Up to 50% of US units in Iraq won't re-enlist.

[The White Rose]

One of my students is a US Army officer currently training troops for Iraq. I asked him, today, what he thought about the draft issue. He said that he wouldn't be surprised if they activated the selective service 18-25 year olds, particularly since, in his estimate, up to half of the troops currently deployed in Iraq won't re-enlist if given the choice. He also mentioned that there is an increasing problem with troopers on their short stateside breaks going awol rather than return to Iraq duty. He's never seen unit morale so low...

[La_Serpiente]

1. Wow

I don't think a lot of teenagers here in the states are going to stand for that.

Get ready for the next social revolution.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. We are seeing the draft coming

faster than you can say DRAFT...

On the plus side the kids finally will realize why politics DO
MATTER... and maybe, just maybe, they will decide to dude, pay
attention... you do, but most don't

[La_Serpiente]

4. Word up Nadin

I cannot believe the level of apathy coming from my generation.

What do I think? I think that they are not going to do it until after the election.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Read bellow

I can tell you that we will see the draft within five months

[tom_paine]

24. Bingo, Serpiente!

Don't your mean Free-Market Stalinist Farce with a predetermined outcome?

Oh my yes, the draft is coming.

Do the math...

[Screaming Lord Byron]

22. Nothing like the draft to wake people up to the rightist takeover

[bluestateguy]

3. A drafting we will go, a drafting we will go...

after the election IF former Governor Bush is elected next November.

While I will vehemently oppose a draft, young people who oppose the war will have the responsibility to stand up for their convictions.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I am betting on before teh elections

WE DO NOT have the manpower to meet responsibilities, I will share some from what I got from Congressman Abercrombie D-Hawaii (who is against this mess)

This is regarding the 87 B for Iraq

"This bill does nothing to adress the crisis of our overextended military. We don't have the personnel to cover Iraq and all of our national security requirements. the reserves and national Guard are seriously overextaxed, and the price will be paid in plummeting reelnistment rates. General Eric Shinseki warned us against trying to execute a twelve-division strategy with a ten division Army, and it's clear he has right."

Oh and Bernie Ward is also dealing with the issue... the draft is coming folks, and it will be here within five months, that is when the Army is expected to hit the real staffing crisis... and I mean the real one... of course at that moment they can also sign a general stop loss order for all personnel and making them stay in for the duration (as happened with WW II) and for personal reasons, aka my hubby is within months of getting out... yes this scares me.

[ComerPerro]

5. I say draft the College Republicans

After all, they support this shit, don't they?

[bluestateguy]

7. That would be entertaining

I can just hear the excuses they will give to the draft boards:

"But, but I have a pimple on my ass"
"But, but I'm too fat"
"But, but I'm cross-eyed"
"But, but I have flat feet"
"But, but my family gave $100,000 to the Bush campaign"

http://www.studentsforwar.com/
http://www.collegerepublicans.org

[ComerPerro]

9. I don't know if its funny or scary

But if you go to studentsforwar.com, their main page has a picture of San Francisco being nuked.

Something tells me they wouldn't mind that so much.
Actually, that is what scares me most about Bush's reckless attitude towards North Korea. I think he is trying to bait them into striking.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. It is scary

most of these people do NOT KNOW what war is like, or waht it is...

[Tyler Durden]

20. It's a facade.

If the draft comes back, the country will self-destruct.

I'll bet money on it, but only in equivalent gold, food, or ammo. These will be the only meaningful currency if the Bushites are that stupid.

[diamond14]

30. " the 18 -- 30 year olds give bush* a big vote of support"

today's draftees are just BEGGING to be DRAFTED...and that is why the DRAFT will be implemented soon...the draftees fully support bush* in large numbers...they will go like sheep to the slaughter...

they have failed to STAND UP and oppose bush* in all of the anti-war protests, failed to vote, failed to join the Democratic Party, engaging in distractions (like dean) that are guaranteed to re-select bush*...it amazes me...seems that today's draftees have BIG signs on their heads: oh PLEASE, mr. bush, DRAFT ME !!!




