Units being activated

[Force Flow]

A good friend of mine got a called out of class and got a phone call that his military unit had be activated. Him and many of his friends are in the same unit. It's...scary. I don't really know what to say.

My friend doesn't really want his friends as well as himself to go. I don't know...it's all confusing to me...

They havn't gone to boot camp yet, so I suppose then have some time before they're actually called out. I just don't really know...

[Tuf]

Several of my close friends that are still active duty got their orders this week. They will be leaving in early March. It all seems too familar. I hoped the last time would be the last.

I wish them all a speedy return and may God be with them.

[not important]

It's not really confusing.
When you join the Military Reseves and accept the money for your education you also agree to serve your country in times of need.

[Mr N8]

You don't ever expect to be in a war, though. Our country had been enjoying a relatively small military involvement, compared to the couple of decades preceeding it.

I have 6 friends in Kuwait right now. Its a tough situation to be in, and my prayers go out to all the men & women serving our country right now.

[jamesrpm]

A friend of mine just got his retirement put on hold "for the duration". Not just the youg guys going. I wish they didn't have to go. But I wish the World Trade Center was still there too. God speed to them all !

[morriswindgate]

The one thing I am glad to see with are military leaders today is the idea of overwhelming force with no quarter. This does more to protect our people than anything .
If you haven't seen this, it will warm your heart, this is the video or an AC130 Gunship attack on the Talaban. It goes for 9 minutes and these poor bast**ds never knew what hit them or where it was coming from. I know the first time I saw it I was wondering what the last thoughts of the guy making Olympic Gold Medal time running down the road was. I bet he was pretty sorry he listened to the Mullahs.
Anyway go to the site click on the second link and page down for the video viewing screen

http://www.factsofisrael.com/load.php?p=http://www.factsofisrael.com/blog/archives/000560.html

[dldz]

Well that was a real nice find Morris very interesting links,especially running full screen :D
Don

[avx]

which link was it, I can only get the black and white arial view...where is the good one?

[Tuf]

That is a good view of the activity using infared imaging. Displayed full screen it's a better view than the guys in the plane had originally.

It's the real thing, it can't get any better.

[padawan]

No offense, but I did my time, and although I never wanted to die, I went to Somalia and the desert when called. For 11 years (until I was injured and released), I served anywhere, anytime. I've been shot at, and scared. It's called duty. Some people these days sign up for the military for the college money and base exchange, but forget the real reason they are joining.

I find if offensive that young people join the military yet are upset when called to do their job. I saw it among the active duty ranks, too. When the deployments started, people got all pissed off. If you can't handle the fact that your primary mission is to kill some other guy, and possibly get yourself killed in the process, don't enlist. There are plenty of other ways to get college money. Student loans are a good start.

[Tiretool]

Amen padawan. I couldn't have said it any better.

I also served, though not as long (7 1/2 years) and I never once gave a second thought when told I had orders to a far off land where danger was a possibility.

I was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Fox (http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/desert_fox/) and even though Iraq didn't retaliate, there was a definite sense of urgency and everyone was fearful of incoming scuds. We all had to carry our wartime equipment (including chemical and biological safety gear). Even during that period of my military service, although scared, I would not have traded places with a guy stationed in some base in the states who didn't happen to get selected to go. I felt I had a duty to be at the particular place I was at during that time frame.

I never signed on for college tuition, or BX priviledges. I was drawn to the military primarily to get out of the place I was currently, and as a sense of duty instilled by my parents. My dad served his stint in the Army during Vietnam, not as a draftee, but as a volunteer. I felt that it was my turn and I'm quite glad I did. I don't know where I might have ended up if I hadn't made that decision to join the Armed Forces. Probably at some dead end job making minimum wages.

It's a shame so few young people don't feel an obligation to serve their country. The feeling of pride and patriotism that it rewards you with is something that money (or college) can't buy.

[LawyerRon]

Good point padawan.

btw; how do you get that AC-130 video on full screen?

