Marines to recall troops on involuntary basis for Iraq, Afghanistan

[maddezmom]

August 22, 2006 - The U.S. Marine Corps said Tuesday it has been authorized to recall thousands of Marines to active duty, primarily because of a shortage of volunteers for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Up to 2,500 Marines will be brought back at any one time, but there is no cap on the total number of Marines who may be forced back into service in the coming years as the military battles the war on terror. The call-ups will begin in the next several months.
This is the first time the Marines have had to use the involuntary recall since the early days of the Iraq combat. The Army has ordered back about 14,000 soldiers since the start of the war.

Marine Col. Guy A. Stratton, head of the manpower mobilization section, estimated that there is a current shortfall of about 1,200 Marines needed to fill positions in upcoming unit deployments.

more:http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=nation_world&id=4485499

[acmavm]

1. Shortfall of 1200? My big fat patoot.

I wonder how many are being called up for Iran?

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. "as the military battles the war on terror"

I thought they said Iraq?

[babylonsister]

3. So this is how they plan on getting around the draft.

This just sucks.

[coalition_unwilling]

20. AKA: The "back door" draft. Other iterations include "Stop Loss"

and so on. Expect this move to engender a huge wave of resistance.

[tbyg52]

36. Man, I sure *hope* it does!

Draft Barbara and Jenna!

[civildisoBDence]

39. "Back door" is right

because that's where these troops are getting it.

News and commentary, left to right

[Higans]

38. Don't kid your self, the draft is coming. it will start shortly after 06

election. you see after they Die Bold it again, all the U.S. Citizens who protest will be called rioters, posibly even terrorist, and put into internment camps. Marshall law will be declared. Elections will be suspended due to "National Security" Just like they said they could do a few months ago, and welcome to the Fascist Dictatorship of King Gorge. out to conquer the world. Any country that has oil. I'm surprised he hasn't attacked Mexico yet.

[JohnyCanuck]

4. And if you really, really, REALLY don't want to go,

Just email someone you know that the official story on 911 sounds like horseshit and you think there should be another investigation to find out what really happened.

Army: Doubting Official 9/11 Story Is ‘Disloyal To The United States’

FT. SAM HOUSTON, Texas — Forty-one-year-old Sergeant First Class Donald Buswell is a hero. Having served over 19 years in the United States Army, Buswell has seen a lot of terrain. On April 15, 2004, he was injured in a rocket attack while serving a tour in Iraq. For this, SFC Buswell was given a Purple Heart. And until recently, Buswell was an Intelligence Analyst stationed at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas.

But if one were to ask Buswell’s Commanding Officer what he thinks of the Sergeant, the response would likely sound a little bit more like, "No comment."

Such were the words given to The Iconoclast by Lieutenant Colonel Jane Crichton after inquiring why SFC Buswell is the focus of an investigation initiated by Colonel Luke S. Green, Chief of Staff at Fifth Army in Ft. Sam Houston.

According to unnamed military sources contacted by The Iconoclast, SFC Buswell "used his Government issued email account to send messages disloyal to the United States …" Because of these statements, SFC Buswell could soon find himself dishonorably discharged, court marshaled, or worse.

http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=426&z=54

[hobbit709]

8. ‘Disloyal To The United States’

Now of the many things they tried to pin on me back in 70-73 that was NOT one of them. And the things I said about Nixon and others weren't fit to print. The best one was the "Sabotage" charge that quickly backfired on them when I proved some of the lifers were trying to cover their asses and blame me for their failures.

[leesa]

26. Oh oh. Little too much truthiness there, bub! A real investigation into

9-11? Perish the thought! Arabs didn't benefit from 9-11, but asking who did....YIKES! We know the answer to that question.

[Peace Patriot]

31. Kudos to the Lone Star Iconoclast once again! This fab newspaper in--

of all places, Crawford, Texas--is one of the reasons I never lost hope in our democracy, even in some of the darkest hours of the last several years. I subscribed before they went on-line. It was a wonderful, refreshing anti-dote to the lying propagandists of the corporate news monopolies. Small town paper that reports on local football games and other events--and ALSO kicks the butts of those in power who have dragged us into an illegal, disastrous war, and are using that opportunity to loot us blind. They spoke the truth when it was hard and risky to do so! And they almost went down for it. They almost lost their paper. What a courageous bunch of people!

They've found a kindred spirit in SFC Buswell--someone who thinks for himself! How very American of him! Naturally, Bushites and toady CO's are out for his skin. Can't have people questioning fascist authority.

[The Wizard]

34. He's one year short of retirement

This saves money for the Paris Hilton tax cut.
In 1967 I had a lighter engraved with these words: "Hitler is alive and in the White House." That was at the beginning of my tour in Vietnam, and some didn't appreciate my attitude at first. In a few short months they agreed.

