Sending the Guard (Even Old Guard Third Infantry Reg being sent)

[RamboLiberal]

These are the ceremonial troops at Arlington and Tomb of the Unknown. This hasn't happened since the Vietnam War - not Iraq but still says the Pentagon is getting desparate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/07/international/worldspecial3/07CND-GORDON.html?hp

The United States Army's Old Guard is best known for its ceremonial duties. Its soldiers stand vigil at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery and serve in color guards for visiting dignitaries.

But with the Army stretched thin by duties in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of the Guard's troops were recently assigned to a new and unexpected mission. The Guard's B Company, Pentagon officials said, will join the more than 100,000 new troops being dispatched to carry out missions for the United States Central Command.

The Old Guard, formally the Third Infantry Regiment, will not say where its contingent of 130 or so soldiers is going, but Pentagon officials say the current plan is to send B Company to Djibouti, the tiny East African nation strategically situated on the Horn of Africa, across the strait from Yemen, and a location where the United States has established a base to respond to terrorist threats.

It is the first time that a unit from the Old Guard will be deployed abroad since the Vietnam War, and it underscores the lengths that the Pentagon has had to go to find fresh troops.

<snip>

One Pentagon official said the decision to deploy a infantry company from the Old Guard was a "good news, bad news story." The good news, he said, is that it shows the Army understands it is at war and is prepared to do what is necessary to support that effort. The bad news, he added, is that it shows the Army is getting near the end of available forces.




NYT article is extensive so I hope the mods can overlook this little addition - it just has to be posted:

For months, soldiers at Camp Doha, Kuwait, have been wearing T-shirts that say, "Operation Iraqi Freedom: Mission Accomplished." But recently a new T-shirt has appeared suggesting that the mission may be more open-ended.

It reads, "Operation Iraqi Freedom: Established 2003."

[burrowowl]

1. Is the draft

just around the corner!?

[RamboLiberal]

2. Did anyone see the movie Gardens of Stone or read the book?

I had originally read the book which I thought very good and thought the movie though a bit slow was still fairly good. Thought this Amazon.com reviewer did a good review:

The story unfolds in 1967 with Specialist Jackie Willow (D.B. Sweeney) coming to the Old Guard as part of his Army tour of duty. Willow has big plans of becoming an officer and serving in Vietnam because he belives that he can make a difference. His Platoon Sergeant, Clell Hazard (James Caan), is a highly decorated Korean and Vietnam war veteran that is also fighting his own demons about whether he should go back to Vietnam to help lead unexperienced soldiers that are dying at an atrocious rate.

Sergeant Major Goody Nelson (James Earl Jones)is a fellow veteran of Korea and Vietnam and very close to Sergeant Hazard. Both, try as they may, want to dissuade Specialist Willow from going to fight in a war that is virtually unwinnable and wreaking havoc on the American hearts and minds.

Sergeant Hazard begins a tenuous relationship with an anti-war correspondant (Angelica Huston) who has her own ambiguous feelings about the war and the toll it is taking on all around her. Sergeant Hazard must balance his relationship, the Army, the daily burial of large numbers of dead soldiers, and his own troubled feelings on everthing unfolding around him.

Specialist Willow, by chance, encounters his old girlfriend (Mary Stuart Masterson) who he had planned to marry at one time but has not seen in years due to them going their own ways over differences they had. Rekindling their lost love, they end up getting married and Willow continually pursues his goal of becoming an officer.

As the year 1968 unfolds, we find that Willow has become an officer and is sent to Vietnam. In the end, we see the death of a beloved friend and soldier and the impact it has taken on his new wife, his friends, and the fellow soldiers in his life.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000066C6J/qid=1068249928/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-5608479-2856042?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846#product-details

[DUreader]

3. They'll have to do something