Liberal Soldier, for those deploying...

Okay, this one goes out to a specific unit of mine, that alot of friends are in, and alot of new kids about to go roll in the sand for a year, for the first time. Being deployed I always get asked stupid questions, but I dont mind answering them, and I tell my soldiers exactly what I think they should hear.

If your getting deployed, and your not married, take a break. Call it quits for the year, remain friends, and when you come home, the two of you can get together, work things out, or go seperate ways.

If you stay together, chances are one or both of you will cheat. Usually one, and the other one will be pissed as hell, and end up emotionally screwed up over it. Its what happened to me.

And I'm sorry to say ladies, its usually the female in the relationship on either side who is more likely to cheat. This isn't sexist, but rather a rational examination based on two points. Firstly, men who are in the military who are deployed have alot less opportunity to cheat than spouses do at home, unless they are homosexual. Secondly, women in who are in the Military are still a subtle minority, and probably get alot more offers than they would at home.

But this doesn't change the fact that men do it on both sides as well, so keep that in mind.

After you've deployed and come back home, then you can choose to forgive and forget, or what have you. However, it is somewhat likely that both you and your closest friend will have changed multitudes by the time you get back. Especially given the Army's minimum deployment length of a year.

For god's sakes, don't get married or have a kid just for the deployment. I will have to say though, that those who are married or are expecting a family were alot more loyal than others. Engagements were almost all, to 99%, broken in my unit while overseas though.

Another reason, is I can't imagine being married to the person I loved when I was 20, and I'm only 3 years older. Imagine how I would feel at 25???

Anywho, just some advice for you guys out there.

Any other advice, you ask? Keep your hand receipts, and for gods sakes, don't take your M9 apart past operator level! Soldiers break too many weapons.

The Liberal Soldier & Stop-Loss

Okay, so my experience with stop-loss is pretty simple, the unit that I went to Iraq with filled two of its positions with Stop-Lossers, one from Florida, one who was from Philadelphia or something. Im not quite sure how they were picked or anything, but they went along with us, and in all honesty, I didn't even think about them as Stop-Loss. I really didn't even know (because they were in a different platoon) until about four months into the deployment.

Firstly, lets get it out of the way. I don't neccessarily support the war, not to hard to tell from my blog title. But I did my job, and I feel I followed in the traditions of Jefferson and other Patriots of Liberal Persuasion. However, doing my duty, and agreeing with it, are two different things totally. Suffice it to say, though, I saw some sense in it, on some level.

Okay, as for Stop-Loss, yes I think it sucks. I mean your chilling on the couch one day, and the next thing you get a letter telling you that you've been re-activated with the sole intent of sending you into a combat zone. Or maybe, if your lucky, of filling in for a leaving unit on a post for a few months. That would actually be quite kosher. I wont lie, I saw that movie Stop-Loss and identified with it in some respects.

However, Stop-Loss, while it does suck, is apart of the contract. Maybe you weren't aware of it when you signed, but it shouldn't take long for you to learn about it in truth. Thats about as much as you can say about Stop-Loss, that it sucks.

A backdoor draft? No. At one point in time they had been of the mindset to agree to the contract, the contract stipulated stop loss policies, and was available to be read. So thus a person signs into stop-loss.

Do I believe that there is a bit of misinformation? Certainly. Im sure right now there is some young kid signing his contract without fully realizing anything about it. But it happens all to often, and the best you can hope, is that he learns his lesson, and learns from it.

Thats as much as I have to say for it. Yeah it sucks, and yeah if you ask me if I feel bad, I will say yes. Do I think its the same thing as a Draft, or Similiar to it? No. It has more to do with demographic recruiting than it does with the draft.