Sending pink slips to a war zone

[OriginalShroom]

OK.. I'm of two minds on this..

1 - These guys and gals are still in danger, they are still putting their lives and limbs at risk and they are being told that they will be separated when they get home. How are they going to keep their minds on the issues and dangers at hand when they are going to be also concerned about how they are going to support their families when they get home?

2 - At least they are being told early enough that they have time to send out some resumes and start looking for jobs.

I don't know which would be worse... Damned if you do or damned if you don't.

Both those options are horrible for our active duty people.


I think it would have been better if these people would have been told upon their return that they would be separating in 180 days.

At least that way they would not be job hunting while in a danger zone and have some time, though not a whole lot, to look for a job upon their return.

Sending pink slips to a war zone | New York Post

In a stunning display of callousness, the Defense Department has announced that thousands of soldiers — many serving as commanding officers in Afghanistan — will be notified in the coming weeks that their service to the country is no longer needed.

Last week, more than 1,100 Army captains — the men and women who know best how to fight this enemy because they have experienced multiple deployments — were told they’ll be retired from the Army.

The overall news is not unexpected. The Army has ended its major operations in Iraq and is winding down in Afghanistan. Budget cuts are projected to shrink the Army from its current 520,000 troops to 440,000, the smallest size since before World War II.

What is astonishing is that the Defense Department thought it would be appropriate to notify deployed soldiers — men and women risking their lives daily in combat zones — that they’ll be laid off after their current deployment.

 

[g5000]

An Army captain will have no trouble finding civilian employment.

The military is way too top heavy. It was when I was active duty, and it still is.

It's the enlisted man who has difficulty finding a job afterwards, not officers.

 

[whitehall]

Let's look at in a pragmatic way. It's clear that we are hopelessly bogged down in Afghanistan in a conflict that the administration has acknowledged we can't win so why the hell do we need 1,100 captains? The Military isn't an employment agency. Too bad the administration isn't as enthusiastic about trimming the drones in the rest of government though.

 

[Mad Scientist]

See how that works? The Military is run like a Business, a Corporation. And when the Business starts loosing money the Workers are the first to go.

You think the Military is gonna' cut down on making it's Product: War?

No f*ckin' way!

If the Military REALLY existed to protect YOU and not Corporate Profits wouldn't they be on the Borders?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

The military needs to downsize. It's way too large. 40% of military spending world wide is done by the U.S. We need to scale back our forces, start shuttering most of our foreign bases, and put our soldiers on our own borders where they belong. Nowhere in the Constitution were we given a charter to police the world and I think the majority of us have finally grown tired of playing the role.

My sister is a Major in the Army. She just got back from Afghanistan a couple of days ago and she'll be finding out within the next week if she will be let go or not.

 

[OriginalShroom]

I don't agree that the military needs to downsize.

I do agree that we need to draw most of our troops back from the more remote places that they are.

I would rather see them at just a few, large, joint service bases. One in England. One in the Med area, one in Australia/New Zealand, and one in the Far East. These would be large bases with all branches on them. That means they would have to have Ocean access for the Navy/Marines.

The rest of the military would be back Stateside and placed along the borders. The Southern Border would become one very large and long Army/Marine ground training area. The Navy and Marine would use the Rio Grande for small ship/boat training.