Exercise in Futility: Chapter 1

20041206.003

As a new feature I will be from time to time, adding commenting on things I see as a waste of time and or money. We have all come across things that we know are doomed to failure from the get go. I will offer my personal views on them and why I think it’s a waste of time.

With out further a due:

The New York Times

A group of soldiers have decided that they don’t want to be in the army any longer.

Eight Soldiers Plan to Sue Over Army’s Stop-Loss Policy
By MONICA DAVEY
Published: December 6, 2004

ORRILTON, Ark., Dec. 3 - The eight soldiers come from places scattered across the country, from this small town an hour northwest of Little Rock to cities in Arizona, New Jersey and New York. In Iraq and Kuwait, where they all work now, most of them hold different jobs in different units, miles apart. Most have never met.

But the eight share a bond of anger: each says he has been prevented from coming home for good by an Army policy that has barred thousands of soldiers from leaving Iraq this year even though the terms of enlistment they signed up for have run out. And each of these eight soldiers has separately taken the extraordinary step of seeking legal help, through late-night Internet searches and e-mail inquiries from their camps in the conflict zone, or through rounds of phone calls by an equally frustrated wife or mother back home.
With legal support from the Center for Constitutional Rights, a liberal-leaning public interest group, lawyers for the eight men say they will file a lawsuit on Monday in federal court in Washington challenging the Army policy known as stop-loss.

My problem with this, and the reason I think it is a waste of time is because each of these men enlisted. They joined of their own free will. It shows a selfish streak on their own part and a lack of commitment.

One mane states:

"You should know I'm not against the war," said David W. Qualls, one of the plaintiffs and a former full-time soldier who signed up in July 2003 for a one-year stint in the Arkansas National Guard but now expects to be in Iraq until next year.

"This just isn't about that. This is a matter of fairness. My job was to go over and perform my duties under the contract I signed. But my year is up and it's been up. Now I believe that they should honor their end of the contract."

Read your paperwork David. You signed up, more than once. It clearly states that you are in the service of the Armed Forces of the United States. It also says that your Tour of Duty can be extended at the government’s discretion indefinitely for the duration of a conflict. You signed the papers. If you didn’t read them it is not the army’s fault, but I’d like to thank you for wasting my taxes on a frivolous law suite that you can’t win.

Yes, it does suck that you are stuck there longer than you wanted to be. I know how it is to be away from home for extended times. My longest deployment was only six months. I know that doesn’t compare to you 1 year in Iraq, however I did that ever year for 10 years. It does stink, but deal with it, do the best job you can and then come home. Don’t be a whiner and a wimp by running to the litigators. Do you realize how bad that is going to make you look? I would say for this and your 7 other co-plaintiffs, you loose 51% of the guy points you get for being there in the first place.