Military Officer - August 2007 - (Page 56)

“But we’re professionals, that’s why we do what we do. We’re there when the nation calls,” Deering says. To Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Rogers, an aide to Deering, “it was a little shocking” to learn he would be going to Iraq early in 2008 rather than in 2010. “I’ve only been home 18 months, and here we go again,” says Rogers, who deployed in 2005 with a different unit. “My wife was pretty upset. I haven’t told my kids yet,” he said a week after learning he’ll return to Iraq early. “The younger ones probably won’t say much,” he said of his 8-, 7-, and 5-year-old children. “The 11-yearold will probably have an opinion,” Rogers said. “He’ll be concerned.” Mixed emotions For Spc. Shawn Hill, though, news of the early deployment was welcome. “To be honest with you, I was happy. I’ve been trying to go there for two years,” says Hill, a junior studying architecture at Oklahoma University. Hill says he missed out when Oklahoma Guard soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan in 2003. He was sent, instead, on a Sinai peacekeeping mission. But the chance for a wartime deployment is one of the reasons why he joined the National Guard in 2002, he says. Col. Richard Curry, commander of Ohio’s 37th BCT, says he ﬁnds that sentiment regularly in the National Guard. “A lot of young people are looking at what’s going on and want to have that experience,” he says. But Curry’s political boss, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, was furious. In a letter to Bush, he called early mobilization of the 37th BCT “a breach of faith. This is a signiﬁcant departure from the commitment made to Ohio soldiers and their families.” Like them or hate them, the extended deployments and early callups are unavoidable, according to David Chu, undersecretary of defense for Personnel and Readiness. The demand for troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere around the globe means more of the burden of war will have to be borne by National Guard and other reserve troops, Chu wrote in a Feb. 5 column in the Army Times. Rewriting the rules In the scramble to supply commanders with the troops they need, all kinds of personnel rules are being rewritten. DoD dropped a rule limiting involuntary callups to no more than 24 months for Guard soldiers. Guardmembers examine weapons pulled from an underground tank in Taji Village, Iraq. (top right) Arkansas National Guard 1st Lt. Michael McCarty reloads a .50-caliber sniper rifle. (top left) Guardmembers patrol a road outside of Forward Operating Base Kalagush, Afghanistan. 56 MILITARY OFFICER AUGUST 2007 PHOTOS: CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT, SGT. ISAAC A. GRAHAM, USA/DOD; CAPT. CHRIS HEATHSCOTT, ARNG; CAPT. CHRIS HEATHSCOTT, ARNG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - August 2007

Military Officer - August 2007 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Cover Story: No Longer in Reserve A Different Path Weird Science Charge? Pages of History Faces of MOAA Member Books Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Calendar MOAA Scholarship Donors Sounding Taps MOAA Member Services Encore

Military Officer - August 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.