medicineman
New Member
14,000 National Guard Notified
by OneCrankyDom
Wed Feb 21, 2007 at 08:01:30 PM PST
Notified, how do you like that word ? How would you like it if it meant you were to go back to Iraq as much as 3 yrs earlier then you should ? That is the News they got. Doesn't sound to me like anyone is planning any pullback or out anytime soon.
It gets better worse below the fold.
I don't really need to tell this crowd here at Dkos what all this means. Thousands of familys lives thrown into disarray, more time off the jobs they might not have when they get back, the odds of coming back without a wound another time around, let alone come back at all.
We have been told over and over again that our Army is broken, not broken, slightly broken, well maybe only bent. WTF ? Which is it ? Here's a few clues for Cheney, Gates, and GDuhya.
I'll leave you a little hope for some of our people.
Tags: Iraq War, National Guard, Recommended
by OneCrankyDom
Wed Feb 21, 2007 at 08:01:30 PM PST
Notified, how do you like that word ? How would you like it if it meant you were to go back to Iraq as much as 3 yrs earlier then you should ? That is the News they got. Doesn't sound to me like anyone is planning any pullback or out anytime soon.
National Guard officials told state commanders in Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma and Ohio last month that while a final decision had not been made, veteran units from their states could be designated to return between January and June of next year, the officials said.
The unit from Oklahoma, a combat brigade with one battalion currently in Afghanistan, had not been scheduled to go back to Iraq until 2010, and brigades from the other three states not until 2009. Each brigade has about 3,500 soldiers.
http://www.nytimes.com/...The unit from Oklahoma, a combat brigade with one battalion currently in Afghanistan, had not been scheduled to go back to Iraq until 2010, and brigades from the other three states not until 2009. Each brigade has about 3,500 soldiers.
It gets better worse below the fold.
I don't really need to tell this crowd here at Dkos what all this means. Thousands of familys lives thrown into disarray, more time off the jobs they might not have when they get back, the odds of coming back without a wound another time around, let alone come back at all.
We have been told over and over again that our Army is broken, not broken, slightly broken, well maybe only bent. WTF ? Which is it ? Here's a few clues for Cheney, Gates, and GDuhya.
Changing the reservists schedules means abandoning previous promises that they would get several years between deployments. And the acceleration means that soldiers who usually drill just once a month and for a few weeks in the summer will have to begin intensive preparations right away.
"Were behind the power curve, and we cant piddle around," Maj. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III, commander of the Oklahoma National Guard, said in an interview. He added that one-third of his soldiers lacked the M-4 rifles preferred by active duty soldiers and that there were also shortfalls in night vision goggles and other equipment.....
Capt. Christopher Heathscott, a spokesman for the Arkansas National Guard, said the states 39th Brigade Combat Team was 600 rifles short for its 3,500 soldiers
Of course there is more that "fair use" prevents me from pasting, so go read all the details. I can still hear Rumsfeld saying " You go to War with the Army you have, not the one you wish you had" and it still makes me furious. Why after all these years has our country not at least geared up to provide our people with the equipment they need to stay alive? If we can't give our Soldiers the guns they need to train with, it is just irrational to send them to Iraq that way. Murthas "madness" is making more and more sense every day."Were behind the power curve, and we cant piddle around," Maj. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III, commander of the Oklahoma National Guard, said in an interview. He added that one-third of his soldiers lacked the M-4 rifles preferred by active duty soldiers and that there were also shortfalls in night vision goggles and other equipment.....
Capt. Christopher Heathscott, a spokesman for the Arkansas National Guard, said the states 39th Brigade Combat Team was 600 rifles short for its 3,500 soldiers
I'll leave you a little hope for some of our people.
Of particular concern, he said, is the possibility that the prospects of going to Iraq next year could cause some Arkansas reservists not to re-enlist this year. Over the next year roughly one third of the soldiers in the 39th will have their enlistment contracts expire or be eligible for retirement, Captain Heathscott said.
I hope each and every woman and man that has the choice of opting out takes their time in making this decision. A decision that could impact not just their Unit, but their familys, friends, and even just maybe help in some small part speed end of this war, if enough stayed home. Back in my Hippie days there was a poster that asked, " What would happen if they threw a War but no one came ? "
Tags: Iraq War, National Guard, Recommended
