[Vision2020] Armed Forces Should Be Left To The Old Farts

Thu Jan 3 17:11:15 PST 2008

That isn't so funny J.

>From the Army Times at www.armytimes.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
60-year-old Army retiree wants back in

The Associated PressPosted : Thursday Jan 3, 2008 9:50:51 EST   

BEREA, Ohio — A man who turned 60 and was forced to leave the Army because of a retirement policy said he wants the military to take him back for another tour in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Austin Asher, a former master sergeant, retired in 2007 after serving 31 years in the Army, National Guard and Army Reserves, including two tours of Iraq.

He’s applied for active duty under the Army’s Retiree Recall Program and wants to go back to the Middle East to reassume his second-deployment role as a mess sergeant who ran chow halls serving up to 3,500 meals daily.

Asher, who lives in suburban Cleveland, gets pensions from the military and from his 30 years working for Ford Motor Co. but said he’d be willing to take a demotion and corresponding pay cut to get back in.

“The Army can take the pension back. Money is not an issue with me,” he said. “Just give me soldiers. Give me some food and let me feed them.”

Asher’s application is being reviewed by the Army’s Human Resources Command in St. Louis, said Master Sgt. Keith O’Donnell. More than 2,900 former soldiers — about a third over age 60 — have volunteered for the Retiree Recall Program, and about 585 are back on duty, he said.

The Army accepts all applications but recalls only those whose skills needed for current operations, O’Donnell said. Recalls commonly involve medical professionals and people with skills in civil affairs and operations.

Asher said his desire to return to duty may be a lingering legacy of his late brother, Carl, an Army soldier who served in Vietnam who had a bad case of post-traumatic stress disorder that persisted until his death in 1994.

“It’s like he got killed in Vietnam but died in Cleveland,” Asher said.

Asher served stateside after being drafted in 1967. “I always felt like I wasn’t doing my share. I always told Carl I’d make him proud,” he said.

When Asher’s wife of 30 years, Jane, was asked how she felt about his possible return to duty, she replied, “Actually I don’t know because I really don’t think it’ll happen. I guess I’m kind of in denial.”

Their nine children — four serving in the military — don’t believe it either, she said. “Most of them feel he’s already done his duty and shouldn’t have to do it again.”

But Asher’s heart beats eight hours ahead, on Iraqi time.

“In my mind’s eye, I still see those kids,” he said. “I see the desert. I see the sweat. I see the tears and fears. I got thousands of sons and daughters out there.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.

From: privatejf32 at hotmail.comTo: vision2020 at moscow.comDate: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 16:59:02 -0800Subject: [Vision2020] Armed Forces Should Be Left To The Old Farts

A Friend sent me this...thought I'd share it with the Vizzie people....jic - this is all in FUN....Laugh it up!I am over 60 and the Armed Forces thinks I'm too old to track down terrorists. (You can't be older than 42 to join the military.)They've got the whole thing backwards. Instead of sending18-year-olds off to fight, they ought to take us old guys. You shouldn't be able to join a military unit until you're at least 35.For starters: Researchers say 18-year-olds think about sex every 10 seconds. Old guys only think about sex a couple of times a day, leaving us more than 28,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy.Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. 'My back hurts! I can't sleep, I'm tired and hungry!' We are impatient and maybe letting us kill some asshole that desperately deserves it will make us feel better and shut us up for a while.An 18-year-old doesn't even like to get up before 10 a.m. Old guys always get up early to pee so what the hell. Besides, like I said, 'I'm tired and can't sleep and since I'm already up, I may as well be up killing some fanatical son-of-a-bitch.If captured we couldn't spill the beans because we'd forget where we put them. In fact, name, rank, and serial number would be a real brainteaser.Boot camp would be easier for old guys. We're used to getting screamed and yelled at  and we like soft food. We've also developed an appreciation for guns. We've been using them for years as an excuse to get out of the house, away from the screaming yelling.They could lighten up on the obstacle course however. I've been in combat and didn't see a single 20-foot wall with rope hanging over the side, nor did I ever do any pushups after completing basic training.  I can hear the Drill Sgt. now, 'Get down and give me ... er .. one.'Actually, the running part is kind of a waste of energy, too. I've never seen anyone outrun a bullet.An 18-year-old has the whole world ahead of him. He's still learning to shave, to start up a conversation with a pretty girl. He still hasn't figured out that a baseball cap has a brim to shade his eyes, not the back of his head. These are all great reasons to keep our kids at home to learn a little more about life before sending them off into harm's way.Let us old guys track down those dirty rotten cowards who attacked us on September 11.  The last thing an enemy would want to see right now is a couple of million pissed off old farts with attitudes and automatic weapons who know that their best years are already behind them.If nothing else, put us on the border and we will have it secured the first night.  Share this with your senior friends. It's purposely in big type so you can read it.J :]

i’m is proud to present Cause Effect, a series about real people making a difference. Learn more 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20080103/ad5c39e3/attachment-0001.html 