Army Stops Many from Quitting!

[veracity]

Wahington Post article today really is disturbing. How long will it be before this temporary remedy for the "hole in the dike" or our understaffed military will lead to a draft?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36979-2003Dec28.html

[Jacobin]

1. July 2005 is the date planned to activate the draft

But, shhhhhhh, don't mention it to anyone until after the Pretzledent is re-selected.

[arcane1]

2. from the article:

"It reflects the fact that the military is too small, which nobody wants to admit," said Charles Moskos of Northwestern University, a leading military sociologist.


um, with all due respect to Mr. Moskos, perhaps we would have a better military if we weren't invading other countries? Aren't we stationed in like 140 countries right now? Too small my ass, our military is over-used.


God forbid our military gets any bigger!!

[DarkPhenyx]

3. This isn't a surprise.

They initiated a "stop-loss" back during Bosnia as well. We had one during the Gulf War as well. It's a standard practice when the "Brass" begins to see a potential need for more manpower, and you don't want to let your trained soldiers leave.

*shrug*

I can't get too worked up about it.

[Skittles]

5. did they staff all the selective service boards back then

???

[DarkPhenyx]

7. I don't remember for sure...

...but I don't think they were. We were involved in fewer and smaller conflicts then though.

[IrateCitizen]

4. One way to remedy this -- RAISE A STINK!

I know personally of one Reserve soldier who avoided stop-loss about a year ago -- I spoke with him several times. He scheduled a press conference to announce his intent to refuse -- and low-and-behold, his discharge papers were suddenly given to him!

One of our fellow DUers -- Mari333 -- went through a similar dilemma with her son, a member of the MI National Guard. He was given his discharge due to a constant stream of letters and phone calls to his US Rep and Senators.

My former company commander experienced a similar fate. He was thinking of resigning his commission about 2 years ago, and had no committment left. The Battalion Commander talked him into staying on. Then, stop-loss hit with the first round of deployments. After it was lifted, he sent in his resignation. It was denied by his superiors. He started getting his US Rep and Senators involved -- but then the orders came for him to deploy to Iraq. Regardless, he's as good as gone when he gets back.

[Walt Starr]

6. It's getting drafty in here

Things should be all cleared up by June of 2005, though.