Despite signaling that it would no longer tap the Individual Ready Reserve, the Army calls up more troops just in time for the holidays.
My father was at the house for Christmas and in the spirit of nostalgia, beers, whiskey or whatever, we sat down at the table and talked politics into the AM hours. I brought up IRR and stop-loss…his response was, “we’ve got an all volunteer military”. Saying that once either of these retention options are exercised, the individual is no longer a volunteer, he pointed out that everyone signed on the dotted line and the fine print is part of the contract. To me this argument has always sounded like a way of calling the soldier a sucker, without actually saying it.
Regardless of how you vote, it’s time for everyone to stop and think about this in a non-political way, and instead put yourself in one of these peoples’ shoes. The Commander in Chief is at the top of every organizational chart in the military, and most of us sign up because we believe in what this country stands for. Every single prediction about the Iraq war has been proven false, so for the soldier at the downward end of a long chain of command, it feels less like you’re defending the flag and more like you’re defending the President himself.
In a way, every single one of those troops who have been FORCED to go to Iraq, is working private security for an ideology or the retention of power. Donald Rumsfeld can sign an order involuntarily retaining thousands of people who’d already served their time, but he uses an automatic signature machine to sign letters to families of the deceased. Ala John Kerry in the 2004 election, I’m now seeing articles smearing John Murtha, saying he didn’t earn his medals. The information is provided by former political opponents, one of whom actually ran against Murtha in the 80s!
So it’s 100% politics as I see it right now, and in order to support the Republican party in all of this, you’re required to not only ignore the unfair burden being put on people who already did their part, but you have to look down on others who have served in the past. Again, I’ll point out the fact that in terms of former military service, Democrats are way ahead in comparison with their opponents across the aisle. Neither Bush or Cheney ever fought in a war or served in a full-time military unit. Insincerity coming from a party and a White House with these credentials on the REAL EFFECTS of this war on their fellow Americans is absolutely understandable. They have no idea of what it feels like, so when their mistakes are pointed out or when they’re reminded that their actions cost lives, what you and I hear as a rebuttal are either the same talking points we stoped believing a while ago or a series of smears for whoever spoke up.
I’m sick and tired of the bullshit. These schmucks bungled the war in Iraq from start to finish, and now they’re beating the drum for war with Iran. To me, everyone’s missed the point when they accuse the President of starting a war for oil, becuase it’s not about that. It’s about chili-macaroni served on trays in the desert, fat defense contracts for everything from missiles to private security to porta-pottys, yet not for adequate body armor or IED friendly vehicles or the VA’s budget. The amount of life-long entitlements that have to get paid by you and I for the wounded coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq is growing by the day, yet in 2005 the Republican controlled congress underfunded the VA in spite of the gap having been pointed out to them by Democrats several times. Bush’s staff eventually acknowledged the gap and provided the funding.
Now why would they do that? Quite simply, because saving face on the political stage is worth more than the lives of those people counting on the VA to be a lifeline. They volunteered and put their life on the line for the flag, but the leaders waving it feel politics are more important than making sure their doctors don’t have to cut corners. I posted a little while back on the Air Force veteran who suffered a stroke after receiving the anthrax vaccination, and what the VA doctor said to him upon reading his chart for the first time, insisting that the stroke that was documented by another doctor, never happened. This, my friends, is what happens when politics come before fully funding the VA!
But these are the real priorities of those in power. The little guy doesn’t benefit nearly as much as the wealthy guy under their leadership, neither in taxes paid nor blood spilled for the sake of the republic. Soldiers are being forced against their will to fight in Iraq, the national defecit is growing more out of control by the day, and Republicans are fighting for cuts in social programs and a tax cut on dividends.
Saying we need to ‘win’ in Iraq is one thing, but the actions of those in power right now tells me they’re just in it for the money! With that in mind…it says here that former Attourney General John Ashcroft has already banked over $250K in contracts that wouldn’t have been possible before 9/11. Think about it and get back to me – because if he’s not careful, pretty soon one of those camoflaged ornaments the President loves to plaster in the background during his speeches is going to give him a wake-up call he’ll never be able to truly appreciate.
