Soldier's ticket out of Iraq may backfire (re-enlist to get better duty)

[uppityperson]

I'm not a vet but thought you might be interested. Soldiers are re-enlisting to avoid job-loss getting stuck in Iraq, hoping for a better deployment. Incredible.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003640835_reenlist29m.html

Spc. Joel Trainor is a 22-year-old combat medic from Seattle who spent a year in Iraq. He returned home weary of bloodshed and eager to avoid a return trip that would separate him from his wife and infant daughter. So in February, Trainor re-enlisted in the Army for three more years.

That might seem like an odd way to try to stay out of the war. But Trainor believed re-enlistment was the only way to avoid an involuntary extension of his contract that would send him back to combat. Re-enlistment officers told him re-upping would allow him to transfer to a job at Fort Lewis, he said. "Absolutely, if I had a choice, I would have gotten out of the Army this year," said Trainor, whose initial contract with the military was set to end this September. "That wasn't going to happen."

In recent weeks, Trainor has learned that he may wind up back in Iraq after all. His commanders with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell in Kentucky told him his battalion is short of medics, and they've balked at signing his transfer to Fort Lewis.

Trainor's story offers an unusual window into wartime re-enlistments. Cash bonuses, education benefits and other incentives have helped the Army meet or exceed re-enlistment quotas that are crucial to maintaining troop strength. For some, another powerful motivator is the desire to avoid a return to war. Sometimes, the only way to do that is to re-up for another stint in the Army, and thus gain a transfer out of an Iraq-bound unit.

In his battalion of 700 soldiers, Trainor says, he can count about a dozen such transfers. Army officials confirm that some soldiers who don't want to return to Iraq have re-enlisted to try to gain a transfer to other posts. "There's nothing dishonorable about wanting to keep serving, but not necessarily to serve there ," said Master Sgt. Terry Webster, a Fort Campbell public-affairs officer...(more@link)

[Kagemusha]

1. Backfire is a strong word. He'd have ended up going anyway.

There's no easy escape when your specialty is in demand and there's any time left at all on your term.

[uppityperson]

2. Indeed. I never thought of anyone doing this.

Desperate measures in desperate times?

[Kagemusha]

4. I wouldn't have thought except I heard of people trying it

maybe for some it worked. For this guy, not so.

[Afje]

3. Fresh out of sympathy

Anybody who does not know by now what is going on with Iraq, does not want to know. Sorry, but this is aiding and abetting in an illegal war, a war crime. Maybe they have to do what they have to do, but morally they are on their own.

[uppityperson]

5. Did you read the article?

They are trying to get out of getting stuck in Iraq via job stop loss (which is basically you can't quit, can't leave, even though your time is up). Sounds like there are others trying this also. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

"For some, another powerful motivator (wartime re-enlistments) is the desire to avoid a return to war. Sometimes, the only way to do that is to re-up for another stint in the Army, and thus gain a transfer out of an Iraq-bound unit.In his battalion of 700 soldiers, Trainor says, he can count about a dozen such transfers."


"But he was trapped by an Army policy, known as "stop-loss," that requires soldiers to remain with a unit that is within 90 days of deployment overseas.

Under the policy, thousands of soldiers have served in Iraq beyond the number of years that they originally contracted to serve in the Army. For many, the extension might be months; for others it may be a year or more. The Army maintains that the stop-loss policy is essential to fielding cohesive units during war. Critics call it a back-door draft that violates the spirit of a volunteer Army. Trainor learned that his unit was scheduled to return to Iraq this summer, and realized stop-loss would require him to join them for another 12- to 15-month tour of duty."

[mariema]

7. Reenlistment numbers

Many re-up because they know that if they don’t they might get transferred to a unit that is going to Iraq. So they figure since they are going to get stop-lossed anyway, they may as well reenlist to get the re-up bonus money. It is one of the reasons the re-up numbers look so good.

I believe most reenlist to stay with their unit and their buddies,tho.

[sarge43]

6. If Trainor's been in four years and still believes that bs, I have this

bridge he might be interested in. Jeez Spec, you're easy.