Oh, Good Grief!
Nov. 10th, 2003 08:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreRead this story:
Mom caught in custody fight also battling Army over return to Iraq Soldier declared AWOL as she seeks new child-care arrangement
OK. I have one question. If you have SEVEN children, what the fuck are you doing in the United States Army?!
What, did neither you nor your husband, a platoon sergeant in a combat unit, understand that being in the service meant that you might just be called on to head overseas for extended periods to, I don't know, FIGHT A GODDAMN WAR!? Did you think those camouflage uniforms and weapons were for show and tell? During WWII, soldiers (even the female WACs) were away from their families for years.
Then there is the sheer number of children involved. The woman involved is 30, Two of the kids are from her husband's previous relationship. That means this woman has had five children.. and she's thirty. I have to wonder how often she even made drills! Now dear old Mom is facing prison time (intentionally missing a movement to avoid duty in a combat zone is a death penalty offense in the military.) Realistically, she won't get lined up against a wall and shot. But she's screwed herself but good.
She's also screwed everyone in her unit who will now have to shoulder her load while she gets court-martialed. A 14-hour day will become a 16-hour day. A soldier won't be seen quite as quickly. Call me an old-fashioned reactionary if you like, but if there is anything that would prevent you from deploying and doing your duty for as long as it takes, you should be separated from the service. Ridiculous.
And now we'll see the usual suspects decry the "inhumanity of the military." Guess what? Nobody held a gun to this alleged adult's head and forced her to recite the Oath of Enlistment. Please read that. I don't see anything in there that says "unless it inconveniences me and my family."
Mom caught in custody fight also battling Army over return to Iraq Soldier declared AWOL as she seeks new child-care arrangement
OK. I have one question. If you have SEVEN children, what the fuck are you doing in the United States Army?!
What, did neither you nor your husband, a platoon sergeant in a combat unit, understand that being in the service meant that you might just be called on to head overseas for extended periods to, I don't know, FIGHT A GODDAMN WAR!? Did you think those camouflage uniforms and weapons were for show and tell? During WWII, soldiers (even the female WACs) were away from their families for years.
Then there is the sheer number of children involved. The woman involved is 30, Two of the kids are from her husband's previous relationship. That means this woman has had five children.. and she's thirty. I have to wonder how often she even made drills! Now dear old Mom is facing prison time (intentionally missing a movement to avoid duty in a combat zone is a death penalty offense in the military.) Realistically, she won't get lined up against a wall and shot. But she's screwed herself but good.
She's also screwed everyone in her unit who will now have to shoulder her load while she gets court-martialed. A 14-hour day will become a 16-hour day. A soldier won't be seen quite as quickly. Call me an old-fashioned reactionary if you like, but if there is anything that would prevent you from deploying and doing your duty for as long as it takes, you should be separated from the service. Ridiculous.
And now we'll see the usual suspects decry the "inhumanity of the military." Guess what? Nobody held a gun to this alleged adult's head and forced her to recite the Oath of Enlistment. Please read that. I don't see anything in there that says "unless it inconveniences me and my family."
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no subject
Date: 10 Nov 2003 11:26 (UTC)She had care for her children, just like those men and women in WWII that you mentioned, for the first six months of her deployment. If the ex-wife hadn't tried to seize control, and if her father(-in-law?) hadn't become even more ill, she would have been covered.
So, again, what part of "circumstances beyond her control" do you have a problem with given that she did, in fact, spend six months in Iraq before she landed between this particular rock and hard place? And, once this situation came up, why do you not have a problem with the Army not granting compassionate leave given the difficulties in her family situation?
She was in Iraq when her home life dropped in the pot. I don't see how that's her fault. Arrangements had been made for care of her kids, until she got stabbed in the back by her husband's ex.
And you appear to be saying, "I don't care that the situation changed while you were on the other side of the world, I'm not going to give you a chance to get your home life sorted out before ordering you back into the breach."
no subject
Date: 10 Nov 2003 14:19 (UTC)