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VT Says President's Authority To Send Guard Members To Iraq Has Expired

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR
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State Rep. Michael Fisher introduced a bill Wednesday, backed by 30 colleagues, that called on Gov. Jim Douglas to join the effort.

"Most of us standing here, maybe all of us, have made objections in the past about the morality or wisdom of this war. Today we are limiting ourselves to one vital principle: the rule of law," Fisher said.
I couldn't agree more. This is an interesting approach, I want to see how far this will go.
 

LordOpie

MOTHER HEN
Oct 17, 2002
21,022
3
Denver
Maybe I'm ignorant, but I never want the NG deployed for any reason, ever. My thinking is that they serve domestically for emergencies... WTF happens if they're overseas?

Glad it's happening.
 

BurlyShirley

Rex Grossman Will Rise Again
Jul 4, 2002
19,180
17
TN
It'll be interesting to see what happens with this, but I somehow doubt it gets very far.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR
It'll be interesting to see what happens with this, but I somehow doubt it gets very far.
I agree it might not get far, but they do have a point. Insurgents in Iraq pose no threat to US soil, so National Guard troops have no business there.

If it gets anywhere, you will see a large number of states pulling the same thing.
 

Silver

find me a tampon
Jul 20, 2002
10,840
1
Orange County, CA
It will get no where. The rule of law means nothing. We torture people now as regular policy. You think Bush cares what a bunch of State Representatives in Vermont thinK?
 

LordOpie

MOTHER HEN
Oct 17, 2002
21,022
3
Denver
It will get no where. The rule of law means nothing. We torture people now as regular policy. You think Bush cares what a bunch of State Representatives in Vermont thinK?
But if it's court ordered, I don't think a PotUS can ignore that.
 

BurlyShirley

Rex Grossman Will Rise Again
Jul 4, 2002
19,180
17
TN
I can just see Gen. Patreus now in front of congress saying "It's possible these guys could attack the US"
 

LordOpie

MOTHER HEN
Oct 17, 2002
21,022
3
Denver
So? He'll appeal, it will be tied up for years, and it won't make a bit of difference.
Agreed, except that eventually, another asshole PotUS will come along and the ground work to keep NGs out of extended foreign service will be laid.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR
Agreed, except that eventually, another asshole PotUS will come along and the ground work to keep NGs out of extended foreign service will be laid.
That's my hope. That whoever is next will agree and it will be cause for a reduction of force that will allow states to rebuild NG forces.

With less than a year to go, my hopes of anything "good" to come out of this administration are gone. It would be nice to limit additional long term damage, though.
 

JohnE

filthy rascist
May 13, 2005
13,430
1,949
Front Range, dude...
The Guard and Reserve are RUINED. Retention sucks, and first term recruiting numbers are way down. Equipment that isnt destroyed is wrecked, what does come home from SWA is light years away from repair or replacement. My brother in law commands a Res. Brigade, and he is losing 15+ year veterans, Senior NCOs, guys close enough to retiring that they can start growing their hair out, faste then he can promomte new ones.
The Guard has a duty to the fed. gvmnt, but in time of war. Are we still at "war"? GWBs GWOT will have no end, it is the perfect feeder for the military industrial complex that Cheney and Haliburton envisioned...
In short, we have been screwed by 2 rich kids who were too good to go to "their" war, but didnt hesitate to send other peoples kids to the war they started.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
In short, we have been screwed by 2 rich kids who were too good to go to "their" war, but didnt hesitate to send other peoples kids to the war they started.
isn't that the way it always goes?
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
i find it ironic that Virginia Tech wants to create more opportunities for violence.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR
The Guard and Reserve are RUINED. Retention sucks, and first term recruiting numbers are way down. Equipment that isnt destroyed is wrecked, what does come home from SWA is light years away from repair or replacement. My brother in law commands a Res. Brigade, and he is losing 15+ year veterans, Senior NCOs, guys close enough to retiring that they can start growing their hair out, faste then he can promomte new ones.
I saw this first hand in my first year of service in the NG. I used to work with the recruiters on retention and it was ugly. At the Command levels, they didn't understand why they were losing NCO's hand over fist no matter how much money they were trying to toss at them.

The other side is only starting to show up and that's the long term financial impact 12+ months took on some senior level folks. More than 3/4 of the E6 and above made more money in a civilian job than they did deployed, even tax free with danger pay in my old unit. There were a lot of people that were in danger of losing houses and businesses because they couldn't maintain a quality of life back home.