Wis. Soldier Sisters Won't Return to Iraq

[PfcHammer]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=3&u=/ap/20040427/ap_on_re_us/sister_soldiers

Wis. Soldier Sisters Won't Return to Iraq

7 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!

By JR ROSS, Associated Press Writer

MADISON, Wis. - Two soldiers who were given the choice of returning to combat in Iraq (news - web sites) after their sister was killed in a Baghdad ambush have decided not to go back, a National Guard spokesman said Tuesday.

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[laruemtt]

1. thank god!

now if we can just get the other 130,000 out of there.....

[jdsmith]

7. "Allowed to 'ask for noncombat jobs'"?

I always thought these soldiers (and their family) were being backed into the worst possible corner: go back and you dishonor your parents (and probably your own wishes), stay home and get targetted.

I'd have said, "FORCED to 'ask for noncombat jobs.'" Why compel a gut check on two understandably distraught soldiers?

[Ripley]

2. What an awful situation.

Rachel and Charity Witmer decided instead to ask for noncombat jobs, said Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tim Donovan.

However, I'm curious if other soldiers who lost a sibling in combat have been allowed to "ask for noncombat jobs?" or is this a special offer to them?

[prodigal_green]

4. I believe that is standard practice

After WWII when several families lost all of their sons in battle.

Plus, they are National Guard, not regular Army.

[Ripley]

5. Well, I remember Saving Private Ryan.

But didn't know if that was SOP for the Guard and the Army in reality.

It should be SOP to let them decide, regardless of gender.

[eyesroll]

6. This is SOP, regardless of gender

If you have an immediate family member killed in combat, and you're stationed in the same theater, you can request a transfer.

(I'm not a military-policy expert, but I'm in the Milwaukee area, and there's been wall-to-wall coverage of this issue.)

[bluestateguy]

3. Just watch

The Right will use this as an "example" to show that women are cowardly and don't belong in the military. They will return to these arguments when discussion of the draft resumes early next year.

[roguevalley]

8. Their commander said anyone who objects needs to talk to him. He was

emotional and firm, god bless him. The Sullivans in WWII
made this possible. Five brothers serving on the same ship
that got hit and sunk with them. Incredible tragedy.

They have the option of opting out of combat duty if a family
member is lost. They had the psychological problems of over-
coming attachment to their unit, where their buddies were. Its
hard but I'm glad to hear this. Poor things. Poor family, one
of too many.

God help us all, here, in Iraq, in Afghanistan. The pain of
this will never end. The dead girl was a twin.

[jukes]

9. sole surviving

i have to disagree here. i believe that (when i was in viet nam) the u.c.m.j. wd not send a soldier to, or wd transfer home, the sibling of a combat loss only if he was a "sole surviving son" of the family. i wasn't jag or mp, so my limited knowledge of military "justice" is based on hearsay from instructors & lifers.



some1 lure Saigon68 in here, he'll know.



apologies for the chauvinistic male noun/pronoun usage. the army was very open w/their mysoginy back then, even w/ many females incountry. i don't know how literally they'd apply that to, say, an army nurse who was in that position. i fear they wdnt have considered a "sole surviving daughter" to be pertinent.

[symbolman]

10. Agreed

this was the reason that I didn't get sent to Nam, my brother was there and according to the Sullivan ruling they couldn't send TWO surviving sons into a war zone..

BUT, as I understood it, if that one was killed they COULD send the other one..

in truth ONE Of these twins doesn't have a CHOICE...

this is PR and it's bullshit.. she should go.. or bring the rest of the troops BACK.

[jukes]

11. damn!

shdve skipped that last toke: i missed my point because i didn't want to sound like a pig, myself.

my post wasn't about mysoginy in the services, though it abounds now as then. i believe the service bent their own rules since there were TWO surviving soldiers in this family. and i think they did it as a p.r. ploy: that in itself is a display of "reverse discrimination" by the pretender, et al.




HEY, that last was my century chip, eh? :party:

y, don't kid me. i know i don't post much but i'm reclusive. handsome devil am i, but i scare folks in the supermarket because i talk to myself a bit. sort of like if clooney did the movie version of tull's "aqualung" (look it up, youngsters):+

[VolcanoJen]

12. Ohhhh Thank God!!!

I've been thinking about these sisters ever since I heard their tragic story. I've been thinking more about their mother, and I'm so happy to hear that the Pentagon did the right thing for a change.

:D

Thank You, Witmer Family!! You've already given enough of your children.