Joanna
R wrote:
> August 13, 2004
>
> Fighting the Backdoor Draft
> Military Families File "Stop Loss" Suit
> By COUNTERPUNCH WIRE
>
> Attorneys for a decorated combat veteran serving in the Army Reserve
> will announce Tuesday the filing of a petition challenging a "stop
> loss" order that requires the reservist to remain in the military
> beyond the term of his enlistment for possible duty in Iraq. The
> reservist is identified as "John Doe" for reasons of privacy. Doe's
> case is the first legal challenge to Army's current "stop loss" program.
>
> Under the program, tens of thousands of soldiers have been prevented
> from retiring or leaving the military upon completing their enlistment
> terms so that they may be deployed to Iraq. The petition asserts that
> the program is arbitrary, unfair, and unauthorized by law. The stop
> loss program has been widely criticized as a "backdoor draft."
>
> Doe, a San Francisco Bay Area resident, served in combat during the
> invasion of Iraq last year, and has more than nine years of active
> service in the military. Doe currently serves as a reservist in the
> California Army National Guard under a one-year enlistment. He has a
> wife and two daughters, ages 6 and 3. The stop loss order could
> require Doe's return to Iraq for up to two years, and possible
> continued military service beyond that time.
>
> Doe is represented by attorneys Michael S. Sorgen and Joshua
> Sondheimer, who are initiating the action in association with the
> Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild. "This is a case
> that will be closely watched by thousands of military personnel and
> their families," says Sorgen.
>
> Doe is one of up to 40,000 service members forced to serve beyond the
> expiration of their enlistment terms since the war in Iraq began.
>
> "This lawsuit seeks to stop the forced retention of men and women like
> John Doe who have already fulfilled their service obligations to the
> country. Their enlistments should have ended, and they should now be
> entitled to return to their families," says Sorgen.
>
> "We are asking the federal court to uphold their lawful rights and not
> allow the Army to create a new category of indentured servitude," says
> Marguerite Hiken of the Military Law Task Force.
>
>
>
>
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