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It's the nature of these wars, ill planned and ill executed, to suck the very life out of every soldier involved in it and every guard and reserve person. We never should have gone to war ( there were many other ways to unseat Sadam and keep Iraq in check) and now we can't get out of them without major difficulty.

I think these wars were the biggest mistake this country ever made. Even Vietnam started with us as advisors not invaders.

No matter what I do wrong in this life, I can ease my conscience that I did break either the soldiers who fight for us or the economy.

The recruiters job is to get dispensible bodies to fight these ill waged wars. I feel very strongly about this subject, as you can see.

We really should all have been taught from birth to live our lives as though the entire world lies, cheats, and steals because so much of it does lol. It's nice to be idealistic but i wish i had been taught a more realistic view of the world. I don't know if it would have made a difference though - even after all this time it still takes me by surprise sometimes - ever an optimist much as i try not to be.

Recruiters lies are nothing new. When I joined the Navy in '71, my recruiter promised me the sun and the moon. Things like my choice of schools, cushy jobs, being stationed whenever I wanted... Boy were my eyes opened quick. Fortunately, women didn't serve overseas and if you got pregnant, you were out of the military. See what equal rights got us? Today, we have an all volunteer military. For women, it has always been all volunteer. You have to know when you sign up that it's possible to get shipped where ever you are needed. If you aren't prepared to handle it, don't join. A lot of National Guard members look at it as an easy way to make some extra money. It's like one weekend a month and a couple of weeks in the summer. I bet none of them complained about the check coming in when all they had to do is show up for those.
My nephew, who has been in the Army for 13 years has spent one year in Bosnia and done three tours in Iraq. His wife, who was also in the Army, did two tours in Iraq. She had to send her young daughter to stay with her mom for the two years she was overseas. After she married my nephew she decided to leave the military. Now she can be a working girl and still raise her daughter.

I think the national guard inductee pledges the same oath upon joining that other military members do and it says something like, 'to protect and defend the United States of America against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.' I am reminded of the time when someone was complaining about how rotten the military had treated her friends son and how they had lied to him so bad. My response was that whenever anyone has been unhappy with their choice of joining the military I have never heard them say they just weren't up to it. It's always the lying recruiter, or some other military members, fault.

I think it's awful that anyone has to go anywhere and risk their lives. I hated it every single time my husband had to leave us and do it. Vietnam, 2 incidents in the Persian Gulf and Desert Storm. Those were the ones that kept my stomach clenched and my heart in my throat until we knew he was safe. That doesn't count all the times he went to sea for months on end. I wish they were all home. I hate it just as bad as anyone else.

I lived and worked among the military for 20 plus years. I asked one young man who was complaining about the 'stupid rules' why he had joined. He looked at me and, dead serious, said, 'I didn't join, lady, I was DRAFTED.' I looked right back at him and told him that he had better go do some studying on when the draft ended so that he didn't look like a horses ass the next time someone asked him that question. A young man complained that he had been told he could be a Navy Seal and it didn't happen, so the recruiter flat lied to him. But when asked if he passed all requirements to become a Navy Seal, well, no, but they were so hard NO ONE could do it. Well, then where do all the Navy Seals come from? Someone must be making the grade.

I think when someone tells me how bad the military lied to them to get them to join I will ask them for the paperwork that they signed promising them that they could be a Navy Seal without meeting requirements, or that they would never have to leave the United States. Maybe your friend can show you that paper she signed where she was guaranteed no overseas duty. I'm not sure, but I think initial enlistment can be for 3 years, if she's been in 10, surely she could have used a computer somewhere to look up for herself the requirements for National Guard members.

I feel for her like I feel for every other military member. I don't want ANY of them to have to go risk their lives ANYWHERE. I didn't want my husband to go, but who should have gone in his place? He was the one who held up his hand and repeated the oath of service to this country. And I don't remember him telling me that there was a section in that oath that stated he only was required to do the parts he wanted to do.

I'm very passionate about the issue too, but I'm climbing off my soapbox now. :~D

AuntieEmma, when she joined, she was only 18, and I doubt that she read anything. I also don't doubt that the recruiter told her all kinds of lies and half-truths to get her to join. At each re-enlistment she could have probably gone over the rules, but I think she probably always had those initial promises that, up until recently, had always been true. I think anybody joining today won't be able to use that excuse.