Some people are getting richer, while many others are getting disabled and dead for their sake. What’s the excuse? “Well, this sucker volunteered!” One day that sucker is going to do something crazy. With that in mind, anyone remember Tim McVeigh? He got that crazy after a stint in the first Gulf War and a front row seat at Ruby Ridge. When he went to school, kids weren’t even going on killing sprees! Imagine the kind of insanity all this shit is going to stir up, and ask yourself once it happens, whether you actually gave a shit about any of the people who fought and died for this. Not in a ‘words’ way, but deep down, in your gut. Who genuinely has that feeling, yet can’t help but look the other way once a story about IRR or stop-loss shows up in front of you?
Think for a second why you believe in the war, yet forgive our leaders for such grave transgressions against these soldiers we babble nonstop about. Has the flag become more idea and less reality since the Iraq war began? Not enough troops, body armor, money for veterans…yea, I think so. Because if even half of the Americans who manage to feel outraged over legalized abortion could feel outraged about how the government is cheating our military, a lot of it wouldn’t be happening right now!
For more than 800 members of the Army’s Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), the most memorable part of the holiday season was a surprise stocking-stuffer from the United States Army. It came in the form of a blue and white Western Union Mailgram that ordered them to report for active duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom…
The Army’s effort to pull soldiers into active duty service just a few months before their contracts expire suggests that despite talk of draw-downs, military leaders anticipate that Operation Iraqi Freedom will need every last body they can get for the foreseeable future.
“There’s this lack of courage on the part of politicians to admit that they need more bodies to do this,” Eric says. “If the Army started a general draft there’d be public outcry, but because they’re targeting people in the military who fear reprisal, people stay quiet about it and try to deal with it on their own.”
“The basis of this is not a national emergency,” says one officer, who echoed the sentiments of the group. “What this is is poor personnel planning.”
Full article follows…
Backdoor Draft, Back Again
Despite signaling that it would no longer tap the Individual Ready Reserve, the Army calls up more troops just in time for the holidays.
By Christopher Hayes January 11, 2006For more than 800 members of the Army’s Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), the most memorable part of the holiday season was a surprise stocking-stuffer from the United States Army. It came in the form of a blue and white Western Union Mailgram that ordered them to report for active duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Eric, a second year law student, who completed four years of active duty in 2002, was at his parents’ house on Christmas Eve when they handed him what looked like an innocuous piece of mail from the Secretary of the Army. “I was pretty shocked,” Eric (not his real name) says. “I went up to my room and hyperventilated for a bit and then came back down and didn’t tell anyone for two days. I didn’t want to ruin Christmas.”
You might remember this practice by the name critics gave it during the 2004 presidential election: the “backdoor draft.” In June of that year, the Pentagon announced the initial call-ups of the IRR–a rarely-deployed group of about 114,000 soldiers who have completed their active duty requirements and returned to civilian life. This raised the specter of unwilling combatants being pulled back into military service against their will, generating headlines, controversy and uncomfortable memories of Vietnam. It also proved to be such a headache to administer that in November 2005 the Army appeared to capitulate to pressure by suspending the program. But as In These Times has learned, the program has not been suspended. In exclusive interviews, six soldiers who received mobilization orders expressed anger and frustration about what they say is a bad-faith effort by the Army to wring extra service out those who are about to complete their service commitment. Nearly all asked that their names be changed in this article for fear of reprisal as they negotiate their responses to these orders.
“Back when people started using the phrase ‘backdoor draft,’ I was really skeptical,” says one ex-ROTC cadet, who strongly opposes the Iraq war. “Now that I’ve been served papers, it really does feel like that.”
All of the officers interviewed who received orders to deploy in late December share one thing in common: They all started active duty in 1998, which means their full 8-year contract with the Army–or Mandatory Service Obligation (MSO)–will expire in May. “We’re all coming up on our MSO dates,” says Jason, who along with about 40 other members of West Point’s Class of 1998 received a call-up. “I get the impression that they did a check to see who they were coming close to losing and went ahead and sent out the orders.” Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Pamela Hart denied this, insisting that “no population was singled out.”
With only four months left before being officially discharged, Jason and others now face an 18-month tour of active duty in Iraq. “The Army is using two different rules for their benefit,” says Paul Trotter, an ex-ROTC cadet who has already served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. “They’ve got one rule that says we can call you up from the IRR at any point before your obligation is done. They’ve got another rule that says once you’re on active duty, we can Stop-Loss you so you have to stay.” The Army’s Stop-Loss program, initiated in November 2002, allows it to indefinitely extend the term of active duty soldiers past their scheduled release date.
