Gulf War ver. 1.0. I was a second year law student, just about to take my semester exams for the Fall, when I got a telephone call from First Sergeant saying, "pack your bags and get ready to leave. The next phone call you get will be activation orders." That was December 15, 1990.

I'd enlisted in the Marine Corps after college graduation with an eye toward the Enlisted Commissioning Program. Instead of pursuing that track, I'd applied for and received an early release to go to law school. Now, 1/2 way through the Green Machine wanted me back.

When the air war broke out on January 12, I was on the road to visit my parents and then-mother-in-law. As soon as I pulled in, I got on the phone and called the 1st Sgt to tell him where I was and how to reach me (this is before cell phones, remember).

That's what we sign on for. That's what duty is.

Semper fi is more than a slogan!

Respects

OAM
Once a Marine | 30.04.08 - 12:35 am | #

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 04/30/2008 News and Personal dispatches from the front lines...
David M | Homepage | 30.04.08 - 10:11 pm | #

Heather S, a commenter at SpouseBuzz, recently welcomed her husband home from Iraq. He had previously been an enlisted Ranger who had done three short-ish deployments. He got out and got a Masters degree at Wash U. He had just accepted a job at the Pentagon, and was only in DC a week before his letter showed up. He mobilized and deployed for another year. No public whining, no tears.

(Oh yeah, you met Heather back in December at my house.)
Sarah | Homepage | 30.04.08 - 10:56 pm | #

Then there's this Soldier: "Well, according to my contract, I've been out of the Army for about twenty days. Funny, you'd never have noticed! It's not that I'm bitter about being stop-lossed...In fact, if you'd asked me six years ago if I thought I be in Afghanistan (on my second tour no less) when my contract expired, I'd probably have been pretty excited about the idea. More than anything, having ETSed has made me think a great deal about what the Army has done for me over the past six years. As anyone who knows me can attest, the military has, for better or worse, formed much of the man I am today. This has become even more obvious to me as I reflect on the person I was six years ago, and all the the Army has offered me since."

http://barchack.blogspot.com/
membrain | Homepage | 01.05.08 - 11:05 pm | #

Hey, I don't know "there are more people who could serve on active duty" - but don't. They wouldn't take me. After 9/11, I called every service recruiter I could think of. And because I was 51, they said no.

Hell, I'm still a kid!
Madconductor | Homepage | 02.05.08 - 1:45 am | #

Madconducter don't feel so bad. They wouldn't take Bruce Willis either. And yes it's true he really did try and enlist and he's got a lot more strings to pull than you
membrain | Homepage | 02.05.08 - 5:35 pm | #

You know my experience in dealing with IRR guys. Yeah it gets sucks getting yanked around, especially on short notice, so I have compassion. But when the local and national press call a voluntary contract a "back door draft", it gets old fast.
Bill | Homepage | 03.05.08 - 2:50 am | #