MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A veteran who has been out of the military for 15 years and recently received his AARP card was stunned when he received notice he will be deployed to Iraq. The last time Paul Bandel, 50, saw combat was in the early 1990s during the Gulf War. “(I was) kind of shocked, not understanding what I was getting into,” said Bandel.
In 1993, Bandel took the option of leaving the Army without retirement and never thought he would be called back to action. “Here he’s 50 years old, getting his AARP card, and here he’s being redeployed with all these 18-year-olds,” said Paul’s wife, Linda Bandel. “I can understand, say, ‘Here, we have this assignment for you stateside. Go do your training,'” said Paul Bandel. “But, ‘Hey, here’s a gun, go back to the desert.'” Involuntary recall allows the military, regardless of age or how long someone has been out of service, to order vets back into active duty. “Anger’s not the word. I was more concerned about the financial impact it’s going to do. My pay’s probably cut in half,” said Paul Bandel.
“Right now, I’m just in disbelief because it’s like the disbelief that this could be happening 15 years after being out of the military. It’s like a dream or a nightmare,” said Linda Bandel. The veteran is dusting off his old uniforms and torn between his duty to his country and obligations as a grandfather. “I certainly never thought I’d be going back there at this point in my life,” said Paul Bandel. The last missile system the veteran was trained to operate is no longer used by the military. Calls to the Army and the Pentagon about how many men and women in their 50s are being called back to duty were not returned Wednesday.
Holy Smokes….That’s only a couple years from my age, I better check my enlistment contract, and get my attorney on the phone.
Police Chief Kris Turnbow of Raymore, MO. is 56 and being called up. http://tinyurl.com/97rqjo
Scary stuff. Will we next start a draft? What will the minimum age be? Should we call 12 year olds adults and
start a children’s crusadesend them off to battle? Or, should we just call in a whole batch of old geezers who’ve never served before, like myself?Perhaps we should just get the hell out, as everyone in the region wants and our finances demand.
Never join the forces, they will fuck you over.
Should send old Dumbass over after Jan 20th. He’s not doing anything.
what does he do for a living now?
Makes me glad I never joined the guard, as my dad wanted!
I would like to find out more about the guy in the picture above. I’m impressed that he can still fit in his doughboy uniform and seems to be all there.
#3
Spoken like a true cowardly lowlife.
# 6 whaap said:
“#3
Spoken like a true cowardly lowlife.”
Ah, another one who wants to turn our country into Sparta (after the ‘trickle-down’ crowd finish turning it into Haiti, of course).
#3, #7 Glad not everyone thinks as you do. I glad there are brave souls who are willing to serve to keep this country safe and free. Without the military you would be speaking German now, that is unless you are Jewish.
You really should read fine print on the contract. I was 15 years old when I signed my 5 year commitment to the USN – They said I could be a data processing technician. It was called the delayed entry program back in 76, I bet you don’t see many recruiters going for 15 yos these days… If they want me to go back to active they’ll have to come to Spain to get me.
FTN!
38 – quag
That’s why we need to implement a draft. Stat. No deferments (other than legitimate hardship or disability).
Not only would we have enough armed forces for a real war, but it would cut down on the silly trophy wars like Dumbya’s.
What you need to remember is that retiree pay from the US Military is actually a retainer. Saying that “You are being paid in the advent that your services are needed in the future” as opposed to myself who only did my original obligation (6 years), then I was on the “inactive ready reserve list” for 10 years. My 10 years is up, Ive got my big shiney certificate with the word “honorable” on it and they cant touch me.
All flags are bloody rags.
Patriotism is the worst form of ignorance.
War is evolution’s system for culling the violent and the ignorant from the human herd.
I’m all for it as long as somebody else’s kids go. And don’t gimme none of that ‘you owe your country your freedom’ crap, that’s all mine.
#10. Forced Military service is not the answer to anything Mustard. Certainly not my idea of freedom.
If you had been served a draft notice during a war you opposed, you would know what it is like.
Military Draft == Slavery
Mandatory Public Service == Slavery
Don’t tread on me, bitches.
#12, amo,
Patriotism is the worst form of ignorance.
I don’t know if I agree but I know I will be thinking about that line for the rest of the night.
Don’t worry — the Republicans have assured us that the war will end when there are no more terrorists in the world.
#16 Let see how long it take Barry to pull the troops out. I’m willing to bet they will still be there this time next year.
