Some soldiers trying to get out of Army (Barg Bags Not Included)

Seattle Post Intelligencer ^ | 12/31/2005 | Martha Mendoza

[harpu]

"My neighbors class of officers had a 100% rate of promotion to Capt/03. This means that many midlevel officers have bailed out...My other enlisted neighbors have not reenlisted. E4/5...With the current $600.00 plus combat pay and COLA raises the military is gettnig paid more then the local civilian force...I'd say that Iraq war is causing the force to vote with their feet even if their paycheck if larger then ever."

So, how long you been ghost writing the NY Times?!?

[writer33]

You're right. This isn't a new thing. You will have them. We had a couple when I was in. And it wasn't a trend. Some people get in over there head and make bad decisions that make it worse.

[SuziQ]

And pray tell, when have some soldiers NOT been trying to get out of the Army? That's been the case since the Army was formed!

It is inconsequential, irrelevant, and just another attempt to make the US and President Bush look bad.

[harpu]

Oops...I forgot;

L

[facedown]

I was then able to clarify who I am and what it is that I stand for."

A jerk and nothing.

[writer33]

Yeah, I just noticed that. I kept wondering what went wrong and then I looked back and the titled and thought, Dumb a**.

:) HA!

For the record, it was a typo.

[writer33]

She's got the ten pack of kool-aid.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Requests for conscientious objector status, which can qualify someone for an honorable discharge, have steadily increased since 2000 - about 110 soldiers filed the complex paperwork in 2004, about four times the number in 2000.

(from Wikipedia:)

Approximately 1.4 million personnel are currently on active duty in the military with an additional 860,000 personnel in the seven reserve components (456,000 of which are in the Army and Air National Guard.

110 out of 1.4 million--how about a new headline:

Conscientious Objector status is rejected by more than 99.99% of active duty personnel.

[Psycho_Bunny]

A pantload by a pantload.

Martha Mendoza
Senior Fellow (9/11 Security and Liberty)
Expert Fellow (Racial Justice)

MARTHA MENDOZA is a National Writer for the Associated Press whose investigative reports have won numerous awards and prompted Congressional hearings, Pentagon investigations and White House responses. She won a 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting as part of a team that revealed, with extensive documentation, the decades-old secret of how American soldiers early in the Korean War killed hundreds of civilians at the No Gun Ri bridge. She won numerous other prestigious awards as well for the project. Mendoza was a 2001 Knight Fellow at Stanford University. She teaches a newswriting class and guest lectures regularly at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 2001, she co-authored the book "The Bridge At No Gun Ri: A Hidden Nightmare from the Korean War" published by Henry Holt, and assisted with a BBC documentary "Kill 'Em All" on the same subject. Mendoza's earlier award-winning works include her investigative reports on flaws in the federal government's wild horses program and illegal child labor in the U.S., both of which brought her top APME honors and other awards. She has worked at the Madera Tribune, the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Bay City News Service as well as the AP. She also is certificated in automotive and diesel mechanics and has a California teaching credential.

[writer33]

Martha Mendosa needs to go back to journalism school. Kevin Benderman isn't trying to get out of the Army, he's trying to get out of the stockade. The Army is not known for handing out early releases or paroles so it looks as though he'll serve his 15 month sentence, then he can talk to them about his discharge.

I'd agree with that.

[writer33]

I told you. I meant to say Barf Bag. I really wasn't kidding.

[writer33]

Ms. Mendoza doesn't care about the reenlistment rates. She has an agenda and pointing out facts certainly won't work for her.

[redrock]

It really (really) ticks me off when I hear of these "men" (term used very liberally) who are willing to stay in the Military...until they are actually called upon to fulfill the entire obligation of their enlistment.

...and when they try and claim "conscientious objector " status...I kinda go a little ballistic.

I have no problem with conscientious objector's...after all I enlisted in the Army as one...and then voluntered for Vietnam...and served 1 and a half tours there.

Sorry but all of these new-found "conscientious objector's "....need to spend a little time in a Military Prison.

redrock

[writer33]

We're doomed, POF. We're doomed I tell you!

:)

[Cobra64]

"When I enlisted I believed that killing was immoral, but also that war was an inevitable part of life and therefore, an exception to the rule," said Texas Army National Guard Spc. Katherine Jashinski, 22, who in November asked a federal judge to order her release from service. After joining the military, Jashinski said she "started to reevaluate everything that I had been taught about war as a child. I developed the belief that taking human life was wrong and war was no exception. I was then able to clarify who I am and what it is that I stand for."

If this whimpering excuse of an adult were mine, I'd pull down her pants and flame her butt until she had blisters. Then I'd kick her ass out of the house. /rant

[TheForceOfOne]

Martha Mendoza was spawn from the belly of the beast, California at Berkeley.

[Sola Veritas]

"Typical promotion rates to Captain run somewhere north of 95%."

What is more telling is that the selection rate for Major is around 90%. This is not due to people getting out. It is that the Army is getting larger.

[Psycho_Bunny]

This is the reporter who co-wrote "The Bridge At No Gun Ri: A Hidden Nightmare from the Korean War", the truth of which is still in question.

I wouldn't trust this article.

[chuckles]

....."And pray tell, when have some soldiers NOT been trying to get out of the Army?"......

Agree with that. Having said that, I'm as patriotic as the next fellow, but I think after 3 tours, I might be looking elsewhere. When I was in, 12 months seemed like forever. Even WWII didn't ask their soldiers to do this much. My dad got the DFC and many other medals in 25 missions in a B-24. When Doolittle took over he raised the mission requirement to 30. My dad said he knew he would never make the extra 5. He made it, then was asked to fly the hump and said he had had enough. There was no braver man than my dad,(volunteered for ball turret duty), but there is just so much we can ask of our men. Men need hope to fight on. To believe that they will just keep going till death or injury is pretty tough.

[Fielding]

I believe that choosing "conscientious objector" status should be tied to the loss of appropriate rights of citizenship.