life as a military wife: Not deploying

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Not deploying

Go here. I read it and thought it was interesting. What do all of you think? What would you have done? Or what if it was your husband?

3 comments:

steve-o said...: For the most part, I agree with the prosecution. If you refuse to take lives because of your moral convictions (or otherwise), then you have no place being in the military. The possibility that that might be required of you always exists in the military.

If I had a problem with killing that came as a result of service, and I had the chance to be discharged honorably, then I would take the discharge. That seems like a no-brainer.; February 28, 2008 at 3:15 AM
Shelly! said...: I disagree with Steve in a minor way. Sometimes you do not realize what your beliefs are, or what you can handle until you come face to face with it. People go into wars feeling strong and brave, only to realize their worst fears. People serve missions with no true testimony only to discover their real faith.

I have seen enough lives touched negatively by what they are experiencing in Iraq to understand why some would dread going back. There was a solider here in CA that had a friend shoot him in the leg to avoid redeployment.

I am not sure I understand why the soldier in the article reenlisted. Not sure anyone could really understand that. Maybe it wasn't until he reenlisted that he started to get edgy. Who knows. I think the sentence he was given makes sense.

Reading the account of his Lt. Col made me cringe though. That happens more than we know. Even internally soldiers know they shouldn't redeploy but cannot face disgrace by refusing. Incredibly sad.

As far as husbands go. To be frank, I would not support my husband going into the military. Not at this time. Not for this war. Maybe not ever. Maybe that is incredibly selfish of me, but I refuse to lose him (physically or emotionally) to the military.

If he had entered the military and was doing what this solider did, I would support him. Military and public disgrace wouldn't outweigh his mental and physical health. At the same time if he was in the military and wanted to redeploy, I would have to think about how I'd feel. Watching him emotionally dissolve it would be hard for me to agree to send him back there. At the same time it would be his choice.

I guess it makes it easy to understand why so many marriages struggle while and after a soldier has been deployed.; February 28, 2008 at 7:04 AM
Shiloah Baker said...: Well, that is sad to me. I think it was selfish of him. He should have thought about the long term consequences for his family and really thought about why he was even still in the military. His family will suffer more for this than he. Being reduced to private and being dishonorably discharged will affect his family and their quality of life as he tries to provide for them after this.

If it was my husband I would hope that I would have seen the signs and tried to help him get out before it got to this point. My hubby wouldn't do this anyway.

Interesting post!; March 4, 2008 at 7:30 AM