Would a draft change your stance on the War on Terrorism?

Plea to halt US girls' Iraq duty
Michelle (r) was killed when her jeep came under fire in Baghdad
The parents of a woman killed in Iraq are pleading for her two servicewomen sisters not to be sent back there.

Michelle Witmer, 20, was killed in an ambush on Friday when her Humvee jeep came under fire in Baghdad.

Her sisters Rachel and Charity, both with the National Guard, are serving tours of duty in Iraq.

Their father, John, says his family has sacrificed enough and his surviving daughters should not have to return to Iraq after Michelle's funeral.

"I can't live another year like I've lived this one," he said.

"The sacrifice that this family's made can never be understood by someone who hasn't gone through it... It's a burden I can't bear. My family can't bear it."

Michelle is thought to have been the first woman from the Wisconsin National Guard to be killed in Iraq.

Duty extended

Her sisters accompanied the body home to New Berlin, Wisconsin, where Michelle's funeral will take place on Wednesday.

The 32nd Military Police Company, to which both Rachel and Michelle were attached, had been due to leave Iraq shortly.


They have given one daughter. That should be enough for one family
Violet Pehringer
Neighbour
However, in an unfortunate turn of events, the company has just had its duty extended by 120 days.

Charity was sent to Iraq late last year as a medic with Company B of the Wisconsin Guard's 118th Medical Battalion.

There are also two sons in the family.

A spokesman for the Wisconsin Guard told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that because the sisters were on active duty they fell under the command of the army.

Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Curry said policy suggested family members could be excused serving in a hostile area policy if a family member is killed.

But Lt Col Curry told the Associated Press news agency the request must come from the soldiers themselves.

'Enough'

Mr Witmer acknowledged the final decision of whether to return will be up to his daughters.

But he said they would have to understand "how terribly we need to know they're not going back".

"They have given one daughter," said neighbour Violet Pehringer according to AP.

"That should be enough for one family."

The draft if it is reinstated is not needed to fight the war on terrorism but to fight Bush's war in Iraq. Would it change my vote NO, since as it stands now I wouldn't vote for Bush to be the local dog catcher. However,if word got out that the draft was to be reinstated Bush would stand as much chance of being reelected as a snowball in hell.

Army Lengthens Iraq Tours Despite Pledge
By ROBERT BURNS

WASHINGTON (AP) - For about 21,000 American soldiers, the Army's promise to limit tours of duty in Iraq to no more than 12 months has fallen victim to the surge in anti-occupation violence.

Approximately 14,500 soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, which is based in Germany, plus about 3,200 support troops and about 2,800 soldiers of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Polk, La., have been told that they will remain in Iraq for another three months instead of coming home this month, defense officials said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.



The decision breaks the Army's pledge to soldiers and their families that assignments in Iraq would not exceed one year. The affected soldiers already have been in Iraq for a year.

In addition, about 3,000 soldiers in a number of transportation and other support units based in Kuwait will be extended beyond one year, an official said Thursday. Many of them are in the National Guard or Reserve. They are deemed critical to resupplying the troops based in Iraq.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was to announce the decision Thursday. He had said last week that he would approve Iraq tour extensions if commanders believed it was necessary to maintain enough combat power to deal with the recent escalation of attacks by insurgents.

At a Baghdad news conference Thursday, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked whether the troop extensions indicate plans for large-scale offensive operations. He did not answer directly, saying the move was deemed necessary given ``extremist and terrorist acts that must be dealt with.''

Myers said it has yet to be determined how long the added combat power will be kept in Iraq.

``It will depend on events here on the ground,'' he said. ``But I think what it shows is our resolve to see this situation through.'' Myers was in Baghdad for talks with U.S. and coalition commanders and to meet with L. Paul Bremer, Iraq's U.S. administrator.

The troop extensions come at a particularly delicate moment. April has become the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Iraq since they set foot in the country in March 2003. The number of wounded also has skyrocketed.

The advantage of keeping soldiers of the 1st Armored and the 2nd Armored Cavalry in Iraq for an extra three months - rather than bringing in an equivalent number from elsewhere - is that these soldiers have unmatched combat experience in Iraq and familiarity with insurgents' tactics.

The Army is so stretched by its commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and elsewhere that it has few, if any, forces immediately available to substitute in Iraq for the 1st Armored or 2nd Armored Cavalry.

Also, these units have been heavily involved in one of the most important U.S. military missions there: training thousands of Iraqi security forces. Those Iraqi army and civil defense corps members are central to the Pentagon's plan for eventually turning over military control to the Iraqis and pulling out U.S. troops.

Gen. John Abizaid, the overall commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, had planned, as part of the current rotation of fresh forces into Iraq, to reduce the U.S. presence from about 135,000 troops to about 115,000.

But the surge this month in anti-occupation violence in restive areas in and around Baghdad and in the south has forced Abizaid to change course. He has indicated that he needed more forces than originally planned, but would not tell reporters exactly how many or where he would get them.

Fort Polk, the Army base in Louisiana that is home to the 2nd Armored Cavalry, issued a news release last week quoting the regiment's commander, Col. Bradley W. May, as saying ``elements'' of his unit ``will remain in theater longer than initially announced.'' He did not say how many soldiers were affected.

The 2nd Squadron of the 2nd Armored Cavalry recently returned home to Louisiana, but the rest of the unit will remain in Iraq. May did not say how much longer his unit would be in Iraq.

Other defense officials said family members were told the soldiers probably would be back at Fort Polk in about four months. They likely will be in Iraq an extra three months, then take a month to redeploy.

The 1st Armored and the 2nd Armored Cavalry are part of a contingent of about 135,000 U.S. soldiers who were being replaced this spring by a fresh group of soldiers and Marines. The 101st Airborne, the 4th Infantry Division and other units recently left Iraq, with the arrival of the 1st Infantry Division, a brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division, the 1st Cavalry Division and the 1st Marine Division. Two brigades of the Army National Guard also are newly arrived.

While surely disappointed that his troops must remain longer than planned, the commander of the 2nd Armored Cavalry has told them they should be ready to help finish the job.

``We are being called to end the fight against Muqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army and we will,'' May said, referring to the militia of the radical Shiite cleric who has incited violence against the U.S.-led occupation forces in southern cities including Najaf.

Still, the change of plans is bound to take a psychological toll. In a letter to his troops in January, May assured them that their time in Iraq was ``fast approaching its conclusion.''


04/15/04 11:58

Here are some other ideas of how to serve your country, McG, in case your application to serve on the draft board is turned down:

Local literacy program

Boys/Girls Club

Red Cross

Homeless shelter

Just off the top of my head...

there there, I'm sure the drafteees will still let you touch their firm young buttocks!

Is that what your D.I. did? You shouldn't repress those memories. They will just end up making you bitter and mean...oh, wait, it's too late for that. :wink:

Nah, none of them were even remotely attractive (BTW, we ahd dirll sergeants in teh Army. DI's are in the Marines.) I did have sex with one of the otehr squad leaders in AIT a few times, he had the cute goth-boy thing going from him.