A friend of mine and I were discussing the pros/cons of pulling out of Iraq, and he brought up this question:

"what would happen to all those extra troops that they recruited just because of the war? Won't they be kind of out of work, or be forced to exit the military. Kind of like being laid off?"

At first, I laughed it off as ridiculous, because we all know the military is one of the most secure "jobs" in America. However, it did make me think -- what happens to all those infantry guys after the war? Do they just stay infantry? Or are they asked/forced to train for new jobs/MOSs?

In short, would pulling out of Iraq cause a bunch of guys to "lose their jobs" and be forced to leave the military?

Thanks,
JR

When you come up with the answer, please send it priority mail to
The White House, Attn: POTUS with cc: The Pentagon, Attn: SECDEF

Correct me if I'm wrong Old ArmyWOPA, but didn't that happen after Vietnam? I know it did after Desert Storm.

The last Dem in office (slick willie) was responsible for some drastic cutbacks, which caused our current manpower woes! Our Navy has been in decline for longer than that, however, and is about 50% of the "ideal 600 ship navy".

Of course, IF Obama decides the military "is too big", then we will have to stop being global Police.......... The reductions have had some interesting effects for the world, explosive piracy of the seas since the end of the cold war is just one of the indicators!

This topic pretty much goes along with a question I just posted in P/CP.

Just curious as the father of a Marine who is not currently deployed....

Obama, Hillary and most of the Democrats that ran for President said they wanted to "bring the troops home" as far as those serving in Iraq.

So what about Afghanistan? I've been reading where the commanders feel they need much more boots on the ground there. So will the troops in Iraq come home or will a large portion be sent to Afghanistan?

Makes me wonder.

Don

A while back i was reading something about the troops in Afghanistan, and i believe it said that Obama wanted to increase troops strength there.I may be wrong on this but i believe its right.

quote:

Correct me if I'm wrong Old ArmyWOPA, but didn't that happen after Vietnam? I know it did after Desert Storm.

There were big troop cut after every war. The problem is that we now have an all-vol force and still a world-wide threat.

The first thing that will happen is that everyone who is stopped-lossed will get the chance to finally leave. Of course, when the war is over most will not want to leave.

They need to start cutting at the top - there are a lot of high ranking people in the Army who were called out of retirement for the War(s). They will be first to go.

Because the economy is in the crapper - they will have to RIF because most will not be willing to just cut and run. They would have to offer early retirement and incentives like they have before.

I have to go to Walter Reed next week for the beginning of my medical board proceedings. If they give me the option to retire, I'm going to take it because of the reasons listed above.

quote:

Originally posted by 21yrsUSCGUSCS:
This topic pretty much goes along with a question I just posted in P/CP.

Just curious as the father of a Marine who is not currently deployed....

Obama, Hillary and most of the Democrats that ran for President said they wanted to "bring the troops home" as far as those serving in Iraq.

So what about Afghanistan? I've been reading where the commanders feel they need much more boots on the ground there. So will the troops in Iraq come home or will a large portion be sent to Afghanistan?

Makes me wonder.

Don

Don,
You are right, "What about Afghanistan?"
Afghanistan is the "Forgotten War". Very little coverage is given to the war there.

They have to send more troops to Iraq as the needs for more troops increase. What the heck is going on? Does the Top Brass even care about Afghanistan or they just plain incompetent?

Our troops in Afghanistan are stretched dangerously close to the limit!

quote:

They need to start cutting at the top - there are a lot of high ranking people in the Army who were called out of retirement for the War(s). They will be first to go.

The cuts must be IAW with the law which establishes strength percentage by grade/rank.

quote:

Originally posted by 21yrsUSCGUSCS:
This topic pretty much goes along with a question I just posted in P/CP.

Just curious as the father of a Marine who is not currently deployed....

Obama, Hillary and most of the Democrats that ran for President said they wanted to "bring the troops home" as far as those serving in Iraq.

So what about Afghanistan? I've been reading where the commanders feel they need much more boots on the ground there. So will the troops in Iraq come home or will a large portion be sent to Afghanistan?

Makes me wonder.

Don

No need to wonder...

being a vet of viet nam i saw how the reducted troop levels after we started to draw down in viet nam, early outs for almost any reason, if you were not to reup they would ask you to go, soldiers with less than 6mo. after vn tours were ets out of oakland ca. after their return, re enlistment bonuses were alittle bit of nothing unless you were a crew chief on helicopter and that about 10,000 dollars, and a few more mos s with less amounts, i was medic at the time, and the bonus was like 2,000 for a 6 yr enlistment and a chose of duty station for 1 year and you can guess where you might go next.
i was still in the reserves after the gulf war was over as a drill sgt. alot of soldiers were forced out, for all kinds of reasons, weigh,pt,rank,time in grade, some E-5s with as must as 12,15,17, years were forced out with some of deal some of these guys were just in a frozen fields and could not go up, some of them joined the reserves to get their time, but that had to be for 8 more years.
the military has it ways, do you think all these sudstandard enlistments they have made in this war (i do not mean for this to be a cutdown to any of the members that came in, some will stay and made good leaders), the military will find ways to cut the force, you got to remember the infantry is the biggest force in the military and the have to be young,fast,strong, beleive me i ben there, but look on the bright side of it they will have a 4 year education waiting for them if want to use it

quote:

Originally posted by CorporalMcIntyre:
Correct me if I'm wrong Old ArmyWOPA, but didn't that happen after Vietnam? I know it did after Desert Storm.

Actually, I think he served in Korea.

quote:

The problem is that we now have an all-vol force and still a world-wide threat.

This is true. Someone has to police the world, and (when technology permits) the universe as well.

The IG in my building said that there is going to be about a 20% reduction in force (RIF) across the services coming real soon.

I have no proof of this - but it wouldn't surprise me because Obama said in one of his speeches that he would fund his special programs by cutting military spending/ funding (after the war).

At least those who leave or are forced to will have better education benefits and will hopefullly take advantage of those and go to school!

quote:

Originally posted by Bergy46:

quote:

Originally posted by 21yrsUSCGUSCS:
This topic pretty much goes along with a question I just posted in P/CP.

Just curious as the father of a Marine who is not currently deployed....

Obama, Hillary and most of the Democrats that ran for President said they wanted to "bring the troops home" as far as those serving in Iraq.

So what about Afghanistan? I've been reading where the commanders feel they need much more boots on the ground there. So will the troops in Iraq come home or will a large portion be sent to Afghanistan?

Makes me wonder.

Don

Don,
You are right, "What about Afghanistan?"
Afghanistan is the "Forgotten War". Very little coverage is given to the war there.

They have to send more troops to Iraq as the needs for more troops increase. What the heck is going on? Does the Top Brass even care about Afghanistan or they just plain incompetent?

Our troops in Afghanistan are stretched dangerously close to the limit!

Obama has said he wants to increase troop strength in A-stan by three brigades in 2009, as well as pressure our allies to contribute more.

He has no plans to cut numbers. No RIF. This doesn't mean of coure that the Pentagon's budget won't be cut. But that's a different matter. McCain was going to do that too.