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| 5/16 |
| 2004/5/18 [Politics/Domestic/President/Clinton] UID:30274 Activity:very high |
5/18 Military starting to call up inactive reservists. One step away from
conscription, woo-hoo!
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_irs_051804,00.html
\_ As an aside to this, there are indications that the Army is
planning to deploy some of its OPFOR training units to active
duty in the Middle East.
\_ Just out of curiosity, what does the gov't do if say, Joe
Reservist makes $100k per year and has $40k of mortgage per year?
And his gov't pay is only about $50k/year?
Must he lose his house to serve his country? --PeterM
\_ Why do you hate America?
\_ Yup. Especially since you're in the inactive reserves for
quite some time after you finish active service. You've gotten
your life together, gotten married, probably had kids and bought
a house, etc. etc. etc...
\_ Your country helped you out when you needed it. When your
country needs you, you go. It's part of the price you pay later
for the help you got earlier. Would you have that $100k job if
it wasn't for the rest of us paying for your education?
\_ I was almost called up for the 1st gulf war while on the IRR. I
got my postcard from the gov't...
\_ You too? Who are you? -ausman
\_ Since it was nuked: "What will you do when the draft starts?
Sign up? Move to Canada? Claim conscientious objector?"
\_ Why would Canada or Germany or any other country want to take in
the lazy assholes who won't serve their own country? What good
would you be to their country if you're no good to your own? So
just where does a "Citizen Of The World" hide when the shooting
starts? Maybe Kofi will take you in. He can certainly afford it
after ripping off the Oil for Bribes program in Iraq.
\_ What's the drafting age here?
\_ According to sss.gov, 18 to 25.
\_ yes! I'm 26. Go draft!
\_ Good. I'm 33.
\_ I was of age during the Reagan and Bush I years. I have
little sympathy for those of age during the Clinton/Bush II
years. No one is getting drafted. It's ridiculous.
\_ CO status is notoriously hard to prove, and I believe Canada
now has an extradition treaty with the US specifically related
to draft-dodgers.
\_ Okay, how 'bout Germany.
\_ You *do* know they have 1 year of mandatory military
service, right?
\_ not for everyone. I think that like Sweden and some
other places there's a lottery of some sort and only
those people have to serve.
\_ No EU country is going to take you in. You're useless.
Your beloved pacifist countries have closed border
policies.
\_ And most COs end up assigned as medics. The job of a medic
is even more dangerous than infantryman.
\_ Yep. Don't generally even have a real rifle to shoot back
with and mostly near the front where people are getting
shot to shit. Go COs/sniper finders!
\_ I'm pretty sure you're all already signed up for the draft.
\_ no, not if you're over 25, and almost no one here is *under*
25, which is why this thread is a little silly.
\_ For what it's worth, you can be called up to your 26th
birthday
\_ You can be called at any age.
\_ I heard on the radio that the Selective Service was doing
the ground work on extending eligibility to 35.
-- ulysses
\_ True. They call from youngest to oldest, though.
\_ Does that mean they actually expect to run out of
people < 26? That doesn't seem likely to me.
-- ulysses
\_ I don't think that's the point of the draft. The
point of the draft is to exert power over citizens,
by confiscating their labor (which is what a draft
is). -- evil libertarian
\_ Gotcha. Now does anybody else feel like trying to
answer the question - the question I asked, that
is?
\_ That's pretty amusing considering most
Libertarians consider national defense one of the
few legitimate functions of government. How
should the government raise troop strength if the
market isn't sufficient? Just give up?
\_ Libertarians think the market is always
sufficient. Just raise salaries for soldiers
until you attract enough of them. Of course
this will also entail raising taxes, but
raising taxes is ok as long as they're being
used for approved purposes like protecting
our property rights by sodomizing brown people.
\_ Straw men aside, I would expect one's life
to be a rather inflexible resource. The
Libertarian's property won't be worth much
if it's glowing. I see plenty of room for
debate among realy Libs.
\_ Mod +5 Funny!
\_ But my property rights could be protected
much more cheaply and efficiently by a
private army! Why should I be taxed to
pay for a wasteful public army when a
private-sector army could do a better job
for less money?
\_ Cf. Abu Ghraib prison scandal, private
military contractors.
\_ True, but a real Libertarian wouldn't
want his army in a foreign country to
begin with.
\_ Unless the foreign country was
threatening his property.
\_ Protecting collective assets
(infrastructure and stable gov't for
instance) requires a collective army.
\_ There are an awful lot of inactive reservists to call up before
they have to start a draft.
\_ I thought they are bringing in troops from S. Korea. Those
aren't enough?