-snip- from 11/04/03 Washington Post

Even on Iraq, the 18 -- 30 year olds give him a big vote of support -- more than any other age group and the reverse of the over 60s. Bush has a 66 percent general approval rating among the young, compared to 51 percent among the old. How to explain it?


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61774-2003Nov4.html

[onebigbadwulf]

11. hey...

I do have flat feet ;(

[OldSoldier]

18. Orthotic insoles for your combat boots

My brother has flat feet. He was a Marine for eight years--four in the infantry, four in aviation ordinance. Flat feet are no restriction any more.

[slor]

12. Amen to that...

we should send all those "Support the President Blindly" fools. Of course WE all know it will be those that have no voice (read Money) that will have to go. These idiots really screwed the pooch when their chief idiot chose this war

[roguevalley]

14. repug college brats won't be exempt. they wouldn't dare exempt ANYONE

because of this whole mess and the dems, putting this issue up to stem the war furor on the other side will make sure no one is exempt.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Oh they will try mark my words

the bill that is on the floor as it were, has NO EXCEPTIONS,
now you truly tink that the Bush kids will be sent to iraq?

(There are good rational reasons not to... but even FDRs son
served and died during WW II, so if they try I will throw them
that one)

Now what goes into committee and what comes out will make sure that
the kids who have good contacts will have no need to fear having
to carry an M-16 while on patrol.

[playahata1]

23. Correction.

You wrote: <<There are good rational reasons not to... but even FDRs son served and died during WW II, so if they try I will throw them
that one>>>

It is true that all four of FDR's sons served in WW II, but all four of them SURVIVED, not to mention served with distinction.

You must be thinking about THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S youngest son, Quentin, who died in WORLD WAR I -- in which his four brothers also served.

[sendero]

26. the problem is...

... with the spineless, whimpering, teacup sipping Dem senate we have now, the pugs will have no problem packing a draft bill with all the exemptions they need to keep thier kids out of the service.

[Zero Gravitas]

25. Of course they will exmept them

The sons and daughters of the American ruling class never serve in the military anymore. Fighting and dieng for corporate interests is left to the "little people", you know ordinary people who don't count anymore in the Corporate States of America.

[Don_G]

13. Those In The Know

And experienced won't go back again...and tell others just like my cousin did to me during the Vietnam War.

I would have ignored him at the advice of my Father if it wasn't for the fact that my Dad served in the Navy during Korea Conflict off-shore and my cousin earned the Bronze Star with two clusters plus a Silver Star directly in Vietnam as a draftee....

I've got a few stories to tell but nothing will ever make up for the lack of support of the Troops that Dimbo has demonstrated nor can he explain each and every LTTE than I read in "Stars & Stripes" daily.

[Zhade]

15. You GO, soldier boys and girls!

Get out before TraitorCo gets you killed. We never wanted any of you to die in this illegal Operation Occupation in the first place. You certainly have all the support I can muster!

[izzie]

17. Could they make them stay in?

I do not recall how that works. Officers do it differnt than reg. I seem to recall.

[OldSoldier]

19. Easily

It's called Stop Loss. If the military needs all the people they have, they issue a Stop Loss order, which prevents anyone from getting out until the order is lifted.

[Tyler Durden]

21. There aren't enough Brigs in the military to hold the dissenters.

The Brig at CINCLANTFLT was always packed, and this was during the RAH RAH REAGAN years.

[Ivote]

27. DRAFT QUESTION

If they reinstate the draft, will the people that are in the national guard or reserves be exempt since they already are over there, or will their tour be extended?

[The White Rose]

29. If I understood him correctly, according to my army student,

they can't extend reserve service beyond two years without a formal declaration of war by Congress (at which point service becomes indefinite). The problem is that, apparently, Bush can demobilize units for just one day each and then remobilize them a day later for another two year stint etc. etc. I doubt that they'd be willing to let the experienced troops go without a fight. No doubt the draftees will be used as cannon fodder to reinforce existing units that are being depleted by enemy attacks, accidents, radiation sickness, suicide, and desertion. Not a pretty picture.

[TacticalPeek]

28. Recommended method for repukes to avoid the draft:

http://goarmy.com/contact/index.htm