[dldz]

When it starts playing I right clicked it and selected full screen then esc to get out of it.
Don

[crank33]

Like Force-flow2002, I am confused about something. The Security Council (some of them) say there isn't going to be a war, there are thousands, maybe millions, of Sadam-lovers demonstrating all over the world against war, even Tony Blair says we are going to give the inspectors more time and at the same time all this is going on, we are locking on our targets. What the heck is going on? Are we going to attack that scum-bag or aren't we? By the way, I did my time in Korea, voluntarily, and I'd like to join up again if I wasn't so darned old. Crank

[padawan]

Well, here's my take on the whole thing. Bush wants to take out Iraq, period. But, he wants to do it with the blessing of the world, if he can get it. Of course, this war thing is wreaking havoc on the US economy. Bad economy means Bush will lose in the next election. This bodes well for parties *cough* liberals *cough*, and EU nations that do not like Bush. No quick end to the war in Iraq means poor US economy, and Dems win the election next term. If Bush goes against the UN and Congress, and attacks, he looks like a warmonger. Talk about having someone by the short curlies.

[Force Flow]

I've been thinking along the same lines, padawan.

What I'm confused about is why people who have yet to be trained and have yet to finish school are being activated.

[Alienware_Dude]

Padawan, do you need a glass of water? :D :D

[avx]

Very simple, if they have been through bootcamp, they have their training and should be more than rdy to go into combat.

School has no weight in war, regaurdless of whether or not you have finished, if they call you out, you are excused from any and all civilian duties, including school.

and the reason they are calling out so many people is because that is the strategy in which they are fighting this war..."overwhelming force". Their hopes are to literally depress the fght out of them...when you look at your force and all you really have is some village people and camels, and you look at the opposing force and you see over 350,000 soldiers, armed with some of the most high tech weapons available..you tend to lose your will to fight.

I would like to thank my recruiter Srgt. William O'Calla for these well infromed answers:D

[padawan]

Heh, no water needed :D

I just hate to see my fellow service members used a political pawns. I could go on about how nobody argued during Bosnia and previous Iraq bombing, but that would be reserved for the political forum.

The war strategy is a good one, overwhelming force is always a great thing. If course, you could look at this as a sign of our weakness, too. The US military has been drawn down so far that we need time to get our forces in place to fight. Our units in Europe are almost nill, so we need months of "prep time" to get our untis in place for combat. Not a great way to operate by any means. If Iraq attacked us when we only had like say 50% of our units in place, things could get ugly. No doubt we would win, but it would be tougher.

Also, the days of the US military plan being able to wage two wars at the same time is long gone. Notice that N. Korea finds this to be the best time to start crap, since they know our forces are already to thin, and we cannot fight and win a war on two fronts. I believe our current policy is something like fight one war while maintaining a stale mate on the other front. Great plan! What happens if you lose troops fight war A, and don't have enough stuff left to win war B?

I think I'll go get that water now.... :D

[ylen13]

pesronally hopping we will not have war and im actually for it.Have friend who is in special ops and he will be in iraq fighting when bush declares war. The reason i don't say if is because its pretty clear to all american people that bush decided along time ago that he will attack.So for sake of all of the solders that are getting ready to go to war i hope we will not have war but if we do then i hope we win it quickly with out any loses on our side(and with out killing friendly fire incident that happened both in 91 war and in afganistan)

[Tuf]

The plan assumes the world is stable enough that there won't be two major wars going on at the same time. Not a real good assumption in my opinion or anyone with some military service in their background.

It also assumes we can predict these things farther into the future than we could before. Always bad to assume you are smarter than your father and your grandfather. Even if we are better informed than our forefathers it doesn't mesn anything if we don't do anything with what we learn.

So I yes I agree our military is too scaled down to be effective in the ways we want and need it to be.

[ylen13]

Originally posted by Tuf
The plan assumes the world is stable enough that there won't be two major wars going on at the same time. Not a real good assumption in my opinion or anyone with some military service in their background.

It also assumes we can predict these things farther into the future than we could before. Always bad to assume you are smarter than your father and your grandfather. Even if we are better informed than our forefathers it doesn't mesn anything if we don't do anything with what we learn.

So I yes I agree our military is too scaled down to be effective in the ways we want and need it to be.

without starting a flame war would reactivating draft for bootcamp training only help to prepare the general public in the event that we are not prepared for 2 wars at the same time and we need draftes to protect/fight the wars?

[padawan]

I think if we had to enact a draft to fight this tiny little Iraqi war, the public might get an idea just how small our military has become. Sure, we have the coolest toys on the block, just not very many of them. Each unit we lose is a blow to our forces, since many times the unit is not replaced.

