Stop-Loss...Again

As of late, a topic I am seeing being discussed is the issue of stop-loss. I myself even posted about it here. Another blogger wrote a nice post about the topic the other day, however, there was a comment to the post that I highly disagree with and wish to address here.

The comment was as follows:
"I do not blame this boy -- this Man, for not wanting to go back. I think it is this country that is letting him down, for not coming up with a better solution to the shortages in the Army, the branch of the services that IS carrying the bulk of the burden over there, to be sure."

According to this comment, our country, which I assume to mean our government and those who run the military, need to come up with a better solution than stop-loss to end the shortages that our military face. Stop-loss was the better solution. The previous solution was the Draft. Forcing men who had absolutely no interest in serving in the military to serve. Rather than bringing in brand new soldiers who have no interest in the military, the government is now requiring those who have joined on their own free will to serve longer. And once again, I must reiterate, that the contract that was signed on day one of soldier's military service says that the stop-loss policy can be put into effect.

The comment also says that a better solution is necessary to relieve the burden that our soldiers face by having to serve for so long. I have to wonder though, who creates that burden? Can we say the government creates that burden? Technically, yes. However, do we never go to war then? Do we not send aide to foreign countries when they need it? Do we get rid of our military all together and hope that the rest of the world lives in peaceful harmony along with us?

Or, are those who are leaving the military before they completely serve their time, creating the burden? If there is a need for 200 soldiers to go to battle again, (and we will go to battle because we do not live in a bubble and there will always be a need for soldiers) and 50 of them do what they can to get out of the military or they simply run, who created the burden for the other 150 soldiers? Not the government, but those who chose not to fight with the rest of them. The country is not letting the soldiers down. The soldiers who run are letting their fellow soldiers and Americans down.

A final comment was made ("Not since Vietnam have soldiers been deployed for a year at a time...") which I understood to say that not since Vietnam have our soldiers been deployed for more than 12 months at a time and now they are being deployed for much longer periods. When it comes to active duty, I really have no idea, so I can't comment for them. However, National Guard is a different story. In the past, yes, National Guardsmen were deployed for an 18 month period. Recently, though, a memo was released that said the new policy is that the National Guard will not be deployed for more than 12 months. Therefore, the 6 months of training prior to a deployment would be much more intensive. Common sense also says that being stop-lossed during those 6 months would help all the soldiers to be better trained and better prepared for the upcoming deployment.

Our military, for the most part, is under the control of our government. When the government calls, our military answers. That is the way it works. If the government says fight, the military fights. I do not now, nor will I ever, understand a soldier or a soldier's family, that chooses to fight our military or government on this particular situation. What gives them the right, what makes them so special, that they think they don't have to serve longer or fight in the war?

I'm not going to say, "You knew what you were getting into." I think that is an inaccurate statement because no one can see the future. However, if you are a surgeon, you know you will find yourself performing surgery one day. If you are a lawyer, you can bet you'll be in a courtroom eventually. If you are a soldier, there is a good chance you will be deployed and more than once.

There was a story circulating the milblogosphere a few days ago about Cpl. Chris Mason. Currently, there is a MySpace page about Chris. There is a quote on that page attributed to him: "We chose to come into the Army knowing that we could be sent over here, but we chose that anyway because we choose to believe that the American flag that we wear on our right shoulder stands for something that's greater than ourselves."

Whether you join the military by becoming a soldier or you join by marrying a soldier, you know this is why you are here on this earth. You love your spouse, you love your children, and you love your country and you know that some things are always worth fighting for (many times more than once) and worth dying for and you accept that.