[IronLionZion]

5. You could always tell them...

you want to marry your life partner in Canada first!

[gratuitous]

6. Bush says the generals told him they have all the troops they need

You don't suppose that some of Bush's military advisers hedge their advice to him, knowing how touchy Bush is when getting news he doesn't want to hear, do you? I wonder if this occurred to anyone asking questions at yesterday's press conference? If not, why not? And if so, why they didn't ask Mr. Bush about this? After all, the folks in the media don't work for and aren't answerable to the president . . . are they?

[grasswire]

7. involuntary recall = involuntary servitude?

Isn't that unconstitutional without an act of Congress?

[TechBear_Seattle]

9. Indentured servitude, not involuntary

Remember, men and women who sign up voluntarily sign a contract to serve for ten years. If they are allowed out of active service after only four years, they still have a commitment on another six years. It is all in the contract.

The people being recalled already sold themselves, body and soul. The Devil is merely calling in the contracts.

[ShortnFiery]

25. As I understand it, it's from the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR)

If you sign a six year contract, often you're required to serve 3-4 years on Active Duty. Once you're released from active duty, you can either join an active reserve unit OR remain in the data base, the IRR. Until the END of that six-year contract, your butt can be called up on Active Duty at any time. :(

That's why we must keep our H.S. kids away from those Recruiters. They'll promise them the world but do NOT have to deliver. However, once someone 18 y.o. signs on the dotted line, they belong to the U.S. Military. :scared: Be advised. :hi:

On Edit: Evidently these Marines have signed an 8 year contract! :shrug:

[Drum]

15. Great question!

Now if we could just get someone in the hallowed halls of Washington to ask it out loud...:eyes:

[stop the bleeding]

10. I am not surprised

and I won't be when more get called up for the Army

[IChing]

11. READ THIS FROM THE STORY!!!

Col. Guy Stratton, head of the Marine Corps' manpower mobilization plans, said :


there is no time limit on the Marine Corps' authority to involuntarily recall Marines for jobs in the "Global War on Terror" -- a war whose parameters remain largely undefined "The authority is until GWOT is over with," Stratton said. "Until we're told to do otherwise, we'll use it."

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-08-22T182502Z_01_N22248313_RTRUKOC_0_US-ARMS-USA-TROOPS.xml&src=rss

[lebkuchen]

12. Rummy keeps saying we have all the soldiers we need

recruitment quotas have been met...

What gives?

[maddezmom]

14. getting ready for a new war?

:shrug:

[MADem]

24. Not with twenty five hundred IRR at a crack, they aren't. NT

[maddezmom]

13. can anyone stop this madness?

why are the parameters not defined? :(

[Drum]

16. Congress has rolled over,

with hind-quarters in the air :mad:

[BrotherBuzz]

18. The Decider decides the parameters

Why does the president have the power to unilaterally authorize the recall of retired troops from civilian life?

Because he is the president.

Does the president always have that power?

No. Only when he is fighting the war on terror does he have that power.

When will the war on terror be over?

The fight against terror is eternal. Terror is not a nation; it is a tactic. As long as the president is fighting a tactic, he can use any means he deems appropriate.

Why does the president have that power?

It's in the Constitution.

Where in the Constitution?

It can be inferred from the Constitution. When the president is protecting America, he may by definition make any inference from the Constitution that he chooses. He is keeping America safe.

Who decides what measures are necessary to keep America safe?

The president.

Who has oversight over the actions of the president?

The president oversees his own actions.

[genieroze]

19. Sounds like a dictatorship to me.

[Ghost Dog]

33. Not at all.

Only preemptively so. :-(

[IChing]

17. The military based their recall of marines on" perpetual war"

The father of fascism, Benito Mussolini, once said, "War is to man what maternity is to a woman. From a philosophical and doctrinal viewpoint, I do not believe in perpetual peace."

Orwell’s most famous book, 1984 is a warning about a futuristic totalitarian government that controls the public by spreading propaganda, monitoring citizens, changing language and rewriting history. In 1984 Oceania is in perpetual war. The enemy may regularly change but the state is always at war. And there seems to be no end.

[ShortnFiery]

27. That's an excellent point ...

Theoretically, we should not, as a nation, fleece the ranks of the IRR UNLESS there is a true national emergency. Remember these Marines may be under a 8 year contract, but they have already served 4 on Active Duty. Now they have started their civilian lives and listed on the IRR data sheets. IMO it should be something on the level CLOSE TO a World War to disrupt these men and women's families who have ALREADY SERVED on Active Duty for 4 years!

This is Our Arrogant Executive Branch's Perpetual Wartime Meme of FEAR, it is NOT A NATIONAL EMERGENCY.

