please, please go read this post(ROBBING PETER) and especially the comments( THE COMMENTS ARE ENLIGHTENING!)
over at:



http://rangeragainstwar.blogspot.com/






In the Carboniferous Epoch
we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter
to pay for collective Paul
--Rudyard Kipling

and from every dead child a rifle with eyes,
and from every crime bullets are born
which will one day find
the bull's eye of your hearts
--I'm Explaining a Few Things, Pablo Neruda
_____________

This week Ranger met a young former Marine with two combat tours and now attending university, poring over his textbooks at a local coffee shop. "Mark" is two years out of service, and his grades and academic standards in that time are notable; he will have achieved his baccalaureate in only three years. Problem is, he has orders to report to Kansas City, Missouri, for his recall to active duty in three weeks.


This fine young man also has a 70% Department of Veterans Affairs service-connected disability rating, to include wounds to his hand with nerve damage, PTSD at 30%, migraines, headaches, head wounds and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The head wounds and hand wounds are clearly visible.


Why Kansas City? Why not somewhere in Florida? Why recall him at all? He has done his duty in spades. The orders specified that he was required for the Global War on Terror. What tripe!


What is happening here? Don't the DVA and Department of Defense computers talk? Is the USMC so desperate for fresh meat that they must prey upon discharged personnel? Not to mention discharged, seriously wounded combat veterans who have already paid the price?

Mark is planning to report for this induction. Ranger advised him to ignore the orders. Would any court possibly hold him in violation of the law?


Ranger is humbled talking to such fine young men. Older veterans can sometimes forget the trials and tribulations of our newest members (Veterans, Alone Together, Share Stories They can't Tell You), which is something none of us should ever do. As Andrew Exum wrote in the NYT (For Some Soldiers, The War Never Ends), these soldiers are being conscripted, contrary to the claims of an all-volunteer Army -- they should not be treated as "election-year fodder."

We should be working very hard to stop the cruel scenario in which Mark and countless others find themselves. That is our duty.

Follow-on: Saw Mark briefly at the VA OPC Friday and he said his father, a Vietnam veteran like yours truly, also suggested he appeal the orders. We will see.


Labels: andrew exum, injured marine recalled for third term of combat duty, tbi ordered back on service, usmc desparate for recruits

posted by rangeragainstwar at 6:33 PM 19 comments links to this post