Meanwhile the rich shield their children from the horrors of military service.
WASHINGTON | Fighting nearly four years in a two-front war has put unprecedented stress on the Army and the Marine Corps.
In addition to raising questions about whether an all-volunteer force can be maintained over the long term, it also draws attention to how the sacrifice from American society is not being distributed equally.
It then goes on to perpetuate the scare tactics of bringing back the draft…
That means Army recruiters will have to sign up an additional 7,000 men and women every year, when they are already struggling and standards have been dropped to meet current quotas.
What irritates me the most is when these reporters mentions that no one in leadership has advocated bringing back the draft, then spend a great deal of time discussing it and interviewing ‘experts’ who think that the draft should be reinstated. To me, this is dishonest reporting intended to stir up fears among readers.
Additional thoughts:
#1: My dad was on active duty for almost 3 years during Vietman. He reenlisted in the reserves in 1983. He was deployed twice while in the reserves: once under Clinton and once under Bush 43. Many Americans are totally unaware that Clinton ever bombed civilian areas or that the reserves were ever deployed during his presidency.
#2: My dad was in a medical unit, which likely has a higher occurance of high income soldiers. The poor folks typically received a significant income boost while they were deployed vs. their civilian jobs, while the doctors & other high income folks received large income reductions. The higher income folks were typically also giving up running their businesses. While this is not universally applicable, I would say that in the majority of instances, this was the case. I know of a low income guy who was called up for Desert Storm but never went overseas because of medical problems. He ended up getting a free hernia repair and dental work instead. The military was one of the best things to ever happen to that guy when he was deployed as well as when he wasn't.
#3: The article discussed how the military is stressed for recruits, etc. My dad got kicked out of the reserves when he hit the mandatory retirement age of 60. He volunteered for a deployment to Iraq when he was 59, but they found out that he would turn 60 while he was deployed so they rejected him. He has been on the standby list ever since he was retired and I think he has been actively seeking a slot. So far the generals have been able to find active members for every deployment slot, so he hasn't had a chance yet. I'm going to recommend, based on the article above, that he commit a felony and change his citizenship in a effort to get deployed.