Kat, on the subject of commissioned officers, you are 100% correct.
Full retirement before Mandatory Separation Age won't protect you
either.  Only resigning your commission after your mandatory commitment
will prevent a call-up--and that's not a 100% guarantee if you are a
Subject Matter Expert (SME) on old technology still in use.  Some
officers were pulled from retirement homes early in 2002--no joke.

Oh, and the Administration (Bush) does NOT set policy on whether or not
both parents are deployed--that's DoD policy.  BTW, it's extremely rare
that spouses with children both get deployed to the GWOT theater.

Of the four services, the Army is really the only one that allows women
near "combat"--save for pilots in the Navy and Air Force.  Female Army
soldiers serve as MPs and in combat service support roles.  IEDs, mortar
and rocket attacks don't make distinctions between genders.

Kyle

-----Original Message-----
From: Cerebral Palsy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of kat
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 6:14 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: disgusting behavior

Unfortunately, both men and women signed up to be in the armed forces 
and both have to serve. The military makes no distinction in this case -

this is the way women's libbers wanted it back in the 1970s and 1980s 
and this is what they got. Don't get me wrong, I'm a feminist myself.  
If you volunteer to serve in the military, you had better be prepared to

go where the military sends you - that's the reality of it.

Also another thing is going on is that commissioned officers are being 
called back into duty even after their official duties are over - they 
can be called back at the DOD's whim, and they are even calling back 
permanently disabled officers, too, those who would not ordinarily be 
even  considered fit for active duty.  If you're a commissioned officer,

there's a clause in your contract that says you can be called back if 
the need is there.  You're not totally out of service until you fully 
retire.

Frankly, I think we need a draft - we are in a situation where our armed

forces are stretched so thin that reserved units are sent back over and 
over and non-com tours of duty keep getting extended further and 
further.  But I'm willing  to bet this is such a hot potato that Bush is

trying to defer it as long as possible so the next Administration gets 
to deal with it and its consequences.

Kat

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