Re: US soldiers in Iraq held against their will
At 02:33 PM 8/17/03 -0500, Harmon Seaver wrote:
Just heard about this local guy who reluctantly went to Iraq because
he was in the reserves, now his contract is up (as of 7/31) and they won't let him out.
Did he reluctantly take the $$$ to be in the reserves, too?
my enlistment contract ended and the I have been involuntarily extended.
SOP. Happened during the Yugo thang too.
I am now a prisoner of the US army.
Pity the volunteer moral zombie! Sucks to give up control to .mil, no? I find it very troubling that the USA
would force people against their free will to be in the military,
It hasn't, it only requires males to register. So far. Maybe Faust should be required reading for potential warriors?
On Sun, Aug 17, 2003 at 10:37:15PM -0700, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
At 02:33 PM 8/17/03 -0500, Harmon Seaver wrote:
Just heard about this local guy who reluctantly went to Iraq because
he was in the reserves, now his contract is up (as of 7/31) and they won't let him out.
Did he reluctantly take the $$$ to be in the reserves, too?
my enlistment contract ended and the I have been involuntarily extended.
SOP. Happened during the Yugo thang too.
So a contract isn't a contract anymore, eh? It's changed unilaterally by USG whenever and however they want? Well, I suppose there's good precedence for that too -- ask any Native American. (snip)
I find it very troubling that the USA
would force people against their free will to be in the military,
It hasn't, it only requires males to register. So far.
It certainly is in this case, and, I'm sure, in many others. If you sign a contract to work for me for a year, and at the end of that year, I lock the factory door and won't let you out, send big mean guys with guns to make sure you stay seated at your machine and keep working -- what would you call that? Slavery? -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com
Harmon Seaver wrote:
On Sun, Aug 17, 2003 at 10:37:15PM -0700, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
At 02:33 PM 8/17/03 -0500, Harmon Seaver wrote:
Just heard about this local guy who reluctantly went to Iraq because
he was in the reserves, now his contract is up (as of 7/31) and they won't let him out.
Did he reluctantly take the $$$ to be in the reserves, too?
my enlistment contract ended and the I have been involuntarily extended.
SOP. Happened during the Yugo thang too.
On a semi related side note, how long has this guy been in (total length of service)? All personnel when they join the US Military are quite clearly informed they have an 8-year commitment, regardless of how long their initial enlistment is. If your initial commitment is less than 8 years, you are moved into the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR) for the remainder of the 8 years. (E.g. you enlist for 4 years active or ready reserve (weekend warriors); you will also spend 4 years in IRR). While in the IRR you have no requirements other than to keep the government informed of your current contact information. You have no drills and receive no benefits. The US Government though reserves the right to call you up at whim any time during this period. I am curious if this person is still within his 8-year commitment even though he completed his initial commitment. If he is still within this 8 year window, he doesnt have a leg to stand on nor my sympathy. On that same note, any weekend warrior who complains about being activated has no sympathy from me. Take the devils coin, be prepared to do his work also. The few folk that have my sympathy are those IRR folk that have be activated. I have a couple IRR buddies who haven't so much as thought about the military in years all of a sudden get activated for Iraq, now thats something to complain about. 4 years active, 3 years smoking dope in college, then a call from the good old us army ordering you to report to your IRR unit within 48 hours and go to Iraq. Those are the folk I feel sorry for. They did their time, got out, and didn't continue to take the devils coin ever 4th weekend.
It hasn't, it only requires males to register. So far.
How is that for some equally rights. Women continue to whine and cry that they are being discriminated against in the military as the military refused to open up certain all male MOS's (18 and 11 series to name a couple) yet I don't see them hounding congress for the equal right to be drafted. Nothing like having your cake and getting to eat it to. ** OFFTOPIC: Anybody remember the exact saying (and who coined it) about if you take the Devil's coin, don't complain about doing the Devil's work. I can not seem to find the exact text ** -Peter DISCLAIMER: Like always, this email is the personal opinion of Peter Thoenen and not condoned by Sprint or the US Army. [demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature]
On Mon, Aug 18, 2003 at 04:52:25PM +0200, Thoenen, Peter CIV Sprint wrote:
On a semi related side note, how long has this guy been in (total length of service)? All personnel when they join the US Military are quite clearly informed they have an 8-year commitment, regardless of how long their initial enlistment is. If your initial commitment is less than 8 years, you are moved into the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR) for the remainder of the 8 years. (E.g. you enlist for 4 years active or ready reserve (weekend warriors); you will also spend 4 years in IRR).
This is the guard. (snip)
On that same note, any weekend warrior who complains about being activated has no sympathy from me. Take the devils coin, be prepared to do his work also.
Yup - I don't have any sympathy for him being called up and sent over, but when the contract is over, the law says they have to release him and can't extend his hitch. -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com
On Mon, 2003-08-18 at 10:02, Harmon Seaver wrote:
On Mon, Aug 18, 2003 at 04:52:25PM +0200, Thoenen, Peter CIV Sprint wrote:
On a semi related side note, how long has this guy been in (total length of service)? All personnel when they join the US Military are quite clearly informed they have an 8-year commitment, regardless of how long their initial enlistment is. If your initial commitment is less than 8 years, you are moved into the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR) for the remainder of the 8 years. (E.g. you enlist for 4 years active or ready reserve (weekend warriors); you will also spend 4 years in IRR).
This is the guard.
Don't forget the reserves in additional to the Guard. One point, its a bit of a stretch to call the guard or reserves "weekend warriors" anymore. Many of those units are deployed on active duty for long stretches of time (12 months or longer) due to increasing military committments around the world. Further, many of the SF groups, which see a lot of use these days, are part of the National Guard as well and rarely go unused by the Pentagon. -- Michael T. Shinn KeyID: 91C0781F Key fingerprint = 05 81 9F 80 0E CE DB AE 02 6F 0D B8 D9 CC 0F A2 http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x91C0781F
participants (4)
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Harmon Seaver -
Major Variola (ret) -
Michael Shinn -
Thoenen, Peter CIV Sprint