My co-worker is probably saying this, right now.
He left the United States Army at least five years, ago, but apparently, there's a clause that allows the U.S. military to bring you back for active duty, should they deem it necessary.
They deemed it necessary.
Now, he's scheduled to be deployed to the Middle East.
I find this disgusting. I know some folks say that military men and women signed on the dotted line, so there's no wrong-doing here, but I disagree. It's been shown that recruiters will go to the shadiest of lengths to get people, especially young adults, to sign on the dotted line.
Who knows how many people were lied to about or misunderstood the terms of their enlistment.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of that co-worker of mine. In fact, I can't stand the dude. So, this isn't about some kind of misplaced anger due to the fact that a friend of mine has been called to active duty.
Not even.
Anyone who knows my political leanings also knows that I'm largely against the current "war." The Afghanistan conflict seems to be more easily justified, but, at the very least, I've got a problem with how these conflicts are being managed.
But really, this comes down to the fact that a bunch of men and women walk or are pushed into service in the armed forces, just to find that their tours are extended, their benefits are limited, their families are struggling, and, if they should ever get out alive, they could get drafted right back in because of some legal loophole.
I've got a problem with that and I needed to say so. That's all.
8 comments:
That entire situation is beyond a mess. And instead of looking at the issues and the facts people let everything become so politicized. People keep saying that you are either for or against the United States, but these people don't care about actual soldiers and what happens to them when they get back. They voted for people who give them insufficient armor and cut their benefits when they come back from Iraq with one leg. That's crazy that they are going to send someone to Iraq who has been out of the army for five years.
About the war itself, I'm not really going to comment. It's an issue that is much larger than anyone for or against it might realize and anything i say would probably come off as trivializing the matter.
However, about this issue of being redrafted into action, I can understand why you think it sucks, West. And to some degree, I even agree with you. But I was once looked at my the service and they gave me the "hard sell" you infer. But I knew what a commitment being in the military is. You are, basically, giving up some of your own freedoms, to defend them for others.
In the service you don't get to make all the calls, unlike how us "mere civilians" do. And no matter what spin they put on it to you, that one fact you can't (and shouldn't) ignore.
Maybe I'm not as touchy on this, because I know guys, when i was close to graduating high school, who saw military serivce as a means to some "free money" for college. They had no problem signing up and taking the Government's mnoey, because they thought they'd probably never see any action, or even get called away from home. I've often wondered, given our current situation, how many of them have learned the hard way about the folly of such thinking.
Whatever the case, if you sign into an agreement with the military, even if they give you the "hard sell", and you fail to notice or ignore the fact that you are signing away some of your own freedom in doing so, I don't really have much sympathy for you.
I knew, no matter what they told me, that I wasn't going to fit with what the military would expect of me. So, their shining up the turd of serving didn't budge me one iota. If someone else wasn't as smart, or worse, thought they were slick enough to get around it (and get free money for higher education), well, that's their own fault.
In the world in which we live today, everyone should know better than to take ANYTHING a Government type says at face value. If you do, whatever comes of it is on your head, IMO.
Just my two coppers on the issue. :)
re: "Whatever the case, if you sign into an agreement with the military, even if they give you the "hard sell", and you fail to notice or ignore the fact that you are signing away some of your own freedom in doing so, I don't really have much sympathy for you."
That's certainly one place where our opinions diverge.
re: "I knew, no matter what they told me, that I wasn't going to fit with what the military would expect of me. So, their shining up the turd of serving didn't budge me one iota. If someone else wasn't as smart, or worse, thought they were slick enough to get around it (and get free money for higher education), well, that's their own fault."
It's someone else's fault that he or she is not as smart as you?
Sure, some folks choose mental lethargy over mental rigor, but some folks actually TRY their BEST and still fall short.
I don't see that as their fault - especially if they're eighteen-years-old and have had to deal with duplicitous car salesmen, dressed in military uniforms.
re: "In the world in which we live today, everyone should know better than to take ANYTHING a Government type says at face value. If you do, whatever comes of it is on your head, IMO."
In this world, I'd hope that most folks know better than to take what almost ANYONE says, government representative or not, at face value... but, first of all, I don't expect every 18-year-old to be so cynical. I also don't expect them all to have the same standards of proof and logic that I have.
People get talked into all sorts of things by being presented with "proof" and highly persuasive, but misleading, arguments and evidence. This happens all the time with much more worldly individuals.
