A Movie with a statement opens tonight "Stop-Loss"

It is the story of the forced retention of military members who had completed their contractual obligations to the Army and Marine Corp between 9-11-2001  and now. Most military member sign up for 3 or 4 years active duty then they would either go into the inactive reserves or some would choose to go to either a reserve unit or a National Guard unit to finish out their 8 year requirement. When I enlisted back in 1973 the obligation was six years and most signed up for 3 years or 4 depending on the schools. Now I hear you sign up for 3 years and 17 weeks, I guess that covers basic and AIT, and then they have you for three years of actual duty.

Bottom line is the rules have changes since the 70's and the draft was ended, let's take a look at who was in power back then, and now when stop loss was implemented.

MOVIE REVIEW: 'Stop-Loss' is what has inspired me to write this story this afternoon.
I have been reading some good and some bad reviews of the movie, I guess it depends on if you "support" the war or the "troops" on how the  review was written.

<Ryan Phillippe, who leads an outstanding cast, plays an American soldier who resists an order to return to Iraq. <br>  
By Kenneth Turan, Times Movie Critic

Four thousand Americans and counting have died in Iraq, and the litany of unsuccessful films about that part of the world -- "The Situation," "Redacted," "Rendition," "The Kingdom," "In The Valley of Elah" among others -- is growing as well. Do not add "Stop-Loss" to that list. "Stop-Loss" is a film that does it right.

The story of a young American soldier played by Ryan Phillippe who resists an order to return to Iraq, "Stop-Loss" covers some of the same territory as those other features. The difference here is a quality of propulsive emotional intensity that pushes us over rough spots as it drives us insistently forward. An intensity that must be credited to director and co-writer ■ Kimberly Peirce.

See I joined the Army in 1973 when they had stopped the "draft" and had decided to go to the all volunteer force, most of us enlisted for either three years or four years of active duty then we had the choice of doing the rest of the six year contract by either doing it in the Individual Ready Reserve, or the National Guard or a Army Reserve Unit. The majority of personnel went into the IRR and then after 6th year ended they got a final discharge. But they had been given their DD214 to show their active duty time period.

I enlisted for the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis which became the first all volunteer Division in the Army, by Nov 15 1974 they had enough "volunteers" they announced the last of the draftees on duty would be released  in a few days so they would be home for Thanksgiving, and the orders were given to start processing them out of the Army.

Talk about a party, they had beer everywhere, all the draftees had a custom that the day they left they took their combat boots and tied the shoe strings together and then threw the boots over telephone wires on post between the barracks and orderly rooms, there were boots everywhere.

The men in chanrge of the military and national policy are names we all know today, Ford, Rumsfeld and Cheney had moved into the White House on August 9, 1974 when Nixon resigned. These men who transferred the military to an all volunteer force, stayed in office until Jimmy Carter took over. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld as the youngest ever Sec of Def, Cheney as Chief of Staff to Gerald Ford and Geoerge H.W. Bush as Director of the CIA.

Now here we are 33 years later and these are the same men who invoked the stop loss rules, well the same men and Bush's son President W. They instituted a "back door draft" because they knew they could not go to Congress and ask for a draft for the bodies they needed, so they forced them to stay on active duty against their will. If that isn't a draft I don't know what else you would call it except a kidnapping.

I wonder if these men had to face the families of the fallen men and women who died on that second or third tour while being stopped lossed, rather than be at home with their families, some of them sent back on meds like Zoloft, Xanax, Valium  etc. How do you tell them their sons or daugthers died bravely for their nation. Bullshit, they were forced to go back to that hellzone or go to prison.

This movie needs to be seen, it's as close to a true documentary as we are likely to see in the next ten years, about the truth of this war.

None of the men who forced this policy has ever served in combat, if they had I wonder if they could have ordered the stop loss program, I know I could not do it.