Frag Dolls not content with gaming bloodshed

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9 responses to “Frag Dolls not content with gaming bloodshed”

1. 

   Elaine Supkis

   August 2, 2005

   Your blog is now on our blog! Congratulations!

   I emailed our General JC about you guys and asked him to give you posting privilages. I hope he does.

   Hope to see you around more at Operation Yellow Elephant! PS. Great blog you have here. I am always amazed at the great blogs around the place. Mine is Culture of Life News

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2. 

   Idyllopus

   August 2, 2005

   Thanks, Elaine! I was simply infuriated by this.

   Visited your blog which for some reason I’ve not been to before. Ditto on always being amazed at the quality blogs around, and thanks for pointing me your way. I really regret I’ve not been around previously!

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3. 

   Earl Bockenfeld

   August 2, 2005

   If the “frag Dolls” are unbeatable, even by experienced special forces – they belong in the military. And any high schoolers, that get beatup by the ‘frag dolls’ better run not walk away from all the recruiters.

   If the gov is going about a war, they’ll lie like hell about the military. I’m pissed, big time, about Iraq vets who are taking another tour.

   Pitch #1, a $30,000 signing bonus.
   Pitch #2, don’t sign, and you will be stop-lossed, and spend the same time in Iraq.
   Pitch#3, since you’re stuck anyway, take the bonus.
   Pitch #4, Runny can say that new recruits are now, but the vets who have in Iraq, believe in the job we’re doing, and sign-up in above average numbers that balance out the lower recruits.

   What a bunch lying SOBs, but you already knew that.

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4. 

   Jay Taber

   August 2, 2005

   In the PBS film Secret Life of the Brain (as well as in the book of the same title), it is observed that the human brain is not fully formed (especially in terms of judgment and self-restraint) until about age 25. It would seem that sending anyone younger to war is then a form of child abuse in today’s criminal syndicate warfare.

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5. 

   Idyllopus

   August 2, 2005

   Jay, fits right in with 18 to 24 year olds being the group that commits the most crime (I give this with some reservation as what I read didn’t report what type of crime) and also being the group that is most susceptible to media. Wonder if it’s coincidental or not that it takes up to usually the age when those pursuing Masters are getting out of school.

   But agreed. Certainly, if young people aren’t considered mature enough to drink until the age of 21 then they’ve no business in the military.

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6. 

   Idyllopus

   August 2, 2005

   Steve, my head ends up swimming when I try to figure out the bonus angle. I know some can get up to that much.

   Army offers special tax-free reup bonuses to deployed Soldiers

   CAMP VICTORY, IRAQ, Feb. 16, 2005 — Like any major corporation, the Army is always looking for ways to retain its trained and qualified employees.

   One of the ways the Army does this is by providing Soldiers with reenlistment bonuses. Until recently, only Soldiers of certain rank or military occupational specialty qualified for reenlistment bonuses. Soldiers also had to wait for their reenlistment window to open before they could reenlist, thus making it difficult for them to get tax-free bonuses by signing up during deployment.

   However, all that changed Jan. 18, 2005, when the Department of the Army sent out a military personnel message to Army career counselors around the globe. The Selective Reenlistment Bonus-Deployed Program allows deployed Soldiers to reenlist while abroad for a chance to receive a tax-free bonus of up to $15,000.

   “Basically, you can reenlist outside of your window while deployed to take advantage of the reenlistment bonus in a deployment area where it will be tax free,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jorge Garcia, career counselor, Task Force Dragon, Camp Victory, Iraq.

   Garcia said the program is a great opportunity for Soldiers because many of them wouldn’t qualify for a reenlistment bonus if they reenlisted without being deployed.

   Soldiers have two options when reenlisting under the new program. They can sign up for the needs of the Army, which lets the Army choose their next duty station; or stabilization, which locks in their current duty station for two years after they redeploy.

   Even though most Soldiers will qualify for a bonus if they reenlist while deployed, Garcia said not everyone will get the full $15,000 and some may not even qualify for a bonus at all.

   “It’s all in the math,” he said.

   Under the new program, Soldiers will fall into two categories based on their pay grade and time in service. Soldiers in their initial term of enlistment who have served between 17 months and six years fall into the A zone, whereas Soldiers who have served between six and 10 years fall into the B zone. Soldiers in the A zone will be awarded 1.5 times their monthly base pay multiplied by the number of years they reenlist for beyond their current ETS date. Soldiers in the B zone will qualify for their base pay multiplied by the number of years they reenlist for. All bonuses will be paid in one lump sum.

