I have a pal who was swept up in the ‘officer’ rule mentioned above. He was ROTC in college with me, served in the Reserves for 6 years before he was out (making it to Captain) and retired from the reserves all happy.
Then he got the call a while back. Ended up with a three month QM tour that extended to 18 months. Hokey smokes!
He’s been back for a few months and his wife is already expecting. Woo boy, did he miss home.
My brother almost got tagged. He’s an officer who got letters from his old unit basically giving him a heads-up that he was eligible for re-activation. He ended up completely resigning his commission. As far as he’s concerned, he’s worth more to his current employer (he’s an assistant DA in Texas) than to the Army.
Robin
I know that this happens on the Britsh forces.
A pal of mine was some kind of a commissioned officer in the Royal Navy. He was second in command to the man who was in charge of the ship. Can’t remember what rank that made him, but when his boss - Princess Anne’s husband, as far as I recall - was indisposed, he’d be in charge of the whole shooting match.
He served in The Falklands and the last Gulf war and of course, in peace time. He left the Navy about five years ago and mentioned in passing that it wasn’t outside the realms of possibility that he might get called back for this one. He says he doesn’t know how likely it is, but he reckons that however likely it is for him, it’s far less likely for men whose serving days are further back in time.
So maybe the American military is based on those from older countries?
I feel bad for these guys, but having plenty of relatives (including my dad, who was drafted for Vietnam) who have served in the military, all I can say is they should have read the fine print. One of my cousins is a recruiter for the Navy, and he’ll tell you off the record that the brass will try to screw you sideways with a bugle at any and every opportunity. What, you figured you could just play sailer for a few years, pick up a technical trade like aiplane maintainance or nuke tech, then earn a great supplemental income going camping (a.k.a. serving in the reserves) after you run off with some hottie you met in Pearl Harbor and make babies? All on Uncle Sam’s tab?
Well, if you’re lucky, yes, you can do exactly that.
Then again, if someone like Dubya gets into office, then reelected, you’re gonna earn every penny you got from them, squared. Best make damn sure you’re not spending all your money on sports cars and strippers; sock everything you can away for your loved ones or in case you get injured; because even if you pay the ultimate price for your service, don’t expect the military will ensure your next-of-kin can live without you.
Yes, and I have every confidence that the Army, an organization renouned for its fair and even-handed handling of errors, will resolve this matter quickly and efficiently.
Here’s another story in the same vein. “Reenlist, or we’ll stoploss you and send you to the front.”