1215 American troops re-enlisted in the military on July 4th. They know they’ll be sent back to Iraq. What do they know that Democrats and others who continue to oppose the war don’t? Will opponents of the war ever recognize that the arguments fueling the opposition to the war have always been and continue to be lies, and that those lies are mere political tools for professional politicians seeking to gain or hold power?
1215 Americans who have been there, who are there, and who will either stay there or return…those 1215 Americans know something that the most fervent opponents of the war do not. They know something that the mainstream media apparently isn’t reporting. They know that regardless of a six year old debate, the enemy-a death cult of faux Islamic Holy Warriors-is waging a terrorist war in Iraq, and that if America leaves the fight, there will have to be a 3rd invasion.
My personal thanks to all those who serve, served, and particularly to those who re-enlisted in Saddam’s old palace yesterday, on July 4th, 2008.
Patriots all!
Author of “Reparations and America’s 2nd Civil War
Reparations and America’s 2nd Civil War: Malensek, Scott: 9798864028674: Amazon.com: Books
“What do they know that Democrats and others who continue to oppose the war don’t?”
What date their mortgage payment is due?
This is a job.
RE: “This is a job.” – Sure Kilo, they’re in it for the money.
Or perhaps its because you just know they’re simply not smart enough to get a better job anywhere else.
What a sad, sad puppy you are…
Petraeus should have been Man of the Year in 2007. But hey, even if Time Magazine dissed him, he gets the props he deserves from the troops, who obviously love him.
Profiteers not patriots?
“What date their mortgage payment is due? This is a job.”
My guess is that if this happened in Feb 09 after President Obama were sworn in, Kilo’d call em patriots, but not until GWB’s gone and the political usefulness of the lie that it’s “Bush’s War” is no longer expedient.
“1215 Americans who have been there”
I’m confused. I thought the 1215 WERE there, in Baghdad.
In any case. Thanks. Wish I was there.
(To the troll-feeders: give it up. You lose. The trolls loose. The rest of us lose having to carry the load.)
Your contention, then, is that nobody is in the military because it is a job? Every single person is in it because of patriotism?
Let’s see! 1215 reenlist while in Baghdad. Hey Murtha You motha are these killers too. G-D bless our troops and G-D bless this great country, that the likes of Murtha want to tear asunder.
“Your contention, then, is that nobody is in the military because it is a job? ”
Maybe not.
But it is the way to bet.
Last I heard, the pay wasn’t all that good–particularly when you consider the outstanding quality of those people.
What do you do for a living, Kilo? DW 5000? Collect unemployment?
Fascinating. What does my job have to do with the topic at hand?
They are all smokin rope.
Truely Awesome 🙂
The Troops know that they have a job to complete, if left up to the Democrats they would have come home losers.
They will be coming home victorious and the Democrats hate that.
What does your questioning of the reason why 1215 more troops re-enlisted have to do with your lack of patriotism?
Did some join the military for a job?
Sure, those that found out that joining the military was not exactly like joining the ‘peace’ corps quickly found ways to extricate themselves from the military and join IVAW.
The military has a way of shaking off the chaff and retaining the wheat.
To the military, currently or recently active, I have a question. I remember military enlistment service times to be 2-6 years, depending upon how much specific training for your job. If ROTC was involved (assuming one could find an office nowadays….), it was 4+ years commencing after graduation.
Anybody shed any light on current now?
Since I doubt it’s changed all that much, one would have to say those with an “it’s a job” ‘tude, and averse to doing the very demanding job of the US military, were weeded out years ago. Eras of active warfare do not attract those looking for an easy gig. And re’enlistment figures do not support Kilo’s skewed perspective.
Skye nailed it: “The military has a way of shaking off the chaff and retaining the wheat.”
Of course if Dems had their way the draft would be reimposed (that always struck me as odd that the biggest draft opponents were now the draft supporters) and the military would be saddled witn the chaff gumming up the works.
Well, that of course is the Dems intention. Saddle the military with a bunch of people that don’t want to be there then politicize their unhappiness.
Kilo- They use their combat pay for the rent. The rest is for tatoos that say hey Kilo kiss my A##
This is super wingnutty goodness: first, I question whether someone actually believes that patriotism is the only motivating factor for joining the military. Two people basically agree that there are other reasons for joining, yet go ahead and crack wise about my patriotism and whether I’m on welfare.