That means that for thousands of soldiers, the contract they signed pledging 8 years of service no longer holds any weight. In January 2004, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed an authorization for involuntary mobilization. The IRR was last called up was during the first Gulf War. But then, soldiers were deployed to backfill Army positions in Germany and other bases rather than deployed directly into the combat theater. “When I was in the army, it was clear that if you’re in the IRR, the only time you’re going to go off to war is World War III,” says Kevin O’Meara, a 43-year-old former Army human resources officer. O’Meara received a mobilization order in 2004 from which he was subsequently exempted. “The IRR was not designed for what was supposed to be this little jaunt in the desert.”
“When I signed my contract, the impression was that the IRR was rarely used, only in a national emergency,” says Jason. “I didn’t think it would be used as a manpower tool to support an occupation.”
From the moment the IRR call-up was announced in the summer of 2004, the Army had a difficult time enforcing its order. The Army was forced to abandon attempts to mobilize thousands of officers who had completed their 8-year commitment but hadn’t sent in the paperwork to remove their names from the IRR rolls. As of December 11, 2005, of the 7,380 soldiers who received orders to mobilize, 3,521 have filed for exemptions or delays and nearly 500 have simply not shown up.
On November 18 the Washington Post reported that the Army was throwing in the towel. The Army has “suspended plans to expand an unwieldy, 16-month-old program to call up inactive soldiers for military duty,” the Post reported, “after thousands have requested delays or exemptions or failed to show up.”
For many soldiers, this meant they were off the hook. “I felt relieved after that Washington Post article,” says Jason, the West Point grad. “Then on the 20th of December, I get the mailgram.”
Lt. Col. Hart says that the December mobilization orders are all part of the original involuntary mobilization authorized in 2004 and that the Army will continue to issue such orders until it has successfully deployed 5,600 active-duty soldiers from the ranks of the IRR. So far, nearly 4,000 have deployed.
“We have 114,000 soldiers in the IRR and we’re only looking at 7,000 who’ve received orders,” Hart says. “Now mind you, it can be traumatic for the individual solider, but looking at the big picture it’s understandable.”
The news of the orders quickly spread among soldiers, as many scrambled to figure out their options. O’Meara, who has covered the issue on his blog, the Command T.O.C. , says nearly two dozen soldiers have contacted him, seeking advice on how to file for exemptions. Most exemptions, he says, are initially denied, but many succeed on appeal. So far, the Army has issued 1,616 of them. Every soldier interviewed for this article said they intend to file for an exemption based on health, family or schooling circumstances.
What frustrates these soldiers the most is a sense that the Army isn’t being straight with them. “Back in July in ’04 when I left active duty, if they’d said ‘You can’t leave, you have to do another tour,’ I wouldn’t have been happy about it,” says Paul Trotter, who is seeking an exemption so he can continue to help home-school his autistic, seven-year-old son. “But I’d have much rather done that than have a life set up and a job and moved and all that stuff and then be told pull chalks out of that and go back to Iraq.”
More confounding, each soldier had received phone calls and/or emails shortly before their mailgrams asking if they’d like to volunteer for the same deployment to which they’ve since been ordered. “I want to emphasize that we are only establishing a volunteer roster at this time,” wrote an Army Career Management officer in an email to Jason two weeks before he received his mailgram.
The day after receiving his orders, Jason called the Career officer thinking there had been some mistake. “She said she was kind of upset with the way it had been handled,” he says. “It turns out they had intended all along to call up everyone they contacted. It was never going to be voluntary.”
The Army’s effort to pull soldiers into active duty service just a few months before their contracts expire suggests that despite talk of draw-downs, military leaders anticipate that Operation Iraqi Freedom will need every last body they can get for the foreseeable future.
“There’s this lack of courage on the part of politicians to admit that they need more bodies to do this,” Eric says. “If the Army started a general draft there’d be public outcry, but because they’re targeting people in the military who fear reprisal, people stay quiet about it and try to deal with it on their own.”
“The basis of this is not a national emergency,” says one officer, who echoed the sentiments of the group. “What this is is poor personnel planning.”
Now this is where the army sucks big donkey dicks. An absolute travesty.