Ok, so I get this postcard in the mail today – it’s from the Army Reserve. It’s a form letter, and there is a “personalized” web site, which is also a form letter. This is my favorite quote:
“The best part-time job in America – because you’re defending America.”
This isn’t a joke.
Here is another:
“You remember the pride you felt when you put on your uniform as a Sergeant in the Marines? Well, Ian, the Army Reserve gives you the chance to get that feeling back again.”
Hmmmm… lemmie think… Nope, there is no comparison. Listen, I’m not saying these reservists aren’t honorable soldiers and good people (at least as long as they aren’t prison guards), but come on, what kind of idiot thinks being in the Army Reserve carries with it the same degree of pride as being a Marine? Some one who has never been a Marine, obviously.
And let’s really consider for a moment what this actually saying, big picture. I’m one of those scott-free guys who can’t be forced into service without someone sounding a major alarm in the form of an actual legal draft – I’ve fulfilled my 8 years of selective service requirements, all on active duty, and I didn’t retire. I’m in no-man’s-land between the IRR and the Retired List. So the only way I’m going to Iraq is if I ask to go, and the last time I checked, it wasn’t in my “Top Five Things to do in ’05” list.
The Marine Corps Reserve unit from my town is deployed in Iraq. The National Guard unit lot is empty, so I suppose they are in Iraq, the Air National Guard lot is also empty, once again, the safe bet is Iraq. I don’t know what the local Army Reserve unit is or where their garrison is, but I’m gonna guess that if they aren’t in Iraq now, they will be in the next year.
No matter what you think about the fiasco in Iraq (guess you know what I think now) the guys on the ground taking rounds are the ones who got screwed. And the ones who got screwed the most are the reserves, who were yanked out of college and McDonald’s to go and be pawns in this geopolitical board game. The active duty is ostensibly better prepared for deployments and combat, and so I don’t feel quite so bad for them – they are the gung-ho one’s and they have the better training and equipment – not that getting killed while driving or standing in line for pizza is actually part of the training manual.
Above all, I think this postcard is not only pointless, but uncalled for. Everyone knows you need troops because you keep getting them killed. Trying to lure veterans to come back to help you, particularly when the 90’s was such a crappy decade for the active duty, while the SECDEF and CinC are still saying we have everything under control and that we don’t need troops on the ground – the same two guys who canned Eric Shisenki, the guy who could have been to the Army what Chuck Krulak was to the Marine Corps – that is just outrageous. It’s time they ‘man-up’ and ask for help, before we loose another regiment of kids who should be turning burgers and discovering Chomsky.