Army looks to retirees to bolster forces

[Robbien]

WASHINGTON — The Army, stretched thin by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, is dipping into one of its last resources for wartime duty: retirees on a military pension. The Army is expanding a little-known program to bring back retired officers and enlisted soldiers who expressed a willingness to join again, particularly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

At least 320 retirees signed up last year under this program. Probably more than 500 will go back on active duty this year, says Lt. Col. Karla Brischke, an Army personnel manager. Ages range from mid-40s to late 60s and possibly older, and each has at least 20 years of military service. "It doesn't mean that we're scraping the bottom of the barrel," says Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a spokesman for the Army personnel department. "It means that we're doing a prudent thing with American resources."

<snip>

The 4,500 retirees fall into three categories. The most valuable to the Army are 1,000 healthy retirees who have been out of service less than five years. A second group of 2,000 are in good health, out of the military no more than 10 years and 60 or younger. The third category of 1,500 retirees are older than 60 or have disabilities.

<snip>

"Here I am, in the golden years of my life at 70, still hoping that I can help somehow," says Gerald Garcia of Spokane, Wash., a retired chief warrant officer in the National Guard. "I want to be part of it, before it's too late for me." Garcia — 5-foot-10 and 155 pounds, about the same as when he was a soldier — volunteered last year and is on the Army's list but hasn't been called up. "I still do my 25 push-ups every night. I do a lot of walking and get a lot of exercise," he says. "Hopefully, I can get involved."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-01-12-officers-retirees_x.htm

[mhr]

1. "It doesn't mean that we're scraping the bottom of the barrel..."

Yeah Right!

[saigon68]

18. Actually we are beneath the Barrel

Some recently retired officer on the other thread accused me of sterotyping.

His take was he was in FINE SHAPE. MY take would have been (had the thread not been locked)---

"Go for it sport. I'm sure they would take you back in a Nano-second.

Just think of all the additional benefits you could have"

[MADem]

2. UH OH.......

They are doing the VOLUNTARY recall right now, but it is only a matter of time before that recall becomes INVOLUNTARY, and encompasses other branches as well, and targets those with particular skill sets and those who can translate anything that starts with Salaam and ends with Inshallah.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

[xray s]

3. I think the Germans enlisted 70 year old men....

...just before the Russians marched into Berlin...not that they were desperate, or anything. :eyes:

[IndianaGreen]

16. They also enlisted young boys to fight the Russians

this may be the reason we have all of those military recruiters calling our children to entice them to sign up for the military while they are still in grade school.

[0007]

4. Let men fight for their freedom. Open the prison gates!

[oneighty]

5. Oh no!

Bad for business.

180

[Ganja Ninja]

13. Open the prison gates and throw Bush in.

Stop killing the Iraqi people. They don't deserve to be at the mercy of people we don't want running free in our society.

[NYC]

6. ...late 60s and possibly older...

But they're not scraping the bottom of the barrel.

I guess Hitler drafted 12 year olds at the end. Maybe that's the bottom of the barrel.

[NuttyFluffers]

7. paraplegic brigade might be the bottom of the barrel,

but then, this administration has a remarkable talent for sinking to a new low that i cannot even fathom.

pregnant women in labor troop?
acephelatic phalanx?
miscarried fetuses legion?
honestly, i cannot tell what bottom they'll achieve, they are quite creative in their sadism.

[NYC]

8. I think there is no bottom.

They keep going lower all the time.

[CoffeeCat]

9. But Powell said that we're bringing people home...

I don't get it.

We're obviously desperate for boots on the ground--so much so that we're asking retired 60-year old soldiers to fight in Iraq.

Yet, Powell said this week that some soldiers will come home this week.

Do these people know what they are doing?

People say Iraq is our Vietnam. Bullroar. Iraq is so much worse...it's just such a joke.

It's so sickening, it's beyond words.

[Robbien]

15. That is what is missing from our so called liberal media

This article reports on an isolated event and does not put it into context nor does it compare or contrast it with other statements made by government officials.

The so called liberal media just reports bits and pieces of the truth. The whole truth gets lost in the clutter.

[Norquist Nemesis]

17. Powell said we'll be reducing troops in March 05

yesterday. I really expected this to get a LOT of play. Only saw it once. :shrug:

[lebkuchen]

10. I wonder what that CWO thinks he's getting "involved" in.

Finding WMD? Killing Iraqis responsible for 9-11?

Our retired force is full of Don Quixotes. Oh well. Bush will get a few thou out of that group. Won't be near enough.

[hatrack]

11. Good God, the new American Volksturm . . .

. . . for the New American Century.

[daleo]

12. It will be the bottom of the barrel when they call up Bush to finish TANG

But this is definitely a bad sign.

The whole thing is imperial overstretch. Bush is wrecking the U.S. economy and political culture to try to hold back the inevitable return of a multi-polar world, as Gwynne Dyer pointed out in an article the other day. I am just surprised the overstretch is kicking in so quickly.

[Ilsa]

14. I wonder if they'll contact my father-in-law, mid-sixties,

retired Special Forces. Of course, the Army doesn't care that they poisoned his body with Agent Orange, or that the military doctor who diagnosed his Parkinson's didn't tell him he was eligible for compensation. Now the statute of limitations is run out on his diagnosis and he is ineligible to collect.

[saigon68]

19. "USED UP THROWN AWAY"

People like your father in law are the reason I am such a pain in the ass here.

I will point this stuff out to the sheep CONTINUOUSLY, LOUDLY, OBNOXIOUSLY until like Kef I am no longer around.

This is how the big GREEN MACHINE works.