Almost seems unfair. I guess it's more politically expedient than starting the draft back up. Even if they were to start the draft back up, it'd be around 6 months+ before they could deploy new troops.

Of course, if the draft were to start back up, Bush's fate would be sealed, so don't look for that to happen.

Besides it makes economic sense too... besides the political cost of a draft, the cost of training 6000 troops for deployment would easily top 300Mil (basic training, specialized training, equipment, room and board)... the basic fromula used to be 50K per private...

So do I. :( GP, I hope your dad and your friend aren't called up, and hope they stay safe if they are.

I don't like this one little bit. It's another step along the path to a draft once the Individual Ready Reserve becomes exhausted. I don't think a draft would be reinstated before Election Day, but it might be done after the election, and November isn't so far away.

Side question: Are there any laws about keeping people's jobs open if they are called to serve? e.g. if I am an employer and one of my employees is sent to Iraq for a year, do I have to keep his job open for when he returns? (I'm thinking of GP's friend as well as everyone else in this situation.)

Here's a link to findlaw.com

http://biz.findlaw.com/employment_em...AB7E30AAA.html

Here's the part about military service:

Military Leave
Almost every state has a law prohibiting discrimination against those in the military, reserve, state militia or National Guard. Most states require employers to grant leave to employees for certain types of military service. Some states require leave only for those employees called to active duty; other states require leave for those called for training, as well. This leave is generally unpaid, although some states provide paid leave for public employees.

When an employee takes military leave, you must usually re-employ him or her without any loss of benefits, status or reduction in pay. These re-employment guarantees vary from state to state and usually contain a number of additional conditions. Typical restrictions include:

The employee must not have been dishonorably discharged
The employee must present proof that he or she has satisfactorily completed service
The employee must request reinstatement within a specified time
If the employee is not able to do the job formerly held, you must offer an appropriate substitute position, and
You need not reinstate the employee if changes in the workforce make reinstatement unreasonable.

And, while I don't think that people should lose their jobs when called to active duty, it also puts businesses in a tough spot. They often have to replace the employees and then will have to let other people go when the soldiers return. I know that it is hard on health care when they lose nurses. There is already a severe nursing shortage. We've lost some good docs from our health care system too. It puts a crunch on everybody.

It also seems that it would make people less likely to voluntarily join the military, knowing that even when they think they're done, they might not be.

All that said, I don't see many other options for the immediate future. As others have pointed out, it takes more time and money to train new guys.

It does bring questions to my mind though. How many of those guys are still in military condition? Do they have to go through a basic training type setting to get physically in shape again? What if they've gained a ton of weight?

It is sad that this is necessary.

Dee

I agree with everything you said except for the above. While it may make some folks think twice, the vast majority of people who join the army are either not really thinking the long term consequences of their actions through OR they love this country and really feel it is their duty to do something to defend it. I don't think many folks are too concerned about what is 5 or 8 years down the road.

Unfortunately, I can't think of any better alternative for the military. The draft might be an option, but I don't think the politicians would let that happen again.

You may be right. My perspective on people who joined the military is based more on who joined when I was college age/graduating from high school. At that time (early to mid 80's) there was no threat of war, no thought of war, we had never experienced a war and didn't really expect to. We were too young to remember Vietnam and our biggest scare was Libya. Most of those I knew who were joining were doing ROTC and had to do 4 years after college, but were doing it as a means to go to college, rather than to defend our country. The Gulf War and 9/11 have changed things a bit.

Dee

It's good to know that there are laws out there about keeping jobs open if they are called to serve.

Businesses could hire temporary workers / contractors, though. You bring someone on with an employment contract that stipulates a term of one year (or however long the deployment is). Then, when the soldier returns to civilian life, you can either (a) let the contract lapse, or (b) if business is good and the contractor does good work, you can offer the contractor a permanent job in addition to keeping the soldier on.

I have not read the links but from what i understand that they have to hold A JOB for you with the same COMPANY. It may not necessarily be the same job but they have to put you in a job. If i was let go because of that i would fight it all the way.

So there not instituting the draft as of yet... they are reinlisting retired and former soliders who did not serve a full 8 yrs ? are they doing that with all branches before they even get to the draft?

Are they reinstituting the draft ina yr or two? You hear so much miscommunication on the street you don't know what is what ?

bump

No one has said anything about the draft as of yet.

If you look at the numbers, Bush I cut the army from 18 divisions to 12. Clinton cut 2 additional divisions.

Intriguing statistics from a political independent.

Intriguing, my friends.

Actually the US and Canada changed their agreements in 2001 regarding people seeking temporary residency/asylum due to US military duty. In other words: Canada will ship you back to the USA if you try to dodge the draft.

If the draft were to come back the call would be: Go South Young Man! To where the margaritas flow!

Ahem... a little simplified...

The legal issues surrounding the draft and or deserters is somewhat different than your "interpretation". Canada will only ship back draft dodgers and deserters if they are deserting or dodging a conflict that Canada is invovled in too... and then only if it is a war, not an armed intervention... and those laws have been on the books since the Great War. So draft dodgers and deserters were shipped back during the Great War and World War 2... but not Korea, or Vietnam, or in this case Afghanistan or Iraq (Canada doesn't recognize the legality of Iraq).

I was refering to the Smart Border Declaration (12/12/2001)- aparently it changes how US and Canada treat each other's deserters/dodgers?

Ummm... maybe I missed something but I didn't see anything in the language of the declaration refering to "deserters" or "draft-dodgers". The only reference to anything remotley conected to this subject was in reference to "deportee's"... which in effect said each country will notify the other of any deportees...

I had lunch today with a woman who's job is scheduling surgeries for orthopedics. She spent the day cancelling surgeries for people because the surgeon has been called up and has to report in a week. Some of these surgeons are booked three or four months in advance! Sad for them and for their patients.

Dee