FINALY SOME GOOD NEWS

Word on the grapevine is that the 4th Brigade received notification today that their deployment orders were changed.

This is second hand news, and unverified by yours truly, so I am cautiously optimistic.

What I'm not sure of is exactly what the change is, but Matt messaged his brother that it meant that the stop loss order will no longer affect him, and he will separate from active duty on 5/12/09.

We will keep our fingers crossed.

LEADERS IGNORE SECRETARY GATES

Here's a little something from, Global Security .org, that I found quite interesting.

Gates To Take Comprehensive Approach To End "Stop-Loss.

It was written on 02/29/2009.
I wonder why it wasn't better publicized?
Most everything that I've been able to find on this subject gives the appearance that Secretary Gates has requested that military leaders lower the "stop-loss" ratio, and that they, (Military Leaders), chose to ignore his requests. I won't call them orders because then they (the leaders) would be in defiance of direct orders, and we all know that isn't allowed in the military.
I have a better idea Mr. Secretary.
Let's just end stop-loss all together.
Let's direct our military leaders to start doing something about morale, and retention.
Get out from behind those desks and get out and find out what it would take to make the Army a better place to be.
Lets show Secretary Gates that he has the backing of a lot of military members, their families, and friends, by signing the petition.

Online petition - End Stop Loss.

We're nearing the 100 signature mark and counting.
Not quite the progress I had hoped for in a week, but never the less a good showing.

If you are a member of Facebook, you are invited to join our group.

END STOP-LOSS NOW.

God bless our soldiers and bring them home safe.

PETITION TO STOP STOP LOSS

If you agree, as I do, that the U.S. Army's policy of "Stop Loss" is an unfair way to treat personnel who have fulfilled their contractual obligation to the Army in an honorable manner, please take a moment to review my petition calling for the end of "Stop Loss", by clicking on this link, Online petition - End Stop Loss, and reviewing a petition I plan to present to the President and Secretary of Defense.

If the link above doesn't work, please cut and paste this link to your browser.

www.gopetition.com/online/25742.html.

If after reading the short petition you agree and would like to support my effort, please sign it.
You may remain anonymous, however should you elect to provide your name, and email, it will be kept confidential, and you will receive a personal note of thanks, and support from yours truly.

Please forward this email to all of your friends, and associates who either have loved ones serving, or know someone who is.

Feel free to cut and paste, or create a hop link to the petition.
If you don't know how to create a hop link, ask and I will show you.

Remember, this is in no way intended to show a lack of respect for our military, or soldiers who have decided to re-enlist, or who make the Army their career.
I admire them for their conviction.
This is a grass roots effort to indicate our displeasure that our soldiers are being, or may be forced to stay in the Army against their will after fulfilling their obligation.
As always I welcome all comments.
God bless our soldiers and keep them safe.

75 DAYS AND HOLDING

I just gathered from a comment on Matt's Facebook page that the day we had been worrying about just came.
He got a stop loss notice..
I haven't heard from him yet. but I can imagine how disappointed he must be.
The last email we got from him he said he would be home the end of April to take a Police exam.
He wants to go into police work when he gets out.
Now, like so many others before him, life gets put on hold for who knows how long?
A fine way to reward individuals that fulfill there contractual obligation.
Who go off to war and put their life on the line and don't complain about it.
Those who put up with all the shit that the Army can give on a day to day basis, and believe me, they can put down some shit, and show up for more every day because it's their job.
Well, it seems that they just don't have enough soldiers to do the work that needs to be done.
So, they force the ones they have to do more, and then don't let them out when their time comes.
I wonder if it ever occurred to any of the people running the show that if they made it more rewarding to be a part of it, maybe, just maybe, more people would join and stay.
Of course they will point out that enlistment is up.
It is.
But it isn't as a result of how great the Army.
It's because of the economy.
I guess I'm a little disappointed.
I can't imagine how down Matt is at this point.

And so a new chapter starts.
Another year of life on hold.
I would imagine a deployment to Afghanistan is forth coming, and with it another year of worrying, and stress.

85 DAYS BUT WHO'S COUNTING

It's been a while, so let's see if I can remember how to do this?

Matt went to his first ETS briefing last week, and is 85 days away from being a civilian.
A inactive reserve civilian that is.
Most people who have no connection to the Army don't realize that even after you fulfill your active duty commitment, you have several years of in active reserve during which you can be re-activated in a moments notice. I think the number is twelve years?
So we count down the days, and hold our breath and cross our fingers, and hope that the unit doesn't get assigned deployment before ETS.

It has been a brutal week in Iraq.
While I try to relax, and put the fifteen months of stress and fear out of mind, every time a soldier loses his life it all comes back.
I can't help but hope that the loved ones know how much we suffer for them.
We all share in this terrible and tragic thing called war.
We share and rejoice in the good news, and suffer for the bad.
May god bless each and every family as well as all of the brave young men and women serving our country so selflessly.

I'm done bitching about the weather..
It has been beautiful for the last few days here in New England.
Still cold, but sunny.
The kind of weather that reminds us of why we love living here.
Today I think I'll do a little ice fishing.
I'll take some pictures to share.

Happy Valentines Day