Family wasn't ready for this: Dad recalled (Cincinnati Enquirer)

[VolcanoJen]

Show this to anyone who insists the "Back Door Draft" isn't real.

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/09/07/loc_loc1asold.html

Excerpt:

Eight years ago, when Jim Dillinger resigned his captain's commission in the Ohio National Guard after almost 17 years of service, he thought his turn as a citizen-soldier had come to an end.

At last, Dillinger thought, he could start moving up the ladder in his civilian career as a plant safety officer. He and his wife, Tammy, could concentrate on raising their three children and watching them grow.

Dillinger was wrong.

<snip>

On a summer Saturday afternoon in August, the 43-year-old former Army guardsman walked to the mailbox outside his family's frame house on a long, narrow, country road in Brown County and found an envelope that will change his life - and the lives of his family - for some time to come.

"It was my orders to return to active duty,'' Dillinger says, standing on the sidelines of a recent Peewee football practice, watching his son Justin, 11, and teammates run sprints in the heavy summer air.

<snip>

Dillinger was ordered to report to Fort Jackson, S.C., by Oct. 13 and to expect 545 days of active duty and a likely assignment in Iraq.

more...

[DebJ]

1. oh my god oh my god oh my god

[VolcanoJen]

2. I know.

Can you imagine...?

Please, everyone be sure to read the whole article to get a full understanding of the hardship this is causing on American families.

And, there's the last sentence, which is really the saddest:

"I've been a hardcore military person all my life,'' Dillinger says. "I'm a patriot. And I love the United States Army. I just feel like I've already done my part.''

[TrustingDog]

3. huh? you mean you just can't quit the NG? then TAKE FREAKIN GORGE! n/t

[acmavm]

4. Wasn't that one poor guy that got recalled 67 years old. The psychologist

or whatever? Hey, ain't that about the perfect age for some of these clowns who started this mess to get suited up, strap on the flak jackets (which most of the troops didn't get when they went over) and get their asses on the front line?

They send kids as young as 17, and that poor old duffer at 67. I'm sure that there's a lot of 'freedom loving' patriots in the bush administration who fall into that age range. Hell, they could make up for skipping out 30 years ago.

[Cha]

5. And who knows after that..

"Dillinger was ordered to report to Fort Jackson, S.C., by Oct. 13 and to expect 545 days of active duty and a likely assignment in Iraq."

Maybe death!


This is one more thing that is and will be surpressed by the media unless it happens to enough people and they start making some real Noise!

[Zomby Woof]

6. very real, and very sad

But a note of encouragment for you Jen-Jen...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x765115

[VolcanoJen]

8. Thanks, sweetness.

We are busting our asses for the cause out here in Ohio.

Kerry's giving what promises to be an ass-kicking major policy speech on Iraq tomorrow in Cincinnati, at Union Terminal, the site where Bush gave his now-infamous "Cincinnati Speech" in October of 2002.

Things are hot here... intense. Your post cheered me up a little bit, so thank you for that!! :D

[Zomby Woof]

9. anytime!

And I expect a kick-ass thread by YOU on the speech! :D

[NightTrain]

7. 545 days?!

Christ all-fucking-mighty....

[spotbird]

10. They'll use you until you're all used up.

"I've been a hardcore military person all my life,'' Dillinger says. "I'm a patriot. And I love the United States Army. I just feel like I've already done my part.''

Betya a dollar he'll still come home a Republican.

[VolcanoJen]

12. Can't you just hear the freeper response ringing in your ears?

"He asked for it by signing up."

Armchair warriors, just about all of 'em.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

11. this poor family got their october surprise!

[blm]

13. I hope he stays and fights it.

And, if he goes, I hope he votes absentee ballot first.

[Kinkistyle]

14. How is this NOT slavery?

I mean really, if you can still get called up at the age of 43 after serving out your duty, its akin to some sort of indentured slavery.

[MsConduct]

15. Un F-ing Believable n/t

[slojim240]

16. Bet he voted for GW in 2000

I lay you odds.