53-Year-Old Marine Proud to Get Recalled

[Rose Siding]

snip>
An accountant from Lebanon, he got a phone call from the Marine Corps' manpower office in August. Officials wanted to see if he would come out of retirement to serve in Iraq.

Could he pass the physical? Was he interested?

Yes, he said, he would be ready to go. "Being able to be part of this is very important to me," he explained.

On Nov. 3, his orders came in the mail, marked "Involuntary Presidential Select Recall."...
...
In preparation for deployment, Ryan started jogging four times a week to lose the 20 pounds he had gained while running for the 17th congressional district seat in central Pennsylvania. He lost the Republican nomination to Scott Paterno.

He had to close his accounting business temporarily and refer his current clients. He had to finish landscaping the front yard. He had to prepare his four grown children and his wife, Sherrie. He was going into harm's way.

One of the hardest parts of the deployment for Ryan was stopping the adoption of a baby girl from China....

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-ye-iraq-return-to-duty,0,697177.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[rkc3]

1. Wonder if he'll be proud to come back with a limb missing?

[babylonsister]

5. Or in a body bag that no one in this

administration will honor.

[Webster Green]

2. Cool!....He gets to go shoot some "rag-heads"....

He'll be a real fucking hero!

[MADem]

23. He won't be shooting anyone

He'll be hiding in an office well inside the Green Zone. His assignment, a six monther, is as "Deputy Chief of the Multi-Lateral Force, Iraq." There's probably more to his title than that, but that is all the info he provides on his website: http://www.frankryanforcongress.com/News.asp?formmode=Release&ID=30

It ain't like being Deputy Dawg. There are no doubt a number of deputies--without knowing his military specialty we can't tell precisely what he is doing, but by his title, we know that he is close to the throne, and will work in air conditioned comfort, either ordering coffins, requisitioning crap for the Iraqi police (who will desert with the shit we provide to them in alarming numbers), doing scheduling (aircraft, supplies, that kind of crap), doing budget management, or some other paper-pushing, supply/logistics effort.

Assuming he doesn't get hit by a well-aimed RPG or mortar lobbed inside the perimeter, and he doesn't have to go from base to base except by air (and even then, watch out), he'll probably make it home in one piece, and be able to check off the "war hero" block. He'll never have to endure the sand fleas, the kidney infections from not drinking enough water, the heat, the misery, or the level of fear that the young kids hauling weaponry about in unarmored vehicles have to suffer.

[daleo]

33. He will probably milk it come next election, though

The war stories will be coming thick and fast. His bio leads me to agree with your assessment. I bet he makes some mighty useful business contacts, too.

"As a distinguished CPA, Ryan lectures on business ethics for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and has been honored as one of their top lecturers. In addition Ryan has an MBA from the University of Maryland and sits on the board of multiple financial and manufacturing enterprises."

[Corgigal]

3. That phone call would still be ringing at

my house. No way would I pick up. This 46 year old veteran, USAF,ATC'er couldn't pass shit. Especially on that day.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

4. I'm sure he's a W-supporter so it is just fine. nt

[0007]

6. A real John Wayne, 'eh?

Now we know the Army is getting hard up for warm bodies.

The draft is right around the corner. Say next April it will be cranking up.

[KingChicken]

7. Good intentions, but in the end really a shame....

To see people with patriotic spirt waste it on this war created and funded by corporate greed.

It's like watching a loyal investor put all his money into a internet startup in 1999, just more broken dreams, just like the misled people supporting this war.

[ChrisK]

8. Glad he talked it over with his wife

Nice to see he is a man of action and goes with his gut..like someone else we here know.

I will say that he is, compared to many that "support" the troops, putting his money where his mouth is but does he not read the news, see the headlines or listen to whats happening over there?..its a death trap.

All I can say is I hope he gets back safely, the same I wish for all the people over there..I just wish this mess would end already so we can finally leave this "Fantasy land" that Bush has tried to pawn off on us...a death trap is a death trap is a death trap...no matter what color you paint it.

[edbermac]

9. Why did he wait so long to be recalled?

If he was so gung-ho he would have volunteered immediately...

[zbdent]

11. Why did he wait, period?

Why should he wait to be recalled? He should have had his ass signed up 9/12/2001, if he wants to suck W's weenie that badly . . .

[MADem]

24. He used to work for Tommy Franks (see his bio on his site)

It wouldn't surprise me at all if he has a shitload of debt from his failed campaign, and maybe his business isn't going as well as he would like. He can invoke the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act to forstall the debt payment, and as a Colonel, he pulls down a sweet paycheck, and will have few expenses. His assignment and paygrade ensure that he will work and billet in relative comfort.

I would be entirely UNSURPRISED if it were learned that he called Tommy and arranged this 'involuntary' recall.

[underpants]

26. Yep

Frank Ryan served on active duty and in the reserves in the Marines for over thirty years, retiring as a Colonel with a remarkable three Legion of Merit Awards. During his service, Ryan was deployed in Haiti, Bosnia and most recently served as Central Command Special Operations Officer under General Tommy Franks in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

http://www.frankryanforcongress.com/Bio.asp

[yorkiemommie1]

32. that was my thought too

should have been on the first plane out

[oneold1-4u]

10. Cheap life insurance

Two hundred and fifty thou. life policy at 53 in private life is expensive, and if he has one paid up it will just add to it.
It might also change the way war is done, with more of the older experienced people out there! The high-up personel certainly have no experience! Most of them don't even know which end of a fly swatter is the business end!

