Officer Says He Will Resign

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/21236

Officer Says He Will Resign
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-04-13 16:47. Media

(CNN) -- Tours of duty for members of the U.S. Army serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have been extended from 12 months to 15 months effective immediately, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.The new policy will give all units a year at home between deployments. CNN.com asked readers what they thought about the decision, as well as its impact on the country and the troops and their loved ones. Below is a selection of the responses, some of which have been edited:

L. Miller in Diyala, Iraq
Currently, I am an Army officer serving my second tour of duty in Iraq. I fought in Falluja in 2004. I protected Iraqi voters during the first elections in 2005. I'm currently slugging it out with insurgents and terrorists in the violent Diyala province. My soldiers and I have seen and been witness to things that no one should ever have to see and have lived through events that keep me up nights. Like most combat arms officers here, I live with the fact that many of my soldiers have not survived the battles we have fought, yet we survivors continue to soldier on. To learn of my unit's extension by watching the news is an insult. Many commanders and leaders throughout the Army, including myself, only learned of this extension after their own subordinates saw a press conference on TV and questioned them about it. Informing soldiers this way is a disrespectful act and angers me, many of my soldiers, and many of their family members.

While my own soldiers informing me of the inevitable extension of tours of duty disappoints and angers me, the fact that an already arduous yearlong tour is being extended absolutely infuriates me. Do leaders have absolutely no respect for soldiers and their families or is the Army this broken? I'm sure reality lies somewhere in between. As for myself, I am tired. I'm tired of this war. I'm tired of seeing my soldiers die. I'm tired of never being home. I'm tired of having no answer when my soldiers ask me if we're really defending our nation. I'm tired of not seeing my newborn son or my wife. I'm tired of not being home for Christmas. Because I am so tired of these things, I will tender my resignation when I return home ... whenever that is. I'm pretty sure I won't be the only one.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/12/extension.emails/

[Kagemusha]

1. When he CAN return home.

And when the military ALLOWS him to resign (stop-loss comes to mind).

[ClintonTyree]

6. Right....

he ain't goin' nowhere until the Army says they're through with HIM, not when he's through with THEM. Don't bother to read the small print on your enlistment papers, they change the rules as they go along and you have absolutely no recourse. Welcome to the Army. :patriot: :eyes:

[Fridays Child]

2. This is powerful!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. It is criminal what Bush has done to the military

and realize with a military this broken, if there is a real emergency over here, there will be no help for us from the Guard or Reserve. And if something bad happens in, say, Korea.....

[MADem]

4. The first line of the letter is something like "I hereby resign my commission and request that it be

accepted." The answer that will come back is:

1. Request denied. The services of the member continue to be required in prosecuting the War on Terror.

Or words to that effect...

[femrap]

5. I still long for the day when a war is

declared and no one shows up to fight it.

These soldiers know that this war is wrong.

[rateyes]

7. Fuck Bush. nt

[Robeson]

8. The basic tenant of any war, is that it must contain a moral imperative...

...for it to be - even somewhat - justified. There is no moral imperative to this war. None. And without that imperative, it will become increasingly harder to brainwash those who are there, as his words in your post indicates.

History will judge this war as an act of pure aggression. No different than Genghis Khan wanting the riches from a neighboring city or state.

[jgraz]

9. The 29% still hangs on though

From the same batch of emails:

Horace Hill of San Antonio, Texas
This is an issue only because CNN chooses to make it an issue for a political purpose. Check with veterans from past combat situations and you will find that a large majority of us were extended. Many, like myself, for the duration of the war or as long as you were needed to protect the peace, and some for a designated time period. You understand that this can happen the day you enter the military. My time in Korea was due to end August 1952 and my discharge date was September 1953. I was extended and came home March 1956 and was discharged in April 1956. Did we like it? No, we didn't, but we understood why it was necessary. I know this is a well-worn cliché, but many do not understand that "Freedom is not free." Never has been, never will be. Someone will always have to pay a price when others choose not to.

Um, Horace Hill of San Antonio, Texas? Freedom isn't free? Well, it turns out that fascism is a helluva lot more expensive.

Wayne Yost of Macon, Georgia
Hey, it is an all-volunteer military. They are doing what they want to do. I am happy for them to be able to extend their tour! I wish I could do what I wanted to do.

Boy, I want an employee like Wayne Yost of Macon, Georgia. Apparently, once he voluntarily comes to work for me, I can make him do whatever the fuck I want for as long as I want. Until he dies.

Robert Vincent of Green Cove Springs, Florida
Yes, this will have an effect on my friends overseas. But the way Congress is treating the solders and Marines is remarkable. They need funding and it is stupid to think that winning a war like this one only would take five or six years. We must be there to provide stability throughout this region of the world. I know the fighting has been there for more than 1,000 years, but we are the ones who have the means to put an end to this conflict. If the United States turns its back on these people, that leaves no choice but to allow the criminals of al Qaeda to run this country.

Yes, Robert Vincent of Green Cove Springs, Florida, it will have an effect on your "friends" overseas. Like traumatic brain injury. Or triple amputation. Those are lovely "effects" which you'll never have to experience sitting on your ass sending bullshit pro-war emails from your parents' basement in Green Cove Springs, Florida.

You'd better sign up now and help, or -- God forbid -- we'll have no choice but to let "the criminals" run our country. I wonder what that would be like.

[frogcycle]

10. love your commentary

:rofl:

[CAG]

11. Repubs miss the whole "hypocrisy detection gene", don't they?

[jgraz]

12. Which is strange considering they all have that extra chromosome

[Usrename]

13. ..

:rofl: