Alaska News

We've turned re-enlistment into business

Your article regarding the hundreds of military personnel who re-enlisted on the Fourth of July was insightful and I thank your paper for printing it.

The news about "re-up" money -- bonuses of $40,000 to $75,000 depending on rank, military specialty, length of re-enlistment, etc. -- only reenforces in my mind just how bankrupt our policy and our presence in Iraq have become.

Enlistment qualifications have recently been lowered to allow persons with criminal convictions and those with lower IQs to join. This is because there is an ongoing problem with recruiting cannon fodder due to multiple deployments and an increasing awareness that this is a war brought about by liars seeking to occupy an oil-rich country.

We hire a mercenary military because the current crop of politicians does not have the stomach for re-instituting the draft. They know that the country does not want to sacrifice anything for this war, except perhaps the cost of a yellow ribbon for the family car. So we cough up the bucks to have our killing done for us and we put it on the national credit card for our children and grandchildren to pay.

I have no doubt that those who re-enlisted are highly qualified and don't have low IQs or serious convictions and that most love their country. Still, the money is nice.

I joined the Army in 1966 straight out of college with a commitment for six years but with a chance to chose the type of job to which I would be assigned. The alternative was to be drafted into an illegal war, just like our current one in Iraq, and to have no control of the capacity in which I would serve for two years as a draftee. I opted to have some control, even though I was being forced to serve one way or another.

Our military back then was an army of slaves. Being bribed by large financial incentives sure beats the alternative of serving against your will or going to jail or Canada.

ADVERTISEMENT

Don't get me wrong. I grieve for the loss of life and limb and for the sacrifices of the families of our military personnel. I do. But that is the deal they made when they took the money to the bank, so I don't think there is anything heroic in what they have done. It is just business.

Bill Vogel lives in Soldotna.

By BILL VOGEL

ADVERTISEMENT