Someone should be held to task because The Military, when not abused, is an honorable institution. I'm proud to say that I have served like my father and brother before me. However, TODAY I believe that Rumsfeld, et.al., are attempting to destroy Our Military. That's just WRONG! :grr:

[pinto]

21. Damn, this is bad news. Call-ups. Gov't rhetoric hits reality here.

[wordpix]

30. When will Jenna & Babs Jr. be called up? * is a f$$*ing chickenhawk

[TheCowsCameHome]

22. Let's see if they bitch about it loud enough for Americans to hear

how the military is really being treated.

If they don't, nothing will happen to change things.

[alfredo]

23. How long will the military stand for this? When will the

non authoritarians in the military say enough!?

[berni_mccoy]

28. INVOLUNTARY RECALL TO ACTIVE DUTY = DRAFT

By definition, CONSCRIPTION is involuntary service in the military, PRIOR EXPERIENCE OR OTHERWISE.

[Lasher]

29. Attention young men and women!

Do not, under any circumstances, join the military during these times. Don't be stupid. Recruiters will lie to you, and will not ever be held accountable for their fraud. Once you have signed up there will be little hope of escape. Despite these challenging times there are better alternatives.

There is a reason why neither the Bush twins, nor any of the other children of the powerful elite, are in the military. The military-industrial complex is in control, and they want cannon fodder. If you are lucky enough to survive you will join the ranks of useless eaters who will be expected to quietly expire in poverty.

I anguish about the future of you teens and twenty-somethings. I can only hope that Democrats and real Republicans can wrest control back from these fascists.

[Somnambulist]

32. I thought they had high reenlistees?

Conservatives are always saying that the morale of the military is high and they all reenlist, even after being wounded. Where are they now? None of these military people want to go back to Iraq.

[shaniqua6392]

35. I think Bush and Cheney should go to Iraq.

They just sit back on their fat asses and play war games with our wonderful troops who don't deserve this crap. Welcome to DU Somnambulist!! Happy to have you here.

[L0oniX]

37. Live by the sword die by the sword

Always read the fine print and expect to be lied to. We are a country of liars.

[rodeodance]

40. Marines to recall troops to active duty

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060822/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/marines_call_up

Marines to recall troops to active duty

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 37 minutes ago





WASHINGTON - The Marine Corps will soon begin ordering thousands of its troops back to active duty because of a shortage of volunteers for
Iraq and
Afghanistan — the first involuntary recall since the early days of the war.


Up to 2,500 Marines will be brought back at a time, and there is no cap on the total number who may be forced back into service as the military helps fight the war on terror. The call-ups will begin in the next several months.

The number of troops in Iraq has climbed back to 138,000 — the prevailing number for much of last year. Troop levels had been declining this year, to a low of about 127,000, amid growing calls from Congress and the public for a phased withdrawal. Escalating violence in Baghdad has led military leaders to increase the U.S. presence there.

This is the first time the Marines have had to use the involuntary recall since the beginning of the Iraq combat. The Army, meanwhile, has issued orders recalling about 10,000 soldiers so far, but many of those may be granted exemptions.

Marine Col. Guy A. Stratton, head of the manpower mobilization section, estimated that there is a current shortfall of about 1,200 Marines needed to fill positions in upcoming deployments.

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

41. Is there a draft in here?

[whistle]

42. Keep fighting the rich mans war brothers and sisters, Bush wants

...you to go back and die. Well, you don't have to, just say no!

[valerief]

44. That would be great if Nancy Reagan came out with a

Just Say No to War Campaign targeted at soldiers. Of course, she's one of the elite benefitting from the war.

[whistle]

46. War has reached to point of deminishing returns both economically

...and politically.

The law of diminishing (marginal) returns, an economic law propounded by David Ricardo.

When one of the factors of production is held fixed in supply, successive additions of the other factors will lead to an increase in returns up to a point, but beyond this point returns will diminish and eventually vanish altogether.

Thus, the "point of diminishing returns" is a specific point in a given production process at which additional effort or investment in a given endeavor will not yield correspondingly increasing results.

The war in Iraq has reached and gone passed that point. So regardless of what Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld Condi, or any other chicken hawk tells us, all further efforts put into winning this war will yield nothing in return.

[greatauntoftriplets]

43. And they say everything is going so swimmingly in Iraq....

:eyes:

[TheCowsCameHome]

45. I hope their families raise a big stink. But they probably won't.

Something has to bring this onto the front burner or it will never stop.

[JohnnyLib]

47. another sign of our depleted military forces,

and the military manpower situation can only get worse in the current climate. The costs now, and the costs in the future, are truly frightening to this vet.

