Drafted at 19, Opposing Military Recruiters at 61

New York Times

Michael Francis McElroy for The New York Times

BRINGING UP BAD MEMORIES Miles Woolley at Southwest Miami High School. “I did a very good job for the military, but it’s torn me up for my whole life,” Mr. Woolley said. “I was a good guy when I was drafted, a good guy from a good family. I wonder a lot, how did that good guy turn into something else?”

By TAMAR LEWIN

Published: May 9, 2009

MIAMI — Every morning before school starts, Miles Woolley, a drafting teacher at Southwest Miami High School, gets a reminder of military life when the Junior R.O.T.C. honor guard marches by his classroom.

“Their marching and parading around in uniforms stirs bad memories in me,” he said.

Mr. Woolley, 61, is a Vietnam veteran whose service left him with a bullet in his head, a mostly useless left hand and a dragging left foot. He was drafted at age 19, not much older than his students are now, and transformed from a small-town newlywed into a fast-shooting reconnaissance soldier.

The prospect that his students might follow that path haunts him.

Southwest Miami High is a sprawling but orderly place that offers a wide range of classes, including cosmetology, auto shop and Advanced Placement calculus, to 2,800 students, most of whom are Hispanic and from low-income families.

Like many such high schools, it is also a focus for military recruiting. Hundreds of students take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or Asvab, test each year. More than 100 are enrolled in the Army J.R.O.T.C., drilling, marching and using dummy guns. And every Tuesday and Wednesday, recruiters from the Army, Navy and Marines set up tables in the lobby outside the cafeteria, handing out water bottles, key chains and stickers and talking up the benefits of a military career.

“There’s a lot of student interest,” said Sgt. Juan Montoya, an Army recruiter who visits the school and calls students’ homes. “The big obstacle is the parents, who think we’re going to send their kids off into combat.”

Mr. Woolley avoids the lobby.  Read article

Soldiers: Army forced us to deploy despite health woes

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — When the "Arctic Warriors" Stryker Brigade left for Iraq from nearby Fort Wainwright late last year, commanders told soldiers who were suffering medical problems that they would also go to war.
Spc. Mark Oldham was on a plane to Iraq by Dec. 5 despite being declared unfit because he passes out during training and requires a 30-day heart-monitor exam, his medical records show.

ARMY: Report targets policy on combat fitness
Sgt. Jesse McElroy, a combat veteran who had shoulder surgery in September and could barely move his arm, according to his medical records, was told to deploy or face charges for malingering.

Chief Warrant Officer Adisa "A.J." Aiyetoro, a 19-year veteran who is stricken with active tuberculosis and unable to wear body armor because of back injuries, according to medical and court records, refused to go. "I'm not getting on that plane," he says. His court-martial on charges of disobeying an order and missing a deployment is scheduled for Monday.  Read article

States Push to Take Back National Guard

Wednesday 11 February 2009

by: Maya Schenwar, truthout/Report

Going on its seventh year, the Iraq war has taken its toll on not only the US military, but also on the state's National Guard units, which were called up when Congress passed the 2002 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) against Iraq.  Now a growing state-level movement is working to keep the Guard at home.

Its logic: The AUMF's goals have been fulfilled.  The authorization's explicit purposes were to defend the US against the "threat posed by Iraq" and to enforce UN Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq's alleged ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction.  Saddam Hussein - along with his supposed threat - is gone, and the UN resolutions are no longer relevant, so there's no longer a mandate to keep troops in Iraq.

The president can call up the state's Guard units in a time of war.  But when the mandate for war becomes obsolete, say members of the Bring the Guard Home: It's the Law (BTGH) campaign, sending those troops overseas is ilegal.  BTGH members and their allies are now sponsoring a chain of bills and resolutions in states across the country, demanding an investigation into the legality of deploying the Guard to Iraq, and a refusal to comply with any illegal federal orders.

"There is not Congressional authorization for the use of the Guard today," Vermont State Rep. Mike Fisher told Truthout.  "One Guard member improperly called into federal service to fight a war - that's a real problem.  Choosing to go to war is one of the most serious decisions that we make.  The very least we can do is follow the Constitution.".

The state legislators involved in the campaign argue that it is their duty, along with the governor's, to ensure Guard members' welfare.  Although a governor can't order the Guard's return, he or she does have the right to challenge federalization orders (mandates to call up the Guard) in the first place.  Every month, another set of call-ups sends more Guard members overseas.  Should a state decide to refuse a federalization order, the case would likely be brought to the courts. Read more

Recruiting stand-down ordered

Probe of Houston suicides prompts wide-ranging action

By Michele Tan - Staff writer, Army Times.com

Posted: Thursday Jan 29, 2009 10:45:21 EST

Army Secretary Pete Geren has ordered a stand-down of the Army's entire recruiting force and a review of almost every aspect of the job is underway in the wake of a wide-ranging investigation of four suicides in the Houston Recruiting Battalion.  Poor command climate, failing personal relationships and long, stressful work days were factors in the suicides, the investigation found. The investigation officer noted a "threatening" environment in the battalion and that leaders may have tried to influence statements from witnesses.

"There were some things found that are disturbing," said Brig. Gen. Del Turner, deputy commanding general for Accessions Command and the officer who conducted the investigation.

While he declined to discuss what action might be taken, Turner has recommended disciplinary action against battalion- and brigade level commanders  He declined to discuss what action might be taken.

The report was not made public, with officials citing extensive personal information contained in the report

The four recruiters who killed themselves were all combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.  The Army did not identify them.  Read the full article