#13 – McC
I WAS served a draft notice during a war I did not support. Lucky for me, the POTUS-in-chief decided to end that war in order to get re-elected, before I had to do any slogging.
As to “freedom”, well, that’s just another word for nothing left to lose.
I think a national draft would be good from a variety of differnt standpoints:
It would require military service of everyone (boys and girls alike), and not just those who don’t have any better options.
It would cut down on the number of frivolous wars started by the US, as the warmongers’ children would be just as likely to fight as the no-option enlistees of current times.
It would cut down on the number of people who blanche and begin to shake whenever anyone mentions “guns”.
It might even instill a little discipline and self-respect into the muffin-topped, self-absorbed, lilly-livered youth of today whose closest brush with combat is spending long days and nights playing WoW.
#12 amodedoma
>>War is evolution’s system for culling the violent and the ignorant from the human herd.
The leading cause of war can usually be traced to two or more leaders engaged in your basic pecker contest. Rarely if ever does any leader personally take part in the savagery of war, but are more than willing to send others to their death in order to defend their… well, pecker.
Of course there is always the legitimate reason for war in the case when evil must be vanquished, but on the whole if politicians were forced to be more personally involved there would be fewer wars.
#19 – ‘tempt
>>on the whole if politicians were forced to
>>be more personally involved there would be
>>fewer wars.
There’s nothing like having Brett and Caitlyn serving in the armed forces to get those politicians “personally involved”, eh? A national draft will do that lickety-split.
#19
Vanquish evil? Sounds like something from a comic book. You mean like WWII where we went for that evil Hitler, and then let Stalin (just as evil and for most of the same reasons) take eastern europe?
There’s no vanquishing evil, or good, while they still serve a purpose in human evolution.
#20 Mister Mustard
>>A national draft will do that lickety-split.
Hard to argue with that, but I prefer a more personal approach in that the guy who makes the decision for war must be the first to take the beach. That way the nation will truly know if we are entering a necessary war or just a pissing contest.
#21 amodedoma
You pretty much called it with Hitler, and are right about Stalin. Unfortunately politicians are selfish creatures and never allow the job to get finished.
#22 – ‘tempt
>>but I prefer a more personal approach in
>>that the guy who makes the decision for war
>>must be the first to take the beach
Naw. Heart Attack Cheney would have keeled over before the first shot was fired.
Just as productive (not to mention more likely to happen) is to have his muff-muncher daughter and Dumbya’s twins manning the front lines. That would have separated the chickenhawks from the warriors.
If I was recalled, I would happily go. The military is that which saved your dumb asses in WWII. If not for a country full of men who felt like me, you bitches would all be speaking German or Japanese now. This country is full of fruits now. That includes you, Mustard.
#23 Mister Mustard
>>muff-muncher daughter
That’s right, I had forgotten that. Well, don’t ask don’t tell… Hey you get your head out of her lap and watch for road mines!
#24 – Ruger P89
>> This country is full of fruits now. That
>>includes you, Mustard.
You’re named after a 9mm pistol and you’re calling ME a fruit? HAW!! Whassamatta, pantie-boy, a real gun too much for ya? I’ll bet you’d crap your nickers at the sight of a 1911-A1, or worse yet, a Desert Eagle. P89. Tee hee!
Fruit. {snicker}
#26 Mustard, you are a jerk. And, obviously, still in denial.
#27 – Kimmie
In denial about what?
It’s nice that you’ve upgraded to .45 ACP, but you still sound like a pantie-boy.
First, 50 ain’t that old. I’ll be 60 next month and I spent 7 years of my 5th decade in Afghanistan and then a short time in Iraq. I wasn’t a soldier but I was often in danger.
Secondly, he knew he was available for recall. I’m sure he got a check every month to make sure he would be available. He could have sought retirement/discharge at any time.
I served during the Vietnam “conflict.” I was a corpsman and knew a man who’d been drafted early on right out of college. After he finished his term, he went to school on the GI bill and became a doctor. They RE-drafted him because they needed doctors. He told me he didn’t mind that much because as a new doctor he got all sorts of great experience. They let him out and, based on his second time in the Army, he decided to become an orthopedic surgeon. After training, they took him again because orthopods are always needed in a war. This is when I knew him and he still wasn’t all that upset because, again, he was getting the best training in the world. Nothing like a little war to train bone surgeons.
I reckon they are planning to call up all the 50 years old because, having not grown up with Nintendo or Atari they have the physical necessary to be a soldier ….