\_ Not even close. The big problem is the literal size of the US
standing army, the time it takes to retrain units (both regular
army and Guard), and how long they can stay in the field. The
US troops coming in from SK will be able to provide some relief,
but is nowhere near enough for the long term.
\_ We've been needing to decrease troop size ing SK for a while.
But last I heard, only about 3-4k troops were relocating. Which
is only 1-2% of the troops in the ME.
\_ You mean like since Carter? That's what he thought, and
it almost ended up causing a second Korean war. (Ok
actually I agree with you, but I wanted to throw that out
because Carter is an idiot.)
\_ CARTER IS AN IDIOT.
CLINTON IS AN IDIOT.
CLINTON IS THE REASON WHY AMERICA LOST WWII
CARTER HATES AMERICA
CLINTON IS A BIG FAT LOSER.
CARTER WAS THE REASON WHY 9/11 HAPPENED
CLINTON CAUSED AMERICAN CITIES TO BE NUKED
CARTER AND CLINTON ARE COMMUNISTS
CLINTON IS A FUCKING LIBERAL TREE HUGGER.
CLINTON SOLD NUKES TO IRAQ
CLINTON WAS THE CAUSE OF BOTH IRAQ WARS
CLINTON SUPPLIED 767S TO OSAMA BIN LADEN
AL GORE INVENTED HIV AND AIDS.
AL GORE INVENTED CANCER.
GEORGE W BUSH IS THE NEXT MESSIAH.
\_ All right, you've ranted about Carter enough times that
you're getting a name. CarterTroll! Right up there in
the hallowed ground with ChiCom Troll and Freeper! Yay!
\_ It isn't a troll if it's true. Should we just call you
BlindToRealityTroll?
\_ Truth is in the eye of the beholder. Besides which,
maybe you should worry about the idiots that are
currently in office rather than the idiots that
haven't been in office in quite some time?
\_ Ninja poster strikes! He throws up a mindless
phrase to distract his enemies, then quickly
attempts the change the subject!
\_ DON'T CONCENTRATE ON THE FINGER OR YOU WILL
MISS ALL THE HEAVENLY GLORY!!! |
| 5/16 |
|
| www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_irs_051804,00.html IRS May Help DOD Find Reservists Fort Worth Star-Telegram May 18, 2004 FORT WORTH, Texas - The Defense Department, strapped for troops for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, has proposed to Congress that it tap the Internal Revenue Service to locate out-of-touch reservists. The unusual measure, which the Pentagon said has been examined by lawyers, would allow the IRS to pass on addresses for tens of thousands of former military members who still face recall into the active duty. The proposal has largely escaped attention amid all the other crises of government, and it is likely to face opposition from privacy rights activists who see information held by the IRS as inviolate. For it to become practice, Congress and President Bush would have to approve the proposal, which would involve amending the tax code. Ari Schwartz, an associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, said granting access to any IRS data would open the door to more requests from other arms of the government. Just a few years ago, Congress strengthened the privacy provisions of the tax code, he said. "There are other ways to solve the problem they have, without putting the tax information at risk," Schwartz said. "We would hope that those members who worked only four or five years ago on strengthening tax-privacy laws would stand up and say this is a bad idea." Bob Stone, a spokesman for the assistant defense secretary for reserve affairs, said the proposal was developed several years ago and is unconnected to the Army's current shortage of troops. Part or all of nine of the Army's 10 active-duty divisions are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and 167,000 members of the reserves or National Guard are on active duty, with thousands more on alert for mobilization. Unknown to most Americans, though, is the existence of the Individual Ready Reserve, which has more than 280,000 members. The IRR is a distinctly different animal than the drilling reserves or National Guard. Those in the IRR are people who have completed their active-duty tours but are subject to involuntary recall for a certain number of years. For example, a soldier who serves four years on active duty remains in the IRR for another four years. During that time, however, they receive no pay, do not drill with a unit and are otherwise completely civilian. The problem for the Pentagon is that the whereabouts of 50,200 of those veterans are unknown to the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. Because Texas sends more people into the service than almost any other state, it's a good bet many are in the Lone Star State. "While the military today is comprised of an all-volunteer force, every individual who volunteers for service in the armed forces voluntarily accepts an eight-year military service obligation," Stone said. The troops are required to keep the services' updated on their residences, but many do not. Thirty-four percent of former Army soldiers cannot be tracked. The unknowns in the other services are in the single digit percentages. "One of the difficulties that the military services confront is keeping addresses current," Stone said. The Defense Department has called on members of the IRR before. About 7,000 people have been recalled since 9-11, Stone said. Approximately 30,000 were recalled for service during the buildup for the Persian Gulf War in 1990 and 1991, he said. How do you feel about IRS records being used to find Reservists? |