Must Read Military Facts
Death Toll
As of October 22, 2008 4,185 American troops have died in Iraq and at least 88,610 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the violence.
[http://www.icasualties.org/] and [http://www.iraqbodycount.org/]
Top U.S. Military Official: Not Enough Troops
July 2, 2008: The nation's top military officer said more U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan to tamp down an increasingly violent insurgency, but that the Pentagon does not have sufficient forces to send because they are committed to the war in Iraq. Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said insurgent Taliban and extremist forces in Afghanistan have become "a very complex problem," one that is tied to the extensive drug trade, a faltering economy and the porous border with Pakistan. Violence in Afghanistan has increased markedly over recent weeks, with June the deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war began in 2001.
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070202010_pf.html]
Twelve Former US Army Captains: Reinstate Draft
October 16, 2007: Twelve former captains in the US army have today published an article advising the White House that the only way US forces can stay in Iraq long term is to reinstate the military draft. "There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq," wrote the ex-captains, all of whom saw service in Iraq between 2003 and 2006.
[http://www.infowars.net/articles/october2007/161007Draft.htm]
and [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101500841.html?hpid=opinionsbox1]
Pentagon Using High School & College Records To Create Student Database For Military Recruiting
June, 2005: "The purpose of the system . . . is to provide a single central facility within the Department of Defense to compile, process and distribute files of individuals who meet age and minimum school requirements for military service," according to the official notice of the program. The database includes personal information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying.
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202305.html]
McCain: We Don't Have A Big Enough Army
May 7, 2008: "We don't have a big enough Army and Marine Corps today. And you know that, probably far better than I do, and that's why we've had to ask these brave young Americans to go back and back and back and back. Including the
strain on our Guard and Reserve is probably greater than it's been at any time in, certainly, probably since World War II by any measurement. I worry about recruitment and that means added incentives for educational benefits, pay, etc. I worry about retention."
McCain responding to soldier's query why he didn't support Webb GI Bill.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yp4prYtBWw]
Senior Defense Spending Member Asks If It's Time To Reinstitute Military Draft
May 21, 2008: In an exchange sure to send ripples of anxiety through the all-volunteer military, the Senate's senior defense spending member asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen if it is time to "consider reinstituting the draft."
[http://www.military.com/news/article/do-you-feel-a-draft.html]
Lt. General Lute Says It Makes Sense To Reconsider Draft
August 11, 2007: Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, who serves as a White House deputy national security adviser, said the all-volunteer military is serving "exceedingly well'' and the administration has not decided it needs to be replaced with a draft. But in an interview with National Public Radio, Lt Lute said, "I think it makes sense to certainly consider it, and I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table.''
[http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22226178-5005961,00.html]
Military Expert Lawrence Korb Calls For Reinstating Draft
April 2007: "If the United States is going to have a significant component of its ground forces in Iraq over the next five, 10, 15 or 30 years, then the responsible course is for the president and those supporting this open-ended and escalated presence in Iraq to call for reinstating the draft," Lawrence Korb, a former senior Pentagon personnel official now affiliated with the Center for Defense Information and the Center for American Progress. April 2007.
[http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/04/military...]
U.S. Representative McDermott Supports Reinstating The Draft
June 2, 2008: U.S. Representative Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) spoke Wednesday at the UW about reinstating the draft during declared war or national emergency. He described House Resolution 393 as a national service bill. He co-sponsored the bill with fellow veteran Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY). It would require all citizens 18-42 to perform national service for two years. This requirement could be fulfilled through civilian volunteer work or through military service.
[http://thedaily.washington.edu/2008/6/2/mcdermott-supports-bill-reinstate-draft/]
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel: Bring Back The Draft
April 20, 2004: "Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel said, arguing that restoring the draft would force "our citizens to understand the intensity and depth of challenges we face."
The senator also argued re-instituting the draft, which ended in the early '70s, would cause the burden of military service to be spread among all economic classes of people.
[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38139]
Rep. Charlie Rangel Believes We Should Reinstate Draft
November 20, 2006: A senior House Democrat said Sunday he will introduce legislation to reinstate the military draft, asserting that current troop levels are insufficient to sustain possible challenges against Iran, North Korea and Iraq.
[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/19/ftn/main2199539.shtml]
Rep. Murtha Wants To Reinstate Draft
April 3, 2007: "This is one of the smallest armies we've had since before World War II, right before the Korean War," added the congressman. Murtha, a frequent critic of the war in Iraq, claimed that the president's handling of the war has depleted the country's strategic reserve.And I think also, everybody ought to be able to serve in this country," Murtha said. "I think we ought to not just have a select few who volunteer. I think everybody ought to be obligated to serve."
[http://www.cnsnews.com/viewpolitics.asp?page=/politics/archive/200704/pol20070403b.html]
2007 Draft Reinstatement Bill H.R. 393 Referred To Subcommittee On Military Personnel
February 26, 2007: Bill H.R. 393 is referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel. The bill's purpose is: To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make permanent the favorable treatment afforded combat pay under the earned income tax credit, and for other purposes.
[http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h393/show] and
[http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-393]
Army Off Target On Recruits
January 2008: The percentage of new recruits entering the Army with a high school diploma dropped to a new low in 2007, according to a study released yesterday, and Army officials confirmed that they have lowered their standards to meet high recruiting goals in the middle of two ongoing wars.
