My husband spent four years in the Army (5/2000-5/2004) and was lucky to get out without having to go to Iraq, although he did have to go to Kosovo and Afghanistan. He spent that time in the Army repaying his ROTC scholarship. He had the scholarship because his parents could not afford to send him to college, you see his Dad spent a career as a non-commissioned officer in the Navy and my husband's family was on food stamps for a large portion of his childhood. Due to the fact that he had that scholarship, he is still indebted to the Army for four more years in the Individual Ready Reserve.
Neither my husband, nor I ever supported this war. My husband was eager to get out of the Army after serving for four years as an officer in the Infantry. He wanted to start saving lives instead of taking them, and so now he is applying to medical school. Hopefully, he will be starting next fall.
I write all of this to put into context the letter he received this morning.
The letter is from the PA National Guard (even though we don't live in PA, we live in a neighboring state). Here is an excerpt:
"In today's military, prior servicemen are being called back into duty regardless. You still have an obligation to the IRR, so if I were you, I'd look over these options and take advantage of what the service is offering." (Earlier in the letter, my husband was informed that he could receive "up to a $15,000 Bonus" for enlistment with the National Guard.)
Basically, the letter is a veiled threat. They are saying, You better join up now, because we are going to call you up anyway. This really pisses me off.