Posted on 11/16/2007 5:58:25 PM PST by mngran2
Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
While the totals are still far lower than they were during the Vietnam War, when the draft was in effect, they show a steady increase over the past four years and a 42 percent jump since last year.
“We’re asking a lot of soldiers these days,” said Roy Wallace, director of plans and resources for Army personnel. “They’re humans. They have all sorts of issues back home and other places like that. So, I’m sure it has to do with the stress of being a soldier.”
The Army defines a deserter as someone who has been absent without leave for longer than 30 days. The soldier is then discharged as a deserter.
According to the Army, about nine in every 1,000 soldiers deserted in fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30, compared to nearly seven per 1,000 a year earlier. Overall, 4,698 soldiers deserted this year, compared to 3,301 last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
MSNBC forgot the smiley face icon in title.
Thank you..Ready, Aim, FIRE!!!
It is no wonder since Congress seems to be cheerleading for the terrorists. The fact that we’re having these desertions in an all volunteer Army says a lot about the question of liberals and Congressional traitors undermining the war effort.
That last statement is so simple even a liberal/democRAT/socialist could understand.
5.56mm
...And the rate through the 90’s was... What?
And we’re supposed to BELIEVE this loser network MSNBC?
In a pig’s eye.
(I’m a Vietnam vet and on the volunteer list for Iraq. F#$# you Keith Untermann!)
Well Clintoon was kicking out soldiers who wanted to stay in.
80% of the common sense and brain-cells in Congress have deserted in the same time period....but there’s no trumpeting of THAT fact.
Not happy about those figures, but I think that a less than 1% rate of total screwups is not worth the newsprint. As an employer, I'd be ecstatic if only 1% of the people I hired were total failures.
And, better that they went AWOL than quit in combat.
You referring to the ones who wanted to tell, whether or not they were asked?
I’m sure that there is an optimal rate of desertion, and it’s not zero.
MSNBC What a bunch of idiots they give no context to these retarted summations... Obviously leaving after boot-camp like the phony war writer is not deserting.... OK MSNBC lets get a real tally simple question....
HOW MANY DESERTED WHILE THEY WERE IN THE WAR ZONE ?
What none... zero...
So much for your liberal attempts to sway publica opinion against our bravest.
More junior high level understanding by a so-called journalist. The soldier is declared a deserter in order to move him from the unit roster and the service active strength. Subsequent discharge is the province of court-martial or administrative discharge board.
May sound petty to some but as a former Navy personnelist I find such sloppiness infuriating.
Oh, as to the 80 percent increase, a doubling of one is two. There are not thousands upon thousands of deserters.
In any very large organizations there will always be some losers.
It’s not surprising that desertions are up, since the penalties for deserting have steadily decreased.
Also, you always get these kinds of adjustments when a period of peace gives way to a period of war—namely, because of people who signed up not expecting to have to fight. Many of those make the accommodation to the new and tougher conditions, but some don’t.
These numbers aren’t all that bad but the real shame falls on the Democrats in congress and elsewhere in government who have promoted division in the time of war and cast dispersion onto the honor of our troops. This is really a non story which is trying to shift momentum back to failure now that Iraq back on track and is going to be a clear success if let continue on the current track.
The real story is how Iraq is quickly becoming a non story and how the beating of a dead horse by the Democrats in trying to end a war that will end of its own accord when the work is done has really left the antiwar movement with zero momentum. Eventually it will become a joke if it hasn’t already become one in the eyes of the general public who aren’t passionately behind a withdrawal no matter how dissatisfied they’ve been with the progress of the war.
The problem the Democrats and the antiwar fools have is a simple one and that is Iran and the clear prospects of a withdrawal from Iraq leaving the whole region to fall under a nuclear Iran with the inevitable conclusion of the eventual formation of a radical Islamic superpower in the MiddleEast. Does anyone in their right mind desire that to happen? No. Iran keeps the focus on the real threat and the more the focus of the war shifts to Iran the greener the prospects for Iraq become.
Iran is the elephant in the room and the Democrats who want to play Healthcare are idiots if they think they can raise taxes and ignore Iran and win the White House. They are going to implode if they continue on their current tirade of dangerous silliness. This is not a time for domestic politicians it is a time for leaders who know how to engage very real enemies not with words but with overwhelming force.
The modern world can not afford the cost of barbarian regimes with nuclear weapons. This is not a game where playing nice is an option. This is a game that our enemies are playing for keeps and electing a woman in a pantsuit will not scare them into submission but instead most probably further strengthen their resolve.
If one Troop was AWOL last year, and two Troops went AWOL this year than that would be a 100 percent increase.
The percent BS has been used to manipulate opinions endlessly.
Usually it involves taxes.
The military, like all organizations, has its bad ones. It’s also possible that some of these deserters signed up before 9/11, and were not expecting to actually be sent to a war.
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