Army Spouses See Troops Wanting to Leave Military

to the Army's authorized strength...He's going to get enlistments in these divisions and all the re-enlistments he needs because he's a war hero.

HUH?

who wins the draft will be re-instated in 2005.

(edited for grammer)

I don't know what to do? And I will be the first to admit it.

Don

The * administration has made such a mess of things that even if everything went smoothly in Iraq from now, we'd still have to be prepared to perhaps take action against North Korea, Iran and Syria and the other members of the "Axis of Evil".

The old saying

You will die like a dog for no good reason, applies aptly to this misadventure.

political and economical fortunes of Iraq - turn over the decisions to the UN and get an international peace keeping force (without the US in a leadership position) into Iraq to regain stability.

I do not think that we have any credibility left to lead this "misadventure" to a successful conclusion.

We need to get a lot more brains into the mix.

(jmho)

American armed forces need to be removed. Perhaps they could be used in the Basra area in a subordinate role but their presence would otherwise taint the legitimacy of any UN presence. If the country is crawling with American contractors, body guards, mercenaries, CIA agents and other obvious carpetbaggers, they will be a continued provocation.

I don't expect the violence there to end, but to admit that is not the same as proving that we can accomplish anything positive by having our armed forces stay. As long as they are there continued violence is virtually guaranteed.

It already is a scene from road warrior.

As I said above, you will die like a dog for no Good Reason!!!!

Personnel Crisis Looming, Army Spouses Say

As Soldiers and Their Families Tire of Extended Deployments, Reenlistment May Fall, Survey Shows

Sunday, March 28, 2004; Page A01

(snip)

Morgan's experience is part of a significant change in Army life brought about by the war on terrorism: The extended, or repeated, deployments that characterize the post-9/11 Army have intensified the burdens traditionally borne by military families. And most of the spouses who have remained behind are wondering how long the Army can keep it up.

This change is reflected in a recent poll conducted by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University, and in dozens of supplemental interviews. The poll, the first nongovernmental survey of military spouses conducted after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, included more than 1,000 spouses living on or near the 10 heaviest-deploying Army bases.

While most of them said they have coped well, three-quarters said they believed that the Army may hit a personnel crisis as soldiers and their families tire of the pace and leave for civilian lives.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28977-2004Mar27.html

by the skin of our teeth and some great DUers on here
But they got our other son
so, get that meme going to everyone you know

BUSH/CHENEY=2005 DRAFT
www.bushdraft.com

1994 - The Grand Chessboard by Zbignew Brzezinski compares Central Asia to a
chess game with Russia and China--which must eventually result in an
American "win". Control of the world's oil supply and dominance in the 21st
Century is at stake, as cheap oil ends in the 2010s. Noting that the Central
Asian Republics are infinitely more important than any other region--save
the Mideast--because "an enormous concentration of natural gas and oil
reserves is located in the region, in addition to important minerals,
including gold. Any successful American policy must focus on Eurasia as a
whole and be guided by a Geostrategic design.That puts a premium on maneuver
and manipulation in order to prevent the emergence of a hostile coalition
that could eventually seek to challenge America's primacy."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465027261/102-5321285-9...



1990s - "Project For A New American Century" and other right-wing
organizations develop strategy for a "uni-polar world" ruled by the United
States with many US bases in the Mideast and Central Asia. Invading Iraq and
controlling the world's oil supply becomes the Neo-Con manifesto.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/DailyNews/pnac_030310.html

http://www.presentdanger.org/pdf/frontier/1031neocon.pdf

Article by Will Pitt:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1665.htm

http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf



September 11, 2001 - The 9-11 Attack. A "War on Terror" is begun by Bush
with the agreement of the Congress. In the mission of the Selective Service,
it is stated that the Volunteer Army is only intended for peacetime. In case
of war, the nation may turn to the Selective Service. That is why it must
always be kept as an option, even if dormant.



