And in other news...

Taken from www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070105/K010511AU.html
"WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. army said Friday it would apologize to the families of about 275 officers killed or wounded in action who were mistakenly sent letters urging them to return to active duty.
The letters were sent a few days after Christmas to more than 5,100 army officers who had recently left the service. Included were letters to about 75 officers killed in action and about 200 wounded in action."
...
"the army is apologizing to those officers and families affected and "regrets any confusion.""

CONFUSION?!?!? The loss of loved ones is perhaps most keenly felt at holidays, and I can only imagine the mixed and turbulent feelings experienced by wounded soldiers who have returned home. My prayers and sympathy go to all, and especially to those whose pain was exacerbated by this beaurocratic stupidity.

This blog is written completely based on my emotional reaction. I should probably have done research on the recruitment statistics for the US military, the reasons for decreased voluntary enlistment (assuming there is some), and the reasons behind the recent drive for re-enlistments. Instead, I'm basing my emotional reaction on what I know about the experiences of Vietnam vets, what I perceive as a parallel general belief that the current war, too, is wrong, and extrapolating assumptions of what our current returning soldiers are experiencing based on what returning Vietnam vets experienced. That said, a small suggestions to the US military officials: I'm willing to bet that ex-soldiers are aware of the military's continued need for officers. I imagine that if they've left, they wanted to go. Leave them alone; they've done their duty. If you are having problems getting recruits, look at the causes you're asking people to die for.

Unless, that is, you want to change your recruitment slogan to something like, "don't make another innocent American go through the soul-changing experiences you went thru... re-enlist, and protect another civilian from becoming a soldier. It's too late for you, but it's not to late for them." Recruitment-by-guilt... could work....