It’s self-evident that there are a variety of reasons for joining the military in addition to patriotism: to develop personal discipline, to develop leadership skills, to get funding for college, to develop job skills and resume material–even, for some, because it yields a regular paycheck.
The army has been aiming its advertising in that direction for decades.
Why does acknowledging this to be the case make me somehow unpatriotic?
Well, it doesn’t, of course; “unpatriotic” is just a convenient handle for a wingnut without a specific complaint to grab on to.
“convenient handle for a wingnut without a specific complaint to grab on to”
Clever. Did you steal, that yourself?
Ooh. Good comeback.
@ Patriot
“Sure Kilo, they’re in it for the money. Or perhaps its because you just know they’re simply not smart enough to get a better job anywhere else. What a sad, sad puppy you are”
I’m not the one here suggesting there is only one reason motivating people to enlist. Take that up with the author if you want. I’m suggesting the opposite.
I would however suggest that your response, to dumb this down to such a level and accost me for straw men arguements you invented yourself, suggests you are not smart enough to contribute anything better.
First of all, Kilo, the author’s post was not about “all” enlisted military. It was specifically about 1,215 of them, shown in the video provided above, who decided to re’enlist on Independence Day.
Now you may believe there happens to be 1,215 soldiers who’s stint magically happens to be up, not only all coincidently on the same day, but that day happened to be the 4th of July.
That’s a lot of shots in the dark on your part.
Or perhaps you aren’t getting the significance (or didn’t watch) the video. Personally what I see is soldiers who decided to re’up. And the fact they chose the 4th of July to do so says to me it’s done on that day *specifically* for patriotism. If these 1,215 did it for the paycheck, they had no reason to have or participate in a ceremony doing so. It merely takes a signature and oath in private. This was done as a show of pride in our military.
Good un, Jainphx… got me really laughin on that one!
@ jainphx – “Kilo- They use their combat pay for the rent. The rest is for tatoos that say hey Kilo kiss my A##”
@ Larry Sheldon – “What do you do for a living, Kilo? DW 5000? Collect unemployment? ”
What exactly is your problem ?
How dare somebody suggest that this random blogger’s simplistic, vague, one-line suggestion for a wholly inclusive explanation for re-enlistment, actually isn’t ?
Great stuff. You’ve displayed a thought process on par with the liberals who can’t mention Bush without the word Nazi.
@ Mataharley
“Now you may believe there happens to be 1,215 soldiers who’s stint magically happens to be up, not only all coincidently on the same day, but that day happened to be the 4th of July.
That’s a lot of shots in the dark on your part. ”
Really ? That says more about what I was suggesting than author does it ?
Could we have someone volunteer to suggest the opposite case for problems in retention of officers ?
That this is either caused by the same vague “what they know” as referenced above, except to the opposite effect, or that more lucrative employment opportunities aren’t a significant factor. Cheers.
No, Kilo. What you suggested is that many of these 1,215 soldiers, who chose to be part of a public ceremony on the day of the US’s Independence, were doing so for “a job”.
You’re still way off base here because you actually “don’t get” they chose to *create* a ceremony on a very special day, when none was required. I guess “patriotism” from a soldier’s view escapes you.
“Sure, those that found out that joining the military was not exactly like joining the ‘peace’ corps quickly found ways to extricate themselves from the military and join IVAW.”
Surely after 5 years and countless numbers of exiting vets, if 30 guys turn up to the IVAW’s premier whinge event that’s been building up to all that time, you cannot have any justification for mentioning this organisation as though it is relevant.
There’d be more vets have joined knitting classes than that. Left handed Polish darts associations. Uphill karting clubs. Anything.
Make an effort to stay on point, Kilo. You attempt to misrepresent the post’s subject merely so you can whine. It’s like someone showing you features on a Ford Explorer in a car lot, and you complaining about the Ford factory’s assembly line for the entire product line.
“No, Kilo. What you suggested is that many of these 1,215 soldiers, who chose to be part of a public ceremony on the day of the US’s Independence, were doing so for “a job”.”
No. That was the author’s premise not mine. I suggested that it wasn’t based on some secret insight that they had and democrats didn’t.
“You’re still way off base here because you actually “don’t get” they chose to *create* a ceremony on a very special day, when none was required.”
LMAO. Yeah, and how resourceful are those re-enlisting soldiers to have secured Petraeus to preside over this impromptu ceremony. What a stroke of luck.
