Here it comes – the Bush administration can’t call it a “draft,” but instead they’re sending out the goons to grab old veterans off the streets and send them to war. A few are fighting back.
'Nov. 6, 2004 | HONOLULU (AP) – A veteran of the first Persian Gulf War is suing the Army after it ordered him to report for duty 13 years after he was honorably discharged from active duty and eight years after he left the reserves.
'Kauai resident David Miyasato received word of his reactivation in September, but says he believes he completed his eight-year obligation to the Army long ago.
'Miyasato said he received an honorable discharge from active duty in 1991, then served in the reserves until 1996 to fulfill his eight-year enlistment commitment.
'The Army announced last year that it would involuntarily activate an estimated 5,600 soldiers to serve in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Army officials would be tapping members of the Individual Ready Reserve – military members who have been discharged from the Army, Army Reserve or the Army National Guard, but still have contractual obligations to the military.
‘Miyasato said he never re-enlisted, signed up for any bonuses or was told that he had been transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve or any other Army Reserve unit.’
Cake – good point about Gulf War Syndrome. Expect the typical Republican BS: 1) deny there’s a “draft” defacto or otherwise, no matter what; 2) deny that the Gulf War Syndrome exists; 3) accuse anyone who refuses to be called up of violating their national-service obligations in bad-faith; 4) continue to cut veteran benefits, slash the budgets of VA hospitals, and basically do everything possible to ensure that those who served our nation honorably spend their days living in cardboard boxes watching their blackened toes fall off.
Soon, because the U.S. doesn’t want to implement a “draft” while running into completely unnecessary wars, our military will entirely consist of aged veterans from bygone wars, recycled wounded men, and kids too young to know what a mess this war is. If Halliburton’s KBR guys continue to supply the troops, they’ll also be poorly equipped and hungry half the time.
My prediction is that the photos coming back from Iraq of our “all-volunteer” military will feature faces reminiscent of the unfed remnants of the Volksturm defending Berlin in 1945 – grizzled old men, ultra-young kids, all united in fighting a battle that their leaders (e.g., Powell among the Cabinet) aknowledge is a losing struggle.
'Published Saturday, October 23, 2004
'WASHINGTON (AP) - More than 800 former soldiers have failed to comply with Army orders to get back in uniform and report for duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, the Army said yesterday. That is more than one-third of the total who were told to report to a mobilization station by Sunday.
'The Reserve Mutiny
'How the Iraq war is crippling the Army Reserve.
'By Phillip Carter
'Posted Monday, Oct. 18, 2004, at 2:33 PM PT
'First reports are always wrong, or so the military maxim goes. The initial dispatches from Iraq said that a platoon from the Army Reserve’s 343rd Quartermaster Company had committed something close to mutiny in the desert by refusing to deliver supplies in combat. Subsequent reports indicate the unit may have objected to the mission for more tangible reasons than simply fear: Its vehicles were in sorry shape, and it lacked the firepower to survive the mission. Still, the incident has raised alarm from Baghdad to Washington, because such mass disobedience is nearly unheard of in today’s all-volunteer U.S. military.
When I first read the article about Miyasato, I thought it was going to end with the Army saying it had made a clerical error. But no, the Army stuck to its position. If I were that guy, I’d be pretty upset.