Their time's up, but these soldiers are stuck in Iraq (stop-loss)

[Barrett808]

Their time's up, but these soldiers are stuck in Iraq
Sunday, November 20, 2005
By Hart Seely
Staff writer

Baghdad, Iraq - They don't talk about it much. They push the subject from their minds. It serves no purpose. But now and then, the thought does surface. After all, they did their time. They served their country. They planned to move on.

They weren't supposed to be here.

But the U.S. Army needed them, and it invoked the once rare policy it calls "stop loss," though others call it a "backdoor draft."

So here they are: In Iraq.

"There's no sense in dwelling on these things," said Staff Sergeant Paul B. Zundel, 33, of Baton Rouge, La., who in more peaceful times would have ended his five-year Army career in September. "All you can do is do your job and take it one day at a time."

(more)

http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1128069607310570.xml&coll=1

[ninkasi]

1. So, as usual

Other people are asked to make sacrifices for Bush and his buddies. They, and their children, are doing absolutely nothing but making money from this war. It's other, the soldiers in this article, others like them, and their families, who suffer.

I hope all of them make it safely home to their families. I hope this insane, illegal war is over soon, and all of our troops come home. The bloodshed will never stop as long as we're there. What happens after we leave, will determine Iraq's fate.

[Tempest]

2. Modern day slavery

This is nothing more than indentured servitude.

[Orsino]

3. If the war weren't open-ended, and fought against...

...an opponent that doesn't exist against whom war was never really declared, stop-loss would be an understandable consequence of losing the game of musical chairs that is military enlistment.

The "War on Terr" has no end in sight. These troops could be stuck in it until they reach retirement age, unless and until they get paper guaranteeing otherwise.

[jody]

4. "indentured servitude" is voluntary, stop-loss is involuntary. n/t

[Tempest]

5. Indentured servitude not always voluntary

Indentured servitude was abolished in the U.S. because it wasn't voluntary in a lot of cases.

Here's a discussion on it if you're interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Indentured_servant

[jody]

6. The article you cite appears to be in progress. Indentured servitude

is by definition voluntary and requires some type of contract between the person in servitude and the person for whom work is performed.

I understand that some who were kidnapped might sometimes be referred to as indentured slaves or other phrase using "indentured" as an adjective.