The US preparing for a draft.

[Ben Kenobi]

I'd like to see you all in uniform.

The Romans offered citizenship to those who served in their legions once they met certain service criteria. There's an idea for you.

So the only way to contribute to the well-being of the state is to fight in the military?

That used to be justification under the Kaiserreich to strip certain groups of their citizenship, on the grounds that they refused to serve for religious reasons.

This is AFTER they invited them in the first place because they were known to be good farmers.

[Drake Tungsten]

Like I said: the Left isn't about equality and fairness, it's about revenge and hate. It's not that people are dying, its that the wrong people are dying. :insert vomit smilie here:

Great point, John T.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by JohnT


Excepting the fact that the services are 70% white? Just like the country?

Gotta love the Left... protested the draft for nigh on 15 years, only to want it when it isn't your war.

Like I said: the Left isn't about equality and fairness, it's about revenge and hate. It's not that people are dying, its that the wrong people are dying. :insert vomit smilie here:

I'd appreciate it if you at least try to distinguish level-headed, mainstream liberals from the more hysterical, extreme left-wingers.

[The Mad Monk]

Unfortunately for the level-headed, maintsream liberals, the more hysterical, extreme left-wingers make for really good TV.

[MrFun]

Yeah -- it's always the case that extremists get the brunt of publicity. They don't even represent the moderate mainstream people -- whatever ideology that may be -- conservative or liberal.

[The Mad Monk]

As to the matter at hand:

U.S. Soldiers Re-Enlist in Strong Numbers


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Apr 23, 2:24 PM (ET)

By KIMBERLY HEFLING


FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) - Despite the shrapnel wounds Staff Sgt. William Pinkley suffered during his tour in Iraq, the 26-year-old is joining other soldiers who are re-enlisting at rates that exceed the retention goals set by the Pentagon.

As of March 31 - halfway through the Army's fiscal year - 28,406 soldiers had signed on for another tour of duty, topping the six-month goal of 28,377. The Army's goal is to re-enlist 56,100 soldiers by the end of September.

Pinkley re-enlisted for three more years, citing the camaraderie and the challenge of a new assignment.

"To come out and work with you guys every day, it's a good feeling," Pinkley, 26, told his 101st Airborne Division buddies during the ceremony earlier this month. His wife, Kimberly, watched with a smile, their toddler in her arms.

"It's a very positive retention picture at this point," said Lt. Col. Franklin Childress, an Army public affairs officer. The Army had nearly a half-million active-duty soldiers.

However, Childress cautioned that factors such as an improved economy and the Pentagon's decision to keep about 20,000 troops in Iraq for longer than a year to help quell the violence could change the picture.

Some contend a poor job market and re-enlistment bonuses worth thousands of dollars are keeping soldiers in the Army. Col. Joseph Anderson, commander of the 101st's 2nd Brigade, said it is more about camaraderie, patriotism and duty.

"They've had a personally rewarding and professionally developing experience," Anderson said. "I think they've formed some bonds that are going to last a lifetime. It tends to make them want to stay."

The only Army division to not meet its goal in the six-month period was the 82nd Airborne Division, whose members have been sent to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11 attacks. The division wanted to re-enlist 1,221 soldiers, but got only 1,136.

At Fort Campbell, soldiers from the 101st spent seven months in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. The entire division of about 20,000 soldiers was sent to Iraq last year for major combat, and the last planeload returned home in March. A grueling year in Iraq claimed the lives of 61 Fort Campbell soldiers, and hundreds more were wounded.

In the six-month period ending March 31, the 101st topped its goal of re-enlisting 1,591. It got 1,737 to sign up for another tour of duty.

Fort Campbell leaders said their numbers debunk the theory that yearlong combat-zone assignments - not typically used since Vietnam - and the casualties in Iraq would discourage soldiers from re-enlisting.

Shelley MacDermid, co-director of the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University, said it is too early to know what effect the war in Iraq will have long-term on recruitment and retention.

"If the war were to end tomorrow, the impact on re-enlistments likely would be very different than three years from now," MacDermid said.

Some soldiers, of course, are getting out, for themselves or for their families. ("There's a saying in the Army - 'You enlist a soldier, but you re-enlist a family' - and that's true," said Command Sgt. Maj. James Plemons, who oversees retention for the 101st.)

Staff Sgt. Bobby Miller, 31, has spent more than 10 years in the Army said he is getting out when his term ends in less than a year. The 101st soldier has served in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq and said he has barely seen his wife and two children in the past few years.

"It's not that we don't want to deploy; I'd like a little more stabilization," Miller said.

Pinkley was riding in a Humvee the day after Thanksgiving when it was rocked by a bomb. He suffered internal injuries and is still healing from the shrapnel wounds. He said he and his wife discussed for more than a year whether he should re-enlist.

In the end, despite his pain and his wife's fear for his life, they decided it was best for both of them, she said. His next position will be as a drill sergeant at Fort Benning, Ga.

"I'm excited about it," his wife said. "It's something he wanted to do. We told him we'd be supportive of him whatever he wanted." As for the possibility of her husband being sent off to a combat zone again, she said: "We would definitely do it again if we had to."

---

On the Net:

Fort Campbell: http://www.campbell.army.mil

Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University: http://www.mfri.purdue.edu

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040423/D824LUNO3.html

It appears that news of falling re-enlistment is a tad premature.

[MrFun]

I do not see the controversy with soldiers who want to reenlist -- that's their own decision to make.

[Dis]

It's funny that even my local paper (which is conservative) a few days ago said re-enlistment numbers are down. And then this comes out.

I think a lot of people like the action.

I know I was bored to death when I served the during the Clinton years. We didn't get to do cool stuff like kill people . All we did was stay in the hot persian gulf for months at a time for no reason at all.

[The Mad Monk]

It is that people are claiming that a draft is being called soon because enlistment and re-enlistment figures are not covering -- or am I misreading the thread?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yeah, the US is preparing for a draft.. the NFL Draft .

[MrFun]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
It is that people are claiming that a draft is being called soon because enlistment and re-enlistment figures are not covering -- or am I misreading the thread?

Well, since I never made that claim, I guess I'm in the safe zone.