   Garcia said Soldiers in some MOSs might qualify for more money based on their standard bonuses. “For instance,” he said, “an explosive ordnance disposal specialist normally qualifies for 3.5 times their base pay multiplied by the number of years and can go up to $30,000, so they would want to stick with that option.

   For more information about Selective Reenlistment Bonuses, Soldiers should speak to their unit or installation career counselor.

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7. 

   Earl Bockenfeld

   August 2, 2005

   Idyllopus, all I know is what I read.
   A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
   By Cindy Sheehan, Cofounder of Gold Star Families for Peace

   Lisa from Washington State writes:

   My son-in-law in Iraq said they are being pressured round the clock to re-enlist or face stop loss. They are being offering $30,000 signing bonus, tax free and told if they don’t re-enlist, they are going to be stop lossed and get zero dollars. They are pushing the troops round the clock and Mark only got 3 hours sleep in 48 hours and when they get back, they are faced yet again with re-enlisting. Mark said many guys are scared and signing up and their families at home are very upset. (with good reason) We really need to push our media and congressmen to expose the horrible way our troops are being treated.

   Lietta, also from Washington State, writes:

   Yes, I have been trying since January 05 to get the word out regarding my own 2 loved ones and the soldiers in their division. Both served in Iraq, and their division, 1st Armored, was the first to be ‘extended,’ so they served 15 months in Iraq, April 03 – July 04. They came back to their bases in August 04. A mere 5 months later, Jan 05, their division was told they were under orders to redeploy to Iraq and Stop Lossed and would redeploy in Fall 05. And I have been trying to call attention to the ‘Retention’ practices ever since.

   March 05, it was time for both to make decision to re-enlist. As already under orders to redeploy; as already under Stop Loss; their choices = 1) don’t re-enlist but you will wind up in Iraq anyway under Stop Loss or 2) re-enlist and while you’ll still wind up in Iraq under Stop Loss, at least you’ll have the attractive bonus being offered.

   The point is that the ‘Retention’ rate that is being touted as demonstrative of soldier’s fervor and good faith in the war is another deception being foisted on the media and public. Closer to the truth of the situation is that one they are in, they cannot get out and it is entrapment from the front end with deceptive recruitment practices, again at re-enlistment time with the threat of deployment to Iraq under Stop Loss, again when contract ends and they are kept in and deployed via Stop Loss. What continues to be called an ‘all voluntary military’ has become an ‘involuntary’ military through the use strategies of deception and legal maneuvering for which there seems to be no remedy in the Stop Loss.

   Tia from Baltimore writes (her stepson was KIA in Iraq):

   But I will never forget one thing: the day we dropped David off for boot camp – the day his father and I first met the recruiter – the recruiter put out his hand, smiled at me, shook my hand and said “you’ll never have to worry about him again”. I was shocked. I can only speculate what this person was telling David.

   These are not isolated stories from the illegal occupation, but they are illustrative of what is happening to our young people who thought they were doing the right and honorable thing by enlisting in the military. This is an immoral war that our troops never should have been sent to in the first place, and once they are there and have done their time, it is very difficult for them to get out of the distant mental desert and come home to their loved ones.

   Not only are the backend policies of retention shady, but the front-end policies of recruiting our vulnerable youth are often downright unethical. Few citizens in our country (I know I didn’t) realize that an enlistment contract is only binding on the recruit. Once the recruit raises his/her right hand and swears allegiance to the government, that recruit becomes the property of Uncle Sam and is bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Ethics, promises, and moral correctness often fly out the window as servitude, hardship, and heartache fly in.

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8. 

   Jay Taber

   August 2, 2005

   As sort of a corollary to Feral Scholar’s current series on institutionalized sexual aggression in the military, this speaks volumes about manipulating and channeling all the frustrations of pre-adult males into state-sanctioned violence that reverberates in sociopathic symptoms like rape and domestic violence and indeed self-destruction on a colossal scale.

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9. 

   Agitprop

   August 3, 2005

   Nice work Idyllopus. You would make a great addition to Operation Yellow Elephant.

   Reply