[2banana]

All right - two sides to the argument.

The National Guard and Reserves (just like the active component) is a volunteer force. As such, people can come and go as long as they fulfill their contractual obligations (unless affected by stop-loss).

1. Why join the National Guard if you are going to be deployed as much as active duty units but get less in benefits, pay and get all the old equipment? If people wanted to join the active duty, they would have.

2. Some joined the National Guard as a way to pay off college loans and make some money on a weekend a month. Maybe even get a very small pension after 20 years in and after you turn 65. Some never expected to be deployed in a war for over a year. However, since 9/11, anyone who joins the Guard and Reserves know there is a good chance to be deployed.

My thoughts are that the active duty component is too small, stretched too thin and the pentagon is trying to make up the short fall using the reserve components. It is a short-sighted strategy that will negatively affect the reserves.

A big help would be treating the reserves more like the active duty in the "good" ways. The same pensions, same use of medical facilities, same pay (believe it or not, there are differences) and the same equipment and access to training would go a long way...

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Thye made their entry with both eyes wide open, if they expected all for them and naught for the country, cry me a river.

[dakine]

Here ya' go, want to try again...hahahaha

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

In the early 1990's, speculation was that Gulf War I deployments would finish the Guard and Reserve for many of the reasons listed here. They lived through it just fine.

[George W. Bush]

It seems that Reserves and even the National Guard are being turned into active-duty and can expect to be deployed anywhere, any time. I think our National Guard should primarily stay at home and be smaller in numbers. And the Reserves should be actual reserve troops, activated only in national emergency.

More active-duty troops.

If they're going to all be deployable overseas at any time, they should get paid the same. And re-enlistment bonuses should all be taxed at the same rate, either taxed for all or tax-free for all.

Personally, I would favor tax exemption on all military pay.