November 08, 2004
This is Scary 2
I saw this yesterday and it upset me very much. This is the third lawsuit I?ve heard of in which a veteran who believed they?d served his country and retired was shocked to learn the military wanted to drag them back into service. I?ve seen it called a ?back door draft?. I?m upset because not only is it unfair, I bet it will cause the draft to be reinstated.
David Miyasato joined the Army in 1987. He was in the first Persian Gulf War. He was discharged from active service in 1991 and then served in the Reserves for another 5 years after that. In 1996, he resigned from the Reserves and figured he?d done his duty to our country.
Wrong.
What people don?t realize is that when you volunteer to join the service there?s this ?small print? that they don?t see or understand. Once a soldier resigns from the service, from the reserve, the National Guard and so on and so forth they are transferred to what is called the Individual Ready Reserve. I never heard of this thing until the discussion first came up on Widownet. I don?t know if it?s ever been done before but apparently the military can go into this reserve and call people back to active service.
There is David Miyasato, 13 years out of the service and thinking he is done, and now he gets a letter from the army to report to active duty. Surprise! So he filed a lawsuit. I don?t blame him. It?s not fair to drag him back when he?s already done so much for this country.
The other thing that upsets me is that President Bush says there will be no draft. But what happens when a volunteer realizes what could happen years down the road? In Iraq there are already soldiers who were supposed to come back home and were supposed to get out of the service ? but that?s all been deferred. Indefinitely. Who wants to live (or die) like that?
I will be very surprised if the draft is NOT reinstated. Once it is, then all of my kids might get drafted ? and that upsets me to no end.
I saw this on another blog I enjoy:
If a new medicine were developed that would cure the disease of your choice, but would cause a fatal reaction in 1% of the people who took it? would you want the medicine released?
That?s a hard question to answer. There are risks with any kind of medicine or surgery but I hate to think about the people who would die from it. One percent is a small number but it still represents someone?s spouse, significant other, parent, sibling, or child. I?m kind of superstitious too, thinking if I said yes then it would be my loved one who dies. I hate questions like this.
BONUS: what disease would you want the medicine to cure? (Stupidity, as much as I would love that cured, doesn?t count as a disease.)
Diabetes
Baker?s Dozen
1. Why do I worry so much?
2. Iraq is beginning to remind me of Vietnam in so many ways
3. I hate feeling the way I do
4. Tomas is so cute!
5. Sunday was so beautiful ? the weather, I mean
6. I need more chocolate
7. I shouldn?t eat so much chocolate
8. My blood pressure isn?t under control
9. Why do I feel this way?
10. Thank goodness Billy works for the movie theater!
