probable cause is found, prosecuting wrong-doing with the same vigor as directed against military crimes occurring in a combat situation
8. Determining disability ratings based on medical, rather than political and economic criteria and ending the backlog
9. Continued efforts to secure housing and services for homeless vets
10. Promotion of veteran homeownership through the passage of a new GI bill
11. Increased career training and placement
12. Using a well-trained and well-equipped military to protect the American people, our vital interests, and treaty partners who are pledged to protect us whenever we are attacked or imminently threatened, and only when all other means of protection are exhausted
13. A military draft applying to all genders and providing an alternative service option, if a draft is necessary and is preceded by a Declaration of War
14. Congress asserting its constitutional powers to regulate and govern the military
15. Military contracts being awarded based on fair and competitive bidding, with preference given to U.S. companies when possible
16. A thorough and comprehensive review of the necessity and organization of foreign military bases equal to the review of domestic military bases during the past decade

We oppose:

1. The use of active sonar in the Salish Sea and electronic weapons testing over Olympic National Park
2. Indiscriminate use of civilian areas for military troop training grounds
3. Continued disproportionate military expenditures and their exclusion from budget cuts
4. Preemptive use of military force without a formal Declaration of War by Congress
5. The undue influence of the military-industrial complex over national policy
6. The use of the National Guard for overseas wars or for any purposes other than defense with a Declaration of War, enforcement of a court order or peaceful response to a declared disaster area
7. Using contractors in military or paramilitary operations
8. Any discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation in the military
9. Religious or political indoctrination of service members
10. S. training of foreign military or police forces that suppress human rights in their own countries
11. The militarization of space or polar regions
12. Monetary payments to countries recognized as terrorist states