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9News.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Soldiers from a combat unit at Fort Carson say they have been told to re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq, the Rocky Mountain News reported Thursday.
Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last week, two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity told the newspaper.
"They said if you refuse to re-enlist with the 3rd Brigade, we'll send you down to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which is going to Iraq for a year, and you can stay with them, or we'll send you to Korea, or to Fort Riley (in Kansas) where they're going to Iraq," said one of the soldiers, a sergeant.
The second soldier, an enlisted man, echoed that view: "They told us if we don't re-enlist, then we'd have to be reassigned. And where we're most needed is in units that are going back to Iraq in the next couple of months. So if you think you're getting out, you're not."
Originally posted by AceOfBase
I've heard people on the debate shows talking about how high the re-enlistment rate is.
Well, if there are so many people signing up voluntarily, why resort to dirty tactics such as this?
Yeah right Grady.
Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
... they are being strong-armed into re-enlisting. No one can make anyone re-enlist ...
Originally posted by GradyPhilpottDoes anyone here believe in service to one's nation, at all. Does the good of the nation ever transcend the good of the inidividual?[edit on 04/9/16 by GradyPhilpott]
Originally posted by Chuck Stevenson
Not when that service is 'extended' because a certain AWOL "politics it too important" wannabee Lieutenant in the National Guard is afraid to start a DRAFT, because his incompetent planning and amateurish conduct in starting his little vendetta to begin with.
Originally posted by Chuck Stevenson
Not when that service is 'extended' because a certain AWOL "politics it too important" wannabee Lieutenant in the National Guard is afraid to start a DRAFT, because his incompetent planning and amateurish conduct in starting his little vendetta to begin with.
"That Saddam tried to kill my Daddy! I'm gonna get him no matter how many Americans die!" -GBush or words to that effect in a public speech his first year in office.
Originally posted by Loki
Why don't you pick whatever it is out of your ears and eyes, Grady?
An unidentified Fort Carson spokesman said Wednesday that 3rd Brigade recruitment officers denied threatening the soldiers with more duty in Iraq.
"I can only tell you what the retention officers told us: The soldiers were not being told they will go to Iraq, but they may go to Iraq," said the spokesman, who confirmed the re-enlistment drive is under way.
One of the soldiers provided the form to the News. If signed, it would bind the soldier to the 3rd Brigade until Dec. 31, 2007.
An Army spokesman, Lt. Col. Gerard Healy, said sending soldiers to Iraq with less than one year of their enlistment remaining "would not be taken lightly."
"There's probably a lot of places on post where they could put those folks (who don't re-enlist) until their time expires," he said. "But I don't want to rule out the possibility that they could go to a unit that might deploy."
Extending a soldier's active duty is within Army authority, since the enlistment contract carries an eight-year obligation, even if a soldier signs up for shorter terms. Members of Iraq-bound units can be retained for an entire year in Iraq, even if their active-duty enlistment expires.
"I don't want to go back to Iraq," the sergeant told the News. "I went through a lot of things for the Army that weren't necessary and were risky. Iraq has changed a lot of people."
The enlisted soldier said the recruiters' message left him "filled with dread."
"For me, it wasn't about going back to Iraq. It's just the fact that I'm ready to get out of the Army," he said.
An unidentified Fort Carson spokesman said Wednesday that 3rd Brigade recruitment officers denied threatening the soldiers with more duty in Iraq.
"I can only tell you what the retention officers told us: The soldiers were not being told they will go to Iraq, but they may go to Iraq," said the spokesman, who confirmed the re-enlistment drive is under way.
"I don't want to go back to Iraq," the sergeant told the News. "I went through a lot of things for the Army that weren't necessary and were risky. Iraq has changed a lot of people."
The enlisted soldier said the recruiters' message left him "filled with dread."
"For me, it wasn't about going back to Iraq. It's just the fact that I'm ready to get out of the Army," he said.
Originally posted by Loki
Can't you see that this man just wants to get back to his family? He's invested alot of time with the Army, and just wants his life back. If service is such a big deal to you, why can't this guy, who has served, have his life back? These are humans first, and soldiers second. People need to realize that. Not just us, but people who are sending them to die.
Originally posted by Loki
You have no real concern for a human's feelings do you?
His ENLISTMENT is up. He can still be called back, as the agreement says, within 8 years of original enlistment.
Originally posted by AceOfBase
9News.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Soldiers from a combat unit at Fort Carson say they have been told to re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq, the Rocky Mountain News reported Thursday.
Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last week, two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity told the newspaper.
"They said if you refuse to re-enlist with the 3rd Brigade, we'll send you down to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which is going to Iraq for a year, and you can stay with them, or we'll send you to Korea, or to Fort Riley (in Kansas) where they're going to Iraq," said one of the soldiers, a sergeant.
The second soldier, an enlisted man, echoed that view: "They told us if we don't re-enlist, then we'd have to be reassigned. And where we're most needed is in units that are going back to Iraq in the next couple of months. So if you think you're getting out, you're not."
I've heard people on the debate shows talking about how high the re-enlistment rate is.
Well, if there are so many people signing up voluntarily, why resort to dirty tactics such as this?