Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Is that a 1000-yard stare or were you catatonic last night?
I recently went to a” Parent’s Day Weekend at my daughter’s college. I was invited to speak at a “Rock the Vote” event while I was there. I was excited about speaking to the college crowd and I was looking forward to spending the weekend with my daughter. I had no idea that I would be transported back in time before the weekend was over.
On Saturday we attended the school’s football game and went to an evening concert. A recently resurrected rock band was scheduled to play. I didn’t think much about it before the weekend; my thoughts were on writing and delivering a non-partisan speech for my “Rock the Vote” appearance.
The group was called Creedance Clearwater Revisited. They are a reconstituted group of musicians including a couple of the original members from CCR, Creedence Clearwater Revival. They were very popular during the Vietnam War and many of their songs hit the charts here and overseas. The resurrected rock group played their old songs really well, much too well as I soon found out.
The dark arena, the cheering crowd, the war, and the swamp rock music all came together for me. When the band played “Suzie Q.” I got goose bumps and the hair on the back of my neck stood out. I stared at the band as Vietnam -era-memories from my life flooded back.
I remembered the anxiety, of being a student, the suddenness of my friend’s departure into the Army after they were drafted and the anger when a government agency made us take an intelligence test at our college. I recalled the frustration of not knowing what to do to help stop the war. (This emotion was not far below the surface given the current situation in Iraq)
Back then I was also upset at not knowing what was happened to my friends serving in Vietnam. (I still have those same feelings, about different friends, in a different war.)
Most of all, I remembered my life’s limited choices as the war continued.
I sat there transfixed while others around me clapped and rocked to the music. I finally broke away from staring at the stage after they sang “Who’ll Stop the Rain. “I noticed two men about my age sitting near by, with blank stares as they faced the stage. They looked like they had the “1000 yard stare. “
The 1000-yard stare was a term coined during the Vietnam War. The stare says, "I have been there and beyond, and I know." It was also called the Thousand Yard Stare in a Ten Foot Room.
I turned back to the stage as the band went on to play “Fortunate Son” and I suddenly shivered as I heard them sing:
"Some folks are born, made to wave the flag
Ooh they're red white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"
Ooh they point the cannon at you Lord"
Did those other two men also remember their times as civilians who were also ready to be drafted or did they remember napalm so close they could feel the heat?
Did the words “jungle rot” come into their minds?
Did they recall the ground shaking during mortar attacks in Da Nang; did the group’s music jog their memory of a million frogs croaking at night?
Did they suddenly remember how the water from stagnant rice paddies, felt as it swirled around their boots, or did they remember the feel of jungle vines, and elephant grass as it wrapped around their arms and legs?
Did they recollect feeling the oppressive heat, the unending-sheets of rain during the monsoon season? Did they suddenly recall the sickening smell of blood and feces?
"It ain't me it ain't me I ain't no senator's son.
It ain't me it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one no
Yeah!"
Were either of them working on a hot tarmac where the aviation fuel fumes permeated everything on the base including the food? Did they spend time on a Vietnam airfield working in sweat soaked t-shirts as they patched up bullet-ridden helicopters, when they heard CCR on their radio play:
"Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord don't they help themselves oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,"
At the end of the concert I strained to keep track of the two men as the crowd stood up to leave the dark auditorium. I struggled to stay close to my family as the flowing crowd buffeted us. I wanted to ask them if they were, "in country" during the Vietnam War. I wanted to confirm my suspicions but they had quickly melted into the crowd and disappeared as we went out through the doors into the cool dark October night. I kept looking for them as people spilled out onto the college campus but without any luck. The moment seemed lost anyway; somehow the cold night brought me back to 2004 where we have a new war going on.
I remembered how naive I was back then. Once upon a time I thought the nations of the world had the capability to live in peace. It took several years to become cynical and realize that many people in power are too lazy to deal with the details of peace and choose war instead. (I am paraphrasing Thomas Mann.)
I wondered if 40 years from now some parents will go and see a much older version of Green Day in concert. And will they recall the war they fought in Iraqi? Will they remember the talcum-powder –type-sand, the red mud, the oil fires, the oppressive heat, the IED’s and the sickening coppery smell of blood, when they hear the following words of the song “American Idiot”?
