Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Stop-Loss

On December 13, 2006,General Peter J. Schoomaker tried to tell President George W. Bush a thing or two about managing military troops. The President, by persisting in wanting a troop surge in Iraq, "[was] stressing the force...these kids just see deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan for the infinite future." Unfortunately, Gen. Schoomaker is just a man who has seen war and knows what it does to people.

This goes beyond wanting to deliver a blockbuster hit. A President that knows his own power will exercise it, absolutely. The irony of the tale is that the surge really didn't make a bit of difference on the ground; it has just served as cotton for the political spin-doctors working the Presidential campaigns.

So what are the ramifications?

We are left to observe the saddest competition of all: how the 2008 suicide rate among soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan outpaces 2007 and 2003 and the post-Vietnam rate.

Ain't it fun to watch?

The fact of the matter is that these poor soldiers are just seen as collateral damage. Expendable to all but their families and those they have left behind.

In this Presidential election we have to ask ourselves, what does success look like and what does it cost us? It's much more than $10 billion per month.

It's time to end the stop-loss so we can stop the loss of soldiers to suicide.

The Afterw@rd