Many of October's war dead on extended, multiple tours

[sabra]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611010180nov01,1,3952808.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Many of October's war dead on extended, multiple tours

Almost a third of the 102 U.S. troops killed in Iraq in October--the fourth deadliest month of the war--were on extended, second or third tours.

At home, that prolonged exposure to danger added heartache to the deaths and underscored national anxiety over a conflict more protracted than anyone expected.

Among the first to die in October was Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan Rojas, 27, of Hammond, Ind.

"He should have come home," Assistant Principal Cynthia Warner said of the 1997 Hammond High School graduate, killed two months after his tour was extended. "He should be home. He shouldn't be coming home the way he did."

...

All but 10 of those killed in October were enlisted, their average age 24.

[JohnnyLib2]

1. Bigtree posted a little earlier on this.

It's such an important point, needs plenty of attention. Recommended.

[hedgehog]

2. I wonder if these people were so exhausted that they just

weren't as alert as they could have been.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. How many people in Iraq are NOT on extended, multiple tours?

Without knowing what percentage of the total servicemembers are on extended, multiple tours and what percentage of the total casualties were servicemembers on extended, multiple tours, I'm inclined to say that this report is based on an unproven cause.

[badgerpup]

4. So maybe Rummy's 'stop loss' policy isn't working out so well after all?

:sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

HEY RUMMY! TALKIN' TO YOU, YOU DELUSIONAL SLIMEBALL!

Every single one of these deaths...is on your head and your hands.
There ain't enough soap in the world.

May you grow a conscience...and may you dream at night.

[rodeodance]

5. how sad. If the bullets did not them the 1st or 2nd time-then

send em in for the 3rd round.

[Ezlivin]

6. And with each deployment the stress level escalates

After V-E Day during WWII, surviving soldiers were put on a ship headed to the conflict with Japan in the Pacific. One serviceman reported that he and his fellow soldiers were demoralized. Having just survived war in Europe he and the others were sure that their luck had run out. Most of them expected to die.

Each time a soldier survives a tour and then is sent on another tour, the stress level escalates. It's a wonder that these men and women can even function after 2 or 3 tours.

[LiberalFighter]

7. All but 10 of those killed in October were enlisted????

Were some of them drafted? If not drafted then what other means of being in the service is there besides enlisted?

[TheMadMonk]

8. Officers. NCO's

n/t

[LiberalFighter]

12. Aren't they all technically enlisted? Who has been drafted?

[IndianaGreen]

9. They were stuck in Iraq and stuck in the military!

Rumsfeld will never let them leave the military!

[superconnected]

10. more blood on bush, cheney and rumsfields hands

[Solly Mack]

11. A good many troops express extensions as "borrowed time"

They've survived their original tour - so it's borrowed time because they managed to stay alive for the period of time they needed to...the period of time fixed in their minds and now...all bets are off. Soldiers can be a very superstitious lot.

It greatly matters the kind of mental attitude they have - because it can get them killed.

One soldier expressed it this way "imagine you're on death roll and you get a stay of execution. You're all excited that you're going to live, only to have the phone ring again and the governor has changed his mind. That's what getting extended feels like - Death"