Military families back Kerry’s vision

BREWER – She voted for George Bush the first time around, but Army veteran Annette Sullivan of Veazie said she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

“I think this administration has an agenda that is not to benefit this country,” Sullivan, who served 21 years in the Maine Air Guard, said Sunday.

A group of veterans and military family members gathered at the home of Sgt. Ron Bilancia, an Army veteran who served three years, where military families discussed the situation in Iraq and said that President Bush’s policy is not the right one.

“My wife and I have always been interested in politics, but never have we been so engaged in a campaign,” Bilancia said. “We feel that the issues in this campaign are so critical that we are both very concerned about the decisions and policies President Bush and his administration have made, especially regarding foreign policy and Iraq.”

But Republicans have stood by Bush when it comes to his war policies, saying that he supports the troops and that the war in Iraq was not a reckless venture.

The handful of people at the event organized by the Maine Democratic Party were joined by retired Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy and Gen. David McGinnis. Kennedy is the first and only woman to attain the rank of three-star general, and McGinnis is a former National Guard Association senior fellow and analyst of national security policy issues.

“One of the reasons I really want to see [John Kerry] be our president is because he understands the human cost of war,” Kennedy said.

Others at the event agreed, and said that Bush went against his own word by entering Iraq without an exit plan in place, and without having the financial resources or allies to support our country and our troops.

“I think that Senator John Kerry has an exit plan and he’s going to bring my son home safe, and he’s going to come home with honor,” Sheila Desgrosseilliers of Auburn said. Her son Maj. Todd Desgrosseilliers, 41, left for Iraq on Sept. 11.

Although her son is an active member of the Marine Corps, Desgrosseilliers agreed with others at the event that there are too many Reserve and Guard units serving extended tours of duty in Iraq.

“[Bush] doesn’t understand the difference between active and Reserve units,” Sheila’s husband, Ed Desgrosseilliers, said. “That Reserve force is to protect our nation.”