January 8, 2002 - On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed the No Child
Left Behind Act, supposedly to provide accountability education policies.
Yet hidden within the 670-page piece of legislation is Section 9528: ".each
local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide,
on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of higher
education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and
telephone listings." All schools must comply with this unfunded mandate or
they lose their federal funding. This amounts to legislated blackmail for
student names. The act also says: "A secondary school student or the parent
of the student may request that the student's name, address, and telephone
listing . not be released without prior written parental consent, and the
local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the
option to make a request and shall comply with any request."

http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html



Early 2003 - Iraq War, 250,000 out of 480,000 active-duty troops deployed,
conquer Iraq within a few weeks. Yet the U.S. has no plan ready for
reconstruction or democracy and Iraqis, happy at liberation from Saddam,
grow sour at the slow pace, the continued lack of electricity and fuel and
the isolated civil control of the CPA. Garner soon replaced by Bremer who is
no better at speeding up Reconstruction, and the resistance grows with
disaffected Iraqis, old regrouped Baathists and new foreign fighters. Except
for the British, substantial foreign troops are impossible, given Bush's
desire to keep total control of Iraq. The lack of diplomacy, planning and
incompetence adds years to the time high US troop levels will be needed to
maintain control of Iraq and rebuild and exploit its oilfields.



Summer 2003 - Philadelphia Draft Board members "unexpectedly" told to
recruit new members for Board vacancies during Summer training. (from Nov. 3
Salon article)

http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2003/11/03/draft/index_np.html



July 25, 2003 - World Net Daily article on plans for the medical draft
(HCPDS). System could draft up to 80,000 doctors, nurses and specialists,
men and women.

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33754



September 3, 2003 - The Congressional Budget Office warns that "the Army
lacks sufficient active-duty forces to maintain its current level of nearly
150,000 troops in Iraq beyond next spring (march 2004). "The Army does not
have enough active-duty component forces to simultaneously maintain the
occupation at its current size, limit deployments to one year, and sustain
all of its other commitments"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A16689-2003Sep2?language=prin...



September 23, 2003 - Draft Board Recruitment ad appears on Defense.Link
site. First public ad for Draft Boards in decades. Page scrubbed within a
few days of being noticed by some media in early November. Spokesman says
there is "no plan" to reinstate draft, which must be authorized by Congress.
http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/sss092203.html

http://www.thememoryhole.org/mil/draft-boards.htm



October 16, 2003 - Donald Rumsfeld memo leaks, saying Iraq "will be a long,
hard slog". www.usatoday.com/news/washington/ executive/rumsfeld-memo.htm



Nov. 4, 2003 - NY Times article on Army Honor Guard Company B being sent to
MidEast, revealing how thin troops are being stretched to cover the
2004-2005 rotation.

http://villagenews.weblogger.com/stories/storyReader$10007



Nov. 5, 2003 - Toronto Star article quotes Ned Lebow "This (draft board ad)
is significant", Lebow, a presidential scholar at Dartmouth College in New
Hampshire and former professor of strategy at the National War College in
Washington, adds, "What the department of defence is doing is creating the
infrastructure to make the draft a viable option should the administration
wish to go this route."
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout...



Nov. 5, 2003 - Guardian article on Draft Board ad. SSS spokesman Amon said
80% of 11,000 Draft Board slots are vacant. (2,000 local boards, over 8,000
empty seats) http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1077906,00.html



Nov. 12, 2003 - "If President Bush is re-elected, it is likely that he will
reinstate the draft. The war on terrorism will not end in Iraq, but instead
will proceed into countries like Syria and Iran," said Daniel Ellsberg, of
Pentagon Papers fame.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/11122003/news/60246.htm



