More Draft and Some Sinning (skip to the bottom for the sinning part)

A very frightening story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the kind of people the army is calling up (courtesy of Kos). I don't see any way that this does not qualify as a draft.

GREENVILLE, Pa. -- Three years after he was honorably discharged from the Army, Frederick Pistorius was surprised to learn he was a deserter.
But there it was, on his doorstep: a letter from Barry W. Kimmons, Deputy Chief, Deserter Information Point Extension Office of the Army Reserve Personnel Command.
"On 12 July 2004 you were involuntarily mobilized to active duty in the United States Army," the letter says. "To date you have not reported to your mobilization station as required by your orders." Possibly Pistorius had not responded for two reasons. The Pistorius family had moved from the address in Sharon, Pa., to which the Army had sent its first letter. More saliently, having served honorably in not one but two branches of the U.S. military, with no additional obligation showing on his discharge papers, Pistorius would have had no reason to think he was subject to anything but his civilian job at a local steel plant...

Equally implausible were the men who turned up at Camp McGrady last month.
When I first spoke to Pistorius, by telephone from the camp, he said nobody had been given a physical. He told his Army commanders that he had a permanent back injury from a car crash. They were unimpressed by a letter from his chiropractor. His pre-deployment health assessment lists him in this word: "Deployable."
Pistorius spoke with his captain.
"He said everybody here's going to Iraq," Pistorius said. "It's unbelievable some of the guys they're bringing down there."
One man arrived with a hospital identification band still on his wrist. He'd just had knee surgery. One 48-year-old from Alabama had a hip replacement and fused vertebrae in his back.
"He showed them the documents, but they still made him come down to be examined by their doctors," Pistorius said. Pistorius spoke of a man called back from upstate New York.
"He had no teeth and he had arthritis in his leg," he said.


On a personal note, this is the scariest story I have read to date. My husband has Individual Ready Reserve status for a while longer. He assures me that they never call those people and that even if they do he's part of the navy and they're not going to Iraq. Besides, his skills are too valuable and his electronics and loading training were too expensive to teach. My feeling on the matter is that when push comes to shove the military will use anyone as "cannon-fodder" (my mom's endearing name for infantry).

Maybe the war-mongering red state religious types are onto something here: I've never had such good reason to pray. My wonderful friend Racheal just got to Iraq (sent there as part of the Army National Guard reserves). My fervent hope that she come home unharmed after her year, and does not get re-deployed or have her time extended borders on prayer. And when I think about the possibility of my husband...but I would prefer not to articulate that one. I can tell you that some non-rational voice emanating from somewhere deep in my gut (and not my head) prays to someone.

On a lighter note, our traditional Thanksgiving jaunt to Grand Rapids, Michigan should provide plenty of time to spend in church getting acquainted with my personal savior. Last year we had to go to services three times. In five days. And when we were there in August the minister started his, um, whatever the Protestant version of, oh hell, I can't remember the word. The part where they get to give their opinion of shit. He started that off with this profound, original and tasteful comment: "The Bible doesn't mention Adam and Steve, only Adam and Eve." I don't kid. And then continued his sermon (hey, that's the word!) by preaching that one candidate (clearly a dirty word) for President supported gay marriage. And he didn't want to preach from the pulpit and all, but...
I couldn't tell you much more about his lovely teachings 'cause I left and didn't come back until the service ended. John's family very wisely never mentioned it. John long ago taught them that they shouldn't ask a question if they don't want to know the answer. (How they found that out is really funny, but I better not mention it).
So all you people staying here to gorge yourselves on yummy food, gamble at the racetrack on opening day, drink, party and whatever other kind of sinning you will by enjoying, please remember that you're going to hell sooner. I will be there as soon as I can.