AWOL blew off the Guard, now he's ruining it

[BeyondGeography]

This is from the CSM last September, but I think it bears revisiting in light of the Clark/Moore Faux controversy and Terry McAuliffe labelling DNC Bush AWOL from the National Guard today on CNN.

<Around the country other reservists, National Guard members and their families are also rethinking their commitment to the military as their duties as 'weekend warriors' have morphed into full-time jobs that have become increasingly risky.

<As a result, military leaders worry about how they'll recruit and retain the next generation of part-time soldiers who are increasingly being called on to fight the war on terror and man peacekeeping commitments from Iraq to Bosnia. More than 174,000 reservists and National Guardsmen are currently on active duty and 34 of them (as of 9/2003)have been killed.

<"There's a potential for a catastrophic fall off," said Michael O'Hanlon, a defense analyst of the Brookings Institution. "How many people in these want to deploy one in three years for the next half decade?"

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0918/p02s01-usmi.html

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

1. The DoD is predicting a 20% decrease in Guard numbers

but that's before stop-loss. Once stop-loss is rescinded, it could shoot well above that.