I made time on Sunday to go see “Stop-Loss” showing at the theater just outside Naval Station Norfolk. The movie, starring Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum and Abbie Cornish, focuses on the
necessary stop loss policy in our current wartime situation with Iraq.
I’m glad I went. It gave me a clearer perspective while reading the USA Today piece by Tom Vanden Brook, “More Kept in Army Despite Gates’ Order,” featured on AOL News this afternoon.
He writes:
“The Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ order last year to limit it, Pentagon records show.
The reliance on stop loss has increased as the military has sent more troops to Iraq and extended tours to 15 months to support an escalation in U.S. forces ordered by President Bush. The increase last month was driven by the need to send more National Guard soldiers to Iraq.
Soldiers affected by stop loss now serve, on average, an extra 6.6 months, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. Key leaders at the small-unit level – sergeants through sergeants first class – make up 45% of those soldiers. Soldiers typically enlist for four-year stints.
And while this is entirely true, if you see the movie Stop-Loss, you’re going to see more than just a story about a young sergeant’s intense struggle with the Army’s need to send him back to Iraq.
You’re going to see what the face of duty really looks like. How deep the sacrifice runs for soldiers and their families. And you’ll also see how, even with the flaws in our military system and the cold, hard fact that war takes lives, there are true patriots among us.
And perhaps most importantly, the one thing we need to remember is stop loss isn’t a new or unexpectedly created military policy. All who enlist in the military have always been required to agree to the provision under paragraph 9c of the enlistment contract which states:
In the event of war, my enlistment in the Armed Forces continues until six (6) months after the war ends, unless my enlistment is ended sooner by the President of the United States.
It’s interesting to note that Congress provided stop loss authority to the Department of Defense shortly after the national draft ended, but it wasn’t initiated by presidential authority until President Bush (Sr) during the Gulf War in 1990-1991.
Clinton enacted stop loss during Bosnia, Kosovo Air Campaign. George Bush (Jr) initiated stop loss for a short period after 9/11 and again in 2002 and 2003.
Hopefully, the Army will be able to bring a halt to mandatory extensions under stop loss by fall, 2009.
