“We’ve been told that Lakin was never actually ordered to deploy, so nobody missed anything because of Lakin. Also, let’s ignore the warnings that Lakin gave well in advance of disobeying orders and let’s ignore that President Stitch Lips hid like a 2-year-old child during this entire process.”
No. He was CHARGED with missing a specific movement and disobeying orders, but we also know the goal was to eventually deploy.
Nor do you know how the military fills these slots. I wasn’t in the Army, but I know how it was done on my last deployment - to Afghanistan. The USAF had a list of folks with my rank & specialty, and how long it had been since each had deployed or gone remote. Based on those, the list is ranked. I was bored as hell pushing papers, and called up and asked if I could go to Afghanistan or Iraq. I was told I was #32 of 34, but could become #1 if I volunteered to go. I did, and was given my choice of where to go.
But filling all the nearly 100 slots of different ranks took some time. The last guy picked worked in an office a mile from me, and was told on Friday to arrange transportation for training on Monday. He spent 2 of the next 3 months in training, then deployed.
So yes, these individual slots are not just filled by computer. They try to find the right person, prefer volunteers, and try to equal out the load. For some of us, patrolling the skies over Iraq became a regular part of our business following GW1. By the late 90s, I was spending 50% of each year deployed. While in Afghanistan, I worked with Army guys on their third year-long deployment, and that year turned into 15 months at month 11.5.
Filling a doctor slot isn’t done in a day. Not if you want to retain people as they deploy again and again for years. And not when they know they could make twice as much or more outside the military, the way a doctor can!
A goal?? This is too funny. Now we're going to hold Lakin accountable for a goal instead of reality. Whatevah.