[lastliberalintexas]

12. How the hell is that not a draft?

"Involuntary Presidential Select Recall."... :shrug:

Yes, I know that there are other technicalities to a "draft", but reality is...

[luaneryder]

17. Now we know what they're going

to be calling it in the spring.

[Journeyman]

13. Did anyone see the similar guy on 60 Minutes 2. . .

He was around 50, and was probably 150 pounds overweight. They showed him and a couple of much younger men doing field training with rifles. The other guys ran forty yards, jumped into a rectangular concrete ditch (maybe 3-4 feet deep), then started shooting. This shlub lumbered for about 30 yards, walked the last ten huffing and puffing, then tried to gingerly work his way down into the hole. He could hardly bend over, let alone grab the edges of the hole to lower himself slowly into it.

Afterwards, while he sat on the edge of the hole (he was never shown to have actually made it into the hole to fire his weapon), the reporter asked him what he thought about the others like himself who had decided to not answer their government's call. "They're all cowards," he said.

All I could do was shake my head and wonder how long this brave doughboy (yep, we'll have to resurrect that name for people such as he), how long he'll last before he's bundled in a body bag (triple-X , of course), and trundled home. I suspect somewhere in the first few yards of his first 40 yard run taken under enemy fire.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am 50 years old, somewhat overweight, and a veteran who has no intention of going to Iraq to be shipped home a canvas-cased sausage. And if that makes me a "coward," then so be it.

[KansDem]

25. Kind of reminds me of those documentaries about Nazi Germany

that showed the closing days of the war and how Hitler was calling up old men and kids to defend the homeland due to a shortage of suitably-aged soldiers...

[buddysmellgood]

14. Great. Go for it. In fact, there should be a lottery for republicans of

all ages. We can find a job for all of them, fat, old, infirm. They can go over there and make fudge bars or cookies or change the toilet paper. Support the troops by becoming a troop.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

15. "Support the troops by becoming a troop." New bumper sticker. LOL

[gaia_gardener]

16. A family friend is 53ish

and just had heart surgery (stint and balloon). He's being deployed. He's national guard.

His wife is dying of cancer and likely has weeks to live (if weeks). She's going to make one last ditch treatment effort to see if she can eke out enough life to be alive when he comes back. They'll get xmas together and then who knows.

[Krupskaya]

18. Nice family values, asshole.

Stopping adoption on the baby. Real fucking nice.

[bluestateguy]

19. Goodbye

Anybody who is proud to be a part of all this can go, and I will move about my life without a care in the world as to what happens to him. He is not fighting for the freedom of this country. I owe him no respect.

[Megahurtz]

20. More lies from our "elected president"

he says he won't reinstate the draft, but he will just rename it "Involuntary Presidential Select Recall" or any variation thereof and say "there is no draft"

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

28. Won't be called DRAFT...

The new term will be:

Selective Hiring of American Freedom Troops or S.H.A.F.T. By selective, they will mean "hiring" anyone between the ages of 18-60.

that way they can still claim they didn't institute a DRAFT.

[underpants]

21. Here's our hero-at least he LOOKS like an accountant-Go get'em tiger!

http://www.frankryanforcongress.com/

[Just Me]

35. Cool. Let's recruit all those who subscribe to "Free Republic" and,...

,...all those who voted for Bush and institute a "Mandated Mandate to Serve First" in the neoCONfascist world war.

:bounce:

[malachi]

22. "Being able to be part of this is very important to me," he explained.

Being part of the what? A clusterfuck of biblical proportions? A circle jerk? Lebanon, big monkey country. I think the chimp visited there more than any other shithole non-urban area in PA during the election. Jesus Christo! How'd you like this fuckin' hump doing your income taxes.

[not fooled]

37. yeah, just what I was thinking...

"How'd you like this fuckin' hump doing your income taxes. "

..no way would I let anyone that dumb near my money (such as it is, until it gets extracted from me and transferred to the ultra-rich by *)!

[Malva Zebrina]

27. No pity

:nopity: and I am sorry to say, I do not support this troop.

Anyone deliberately going into Iraq, knowing that Bush has killed 100,000 innocent people, and knowing how this was all done on lies, does not have my sympathy.

I am even glad he did not adopt that little Chinese baby. It would have been one more brainwashed, gung ho person, in fused with nationalism and fascism.

[leesa]

29. Chomping at the bit to be made a war criminal by Bush

These goons are living some sort of lifelong Hollywood fantasy of honor and glory through blowing people up. They simply don't get it.

[lebkuchen]

30. My 61 y.o. Vietnam vet friend feels otherwise

Pride would have nothing to do with his getting recalled. Panic, yes. Pride, no.

I'm glad there are others willing to fill his shoes, however. Go for it Red Staters~! Wooo hooo! Make heroes of yourselves!

[juliagoolia]

31. The "how it works" aspect of the call up

http://www.usarc.army.mil/63rsc/family/familyready/mob.%20guide.htm

How it all works.

He will be there or called up no more than 270 days.

[Ganja Ninja]

34. There's always one in every crowd.

It's too bad all the war mongers can't just sign up and go right to the top of the list. It would do a lot to improve the gene pool.

[quiet.american]

36. Huh?

QUOTE: "Involuntary Presidential Select Recall."

Do those words make any sense as a descriptive phrase?

[Anakin Skywalker]

38. MORAN! MAROON!

Another Freeper fighting for globalization?