Home from Iraq, officers consider leaving the service

[Rose Siding]

KILLEEN, Texas — Army Capts. Dave Fulton and Geoff Heiple spent 12 months dodging roadside bombs and rounding up insurgents along Baghdad's "highway of death" — the six miles of pavement linking downtown to the city's airport. Two weeks after returning stateside to Fort Hood, they ventured to a conference room at a local hotel to find out about changing careers.

Lured by a headhunting company that places young military officers in private-sector jobs, the pair, both 26, expected anonymity in the crowded room.

Instead, Fulton and Heiple spotted nearly a dozen familiar faces from their cavalry battalion.
...
The thing that keeps senior generals awake at night...is the potential loss of junior officers. With thousands of soldiers on their second combat deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan and some preparing for their third this fall, evidence is mounting that an exodus of young Army officers may be looming. The Army's pool of young captains, which forms the backbone of infantry and armored units, could be the hit hardest.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002329425_iraqofficers11.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Can you blame them?

Sergeants are also leaving the Army in droves, and they are the vital link in keeping the military running. What with this and the officers leaving AND recruitments down, how long before the military is broken?

The only solution is to hire mercinaries from other countries (as I think Bush will try to do) or institute the draft(which will be the kiss of death to the GOP in the 2006 election).

[unhappycamper]

6. We are already building our mercenary army.

10,000 Ugandans to Get Iraq, US Jobs

<snip>
At least 200 Ugandan youths on Saturday signed up for security work in Iraq and at American installations worldwide.

The Ugandans who go to Iraq will be deployed to guard public and private installations in the war-ravaged country where the United States forces continue to battle local insurgents.

A local law firm, Hall & Partners, is working in collaboration with a local security firm, Aktar Security Services, on the recruitment exercise, which is targeting 10,000 people in three years.

<snip>

Link to DU thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3638567

[tlcandie]

2. Absolutely hilarious if you think about it in a twisted sort of way...

Because of their (this admin's) greed and lust for power, taking advantage of our military by underpaying them, etc., etc. when they come home these same military look to sign up under contractor pay which this admin implemented!!!!

Well, if you love the killing why not get rich while doing it, eh?

Who is paying these contracting companies so much money that they can afford to pay their employees so well? Government you say? OH!! So, then why isn't the government just taking that money and paying the current military their worth/value instead of all this nightmare? OH, I see so THEY and their handlers can become RICH off the blood of those signing up to be cannon fodder.

I guess there's a disconnect where those signing up do not understand that their blood is being spilled to line the pockets of the oligarchs. Surely, if they understood this they would not continue down this path unless $$$ was all that mattered to them as well.

[Mairead]

4. Yeah, what's not to like about the idea of risking your life for peanuts

so that some bastards that never risked theirs can become even more filthy rich? Jeez, such a deal, how could anyone turn it down.

[Ravy]

26. Contractors aren't held to as many "rules" and "regulations" regarding

their wrongdoing, and the adminstration is isolated politically from them a bit.

[wolfgirl]

3. While siting in a

hospital waiting room, of course the TV was on Fox. An older gentleman was sitting there talking about how proud he was of his president...well, my hubby just couldn't handle it and began to articulate some of the worst of the lies we've been fed regarding the war. The guy got into a huff and left.

An other older woman then spoke up and said her son is in northern Iraq and writes home every day about just how bad it is. He's told her that none of the guys in his unit are re-upping once they get home. He also said they are are attacked constantly, with rockets, IED, etc. He said their wounded are whisked out of the country so the numbers regarding the killed in action won't include them She is scared to death and asked what can we do....

We said...call every one of your representatives in Congress every day demanding the truth and an accounting. I said maybe she should share her son's letters with all her friends and the local paper to spread the word about this. We have to tell the truth, often & loudly. If we don't, we're lost.

[fasttense]

5. The older woman in the hospital confirms what I, and numerous others,

have suspected for a long while, the number of deaths due to the Iraq war is not being accurately reported.

[CrispyQ]

9. This makes me want to puke!

This should be reported on national news every night! If Bushco ever goes down, the frickin' media should go with them. They are complicit in in this whole dirty war.

[Frederik]

10. The suspicions of an old woman is hardly corroboration

Those who die in Germany etc are not considered Killed In Action, but they ARE reported as dead. KIA is around 1300, total death toll is approaching 1700.

[yorkiemommie1]

27. good for you and your hubby

MY husb. would have chimed right in to defend * and I would have gotten up and left!

i always take my little justicefornone flyers w/ me and leave a few behind when i visit restrooms in dr's offices and hospitals.

[truthisfreedom]

7. this may be painful to think about, but every penny paid to a mercenary is

one less penny stolen by the military industrial complex for the purposes of increasing the greatest wealth of the crony thieves and destroyers.

let them pay the mercenaries top dollar, and let them see the cost of war as the Treasury is hemorrhaged away to pay for the soldiers. after all, the people who are crazy enough to risk their lives and physical safety deserve to be paid in kind.

[tlcandie]

8. And who is paying those merc companies like Blackwell and

who is benefitting? Isn't it the same group of people ineffectively leading this nation atm?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

11. Baloney...merc companies are the REASON there is so little

accountability and they are the REASON our economy demands unrest worldwide

[BrotherBuzz]

14. Ummm, these mercenary outfits....

ARE the military industrial complex.

[Insider]

16. bingo

and instead of promotion to field grade, the junior officers with combat experience get promoted to MIC-grade, hi-paid positions. and further justification for more privatization.

