58-year old goes to Iraq

[KansDem]

I had lunch with a friend over the weekend. He told me his 58-year old neighbor's national guard unit was reactivated and sent to Iraq. Although his unit was originally an artillery unit, they will be retrained to work as military police.

58? That seems a bit old to me. I'm 52 and can't imagine going to a war zone in six years.

[Wetzelbill]

1. yikes, that's bad

[etherealtruth]

2. I'm 43 and can't imagine ...

going to a war zone NOW.

[SteppingRazor]

3. IIRC, there have been older people than that sent over n/t

[Miss Chybil]

4. There are a lot of "older" people in the Guard and Reserves. nt

[peacebuzzard]

5. a coworker who returned from Iraq last yr said a 50 yr old was in her unit

and he had several health problems, high blood pressure and on meds and joint problems.
???? I guess it is true.

[dogday]

6. That's not going to help their cause

Calling up almost a 60 year old man to go to war is so ridiculous, it is beyond words. This will not help the administration at all.

[RamboLiberal]

7. Where the hell are the Young Republicans?

Oh, I forgot, daddy got them in to the #1 Business school, or they have an injury from all their keyboarding (or drinking), or gee they are sending packages to the troops!

[TeeYiYi]

8. I worked with a woman last year . . .

. . . who's husband was sent to Iraq, had a heart attack, came home and had heart surgery, recovered and was sent back to Iraq. He's in his last 40's. He's home now but his health is very poor. His son is over there now.

Uncle Sam wants YOU to give 'til it hurts . . . or kills. :grr:

TYY

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Oh, man. This just isn't right.

[marions ghost]

15. OMG

that is UNbelievable.

[whatever4]

10. I'm going to have to dig up my separation papers

So I can quote word for word what we sign when we separate. So I can illustrate just how far out of reach it was for so many of us to have possibly thought we'd be sent to Iraq. It was never an emergency. HAVE to dig up those papers.

You just wouldn't believe how many people practically LAUGHED at my concerns, when I refused to "take the easy money" and do the one weekend a month, one week a year. You have NO idea. I am not exaggertating. I was laughed at, for just the possibility. The possibility I saw enacted in real life just a few short years later.

But for one ounce less of stubborness on my part, I'd very likely be sent to Iraq too. And would I fight it? Would my family encourage me to go, or go to prison? A military prison? What would be my choice?? For me, I know, because I'm that way; headstrong. But for most people? Few and far between are those as skeptical and evil-minded as I. Very few. This fact hasn't always been pleasant to me, ususally being a detriment. It's no fun being the odd one out.

It isn't normal to be the odd man out. It isn't what we can expect from so very many soldiers being told "time to go". They will go. Our nation sends them into a meat grinder, and they will go. They, as did I, signed the paperwork. Most of them...listen to their families. Very few are as stubborn as I. I know. I was in.

[madrchsod]

11. shit i`m 58

and i`d never make it over there. no army fights a war with 58 year olds and wins.

[tblue37]

12. Even for a 20-year-old

130 degree heat and the physical demands and psychological stresses of war would be killers.

But for someone of an age when high blood pressure, heart problems, arthritis, etc. are common--whew!

I am 55 next month, and every joint in my body aches when I get up in the morning and when I try to do half the things I used to do with ease.

[Ernesto]

13. Hell, I"m 59 and amazed that I got thru Vietnam when I was a pup

I watched a little of "Platoon" the other night and I still can't believe that I actually went through that shit!

[peacebaby3]

14. The cut off age is 60. My husband had a 60 yr. old guy in his unit and

a few in their mid to late 50(s). In the guard, that is not really so unusual. If you are one day below 60, you can be deployed. I don't know how often that has happeened, but it is possible. They all served over a yr. in Iraq. They lived in tent cities in the desert with 130 degree heat and it was pretty tough on them. My husband was 37 and he said he couldn't imagine being any older and serving under those conditions. One of his friends in his mid 50s (in another unit) had to come home after serving about 7 months. He was diagnosed with skin cancer.

[Patty Diana]

16. This means that the draft is right around the corner for shrubs

illegal wars of choice. RW voters will just love it. These fools are calling up 70 years old MD's to deal with all the amputations and head wounds. Very old shrinks are unofficially being drafted also to deal with trauma. That's how much thought these fools put into this illegal Iraq war