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/22/AR2008012203326.html]
Military Waivers For Ex-Convicts Increase
April 2008: The Army admitted about one-fourth more recruits last year with a record of legal problems ranging from felony convictions and serious misdemeanors to drug crimes and traffic offenses, as pressure to increase the size of U.S. ground forces led the military to grant more waivers for criminal conduct, according to new data.
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/21/ST2008042103473.html]
Military Memo: Keep Recruits Despite Drug Abuse, Alcohol, Poor Fitness & Pregnancy
June 5, 2005: To keep more soldiers in the service, the Army has told battalion commanders that they can no longer bounce soldiers from the service for poor fitness, pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse or generally unsatisfactory performance.
"We need your concerted effort to reverse the negative trend," reads an internal Army memo, which was directed to senior commanders. "By reducing attrition 1% we can save up to 3,000 initial term soldiers. That's 3,000 more soldiers in our formations."
[http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB111776400852250138-rYue9OsHO9i0IaNz4uApoo5WJ80_20060603.html]
Army Misses 2007 Benchmarks By Greater Margin: Almost One-Third Don't Have High School Diplomas
In 2007, for the third year in a row, the Army did not meet its benchmark for the level of educational attainment of recruits. The percentage of recruits the Department of Defense (DoD) considers 'high quality' also dropped considerably. In 2007, recruits with at least a regular high school diploma dropped to 70.7 percent. A higher percentage of recruits will drop out well before the end of the first term of enlistment, leading to further increases in spending on recruitment and training, including enlistment bonuses and pay for additional recruiters.
[http://www.nationalpriorities.org/militaryrecruiting2007]
Stop-Loss
In the United States military, stop-loss is the involuntary extension of a service member's active duty service under the enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond their initial end of term of service (ETS) date.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop-loss_policy]
Army Accelerates Stop-Loss, Despite Order To Limit It
April 21, 2008: The Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates' order last year to limit it, Pentagon records show. Last year, Rep. Christopher Shays and three other House members wrote Gates a similar letter saying they were concerned about using the policy to bolster forces for the so-called surge. It hurts morale, burdens troops' families, damages the credibility of military leaders and threatens recruiting, they wrote.
[http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-04-21-stoploss_N.htm]
Veteran Suicide Rates Climbing
April 22, 2008: In a stunning admission, top officials at the Veterans Health Administration confirmed that the agency's own statistics show that an average of 126 veterans per week -- 6,552 veterans per year -- commit suicide, according to an internal email distributed to several VA officials.
[http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3204.shtml]
U.S. Health Official Says "Soldier Suicides Could Trump War Tolls"
May 5, 2008: Suicides and "psychological mortality" among US soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan could exceed battlefield deaths if their mental scars are left untreated, the head of the US Institute of Mental Health warned Monday.
[http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5goRExHRq_e9fV4CTqb_KQOIAITsQ]
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Underestimated
July 2007: "The scope of PTSD in the long term is enormous and must be taken seriously. When all of our 1.6 million service members eventually return home from Iraq and Afghanistan, based on the current rate of 20 percent, VA may face up 320,000 total new veterans diagnosed with PTSD," Sullivan told a congressional committee. "If America fails to act now and overhaul the broken DoD and VA disability systems, there may a social catastrophe among many of our returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. That is why VCS reluctantly filed suit against VA in Federal Court . . . Time is running out." Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, July 2007.
[http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3204.shtml]
PTSD More Likely For Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans
July 2007: According to a lawsuit filed by Veterans for Common Sense, "more than any previous war, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to produce a high percentage of troops suffering from PTSD," due to the widespread use of improvised explosive devises, multiple rotations, the ambiguity of fighting combatants dressed as civilians, and the use of National Guard members and Reservists. Those figures are now supported by a comprehensive study released by the RAND Corporation last week stating that about 300,000 U.S. troops sent to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from major depression or PTSD, and 320,000 received traumatic brain injuries.
[http://www.inteldaily.com/?c=173&a=6192]
The Surge Or Bribery: What's Really Working?
In Iraq, since May 2007 some 70,000 former insurgents have been being paid $10 per person a day by the U.S. military to fight as paid allies of our troops instead of shooting at them. It costs about a quarter billion dollars a year. It's a controversial strategy, and Macgregor warns that it's creating a parallel military force in Iraq that is made up almost entirely of Sunni Muslims. The military now calls those "deals" the Concerned Local Citizens program or simply, CLCs.
It's a somewhat abstract euphemism. The CLC program turns groups of former insurgents, including fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq, into paid, temporary allies of the U.S. military.
[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17899543]
Nation Faces Billions In Long-Term Care Costs For Wounded Troops
April 18, 2008: RAND Corp. estimated the costs of dealing with stress issues and psychological illnesses of combat troops at $6.2 billion for just the first two years after those troops return home. That includes direct medical care costs, the price of lost productivity and suicides. The study is the first nongovernmental assessment of the psychological needs of veterans who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
[http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0408/041808bb1.htm]
McCain Skips Vote On New GI Bill
May 22, 2008: While the senate voted 75-22 in favor of the new GI Bill, John McCain was out in California, criticizing gay marriage on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and then going to raise money for his own campaign at an event held by the San Diego Chargers owner.
[http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1304]
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