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6.7.04 Volunteer Army

A small article in today's paper mentioned that 2 U.S. soldiers were seeking refugee status in Canada. Hmmm... I thought this was an all-volunteer army. I thought only draft-dodgers hightailed it to Canada.

I guess our long era of peace pursuaded many young men and women that the Army was a good deal. Cool uniform. Three hots & a cot. Pick up some skills. See the world.

And so we have a nice big volunteer army.

Then they got sent to Afghanistan and Iraq. Got their rotations home cancelled. And are now getting their discharges cancelled. It's called "stop-loss." It's a way of "expanding" the military while pretending everything is just fine.

So... how many kids are lining up at the recruiters' offices these days? Is anyone worried that the volunteer army is getting less attractive by the minute? There are speculations that if Canada grants those 2 young men refugee status, deserters will be flocking there. Are these just weenies who didn't think through the risks of their decision? Or is this another terrible consequence of Bush's mismanagement of his role as leader of the free world. You can't be policemen to the world if U.S. soldiers are starting to think Iraqi police actually have the right idea (i.e., abandon posts! every man for himself!)

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