Friday, January 02, 2009

Uncle Sam Wants You

War Vet, 50, Stunned By New Deployment - Nashville News Story - WSMV Nashville: "MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- A veteran who has been out of the military for 15 years and recently received his AARP card was stunned when he received notice he will be deployed to Iraq.

The last time Paul Bandel, 50, saw combat was in the early 1990s during the Gulf War."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm all for the soldiers who are getting their rear ends shot at and who are showing heroism that, given the conditions they often return to (e.g., VA hospitals), is above and beyond the call of duty. But this is one of the worst and most horrible cases of a lack of care - for a veteran, for the platoon he'll be serving in, for a veteran's family, for patriotism - that I've ever seen. It's symbolic of giving the lie to it's being worth to serve in the military. And I know. I've been there. And that's why I got out with the threat of military prison hanging over me as well as never having been paid my college stipend. A 50 year old going to combat is a travesty and it shows that the military is going to inconsiderate and dangerous ends to get bodies in the fighting force. I imagine this will make our young folks think much less of the concept of volunteering for patriotism's sake. If it happens, the U.S. government has no one to blame but, well, I was going to say "themselves," but I guess, since we're a democracy supposedly, it should be "ourselves." Go figure.

- Lawrence

Cap'n Bob said...

I can't imagine he'd pass the physical.