Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 5
I see a logical flaw to that. First, I don't think this mother ever went to the "front lines" as defined by the military. So your desire as written would not have changed this story at all. What is different about this war is that the exposure the "back lines" got. As far as I can tell, she was back lines. She did communications on a airplane. If you change it to say they can't be sent to a war zone, then what the heck do we have a reserve for anyway?
Secondly, I believe there are many assignments, not just going to a war zone, where one can't take their dependents. She could have been dispatched to back fill a deployed unit. In that case she could have had the same separation issue without ever going to Iraq (or Afghanistan).
So bottom line, I don't think even if your wish was granted that it would fix the problem you are trying to solve.
Uhhhhhh. Why? First of all, the TSA is a low end civilian job. The whole purpose of the reserve is to have a reserve of people with specialized training to help fill in when the regular military runs short. It takes time to train volunteers who walk off the streets. Even if the TSA was a military job, there's no way the government would pay to train someone for that job on a "standby" basis.
Now, I do see an element to this story that bothers me. Why did she have such a problem of bringing her children back when she returned? (Odd, I thought most returnees have a good chunk of cash seeing as how they earned, got room and board issued to them and had but few opportunities to spend. There's something more to this story, but I digress.) Seems like the military and their support services could have done a lot better. And seeing the child's actions so long after she has returned makes me think she's not getting family counseling that she needs. Now that's a cause I can support.
Originally posted by Miulang
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Secondly, I believe there are many assignments, not just going to a war zone, where one can't take their dependents. She could have been dispatched to back fill a deployed unit. In that case she could have had the same separation issue without ever going to Iraq (or Afghanistan).
So bottom line, I don't think even if your wish was granted that it would fix the problem you are trying to solve.
P.S. Just as a for instance of what single parents with dependent children who enlist in the National Guard could do to help this country, in this country: why not let them work for the TSA to secure our airports, borders and ports from terrorists? They would be providing a great service without being put into a wartime situation.
Now, I do see an element to this story that bothers me. Why did she have such a problem of bringing her children back when she returned? (Odd, I thought most returnees have a good chunk of cash seeing as how they earned, got room and board issued to them and had but few opportunities to spend. There's something more to this story, but I digress.) Seems like the military and their support services could have done a lot better. And seeing the child's actions so long after she has returned makes me think she's not getting family counseling that she needs. Now that's a cause I can support.
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