“Don't wanna be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new media.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mindf*ck America.”
“Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.”
“Well maybe I'm the faggot America.
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.
Now everybody do the propaganda.
And sing along in the age of paranoia.”
“Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.”
“Don't wanna be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information nation of hysteria.
It's going out to idiot America.”
“Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.”
On Saturday we attended the school’s football game and went to an evening concert. A recently resurrected rock band was scheduled to play. I didn’t think much about it before the weekend; my thoughts were on writing and delivering a non-partisan speech for my “Rock the Vote” appearance.
The group was called Creedance Clearwater Revisited. They are a reconstituted group of musicians including a couple of the original members from CCR, Creedence Clearwater Revival. They were very popular during the Vietnam War and many of their songs hit the charts here and overseas. The resurrected rock group played their old songs really well, much too well as I soon found out.
The dark arena, the cheering crowd, the war, and the swamp rock music all came together for me. When the band played “Suzie Q.” I got goose bumps and the hair on the back of my neck stood out. I stared at the band as Vietnam -era-memories from my life flooded back.
I remembered the anxiety, of being a student, the suddenness of my friend’s departure into the Army after they were drafted and the anger when a government agency made us take an intelligence test at our college. I recalled the frustration of not knowing what to do to help stop the war. (This emotion was not far below the surface given the current situation in Iraq)
Back then I was also upset at not knowing what was happened to my friends serving in Vietnam. (I still have those same feelings, about different friends, in a different war.)
Most of all, I remembered my life’s limited choices as the war continued.
I sat there transfixed while others around me clapped and rocked to the music. I finally broke away from staring at the stage after they sang “Who’ll Stop the Rain. “I noticed two men about my age sitting near by, with blank stares as they faced the stage. They looked like they had the “1000 yard stare. “
The 1000-yard stare was a term coined during the Vietnam War. The stare says, "I have been there and beyond, and I know." It was also called the Thousand Yard Stare in a Ten Foot Room.
I turned back to the stage as the band went on to play “Fortunate Son” and I suddenly shivered as I heard them sing:
"Some folks are born, made to wave the flag
Ooh they're red white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"
Ooh they point the cannon at you Lord"
Did those other two men also remember their times as civilians who were also ready to be drafted or did they remember napalm so close they could feel the heat?
Did the words “jungle rot” come into their minds?
Did they recall the ground shaking during mortar attacks in Da Nang; did the group’s music jog their memory of a million frogs croaking at night?
Did they suddenly remember how the water from stagnant rice paddies, felt as it swirled around their boots, or did they remember the feel of jungle vines, and elephant grass as it wrapped around their arms and legs?
Did they recollect feeling the oppressive heat, the unending-sheets of rain during the monsoon season? Did they suddenly recall the sickening smell of blood and feces?
"It ain't me it ain't me I ain't no senator's son.
It ain't me it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one no
Yeah!"
Were either of them working on a hot tarmac where the aviation fuel fumes permeated everything on the base including the food? Did they spend time on a Vietnam airfield working in sweat soaked t-shirts as they patched up bullet-ridden helicopters, when they heard CCR on their radio play:
"Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord don't they help themselves oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,"
At the end of the concert I strained to keep track of the two men as the crowd stood up to leave the dark auditorium. I struggled to stay close to my family as the flowing crowd buffeted us. I wanted to ask them if they were, "in country" during the Vietnam War. I wanted to confirm my suspicions but they had quickly melted into the crowd and disappeared as we went out through the doors into the cool dark October night. I kept looking for them as people spilled out onto the college campus but without any luck. The moment seemed lost anyway; somehow the cold night brought me back to 2004 where we have a new war going on.
I remembered how naive I was back then. Once upon a time I thought the nations of the world had the capability to live in peace. It took several years to become cynical and realize that many people in power are too lazy to deal with the details of peace and choose war instead. (I am paraphrasing Thomas Mann.)
