Additional Guard, Reserve call-ups termed likely

August 23, 2004
Additional Guard, Reserve call-ups termed likely
Winning war on terror will take a long time, adjutant general says

Mississippi's highest-ranking National Guard officer says all National Guard and Reserve members should expect to be called upon as the war on terror continues.

Maj. Gen. Harold A. Cross, the state's adjutant general in charge of the Mississippi National Guard, made the assessment during a speech last week to the Golden Triangle chapter of the Military Officers Association of America.

Many people mistakenly have isolated the war in Iraq, while those in leadership see it as a worldwide problem, Cross said.

"I think this could very well be a generational war," he said. "We are liberating people who haven't known freedom for 30 years and we're making gallant progress, but this is not a short operation; it will be a long task. For that reason, the National Guard is being heavily depended on to win this war."

(snip)

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040823/NEWS01/408230349/1002

but not just to "democratize" Iraq, but the entire Middle East, costing hundreds of billions of dollars. I hope America knows what it is voting for when it votes for Bush. MS is the state which can least afford such a commitment, but it is voting 60% for Bush. Go figure.

PS That is BS that recruitment is high for Guard positions and that retention is equally high.

I can say that recruitment around here surely hasn't dropped off too much anyway.

In fact, if Kerry is elected President I am contemplating enlisting myself actually.

sounds like pure BS. Unless the poor folks out of work have no other choice. :shrug: If the only way to make money to take care of your family is to join up, then folks join up. Maybe that is part of their evil scheme, force folks to join their evil army to take over the world. :cry:

I knew a guy here in virginia who got out and was going to sign back up because he couldn't find a job above $7 hour.....

Those were religious wars, as I recall. Religious wars have real staying power. You could look at it as the perpetual war that Orwell warned us about in the novel 1984, as well.

And I know lots of students who would burn their draft cards if it came to that.

Reserve members should expect to be called"

That about says it!

ST. PAUL -- Former Gov. Jesse Ventura, who during his time in office diligently avoided commenting on military decisions, joined the fray over the war in Iraq on Tuesday.

"Now that I'm a civilian, I'm here to speak out that I think the current use of the National Guard is wrong," Ventura said Tuesday.
<snip>

"Having been in the military, I know what it's like to deploy overseas," said Ventura, a former Navy SEAL. "I did 17 months, two tours, when I was in. I also was the head of the Minnesota National Guard as governor. You're the commander in chief. At that point in time, I did my job. I didn't say anything because of the chain of command."
<snip>

"They are designed to protect us here in the United States of America and in our homeland _ not to be occupying nations halfway around the world," Ventura said. "And that is not the role of the National Guard. And in many cases, many of these men are doing things they were never trained to do, which is dangerous for them and dangerous for the war itself."
<snip>

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--ventura-iraq0824aug24,0,2241062.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire