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Well I warned many people about this earlier this fall and it appears to be happening.

For those of you not familar with this concept it goes something like this: a person joins the Army and signs up for 6 years. They serve four years in the active military and get out (normally), they then have a 2 year committment to the Inactive Reserve. Until Bush & co the Inactive Reserve had not been called to service in recent memory.

Officers in the Inactive Reserve have the option if recalled to active duty to resign their commission rather than return. Well one of my brothers got a letter in the mail from the Department of Defense recently. With great reluctance he resigned his commission rather than going to possible fight in a war he wants no part of.

He told me that he has two kids and a cadre of needy relatives to support now. There is no way the Army could match what he is earning now.

A sad day,

-LanceMan

Lance,

I'm so sorry to learn of this. I'll keep your family in my thoughts. It's good to have you back.

~K

I'm sorry too, lance. I'm glad your brother is not going to fight. The whole mess that Bush has got us in... I hope the rest of the world knows it's just him and his cronies, not every single American, that are gung-ho about this war. Why doesn't Bush finish what he started, step up to the plate, put on a uniform and go to Iraq and fight himself? Or better yet, why doesn't he rejoin the human race and END THE WAR?

This would involve more thought than the man has demonstrated himself capable of.

I'm sure the majority of the world has an idea of our situation with this idiot, though I wonder what they must think given the almost invisible show of domestic opposition to this modern day Hitler.

America always talks a good talk...

Kristin wrote:I'm sorry too, lance. I'm glad your brother is not going to fight. The whole mess that Bush has got us in... I hope the rest of the world knows it's just him and his cronies, not every single American, that are gung-ho about this war. Why doesn't Bush finish what he started, step up to the plate, put on a uniform and go to Iraq and fight himself? Or better yet, why doesn't he rejoin the human race and END THE WAR?

I am sorry that your brother Lance, and I imagine hundreds, if not thousands, of others are having to face this decision and its consequences. Though I am glad to hear that Lance's brother, at least, will not have to take part in this war.

I spent Friday night curled up in a chair in a local bookstore reading Michael Moore's new book of published letters from active military people stationed in Iraq, their families, and US veterans from previous wars. The letters from the young soldiers who joined the military as a means to go to college, or because they were young and did not know what to do with their lives -- they broke my heart. Almost all of the letters express the misery of disalussionment and the struggle between a signed contract with the US government, and the US government's manipulation of that contract.

My uncle joined the reserves to pay for college - he went back for his medical degree in anesthesiology. Thankfully, he was released this summer, BUT he was supposed to be finished six months earlier. That was really hard to deal with, waiting for those six months to see what was going to happen. He's a little older, in his 40s, so he wouldn't have been on the front lines, but being in medicine, he would have probably been stationed in a very dangerous place. We are so lucky he was released.

If you resign your commission do you loose any of your military benefits?

Lance,
I too was pretty sure this was going to start happening. I'm glad your brother took the decision not to go back. To my mind, he's done more than his part. It must be truly soul-destroying to have to fight for something you fundamentally disagree with.

I am also wondering what the consequences are of resigning your commission.

starbug wrote:Lance,
I too was pretty sure this was going to start happening. I'm glad your brother took the decision not to go back. To my mind, he's done more than his part. It must be truly soul-destroying to have to fight for something you fundamentally disagree with.

I am also wondering what the consequences are of resigning your commission.

Just spoke to him about this. In terms of benefits (VA, Housing Loans, etc) nothing happens that is all dependent on what kind of discharge on receives: honorable, general or dishonorable. My brother received an honorable discharge so his benefits are not at stake. He still is a veteran but he is no longer a retired Army Captain.

Kristin glad to hear that your uncle finally got home safe.

-LanceMan

-LanceMan

lance wrote: Kristin glad to hear that your uncle finally got home safe.

-LanceMan

Actually, he never left the country. There was something with his captain, this captain wanted to go fight and was trying to talk his superiors into letting his people go fight, my uncle included. Luckily, the captain's superiors saw how stupid that was, and turned him down. So my uncle never left, but he was told he'd have to, and we were very angry and scared about it. We're a lucky family, though.