If these young people were approached throughout their high school careers and they see these folks, not as threats or charlatans, but as patriots who deserve our respect (isn't that how we're "supposed" to view people in U.S. military uniforms?)... It's kinda hard to blame them, these days.
Almost anyone can be fooled by enough legalese. One might not think they should be freed of all contractual obligations, but not feeling ANY sympathy for them is kinda hard for me.
Just my two coppers on the issue. :)
Btw, James, I wasn't mocking you with that last line. I just failed to delete it when I was using your post to form my response.
Sorry about that.
I think I got stuck on the “free money” statement that James made. People that apply for scholarships get “free money.” Is “free money” for an education bad? Not if you get it honestly. Many jobs offer some sort of education benefit, is that free money, not really.
I guess I better get to my point. My dad was in the Army, and I grew up in a military town. Almost everyone in my neighborhood had a parent that was in the Army, or had been in it. So in my mind the military was a job that had its drawbacks, but it had benefits as well.
I, the Army brat, joined the Air Force Reserves, in order to get more money for college. That was in 1985 and I wasn’t thinking about a war, and the reserves was a way to make additional money. I knew that at least 1 weekend a month I would go to work, and get a paycheck for it. And 2 weeks during the summer, I would go to work, and get a paycheck for it. And with that one of the additional benefits was that I would have more money for college. Just like the benefits that people get for any other job out there.
Then the Gulf War happened (remember this was in the ‘80s), and this part-time job that I had chosen was suddenly more dangerous than the ones that my friends had. However, the Reserves and National Guard weren’t activated so frequently as they are now. And when the Reserve/Guard units were activated, typically the Reservists filled in on bases in the US, because the active duty military was sent off to war. During previous wars it was unusual when someone that had served their entire contract was called back into service. When a soldier’s enlistment was ending it wasn’t the norm for their time to be extended. This time around it seems that everything that was an anomaly before, is an everyday occurrence when it comes to keeping people in the military now.
So whether it's a naive 18 year old, or someone that wants to retire from the job that they started before this war happened. The military is taking advantage of all the fine print that is in their contracts, now.
I am sorry for making such a long post to your blog West.
re: "I am sorry for making such a long post to your blog West."
No problem, at all.
It's all about the quality of the commentary. No worries, there.
I want folks to have discussions here. Drive-by comments are fine, if that's what someone wants to do, but there's nothing wrong, in my opinion, with crafting a substantive point... or in coming back to respond to other people's points.
"It's been shown that recruiters will go to the shadiest of lengths to get people, especially young adults, to sign on the dotted line."
You'd be amazed at how many DON'T wanna be Recruiters, simply because of what you just said. They don't like being under the gun to put a certain amount of people in per year, nor do they wanna sugarcoat things (like me).
Those that ARE willing, will use just about any gimmick known to man. My personal favorite came from a Marine in my Recruiting Sub-station (whom I didn't care for) saying ...
"Well you're gonna get drafted anyway, so you may as well go on your own free will". That person got reprimanded something horrid, once the kid's parents talked to our Officer in Charge.
Just Monday, an acquaintance of mine got "the letter" in the mail. She had just received a promotion on her job, after basically being booted out of the Corps, last year. She was heated, and I understood her completely. Granted, she knew, before they came up with this grand idea to start recalls, that she stood a chance of having to slide right back in uniform. Therefore, she said she kept all of her gear in an air-tight bag.
One of the reasons she was glad to have to get out was because she could focus on raising her children without the threat of deploying. That's not a possibility, but a reality for her now.
I think I got stuck on the “free money” statement that James made. People that apply for scholarships get “free money.” Is “free money” for an education bad? Not if you get it honestly. Many jobs offer some sort of education benefit, is that free money, not really.
Allow me to clarify the "free money" term.
What was meant by that, was i know guys who signed up for the military, to get money of higher education, but did so thinking they'll never have to serve or get called up. They thought they could get the money, without any of the work or hazards that singing up with the military might incur.
As I said, given the state of our world today, i wonder how many of them regret that line of thinking right now.
They thought they were going to get money, without anything expected of them in return. That's what I meant with the "free money" term. Wanting a better education is a great thing, but to think you can "slick" you way past your obligations in getting the funding for it is pretty disgusting, IMO. I mean, those who have mountains of student loans can't just walk away from them. But these guys thought they found the secret of doing just that. I wonder how many of them are regretting that today.
As I said, I was given the "hard sell" to join when I was approached some time ago. But I knew the commitment involved in taking up a contract with the military. Like anything else, always read the fine print before you sign anything. I know I sure did.
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