I got out in December of 1991. In those days the Army was coming up to speed on the impact of service on military families. I am confident that in many ways, the Army is head and shoulders better at this challenge, then what I saw in ’91. What is likely to have been neglected is the support given to reservists and members of the national guard.
Since September 11, 2001, over 9,600 New Hampshire residents have served, including over 2,600 National Guard members and Reservists. Estimates put close to 200 wounded in action. To my knowledge, to date, 26 have been killed.
They all have loved ones.
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Please share widely!
Way back in Vietnam War times, the military sent the professional career soldiers back again and again to Vietnam until these people were burned out. The vast majority of the Reserves and National Guard units were not called as Lyndon did not trust the American people to get behind the war. The result was a disaster for the military in terms of enlistment and morale.
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p>Since that time, forward thinking officers rebuilt the military. The purpose of the Reserves was to provide logistical support for the active components while the National Guard was primarily a fighting force, which dovetailed into their civil control function. The basic idea was that any wars would be of a short duration.
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p>Then the politicians found that the Reserves and National Guard was a cheap tool for waging war without end. They only need to be paid full pay during the time they are on active duty and the inactive time is paid on an hourly basis (weekend drills and two week summer camp) The result has been the constant rotation of reserve and national guard troops to active duty. This puts incredible stress on a family. The part time military now dominates the family’s life.
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p>The wage earners are further stressed as no employer wants an employee that will be gone a third of their career. Even defense contractors, that are making incredible war profits, and government agencies balk at hiring Reservists and National Guardsmen. The part time soldier is being poorly served.
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p>The war without end is chewing up professional, full time soldiers as well as the Reservists and National Guardsmen. My heart goes out to those who are giving so much to a country that is treating their sense of duty so cynically.
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Digital Equipment Corporation was famous in its treatment of 1st Gulf War reservists and national guardsmen. A big government contractor, at first their war veteran employees weren’t allowed in. When the Justice Department threatened to sue DEC, (already starting to have business woes) begrudgingly accepted the vets back.
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p>They were all on the first company layoff.
It’s bad enough that we went into Iraq, invaded and laid waste to a sovereign country, killing, maiming and sickening untold numbers of its people, not to mention killing, maiming and sickening of our own men and women GI’s, all for nothing, and that we shouldn’t have invaded in the first place, but to redeploy GI’s who’re already badly wounded, either physically and/or psychologically, and send them back incountry and into combat for even the 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th time is the epitome of complete callousness and total disregard for other human beings. The same thing is true of what we’re doing in Iraq.