[BrotherBuzz]

18. What is a MIC-grade?

I'm familiar with officers (both company and field grade), warrant officers, and enlisted men...even field promotions, and the like, but what the heck is a MIC-grade?

[Insider]

19. my own phrase

all the guys who leave service and get scooped up comfortably by the contractors...the 'other' service...parkway patriots. they NEED that experienced officer corps to thrive

[BrotherBuzz]

21. LOL, as in MICdonald's?

Can I supersize that? Yes, the Company grade battle-proven officers are needed, but maybe not as much as the battle-tested sergeant (one good top sergeant is worth ten captains, or a hundred lieutenants, in my opinion).

[Barrett808]

12. Isn't this story like a month old?

I very clearly remember reading it quite awhile ago.

[wildcat78]

13. My son left the Marines when he came back from Iraq

Along with my son leaving the Marines (Golf 2/4), so did most of his division. That's why they're in Okinawa now with the 31st MEU rather than in Iraq - they have no combat experience.

However, my son has always said Iraq is just the start of the campaign. The real target is Iran.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. Thank you two for your service to this country

Too bad you had the Dim Son and Rummy the Dummy as your superiors

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Postman]

20. They're cowards because they refuse to be stooges in a bogus war?

how come you're not over there?

[Voltaire99]

22. "You are a commodity that brings a tremendous amount to the table"

At the front of the room, Andrew Hollitt, a beefy, gregarious former Army officer turned headhunter spoke in marketing terms about how eager private-sector employers were for young, combat-tested officers and senior noncommissioned officers.


How revolting.

Based on lies and knee-deep in atrocity, this war is an international disgrace condemned by vast majorities on the planet.

Hollitt sounds like the very essence of American banality.

Employers such as General Electric Co., Home Depot Inc. and others are always on the lookout for managerial talent, Hollitt said, and mid-level commanders tested in war are considered experienced leaders.

Ah, that confirms one observation of mine. Having little choice but to stop at a Home Depot recently, I noticed that a majority of the cars had pro-Bush and pro-war bumperstickers. I'd never before seen a bumpersticker bragging about how much the car's driver had raised for Bush's reelection.

(This, mind you, in a new vast box store that successfully weaseled some corporation welfare in the form of tax breaks out of the city.)

[shayes51]

23. $154,000 wasn't enough to get a marine major I know

to return to Iraq. He's a helicopter pilot and was offered $154,000 as a re-up bonus and was told he would immediately go back to Iraq (he's already done one tour). He said no. $154,000 for one pilot--This is soooooooo out of control!

[liberaliraqvet26]

24. In my old reserve unit,

which spent 14 months on active duty and 12 in iraq, 35% have gotten out. Others are trying desperatly to get out but cannot. And the stuff that the military votes republican isn't evident. In a unofficial poll I took before i got out in March of 2004 on the upcoming election, these were my responses:

Enlisted 60 interviewed :

38 said they would vote for "Anyone but Bush"

8 were enthustiastic about Kerry

10 said they trusted and definitly voting for Bush

4 were not interested and not voting

Amung officers (2nd lt - major) 10 int.

5 were diehard Bushies

4 were voting for Kerry

1 said he hated both equally and would't go to the polls

[Stinky The Clown]

25. Bush WON the military vote

Remember? He said that. Sure. He won the military vote.

Cuz he supports the military. Dems hate the military.

Hoooooooo-AH!

I'm sorry, my reality based mind just can't accept that Bush is supported by the military. I never have and I can't see how I ever could. I knew they were fucking with the military when, suddenly, all military absentee votes were funneled through the Pentagon.

Has anyone heard who won the military vote? Anyone?

Now its so bad, the military's very backbone is parting company. It is not too big a leap to see some ground fertile for a coup.

[tabasco]

29. Me too.

I have friends still on active duty, mostly infantry types, that hate Bush's guts.

The repugs claim to have overwhelming support from the military but I don't see it from where I'm located.

However, lot of the older vets I know I are repugs, but they are turning against Bush because of the cuts to veterans programs, e.g. the closing of many vet hospitals.

Even the VA hospital in PITTSBURGH was slated to be closed. There is a huge number of vets in that area. I can't believe that one will go through but who knows?

[reprobate]

31. I agree. Some of us said just that before the war even began.

It's the true military mind that is so angry at the Mad George lies that put them in the position that the military is being destroyed.

Eventually some of them may do something about it.

[CoffeeCat]

28. They know they are fighting for a dishonorable cause...

The military desertions, and also the departures in this article--are solely due to these soldiers realizing that they're tools of an unjust, lying, evil administration.

My heart breaks for all of them--and for their families. These are the courageous people who make the sacrifices. Now, they're realizing that our government will send them to their deaths for illegitimate reasons based on total lies.

It's not because Iraq is a blood bath. Even though it is violent and worsening daily--WW2 was a blood bath and a very violent, chaotic war. It was an honor to serve in WW2.

Iraq is a stain on our history. Soldiers are brave and courageous--but no one likes to fight for a corrupt administration that could care less about these soldiers.

I'm glad our military personnel and leaders are realizing this. I don't want one more soldier to die for this disgusting lie.

I was saddened to learn that the Army recruited 5,000 new soldiers recently. Even though this was well below quota, it is 5,000 too many.

How long before a mass revolt happens? The military is a conservative institution. If they're defecting--that's quite a signal that America is through with the lies and through giving this administration a pass.

[catmandu57]

30. Officers can get out?

What about the privates, corporals, and all those reserve and guard that are stuck in that hellhole?
Seems to me they would apply the stoploss to them especially since they're lowering the ocs standards.