“I guess “patriotism” from a soldier’s view escapes you.”
How lucky then we have people like yourself and this author to speak for them.
You could continue that by speaking for the officers I mentioned.
Hmmm… here’s what’s in result #1 from my google news search, in the KC star…
“The millions of dollars” they receive was certainly one motive, [Petraeus] said. “But no bonus no matter the size can compare with the sacrifices you make in Iraq or the sacrifices your loved ones make back home.”
Army re-enlistment bonuses top out at $40,000, Navy at $75,000, Air Force at $60,000 and the Marines at $45,000.
A bonus’ size also depends on rank, military specialty, years of extension, years of service and other factors. Re-enlistment bonuses signed up for in a combat zone become tax-free.”
Let’s all pretend to wonder together whether that tax-free thing is just a complete fluke of coincidence in how the policy is written, or the entire fkn point. Or whether it is at all relevant to the statement that “hey these guys are there and they’re re-enlisting”, which didn’t mention this.
Their video of a *special ceremony on the 4th of July* is what speaks for them, Kilo. That is the only subject of this post, much as you’d like to try and expand it to something more.
Once more, s-l-o-w-l-y for you. It obviously takes awhile for your brain to catch up to your keyboard. So I will requote what you did not read in the author’s post:
This relates to your quick, on the spot, snipe remark about them needing a job, how?
It doesn’t. Period. You are hitting fouls to left field. And frankly, you’re really not worth digging your comments out of the spam filter (which is why some were delayed… I found them there.) Evidently the spam filter knows better than I what passes for worthless self-solicitation.
Hmmmm…. a Spc reporting in “News Blaze”….
“We went to our separate battalion career counselors on the same day,” said Joshua, who maintains line-of-sight communication antennas for the 1st “Raider” Brigade. “We didn’t realize it would happen on Memorial Day. It just worked out like that.”
Almost sounds like someone decided for them when this massive coordinated ceremony presided over by Petraeus occurred.
After attending a reenlistment briefing by Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Bobb, the senior enlisted leader for 1st BCT, in May, the McCoy’s decided the Army is the best place for their futures.
“Command Sgt. Maj. Bobb made a lot of good points during his briefing,” said Joshua, a native of Charleston, S.C. “We didn’t want to go home and not be able to find a job, so we decided our best bet to have a successful future was to reenlist.”
Maybe they each got tattoos on their ass that insulted each other for this.
A result from Army.Mil pops up near the top of the search. This is every quote contained therein…
“I knew I was going to stay. I had already made up my mind about four or five years ago,” … “”I was going to re-enlist when I got back,”
“I’ve been considering reenlisting for at least the past year,” … “I realized I wanted to stay in and make a career out of it. Besides, you can’t beat the benefits,” he said with a smile.”
“I had to really think about it at first,” he said. “I know I’m going to deploy again, but I don’t have much time left (until retirement). It’s a good thing for my kids. My family, after all, is secure – not just financially. I feel that my family is safer with me being in the military,”
“This is just one of many (reenlistments) to come,”
Memorial Day?? OMG… you are a waste of time. My first time in seeing you here. Can’t say as I’ll be paying much attention to your future utterings, Kilo.
That you believe our soldiers place some pittance bonuses as a value on their very lives (they are under fire) at least tells us volumes about you… As the saying goes, “we’ve determined *what* you are…”
Where’s the Flopping Aces fly swatter, guys? Another human gnat is a’swarming.
OMG!!!
Kilo,
@ Mataharley
“Now you may believe there happens to be 1,215 soldiers who’s stint magically happens to be up, not only all coincidently on the same day, but that day happened to be the 4th of July.
That’s a lot of shots in the dark on your part. ”
Really ? That says more about what I was suggesting than author does it ?
I am an ARMY Mom
First off the Soldiers duty cound have been up in June, Sometime in July, or next month for all that matters.
But Soldiers and Newly sworn in US Citizens choose the 4th of July For Patriotic reasons ONLY!
These folks can get sworn in at ANY time, but they CHOOSE the 4th of July to do it!
Oh Damn,
I have been away too long!
I am going to have to start coming back in and setting some of these fellows straight!
Right now it’s not the time to get out of any job to look for a new one. But there are probably benefits in Iraq including guarding the rebuilt swimming pool and park in Baghdad’s Zawra park. They could think of it as being in Jamaica or Miami, Florida but with less thungs and dry heat rather than humid heat.