I don't think she can use it as an excuse either, Mich. And if she can't produce the paper that says she will never be required to leave the USA, then she might want to start packing her bags. I wish she didn't have to go, but it pisses me off that some are trying to get out of their committment, now that it's dangerous, while others are honoring their oath. I KNOW how difficult that type of separation from family is. So if she doesn't honor her pledge, then who will be her replacement? She gets to stay home, someone fills her slot. Good for her, bad for them. She gets no sympathy here. I wonder how many times she complained about the money she has received for her service? Perhaps she might have complained that it wasn't enough, and I would agree, but I doubt that she ever complained about receiving it.

I have to agree with Auntie Emma. I joined the Army a couple of months before my 18th birthday. I stayed in for 24 plus years. I had sense enough to realize that everything would not be peaches and cream. I was promised free medical care for me and my spouse for the rest of my life. My children would receive it until they were no longer dependents. My wife would continue with medical even after I died. Well, that's not true. I still have to rely on medicare now that I'm over 65. That means I have to pay my Part B. I went to Vietnam and anywhere else in the world they decided to send me. Certainly there were times when I wasn't happy about my assignments, but that's part of the military life. Once you sign on the dotted line, you belong to the military to do what they tell you. I still remember all the draft dodgers that ran to Canada during the Vietnam war and received amnesty. That meant that someone else had to do a 2nd or 3rd tour.

I do have a problem with single parents being deployed in a war zone, regardless of whether they have family here to care for the child. A related story in today's headlines: view link By RUSS BYNUM, AP Military Writer Russ Bynum, Ap Military Writer – Mon Nov 16, 9:32 pm ET
SAVANNAH, Ga. – An Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.

Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, claims she had no choice but to refuse deployment orders because the only family she had to care for her 10-month-old son — her mother — was overwhelmed by the task, already caring for three other relatives with health problems.

Her civilian attorney, Rai Sue Sussman, said Monday that one of Hutchinson's superiors told her she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care.

"For her it was like, 'I couldn't abandon my child,'" Sussman said. "She was really afraid of what would happen, that if she showed up they would send her to Afghanistan anyway and put her son with child protective services."

Hutchinson, who is from Oakland, Calif., remained confined Monday to the boundaries of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, 10 days after military police arrested her for skipping her unit's flight. No charges have been filed, but a spokesman for the Army post said commanders were investigating.

Kevin Larson, a spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield, said he didn't know what Hutchinson was told by her commanders, but he said the Army would not deploy a single parent who had nobody to care for his or her child.

"I don't know what transpired and the investigation will get to the bottom of it," Larson said. "If she would have come to the deployment terminal with her child, there's no question she would not have been deployed."

Hutchinson's son, Kamani, was placed into custody overnight with a daycare provider on the Army post after she was arrested and jailed briefly, Larson said. Hutchinson's mother picked up the child a week ago and took him back to her home in California.

Hutchinson, who's assigned to the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, joined the Army in 2007 and had no previous deployments, Sussman said. She said Hutchinson is no longer in a relationship with the father.

The Army requires all single-parent soldiers to submit a care plan for dependent children before they can deploy to a combat zone.

Hutchinson had such a plan — her mother, Angelique Hughes, had agreed to care for the boy. Hughes said Monday she kept the boy for about two weeks in October before deciding she couldn't keep him for a full year.

Hughes said she's already having to care for her ailing mother and sister, as well as a daughter with special needs. She also runs a daycare center at her home, keeping about 14 children during the day.

"This is an infant, and they require 24-hour care," Hughes said. "It was very, very stressful, just too much for me to deal with."

Hughes said she returned Kamani to his mother in Georgia a few days before her scheduled deployment Nov. 5.

She said they told her daughter's commanders they needed more time to find another family member or close friend to help Hughes care for the boy, but Hutchinson was ordered to deploy on schedule.

Larson, the Army post spokesman, said officials planned to keep Hutchinson in Georgia as investigators gathered facts about the case.

"Spc. Hutchinson's deployment is halted," Larson said. "There will be no deployment while this situation is investigated".

So what you're saying is... become a single parent in the military, collect the pay and benefits, but don't go anywhere. Let some childless person go to war, defend this country as long as you get to decide where and when you want to go. Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding your statement.

Michibilly says,
. . . Recruiters will say everything and anything to get them to enlist. I don't get it.

Well, I gotta agree with you on this one. Recruiters will say anything to get a young and dumb kid enlisted.
That's why the military likes to get 'em young: They already know everything, and are impervious to bullets. The older ones are a bit smarter.

As far as deploying single moms. Although her unit is shipping out, she can apply for a special exception, request re-deployment, or various other loop-holes. Although the military is the military, they try to refrain from sending single moms into combat. She may just be going for combat support. Like working in a PX or hospital at some base 300 miles behind the lines.
Just because she's going to Iraq doesn't mean she'll be in the front lines with a knife in her teeth and a bullet in her shoulder.