How’s That War Working Out, Mr. President?
November 2, 2007 by Dizzy Dezzi
25 days to lift-off.
We are in the midst of last minute preparations for sending SSG Dizzy and his battle buddies to Iraq Deployment 3.0. It’s hard to imagine that he’s going to be gone for 15 months and then, a year after that, he will be probably be planning for Iraq Deployment 4.0.
Yes. It’s gotten old. But, now we are old pros at getting things done pre-deployment, so that the “deployment gremlins” are kept at bay. We have streamlined the process to make the lift-off more manageable.
Pretty soon, I’ll be able to teach a course on “deployment management”, especially in light of news that the Army has gotten off to a bad start, this fiscal year, trying to recruit new troops for this old war.
This is bad news on many levels. First off, with such a low number of recruits to start the year, that means it will be harder to meet the annual recruiting goals, set by the Army. Secondly, the lack of recruits puts an additional strain on troops, like my husband, meaning he will likely be forced into Deployment 4.0, and 5.0. With the Army’s favorite stand-by “stop-loss”, we could be looking at 6.0 or more, if the war goes on for another 10 years. That’s, of course, if we are lucky (but, we won’t talk about that, right now…).
Adding to the impending lack of military man-power, there is also a pretty big lack of supporting civilian man-power due to an insufficient amount of contractors needed to support troops heading into battle. Of course, this is only exacerbated by the incompetence and fraud in the current system. There’s a whole lot of work in somebody’s in-box and not nearly enough people to support the workload.
Despite all the “great” news coming from the Administration, it can’t even get its own diplomats to volunteer to go to Iraq. They are being “forced” to go, against their will with the reminder that when they signed up for the Foreign Service, they swore “an oath to serve, obligating them to work anywhere.” And since the State Department can’t get any volunteers to go to Iraq of their own free will, they are now obligated to go because “Condi, says so!”
Stop by the Huffington Post to see how “great” things really are in Iraq, right now.
I just don’t understand why more Americans aren’t just chomping at the bit to get their asses over to Iraq.
I say we send “Dog” over there as a bodyguard for all those “fraidy-cat” Foreign Service diplomats.
Our Armed Forces are stretched beyond their breaking point. Civilians are refusing to sign up to help out. Diplomats are scared to go and serve their country in Iraq. But, things are just hunky-dory in Bush-land.
Please, stop the world! I want to get off!
*Illustration by The Worried Shrimp
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You might be interested in The Wounded Warriors Project. It’s a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness for U.S. troops severely wounded in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. It really puts a face on the cost of this conflict. Here’s a link:
http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/aarwebs
Jeff
[...] out your desk or stop by here, until I’m [...]
Jeff, thank you for leaving that link. I will check it out.
perhaps if they stopped talking about a war with iran- they might have better luck. but in light of all of their mismanagement and stupidity- what did they expect? i am just sorry and disgusted that you and your family have had to go through this once- let alone 3 times. hugs to you dez.