Standing Tower Guard on a 6′ scaffold at the Federal Building in downtown Bellingham, [WA], Iraq Veteran Evan Knappenberger, 1st BDE, 4th Infantry Division, started a week-long vigil on June 1st to draw attention to the US military’s STOP-LOSS and INACTIVE RESERVE policies, which he submits are being used as a substitute for conscription in a political war.
“I spent a year in Iraq. I pulled 97 nights on tower guard,” explained Knappenberger. “Many of the friends I served with have completed their contractual obligations to Active Duty. Now, they?re being sent back to Iraq for their third or fourth tours. Some soldiers are getting called up after living years of civilian life. Stop-loss is an unethical policy.”
The majority of Americans no longer support Bush’s adventures in Haliburtonistan. A big indication of this has been his difficulty in finding new military recruits. Thus he has resorted to this “backdoor draft”. But what is really the ethical thing to do? Reinstate the real draft so that the current soldiers get some much-needed relief? Wouldn’t that just make Bush’s job that much simpler? And could we be sure that he wouldn’t just over-extend the draftees service times too, in even more places around the world? Or would a draft stir up more anti-war pressure from people who have heretofore had the luxury of ignoring the situation all together?
I surely don’t know the answer. All I can say is, if you’re thinking of signing up with Uncle Georgie, have a lawyer read the forms before you sign.
Uncle Sam owns you, body and soul for eight years. In the event of a national emergency indefinitely. If you collect retired pay they own you as long as you are alive.
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It’s in the contract. Ya gotta read the contract. This crying is BS. I tried to go back for Iraqi Freedom–they wouldn’t take me. Too old. I wasn’t even sixty.
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My bad—-Americans can no longer read. Have a Canadian read the contract or maybe a Frenchman.—it’s called informed consent.
for the “8 to life” duration of ownership. I really don’t know what those contracts say. But what I do know is that the recruiter sales pitch is something like 3 years. It is a shame that the recruiters aren’t honest with prospective recruits, but they often are not. Thus the need for that lawyer. I grew up naively thinking that we should have the expectation of fairness and honesty from the government. Silly me.
The three years is the active duty requirement, Then there may be a period of active reserve for one year, then you go into a pool of IRR ( Inactive Ready Reserve) until the end of the eighth year. It’s plainly layed out in the contract in simple English.
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Some folks honorably complete their period of active duty and feel, “well I did my duty, now I want to go and do something else.” Which is fine, but the military has given you a lot of valuable training and experience (invested in you) they want their moneys worth.
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Why is it that many people see the military as a burden? Why the negativism. First of all you get out of it, what you put into it. Second, the opportunities are boundless. Of course if you aren’t too bright, then you won’t get too far, but what are you going to do in the civilian world if your a dope or lazy?
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Bottom line is that the contract is written in plain language that a sixth grader can understand. Complaining afterwards is unjustified.
… about the contract, but as to the negativism?… for most people Military Service is a delay on their career path, not a part of it. Then there is the money… I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be over there in Iraq as an infantryman and knowing what the salary is for the mercs.
…look to conscription coming back whoever gets elected in ’08. All that’s being built in Iraq US troops will have to be housed to protect it all. They have to come from somewhere.
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It isn’t GW (does anyone believe he is in charge?). The people in charge transcend political parties. What will Hillary/Obama/Edwards/McCain/Guiliani/Romney do? Whatever they are told.
my brother in law is a cutthroat businessman (successful as hell, too!) and he’s not letting me go near an Air Force Recruiter without him there.
…he wouldn’t let you go near to a military recruiter even if it required him to hog tie you and put you in his basement until your “vapors” wear off.
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From what I have read, one significant problem is that the enlistment papers that people sign are riddled with paragraphs that are incorporated by reference from mil regs. That’s fine when there is a corporation involved, since they can hire lawyers who know what’s involved in the “incorporated by reference” material. With a raw 18 year old recruit? No.
He’s none too pleased that I want to join up. He’s made that expressly clear numerous times. However, he knows I’m going to go to a recruiter with him or without, so he’s going with.
…as far as I’m concerned, nobody should be permitted to enlist until they are in their early to mid 20s, at the youngest.
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If there were a draft, I would opine otherwise, providing that there were no exemptions whatsoever. NB: I actually prefer a draft with no exemptions whatsoever.
Raj, that’s inaccurate. Actually it’s grossly inaccurate.
Wish I could scan one of my last enlistment papers.
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Why the paranoia re the military. The reason that you are able to sit in your office and use the internet is because some young man sacrificed his life. Conscripted or otherwise.
The fact that I have read it? Please, give me a break.
The reason that you are able to sit in your office and use the internet is because some young man sacrificed his life.
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No, the reason that I am able to sit in my office and use the Internet was because BBN invented the Internet, with support from DARPA.
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Some of us are not so naive (I would write “stupid”) as to believe that people being killed in Iraq (whether US soldiers or US allies, or Iraqis) is because some young man sacrificed his life.