[whistle]

48. 2610 plus dead, 19,500 plus seriously wounded, and I don't wish to

...scare any veterans of this Iraq/Afghanistan war, but estimates now suggest that over 55% of returning vets will experience some debilitating illness or serious medical problem from having served in these war theaters from the materials and weapons and effects of the war.

Our society must be committed to helping the vets and their families to cope with these issues. Instead, Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld want the same vets to go back and be further exposed and possibly even die so that the cost of properly caring for these vets will be diminished. This make sound shocking, but it is exactly how our leaders think. Send good men and women into these wars to fight and die and risk their health, then cut them loose and deny all future help. These repukes as such cowards, such scum.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1001-03.htm

[samsingh]

52. isn't this kind of like a draft?

[neuvocat]

49. But at least there's no draft right? Right???

[Laurab]

50. Will they still be able to say it's an "all-volunteer" military?

Silly question, of course they will. When you recall troops on an involuntary basis, it is no longer a volunteer military in my opinion. All their little tricks, back-door drafts, stop-loss, just to be able to say it's "all volunteer".

Gosh I wonder why they're not filling enlistment quotas.

[Rageneau]

51. It's up to the Freepers to save us!!!.

Obviously, it is unfair to ask Marines who have already served their time in hell to go back just because there's a temporary shortage of troops.

The RIGHT thing to do would be to replace all these worn-out Marines with new blood -- young people who believe in Bush and in the mission, and who truly believe that we need to stay the course in Iraq.

There's only one source for such people -- Rush Limbaugh's audience of white shirted, tie-wearing, young Republicans -- like the kind who nest over at Free Republic. Now is the time for all those good men to come to the aid of their country. Now is the time for every Freeper under the age of 50 to visit their local recruiting offices and offer their services.

If they TRULY believe in this war, Freepers should have no objection to signing on for a couple of tours in the desert. In fact, any Freeper who DOES NOT go down to his local recruiting office and sign-up now -- when the need is so great -- is obviously an anti-America, treasonous coward.

Your President is calling you Freepers. Iraq is calling you. The War on Terror is calling you. Your country needs you. Are you going to turn your back on all that and continue to live your comfortable, air-conditioned lives? Or are you going to share the burden for a change and do something besides bitch?

(We all know the answer to that, don't we?)

[DesertRat]

61. And all of those Young Republicans on college campuses

It's time to put their money where their mouths are! Sign up and help fight Bush's wars!

[LaPera]

53. Just when they were getting their lives back in order, Bush's

lie for an invasion, war, occupation...while using all of our tax dollars simply for corporate profits & imperialism, puts them back in danger....

"Time again, to say good-bye".

Pathetic!

[crazed1x]

54. Ummm..

People calling this conscription or a draft have no clue what they're talking about.
I did 8 years in the Marines (Aug '97 - Aug '02).. 5 Active and 3 IRR. When i signed my contract, it was clear to me that the obligation would be for a total of 8 years, even if I only had to spend 5 years on active duty. The recruiter explained that I could be called up during my IRR time.. though it would probably be unlikely.

People being called up off of IRR now knew what they were getting into before they signed up. There was no fine print. It clearly states on the contract.. "I am enslisting in the United States Marine Corps for a period of eight (8) years" .. It's like the first line of the contract for God's sake.

[LaPera]

55. "Crazed!"

Does that make the lies about Bush's war for corporate profit right?

"Still Crazy After All These Years".

[crazed1x]

57. No it doesnt..

Does that make the lies about Bush's war for corporate profit right?

I'm not a fan of the war in Iraq, and if I had got called back off of IRR, I probably would have been pretty pissed. I would have no one to blame but myself though. A committment is a committment.

I'm just saying.. it's not like these guys were tricked or anything. The fact that IRR people are being called up shows that things arent going as well as BushCo. would have us believe.

[Up2Late]

56. Brrrr! It starting to feel DRAFTY around here!

When do we start calling this a draft? Humm?

[zonkra]

58. I wonder

what PFC Jenna "Toilethead" Bush of the 2nd Infantry Division and Lance Corporal Barbara "Babs Jr." Bush of the III Marine Expeditionary Force feel about this? Oh wait, I forgot. They're stateside trying to out-drink dear old dad, or out-party Paris Hilton. Kids of rich GOP pols don't serve. If there's a draft, maybe they can get in the TANG and protect us from Mexico.

[jwdeviant]

59. Maybe we should insist that Georgie serve out the rest of his time?

But this time not in the US.

A commitment is a commitment, right?

[Joey Liberal]

60. I don't feel sorry for them

Since most Marines are right wingers, I don't feel sorry for them. The Marines have become Bush's Gestapo.

[tru_thordare]

62. Low on blood

Guess the American war machine is low on blood. Time to go fill up the tank.

[stepnw1f]

63. Thanks to the GOP Chickenhawks

who cowardly support this slaughter.