Thanks for telling me I'm not crazy. Why is my brother serving 29 out of 36 months,...

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

,...as a National Guardsman?

I'm getting ahead of myself and you.

A few days ago, I posted about the state of my life: loss of a friend to cancer, both my sister and father fighting cancer, a brother being re-activated, unemployment, a friend presently diagnosed with cancer. I was having, like, an 'out-of-body' feeling that made me wonder if I was going crazy or not.

Y'all assured me I WAS NOT going crazy and you anchored me to the point that, I can ask questions about some stuff going on.

One question I have is this: why can my brother, a former Marine and current NG, be REQUIRED to be active 29 out of 36 months?

I want an answer and I want it now!!!!

:hug:

Are there any vets out there who can solve this quandry for me because I thought there were some limits.

Thank you SO MUCH for listening to my grievances!!!!

[lost-in-nj]

1. ....

I can't answer your question....
but I wanted to give you this

:hug: :hug:

and your not crazy.....


lost

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

4. Thanks for the hugs.

I can't do much about the illnesses except give what you give to me. I am "present" for those I love.

I do have an urge to figure how my brother can be USED as he is and I aim to figure that out.

[seemunkee]

2. Go ask in the veterans forum

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=259

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

5. Thanks. I posted the question.

There doesn't seem to be much activity, there, though.

I try to avoid bringing personal matters up in GD. But, I wonder if that wouldn't be the best forum to ask this question since it gets so much attention.

What do you think?

[seemunkee]

10. You'll need thick skin

GD doesn't bother me. YMMV

[BlueIris]

3. Hey, sss_N_t. You're NOT crazy.

And this website IS good for helping people stay anchored to reality.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

7. Thanks.

I can't say that this website helps me stay anchored or not. I know there are posters who express a compassion seemingly lost in this country I live in.

The ONLY reality I know is the one I am living. Sure, I get on DU to get another perspective but what I see is far worse than my own: perpetual human tragedies and evil.

In spite of the hardships I see, there is peace and gratitude and beauty and hugs,...and love.

[haele]

6. Your brother is the victim of a narrowly defined draft -

Instead of drafting everyone who has signed up for secret service, they're using those who have signed up for the National Guard and the Reserves to supplement active duty forces. By default, if you signed up for the Guards, you automatically qualify for "military service" and don't have to go through the time and processing to be sent out to the fields. Doesn't matter that you signed up to serve your community, the DoD wants to take the easy way out and not scare the general population with the thought that their little Johnny or Joanie won't be sent to the nasty hot place to be shot at.
I'm sorry about your brother - I'm wondering when they're going to be calling retired old farts waiting to get past the retirement age (like me) back up.
The military is broken. Those in charge just don't want to admit it, and they still want to have their war on.

Haele

[SPKrazy]

8. He's a National Guardsman

and the fuckers have no mercy for hardship apparently.

I had a friend who needed hernia repair badly while in Iraq

did he get it?

hell no

dope him up, send him on his way, work work work

they told him when he left

"get that fixed right away it is pretty bad"

he got the surgery...

that's a minor tale

sorry i don't really know the answer

:hug:

[BrotherBuzz]

9. The Pentagon throw the old rules out the window last January

Pentagon Abandons Active-Duty Time Limit

By Robert Burns
The Associated Press

Friday 12 January 2007

The Pentagon has abandoned its limit on the time a citizen-soldier can be required to serve on active duty, officials said Thursday, a major change that reflects an Army stretched thin by longer-than-expected combat in Iraq.

The day after President Bush announced his plan for a deeper U.S. military commitment in Iraq, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters the change in reserve policy would have been made anyway because active-duty troops already were getting too little time between their combat tours.

The Pentagon also announced it is proposing to Congress that the size of the Army be increased by 65,000, to 547,000 and that the Marine Corps, the smallest of the services, grow by 27,000, to 202,000, over the next five years. No cost estimate was provided, but officials said it would be at least several billion dollars.

Until now, the Pentagon's policy on the Guard or Reserve was that members' cumulative time on active duty for the Iraq or Afghan wars could not exceed 24 months. That cumulative limit is now lifted; the remaining limit is on the length of any single mobilization, which may not exceed 24 consecutive months, Pace said.

In other words, a citizen-soldier could be mobilized for a 24-month stretch in Iraq or Afghanistan, then demobilized and allowed to return to civilian life, only to be mobilized a second time for as much as an additional 24 months. In practice, Pace said, the Pentagon intends to limit all future mobilizations to 12 months.

<more>

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011207M.shtml