November, 2003 - Selective Service 2004 "Performance Plan" summarizes how
$28 million will be allocated in 2004 to reduce draft activation time from
current 8 months to just 75 days. Nation-wide Readiness Exercises, testing
the Draft Lottery and examination system, as well as gearing up the Medical
Draft (3.4 million doctors and nurses, men and women age 20-44 are
eligible). Ominously, the Alternative Service delivery system for
Conscientious Objectors is readied for the first time in decades, with the
SSS being funded to compile lists of available Alternative Service jobs for
those who win non-military CO status. All systems will be pushed to reach
95% readiness during 2004.

http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html



Nov. 23, 2003 - Boston Globe article: "Army Reserve battling an exodus
War is seen as drain on ranks. The US Army Reserve fell short of its
reenlistment goals this fiscal year, underscoring Pentagon fears that the
protracted conflict in Iraq could cause a crippling exodus from the armed
services."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2003/11/23/army_... /



Nov. 24, 2003 - NY Times: Army plans for 100,000 troops until 2006 in Iraq.

http://www.iht.com/articles/118775.html



Nov. 26, 2003 - Ron Paul (R-TX) says "Draft likely to be reinstated".
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul144.html



December, 2003 - Draft Board Recruitment ad re-appears on the Selective
Service Home Page with 2 new sentences stressing the ad has "NO connection"
to Iraq. (recently scrubbed and replaced with a NO DRAFT message)
http://www.sss.gov



Dec. 4, 2003 - Ted Rall predicts Bush will "have to bring back the draft."
Notes 8,000 empty Draft Board seats to be filled by Spring 2005. Wonders
about a "February (2005) Surprise" if Bush is re-elected.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=127&ncid=742&e=7&u=/uc...



December 22, 2003 - In an article entitled "Beware of Attempts to Revive
Military Draft," Newsday reports that "the Center on Conscience and War.
executive director, J. E. McNeil. has heard of rumblings, from the
Republican side of the aisle in Congress, about a draft after the election".
The opinion piece worries whether a revived draft "would give this
war-without-end presidency an endless source of warm bodies to pursue its
cowboy foreign policy." Author Keeler also wonders about a "February (2005)
Surprise".

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpkee223594883dec22,0,6735184.s...



December, 2003 - The Selective Service Register magazine talks about the new
Special Skill Draft, a top priority for Director Lewis Brodsky. Like the
Medical Draft, the Special Skills Draft will induct men and women up to age
44 if they have needed DoD skills like computer expertise, engineering or
they are a linguist. As with the health care draftees, no medical deferments
are allowed except for total disability. Anyone with these skills will have
to register with the SSS if Bush is re-elected and asks Congress for this.
Moving quickly!

http://www.sss.gov/PDFs/NovDec2003-Register.pdf (go to P. 6) - from sss.gov
home page



December 29, 2003 - WP article: "Army Stops Many Soldiers From Quitting,
Orders Extend Enlistments to Curtail Troop Shortages" 40,000 soldiers and
Guard put on Stop-Loss. A "Draft Per Se" already exists! With the new
stop-loss orders the Armed Forces actually go 20,000 past 480,000 active
troops, the maximum before Congress steps in.

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

Thanks for sharing your research. Glad I'm over 44. I never thought I'd be thankful for my sons disabilities, but I am.

I just bookmarked it and kept it alive for him/her.

from the military this year.

they say this now w/ all the shit these families R dealing with but eventually the economic reality will set in - since there R no jobs, they will do what? not re-enlist only 2 B jobless & homeless?

I do not know what I would do if I were in the same situation. A lot will depend on their family status I would imagine.
I don't know how much they make in the service and how much belt tightening they would be able to do. I'm sure these spouses are already figuring and refiguring the family budget to make it do-able.

Lot of guys stay in the reserve just to try and stay in shape and for a little extra beer money. They won't be staying.

Don

and add to that they are being made to pay for their own meals , 8 dollars a day, if they end up in the hospital from being wounded.
The military industrial complex is treating the soldiers like shit.
Vets know this, they are pissed.

will not re-enlist, but it does have to be a tough economic decision.