I wondered if 40 years from now some parents will go and see a much older version of Green Day in concert. And will they recall the war they fought in Iraqi? Will they remember the talcum-powder –type-sand, the red mud, the oil fires, the oppressive heat, the IED’s and the sickening coppery smell of blood, when they hear the following words of the song “American Idiot”?
“Don't wanna be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new media.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mindf*ck America.”
“Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.”
“Well maybe I'm the faggot America.
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.
Now everybody do the propaganda.
And sing along in the age of paranoia.”
“Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.”
“Don't wanna be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information nation of hysteria.
It's going out to idiot America.”
“Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.”
# posted by Thomas @ 12:31 AM 
Friday, October 01, 2004
How far away is a Selective Service Draft?
The timing for enacting the selective service requires some understanding of the administration’s troop strength goals in the Middle East and how far they have gone to stretch the existing military to meet those needs. The goals used in this discussion are the stated goals by President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon. Their word has not been worth much in the past, but for the sake of argument let’s assume they stick with what they said.
Rumsfeld has committed the U.S. military to keep about 141,000 troops in Iraq through 2005. And the Bush administration is using every legal and some may say illegal tools at their disposal to keep these troop levels. But we are not in this alone in this war are we?
Well unfortunately for all intents and purposes, we are alone. Many countries within the “Coalition Of The Willing” have recently become “unwilling” to supply any more troops and are even pulling the few they did have out of Iraq. Bush’s failed diplomatic efforts and “go-it-alone” approach has caused other countries to either refuse or hesitate at sending troops into Iraq.
The following measures are some of the extraordinary means this administration has had to employ to keep Iraq from boiling over.
· The National Guard and Army Reserve have their deployments extended.
The National Guard and Army Reserves accounts for nearly 40% of the 141,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Their deployments have been extended to 15 -18 months.
· Former active duty soldiers are reactivated.
Military personnel who have fulfilled their active duty obligations were pressed back into service and 5,600 members of Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) are called back to duty.
· A “Stop-Loss” program is enacted.
This program compels soldiers to remain to the end of a yearlong overseas deployment and up to another 90 days after returning to their home base. In short tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers will remain in the Army involuntarily for up to 18 months beyond when they were scheduled to leave.
· South Korea troops are transferred to Iraq
The Pentagon decided to draw more than 3,500 troops from South Korea to support the mission in Iraq.
· More Recruiters
General Hagenbeck, the Army's top personnel officer, said that the Army is bringing 1,000 new recruiters and they are using cash bonuses, educational benefits and choice base assignments to help meet its overall recruiting and re-enlistment goals next year."
All of the above mentioned actions have been taken since the Iraq invasion started. A lot of stops have been pulled out and the military analysts still say our military is stretched pretty thin.
To make things even more interesting the Pentagon has also recently announced that extended assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking their toll on personnel and they are concerned that people will not be retained unless tours are shortened. If they do shorten the tours of duty how can they keep troop levels up?
One of the only cards Rumsfeld has left to play (if the stated troop strength numbers are actually needed) is the Selective Service Act.
The Selective Service law requires that males who are U.S. citizens or resident aliens register within 30 days of their 18th birthdays. Registration has been simplified. Up to 35 states now use the process of obtaining a driver's license as a means of making sure men are registered.
There are direct and indirect penalties for those who do not register. Men, born after December 31, 1959, who aren't registered with Selective Service won't qualify for Pell Grants, College Work Study, Guaranteed Student/Plus Loans, and National Direct Student Loans. More seriously a man who fails to register may, if prosecuted and convicted, can face a fine of up to $250,000 and/or a prison term of up to five years.
The Pentagon has worked on a modified Selective Service program for a while now and has sent up a couple of trial balloons on the new draft.
One part of the recent proposal is the development of a skills database of all the men registered in the Selective Service program. Each registered person will be responsible to update his skills inventory. The agency also has in place a special registration system to draft health-care personnel in more than 60 specialties in a crisis.
If it is enacted, the government will use a lottery system based on birthdays and critical skills needed by the armed services. "Critical shortages" presently include linguists and computer specialists.
A second part of the proposal is to extend the age range of eligible applicants from 25 to 35 years of age.
