With all the desertions, what are the odds of a military coup?

[genius]

If Bush steals again, they know he'll cut their benefits and get them killed. I find it hard to believe that anyone in the military is on his side.

[Murdock]

1. I doubt it...

The Military is overwhelmingly Republican..

[Ready4Change]

2. Almost nil, I'd say.

However, I can see the military refusing to take action should this administration invalidly attempt to declare martial law in order to stay in power.

[Hello_Kitty]

3. I met one idiot in the Air Force

He's the boyfriend of my friend. He finished boot camp recently and was home on leave recently. We got to talking about the election and he says he's going for *bush because "we'll get a pay raise and we won't get one under Kerry". So I guess that's the propaganda they're feeding him on his base. Guess that 5% extra in his measly paycheck makes up for his compatriots that are fighting in Iraq with insufficient gear and their combat pay cut. Moran.

[RoyGBiv]

6. I hear that crap all the time ...

I've been hearing it since I was 12 and first started gaining a political awareness. I'm voting for/support <insert Republican> because they'll support a pay increase for the military.

Total BS. Ask him to take a few seconds and look at the pay for soldiers over the last 20 years compared to the amount of money spent on technology, equipment, "Star Wars," etc. They talk about increasing defense spending and imply higher pay for soldiers. That higher pay, when it comes, is a small drop in a very large bucket.

I had a friend who is sadly no longer much of a friend due to continuous arguments about things like this who has been telling me about his pay increase coming just around the corner since he joined the Navy in '87. Adjusted for inflation, and with his promotions, he barely makes more than what he made then. He tries to blame it on Clinton or the Dems in Congress. I haven't spoken with him much since Shrub was selected, but I'm curious to know who he blames it on now.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. A coup? Huh-uh.

But I think the safe money would be on many and varied mutinies. Like the last days of Vietnam, whole units (below company level) flat out refusing to patrol or venture off base.

[Roland99]

5. Former soldiers slow to report

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-09-27-reserves_x.htm

WASHINGTON — Fewer than two-thirds of the former soldiers being reactivated for duty in Iraq and elsewhere have reported on time, prompting the Army to threaten some with punishment for desertion.
The former soldiers, part of what is known as the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), are being recalled to fill shortages in skills needed for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Of the 1,662 ready reservists ordered to report to Fort Jackson, S.C., by Sept. 22, only 1,038 had done so, the Army said Monday. About 500 of those who failed to report have requested exemptions on health or personal grounds.

"The numbers did not look good," said Lt. Col. Burton Masters, a spokesman for the Army's Human Resources Command. "We are tightening the system, reaching the people and bringing them in."

Masters said most of the requests for exemptions are likely to be denied: "To get an exemption, it has to be a very compelling case, such as a severe medical condition."

[AgadorSparticus]

7. i heard something on AAR last week or so about a unit in new jersey that

were detained or something because they were refusing to go back to iraq. does anyone have info on this?

[RoyGBiv]

8. A vast majority are ...

Part of this is the fault of the Democrats themselves. They don't by and large court military votes, for reasons I don't completely understand.

But, there are exceptions. I posted a thing in the Lounge about my encouter with a soldier being shipped off to Iraq next month who was trying to arrange payments for his bills in his absence and "should something happen." We didn't discuss politics except briefly as he was leaving. He asked if I vote and when I told him I did, he asked me to vote well. Based on what we had discussed, and a lot of body language, it was clear what that meant, and it wasn't an endorsement of the "status quo."