Former Soldiers Fighting Army on Callbacks (NYT) [View All]

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/national/16reserves.html?position=&hp=&oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=

November 16, 2004
Former Soldiers Fighting Army on Callbacks
By MONICA DAVEY

The Army has encountered resistance from more than 2,000 former soldiers it has ordered back to military work, complicating its efforts to fill gaps in the regular troops.

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And, of about 2,500 who were due to arrive on military bases for refresher training by Nov. 7, 733 had not shown up.

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"I consider myself a civilian," said Rick Howell, a major from Tuscaloosa, Ala., who said he thought he had left the Army behind in 1997 after more than a decade flying helicopters. "I've done my time. I've got a brand new baby and a wife, and I haven't touched the controls of an aircraft in seven years. I'm 47 years old. How could they be calling me? How could they even want me?"

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Others say they do not believe they are eligible to be returned to active duty because, they contend, they already finished the obligations they signed up for when they joined the military. A handful of such former soldiers, scattered across the country, have filed lawsuits making that claim in federal courts.

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