A third part of the proposal of the new selective service is to include women within the draft. Although women have not been drafted before, many people in the Pentagon believe they should also be included in the draft.
Students will not get blanket deferments anymore. Under the current draft law, a college student can have his (or maybe her) induction postponed only until the end of the current semester. A senior can be postponed until the end of the academic year.
The Secretary of Defense has said draftees are not as desirable as volunteers but as Rumsfeld recently said about Iraqi elections in January. "Nothing’s perfect in life.”
Rumsfeld has committed the U.S. military to keep about 141,000 troops in Iraq through 2005. And the Bush administration is using every legal and some may say illegal tools at their disposal to keep these troop levels. But we are not in this alone in this war are we?
Well unfortunately for all intents and purposes, we are alone. Many countries within the “Coalition Of The Willing” have recently become “unwilling” to supply any more troops and are even pulling the few they did have out of Iraq. Bush’s failed diplomatic efforts and “go-it-alone” approach has caused other countries to either refuse or hesitate at sending troops into Iraq.
The following measures are some of the extraordinary means this administration has had to employ to keep Iraq from boiling over.
· The National Guard and Army Reserve have their deployments extended.
The National Guard and Army Reserves accounts for nearly 40% of the 141,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Their deployments have been extended to 15 -18 months.
· Former active duty soldiers are reactivated.
Military personnel who have fulfilled their active duty obligations were pressed back into service and 5,600 members of Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) are called back to duty.
· A “Stop-Loss” program is enacted.
This program compels soldiers to remain to the end of a yearlong overseas deployment and up to another 90 days after returning to their home base. In short tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers will remain in the Army involuntarily for up to 18 months beyond when they were scheduled to leave.
· South Korea troops are transferred to Iraq
The Pentagon decided to draw more than 3,500 troops from South Korea to support the mission in Iraq.
· More Recruiters
General Hagenbeck, the Army's top personnel officer, said that the Army is bringing 1,000 new recruiters and they are using cash bonuses, educational benefits and choice base assignments to help meet its overall recruiting and re-enlistment goals next year."
All of the above mentioned actions have been taken since the Iraq invasion started. A lot of stops have been pulled out and the military analysts still say our military is stretched pretty thin.
To make things even more interesting the Pentagon has also recently announced that extended assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking their toll on personnel and they are concerned that people will not be retained unless tours are shortened. If they do shorten the tours of duty how can they keep troop levels up?
One of the only cards Rumsfeld has left to play (if the stated troop strength numbers are actually needed) is the Selective Service Act.
The Selective Service law requires that males who are U.S. citizens or resident aliens register within 30 days of their 18th birthdays. Registration has been simplified. Up to 35 states now use the process of obtaining a driver's license as a means of making sure men are registered.
There are direct and indirect penalties for those who do not register. Men, born after December 31, 1959, who aren't registered with Selective Service won't qualify for Pell Grants, College Work Study, Guaranteed Student/Plus Loans, and National Direct Student Loans. More seriously a man who fails to register may, if prosecuted and convicted, can face a fine of up to $250,000 and/or a prison term of up to five years.
The Pentagon has worked on a modified Selective Service program for a while now and has sent up a couple of trial balloons on the new draft.
One part of the recent proposal is the development of a skills database of all the men registered in the Selective Service program. Each registered person will be responsible to update his skills inventory. The agency also has in place a special registration system to draft health-care personnel in more than 60 specialties in a crisis.
If it is enacted, the government will use a lottery system based on birthdays and critical skills needed by the armed services. "Critical shortages" presently include linguists and computer specialists.
A second part of the proposal is to extend the age range of eligible applicants from 25 to 35 years of age.
A third part of the proposal of the new selective service is to include women within the draft. Although women have not been drafted before, many people in the Pentagon believe they should also be included in the draft.
Students will not get blanket deferments anymore. Under the current draft law, a college student can have his (or maybe her) induction postponed only until the end of the current semester. A senior can be postponed until the end of the academic year.
The Secretary of Defense has said draftees are not as desirable as volunteers but as Rumsfeld recently said about Iraqi elections in January. "Nothing’s perfect in life.”
# posted by Thomas @ 1:42 AM