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I’m pretty sure a draft would change a lot of people’s behavior: for example, the people with those silly sticker ribbons on their cars — the same types who clap their hands and say “thank you” to guys in fatigues walking through an airport on the way to or from the killing zone. It’s so easy to say “support the troops” and applaud the guys in uniform and sport a ribbon on the car when that’s literally all you have to do to show your patriotism. If you had to put on the uniform yourself, you’d probably be less anxious to clap your hands and you’d think the little ribbon sticker was a bad joke. The kind of draft that might accomplish this wakeup call would have no lottery and no exemptions for people with money and/or political connections (did I say Bush and Cheney?!).
When I joined the Navy in 1988 it was quite clear that my service could be extended if they needed my service, and it was quite clear that I could be called back under the Inactive Ready Reserve program AFTER I was honorably discharged if necessary.
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Has something changed? Is this no longer clear in some sort of new contract?
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This is NOT a “backdoor draft.” It’s part and parcel of service to your country.
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You also claimed that there “has been his difficulty in finding new military recruits.”
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Here are the 2006 numbers:
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Army: 101%
Navy: 100%
Air Force: 100%
Marines: 100%
Nat’l Guard: 99%
Coast Guard: 101%
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Source: http://usmilitary.ab…
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in your totals. the military has drastically increased the number of waivers, allowing more felons to join. it’s called scraping the barrel.
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I am glad that when you joined the Navy that you were made well aware of the duration of your commitment. That is as it should be. That is not so much the case these days. Any Nat’l Guards folks out there in BMG land? As I understand it, it is especially Guard who have had the cruel surprise. Using them in this way may be contractually sound, but unprecedented in recent times and not within normal expectations. But I’m happy to be corrected by any Guard currently or recently serving.
For God’s sake, stop being a PIA . You have an all volunteer armed force. These folks volunteered to serve their country as opposed to the remaining 90% of America’s population who enjoy all the benefits of the constitution, but refuse to contribute one iota to its defense. Talk is cheap. The complainers ought to sign up and do “something”. For cripes sake you can go into the US Coast Guard and be stationed on Cape Cod or Clearwater, FL., but DO SOMETHING—-just don’t sit on your fat asses and complain.
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Can you say anything positive about your country. I believe it was yesterday that you noted that essentially everyone in USA was a rascist or a homophobe. Is this country really that bad? Take a look around, then take a trip to Tianamen Square, or perhaps Red square, or even a summer in N. Korea. USA ain’t that bad.
As for who has volunteered and who has not, that has been the subject of this whole diary. So can I take it you think a draft would be a good idea, so that all might get off their fat asses and serve?
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I can say plenty positive about this country. However, the subjects discussed on a political blog are generally the ones troubling the state and the nation. They therefore don’t lend themselves to soft and cuddly musings on America the Beautiful. If that is what you want, go the the Better Homes and Gardens blog, where nothing more serious than fading brocades is discussed.
what is PIA?
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…Pain In the Ass.
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You know, the military comes up with all these interesting acronyms. Like SNAFU (“Situation Normal–All Fucked Up”) and FUBAR (“Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition”).
You have an all volunteer armed force. These folks volunteered to serve their country as opposed to the remaining 90% of America’s population who enjoy all the benefits of the constitution, but refuse to contribute one iota to its defense.
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…is preposterous–we, or our descendants, will be paying the bills for Bush’s little soiree in Iraq–some of us are not quite so naive as to believe that, if the country was really in danger, that the gov’t wouldn’t re-institute conscription. The US, per se, hasn’t really been in danger since WWII, the Cuban missile crisis notwithstanding.
…is largely the result of the military’s substantial lowering of its recruiting standards, and more aggressive–and in some cases deceptive–recruiting practices.
Did you know that stealing a new Mercedes Benz off a car lot is a misdemeanor, but that stealing a 1997 Toyota Corolla and taking the cigarette lighter out of it is a felony?
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How about: Committing larceny of anything who’s value exceeds $251.00 is a felony?
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How about if I beat the living daylights out of you with my fists it is a misdemeanor, yet if I kick you once wearing sandals, it’s a felony?
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Simple possession of a Schedule,A, B, C drug is a felony, the amount is of no consequence—-technically down to the molecular level.
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Possession of a burglarious tool (screwdriver) is a felony.
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Lying under oath( see Bill Clinton & Tom Finneran) is a felony.
Did you know that stealing a new Mercedes Benz off a car lot is a misdemeanor…
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And quite frankly I doubt that it’s necessarily true. That is to say, a prosecutor, exercising his prosecutorial discretion, may choose to charge the thief with a misdemeanor, but he exercising his prosecutorial discretion could probabably have charged the thief with a felony.
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I’m not sure what your other points refer to. I have lots of screw drivers–regular and Phillips head. Does that make me a felon?