I talked to my brother who is a Major in the Army today.

[lateo]

He and I don't talk often so it was nice to hear from him. He said the Army's situation with keeping people is dire. Even he is thinking of getting out and he only has 5 years left to retire. The constant grind of rotations to Iraq is taking a big toll on the troops morale. The Army has made changes in how officers can leave the military. It was handled at Brigade level but now it is being run by the people in PERSCOM...because they are trying to discourage people getting out. They have also taken the unusual step of having 2 boards to promote people to Major a year instead of just one. Maybe because it locks you in to the military for an additional year.

Bottom line is he said they are hurting terribly.

[Parche]

1. Army

I told my nephew not to join while GW Bush is in office, or he
will be sent to invade another country illegally.
He is going to college instead

[Cha]

5. Hey dude! Good for

you and your nephew! It's nice to hear the smart stories, too!

[Horse with no Name]

2. Their marriages are suffering

I can't even imagine how these guys are coping.

[Mythsaje]

3. You mean

they can no longer simply "resign their commissions?"

Weird...that was one of our safeguards against unlawful orders--that a commissioned officer who disagreed with a policy decision he or she considered to be illegal could simply resign in protest.

That sucks.

[lildreamer316]

4. Best wishes for his saftey and sanity.

Hope he gets home to you ok (did you say he was over there?). I've got a freind who is a recruiter (!!) in Ft. Bragg I haven't talked to in awhile. Hoping to hear from him soon and ask some similar questions.

[Disturbed]

8. Rumsfailed stated that the Iraqi Insurgency may last...

5 to 12 years. Taking this lower to 4 years, will the U.S. Military be able to sustain their Occupation even for 4 more years?

[roguevalley]

6. Tell him that there are millions of people on his side.

[seabeyond]

7. i am sad for them. i have been sad for them for a long time now

though it is said, because of what i believe, that i do not support them, i support them with all my heart. we are continually shown how our military is not being taken care of

cuts by repugs
not adaquate equip
torture
not enough men
halliburtan fuckin them while they are over there
du
endless deployment
never ending war
inadaquate handling of war
poor decision making by higher up

i am sad for them. until more people actually feel empathy for the troops (fellow republicans, and start hearing their cry) all we will be able to do is feel for them

[Vincardog]

9. This is what has to happen. Let it break.

We can not support a draft to fight aWoL's imperial wars. As bad as I feel for the troops they should quit. Let the Chimp succeed at what he is best at- taking the finest military in the world and turn it to shit; Just as he has taken every thing he has touched and driven it directly into the ground.

[enid602]

10. cope

Makes you wonder how we would be able to cope if, in the near future, another country actually threatens our interests.

[Pallas180]

11. the enlisted are now prisoners in the US Army, apparently

;(

[alfredo]

12. This is so scary. We are at risk because we are

in a very weak position.

[bloom]

13. My nephew is getting a world tour

He is in the Marines. They are going to Hawaii, Australia, Egypt...

I think part of it is about morale boosting activities.

sigh

[Pallas180]

14. I talked to a 19 year old trying out for the marines, I asked

him, "Don;t you understand that this is not a war for "freedom and democracy", it's a war for oil, for the corporations" ?

You know what he said to me?

Keep in mind he has been at the marine camp for some time.

" America is the corporations."


I can only imagine that is the indoctrination.

[bloom]

16. "America is the corporations."

Wow.

He's got that right.

[ispeculate]

17. Well there you have it...

we have 19 year old men identifying America and Corporations as one in the same. I wonder who installed that belief in him? Is this part of the programming of the US military now?

[Pallas180]

19. Marine Boot Camp indoctrination. And he said it like:

"America IS the corporations."

fully believing it.

Of course, if you have Rush Limbaugh piped into your radio day after day by the Army, you see nothing wrong with that.

[FlemingsGhost]

15. Just mailed out my Selective Service Board Member application

Pretty much anyone can do it:

http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=Selective+Service+System+%2B+homepage&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3Dc96b75b8e9897254%26clickedItemRank%3D1%26userQuery%3DSelective%2BService%2BSystem%2B%252B%2Bhomepage%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.sss.gov%252F%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%http://www4.sss.gov/localboardmembers/bminquiry.asp

[lateo]

23. Yea...I did this but was denied.

Which I thought was odd because I am prior service with a great military record...but then maybe the board was already full.

[lateo]

18. One other thing he said...

He lamented the complete lack of leadership in the military now. He gave the example: If the chain of command is wearing the troops down with constant training and then tours in Iraq none of the officers will tell their leadership NO to training to get the troops a break. He knows one officer who did and another officer immediately volunteered to do the training. He said this undermines the troops because some officer wants to brown-nose his higher ups rather than care for the welfare of the troops and their familes.

[Coexist]

20. that's a darn shame

Wish him well for me.

[gratuitous]

21. If you're a part of an organization this messed up

Do you hang in there for whatever reason, or do you quit? Certainly there's value to good people of integrity maintaining a presence in the military, but except for the amelioration of conditions in their immediate surroundings, do they, can they make a difference in the organization as a whole? If the organization has ceased to keep faith with its personnel, are the personnel obligated to keep faith with the organization?

[lateo]

22. It is getting hard for officers to quit.

It isn't impossible but they are making it much more difficult. I told my brother not to worry and that he can come work for me. So he knows he will have a job when he gets out. I hope he files his paperwork next week.