Army officer sues U.S. for deployment

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=607914§ion=news

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. Army Reserves captain who resigned in June after completing his agreed-upon term of service has sued the government for trying to force him to return to active duty for deployment to Iraq.

Jay Ferriola, 31, of New York filed suit in Manhattan federal court on Friday seeking an injunction blocking the Army from enforcing an order returning him to active duty on Monday. The case names Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and others as defendants.

The suit charges that the Army's order, dated October 8, violates Ferriola's Constitutional rights against "involuntary servitude" and is a breach of his contract with the military. An emergency hearing was set in the matter for Sunday. snip

Barry Slotnick, Ferriola's lawyer, issued a statement calling the Army's order an illegal "back door" draft. At a media conference late in the day, he was asked by reporters if his client sued because he was afraid to go to Iraq.

more

[Blue Gardener]

1. He should be afraid

I don't blame him for not wanting to go back.

[Nlighten1]

2. Only a fool...

would not be afraid to go back.

[UpInArms]

3. also from your link

The suit said Ferriola received a letter dated October 8 that ordered him back to active duty on Monday for a period of 545 days. It give as the purpose as "Mobilization for Iraqi Freedom."

and

Ferriola had voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1993 for an eight-year period in exchange for an ROTC scholarship at the Virginia Military Institute.

After graduating, he served in various Army positions and was promoted to the rank of captain. In February 2000 he was separated from active duty and placed in the reserves.

Last year he was ordered back to active duty and was released to the reserves in June, 2003. He completed the eight years of service with the Army in February of this year.

This article goes on to say that he was never "officially" removed from the ranks - therefore, no matter how clearly he has fulfilled his obligation the military acts as though they own this man.

What a freakin' load of garbage!

IIRC, wasn't that AWOL POS that squats in our Whitehouse allowed to tell his commanding officers that he didn't want to fly and that he was too busy to even find a unit in Massachusetts and he was too freakin' good to fulfill in the most minimal requirements of his guard duty?

:argh:

[wolfgirl]

4. and again...

it's not in the US press, but media from overseas!

[UpInArms]

6. US press now picking it up

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/story/245275p-210124c.html

http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/30956.htm

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/296/nation/Army_captain_sues_government_s:.shtml

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-iraq1023,0,6054807.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1004/182413.html

http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=2469007

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_102204_soldier.html

[ticapnews]

8. Even if he's telling the truth, AWOL still has time left...

He was discharged 5 years 4 months and 5 days into his 6 year hitch. He still has 7 months and 25 days left to serve. Time to suit up, Mr. President.

This time for real, not a photo-op...

[Garth Newman]

10. Honorable Discharge

The time one spends in the NG is determined by points not time. This is particularly true if you are a pilot which requires extensive technical training. If you go to training more often then time is deducted from your committment. The man received an honorable discharge. That is all you need to know.

In addition he has served as the Commander In Chief of our armed forces for the last four years. So using your logic he has more than fullfilled his committment.

[Mizmoon]

12. Hmmm ... your comment is freeper-esque

I'll refer you to "The Straight Dope" to clear up your misconceptions about Bush's "acceptable" stint in the NG:

"By all accounts Bush was an excellent pilot, but apparently his enthusiasm cooled. In 1972, four years into his six-year guard commitment, he was asked to work for the campaign of Bush family friend Winton Blount, who was running for the U.S. Senate in Alabama. In May Bush requested a transfer to an Alabama Air National Guard unit with no planes and minimal duties. Bush's immediate superiors approved the transfer, but higher-ups said no. The matter was delayed for months. In August Bush missed his annual flight physical and was grounded. (Some have speculated that he was worried about failing a drug test--the Pentagon had instituted random screening in April.) In September he was ordered to report to a different unit of the Alabama guard, the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Montgomery. Bush says he did so, but his nominal superiors say they never saw the guy, there's no documentation he ever showed up, and not one of the six or seven hundred soldiers then in the unit has stepped forward to corroborate Bush's story.

After the November election Bush returned to Texas, but apparently didn't notify his old Texas guard unit for quite a while, if ever. The Boston Globe initially reported that he started putting in some serious duty time in May, June, and July of 1973 to make up for what he'd missed. But according to a piece in the New Republic, there's no evidence Bush did even that. Whatever the case, even though his superiors knew he'd blown off his duties, they never disciplined him. (No one's ever been shot at dawn for missing a weekend guard drill, but policy at the time was to put shirkers on active duty.) Indeed, when Bush decided to go to business school at Harvard in the fall of 1973, he requested and got an honorable discharge--eight months before his service was scheduled to end."


http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030411.html

[PhuLoi]

15. A depressingly fatuous argument.

In the military, one does not get to pick when and where they will participate. Bush (the little turd) went AWOL for thirty days and then became a deserter. That is what you should know, and that is all.

[bemildred]

5. I'm sure the Captain will make an excellent leader,

once he is dragged off to Iraq.

[JPace]

7. The military will try to settle this quickly...

they are not going to want thousands of other soldiers
filing lawsuits for the same reason.

[Garth Newman]

9. Back Door Draft is a Made up Term

I am amazed at all these guys who joined the reserves, took the money and when the time to fullfill the committment comes they cry foul and run to the slimy lawyers to get them out.

I say, you made your bed, now you lay there. Where am I wrong?

[54anickel]

11. Welcome to DU Garth Newman. Did you happen to read the article?

I think it is a matter of who failed to fullfill the legal committment here. Who is outside of compliance?

snip>

Last year he was ordered back to active duty and was released to the reserves in June, 2003. He completed the eight years of service with the Army in February of this year.

He submitted his written resignation as a reserve officer on June 7, and his commanding officer then recommended the resignation be approved. The suit said, however, that Ferriola never received an official response to his resignation request.

The suit charges that Ferriola's rights were violated because the military wrongfully failed to process his resignation in a timely manner.

[oneighty]

13. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country!

Enlist! If you have already served enlist again.

A few good men and all.

180

[tlcandie]

14. Too bad Bush wasn't held to these nice rules and regs!!! eom