Guardsmen, reservists hit hard at home by call-ups

[Rose Siding]

snip>
"The system was designed, absolutely, not to be used this way," says Lt. Gen. Steve Blum, head of the National Guard Bureau.

Part-time troops were intended to be short-term emergency help, citizen-soldiers who could add strength and skills to the slimmed-down active-duty military long enough to win the war, and then go home.

For Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has resisted demands to increase the size of the full-time military, part-time troops have been a cost-effective way to fight the war on terrorism, saving billions that would have been spent on a larger active-duty force.

While part-time troops have served with distinction, the year-in, year-out deployments have often come at the cost of financial hardships, broken businesses, health problems and family strains.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-02-06-reservists_x.htm

[Mari333]

1. Ruining families, indeed

It ruined this family. All we can do is pick up the pieces and try to start over.
Time to get some of those young republicans to enlist and put their money where their mouth is.

[Mizmoon]

2. Young Republicans have "other priorites"

Their lives are far more valuable than that of others as well, according to them.

[Mari333]

3. I told my 35 yr old republican banker brother to enlist

he balked, saying he had "bad knees"..and a family..I pointed out there are 50 yr olds over there with arthritis on the front lines, and he balked again...
chickenhawks.
Just like their counterparts in the WH.



http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=list&category=%20NEWS%3B%20Chickenhawks

[BR_Parkway]

7. Screw the bad knees, they also need office clerks, supply sgts,

people to coordinate getting things like armor and bullets from point A to point B - Even lard ass Limbaugh could have served in some capacity with a boil on his butt.

[Ian David]

4. The right-wing would NEVER ruin families!

Every child deserves a home with both a father and a mother.

I guess it just doesn't matter if the father is actually HOME.

Or how many LIMBS the father has.

Or if the father is DEAD.

Because, after all, as long as the father is heterosexual, he is looking down from Heaven and providing the kind of support that a dead straight father is much more suited for than a live, gay parent.

Of course, thanks to "Don't Ask Don't Tell" the gay parents are the only ones that will be home to take care of their children-- and to adopt all the American war-orphans.

In fact, the Religious Right might be waging a war that will eugenically favor homosexuals.

They'll kill-off all the straight people and leave only the gay ones behind to raise THEIR children re-populate America with their own children.

Perhaps Gay America should be willing to fight "The War on Terror" down to the last heterosexual.

[indepat]

5. Geez, who could have realized long-term deployments come at a cost

of financial hardships, broken businesses, health problems and family strains? Surely Rumsfeld cares deeply and once this comes to his attention, will use every measure at his disposal to remedy these maladies.

[Ian David]

6. I prefer the back-door draft to an open draft

Just imagine all those angry, pissed-off people in the armed forces who are all armed and trained to kill.

I half-expected to see Colin Powell in the Oval Office on January 21st.

Let's just see how much they're willing to let President Caligula do to them.


But I really hope that never happens.


--------

<snip>
Recent sources say that Caligula probably had encephalitis. Ancient sources, like Suetonius and Cassius Dio, describe Caligula having a "brain fever". Philo reports it was nothing more than a nervous breakdown, as Caligula was not used to the pressures of constant attention after being out of the public eye for most of his life. Rome waited in horror, praying that their beloved Emperor would recover. He became better, but his reign took a sharp turn. The death of Gemellus and of Silanus, Caligula's father-in-law, took place right after Caligula recovered.

Was Caligula insane? Many agree that he was, but Philo of Alexandria, author of On the Embassy to Gaius disagrees. The leader of an Embassy sent to Caligula to seek relief from persecution by Alexandrian Greeks, Philo thought that Caligula was just a vicious jokester. He was arrogant, aloof, and a bit cruel, but insane? We may never know for sure.
<snip>

He only ruled for three years, ten months, and eight days. On January 24, 41 a conspiracy among the Praetorian Guard ended his life. While Caligula was in a corridor alone, he was struck down by one Cassius Chaerea, a colonel of the guard with a distinguished record. He had known Caligula since infancy and had been one of Germanicus's best officers. Years of abuse from Caligula over his so-called effeminacy finally took their toll. Together with another aggrieved colonel, Cornelius Sabinus, he also killed Caligula's wife Caesonia and their infant daughter, Julia Drusilla by smashing her head against a wall. After much confusion, his old uncle Claudius was made Emperor by the Praetorian Guard. Caligula was only 28 when he died.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caligula

See also:


http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/7094/cal4.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/revolt.html

[pacalo]

8. Let the Repugs sign up to fight their own misbegotten war!