But, a draft would cause riots, I think. People these days just have no idea what war is all about, and it has been long enough since Vietnam that most of this generation have forgotten/never seen it. The Gulf War was too easy, and people expect that to be how war it these days. This country is in no way prepared for a major war, both publicly or militarily.

[avx]

I agree with you padawan, people would probably do something dumb like riot, or start patitioning congress if they were to start a draft, it really irks me that people think if we just dont go to war, everything will go away...lets face it, its on...and I personally cannot believe that people actually consider this a "needless war". Why do so many people think that by turning against their own country, they are gonna make things any easier on our military...sometimes I just wish they could spend 1 week in Iraq and see how "needless" this war is...they just dont understand...

[Tuf]

I think compulsory military service is a good idea. Whether it would work or not I don't know. It would have with my generation. I'm not so sure with today's group that have been taught not to confirm to any standard that it would be worth the effort. There are still plenty of good youngsters out there but there's no shortage of the other type either.

But having every young man spend three to six months in the service after high school seems like a good idea to let them know what could be coming for them down the road. Because as our military gets smaller the possibility of a call up becomes more likely.

[Alienware_Dude]

If there is a long, full-scale war, I plan on enlisting anyway, draft or no draft. It's the very least I can do.

[ylen13]

Originally posted by Alienware_Dude
If there is a long, full-scale war, I plan on enlisting anyway, draft or no draft. It's the very least I can do.

two question for u then

1) have u ever been enlisted before? If not then second question

2)If this is first time u will have to go thru bootcamp(not sure if reennlister have to do it also)Which takes usually 6 weeks so unless a war is very long u will not be envolved in that war.Would u still enlist. Just wondering

[Alienware_Dude]

I'm only a few weeks shy of 16, so I've never been enlisted before, no. Yes, I would still enlist. When I say "long, full-scale war", I mean at least a year. Out of curiosity, how old do you actually have to be to enlist? Bottom line: if there is a need, I'll be the first in line. I'm not incredibly patriotic, I just(to partially quote Douglas MacArthur)don't want to tell my Grandchildren that during the War of 2003(for lack of a better term)I was shoveling s**t in Mississippi.

[ylen13]

Originally posted by Alienware_Dude
I'm only a few weeks shy of 16, so I've never been enlisted before, no. Yes, I would still enlist. When I say "long, full-scale war", I mean at least a year. Out of curiosity, how old do you actually have to be to enlist? Bottom line: if there is a need, I'll be the first in line. I'm not incredibly patriotic, I just(to partially quote Douglas MacArthur)don't want to tell my Grandchildren that during the War of 2003(for lack of a better term)I was shoveling s**t in Mississippi.

i think its 18 but could totally be wrong.Never have joined the army then again im only 21 1/2 so still have time if i decide to or if the country is in such bad cituation that its needs my help

[glc]

You can enlist under 18 with parental permission - but they may want a high school diploma or a GED these days. Ask your local recruiter.

[Alienware_Dude]

Thanks for the info.

[Tiretool]

Yes George, you have to have a High School Diploma or GED to enlist in any of our Armed Forces. I find this a very smart rule, as I would definitely not want to share a foxhole/cockpit/bunker/missile silo/etc. with anyone who can't graduate from high school. I mean, there are those who are filled with common sense and don't necessarily "have" to graduate to be smart, but why gamble and get stuck with a dimwit who doesn't know the butt of a rifle from the barrel?

And I think the way the age thing goes is you can enlist months before you turn 18 but can only go to Basic Training on or after your 18th birthday.

I may be wrong on that last part.

[ylen13]

Originally posted by Tiretool
Yes George, you have to have a High School Diploma or GED to enlist in any of our Armed Forces. I find this a very smart rule, as I would definitely not want to share a foxhole/cockpit/bunker/missile silo/etc. with anyone who can't graduate from high school. I mean, there are those who are filled with common sense and don't necessarily "have" to graduate to be smart, but why gamble and get stuck with a dimwit who doesn't know the butt of a rifle from the barrel?

And I think the way the age thing goes is you can enlist months before you turn 18 but can only go to Basic Training on or after your 18th birthday.

I may be wrong on that last part.

if u become a reserv do u still go thru basic training if so how long is it.

[glc]

Yes, Reserves have to take the same basic training, I think it's like 7 weeks now? It depends on the branch of service.