Older Soldiers' Combat Fitness Debated

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=10&u=/ap/20040730/ap_on_re_us/older_soldiers


<snip>

But others maintain that with age comes maturity and greater calm. And almost half the Guard members and Reservists have plenty of experience under fire, themselves active duty veterans.


In New York, which already sent 2,500 Guard and Reserve soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites) and has hundreds more mobilized, Assemblyman Ivan Lafayette has lobbied the military to keep them at home where they can protect land and sea borders from terrorists.


"Don't put people there who can't roll, can't lie, can't jump as well as people 18, 20, 19 years old," said Lafayette, who served in the Army and National Guard. "That's the perfect soldier: well-trained, that age, without something at the back of your mind — what's happening to your job, what's happening to your wife, what's happening to your kids."


The 73-year-old Queens Democrat suggests using active infantries from Korea, Germany and elsewhere to fill combat assignments, with Guard members and Reserves filling the gaps. Sending soldiers in their 50s to Iraq is unacceptable, he said.

[saigon68]

1. "They" WON'T BE SENDING ANYONE IN MY FAMILY

Count on it.

[leftchick]

2. they would have to pry my boys....

out of my cold dead fingers saigon.

[saigon68]

3. It won't be a pretty sight

And I think everyone knows that. Those who don't are in a deep state of denial.

[Bandit]

4. Hell no I won't go.

If I am forced to fight it will be right here at home and I will fight the fascists as quickly as I will fight any other enemy that forces me to do so. It will be here though and not in some foreign land.

[Cerridwen]

5. Can * be called back to finish now that they've raised the age? n/t

[sidpleasant]

6. Unfit for combat

I have a relative in Iraq in a NG medical unit. He reports that there's a serious (and unreported by the "liberal" media) problem with the Reserve and Guard units going to Iraq: many have soldiers who are unfit for combat. We're talking serious medical issues such as diabetes and psychological problems requiring constant drug treatment. It seems that many units padded their rosters with unfit soldiers to appear full - strength on paper. Doctors filed false medical reports to keep unfit personnel in the ranks. This fraud wasn't a problem back in the US where the units were active for only a few weeks a year but it's been exposed when they were shipped to Iraq. The unfit soldiers have to be removed from combat and assigned to something else, usually out of Iraq. My relative wouldn't say how many unfit soldiers his medical unit has uncovered but he did say it was "significant".