Over 22500+ reported soldiers deserted, when will people start listening to the troops about the war?

Question

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/23/america/web-0323army.php

schazjmd the wars started in Dec 2001

Answer 1

I agree with you....we should let the troops speak.....we should listen to them.

There are 500,000 active duty troops and 63,000 national guard troops......of those men only 3% have deserted....that means that 97% did not desert....about 395.1 thousand troops stayed to fight.....

Now you might be eager to say the ones who stayed were just not brave enough to desert......BUT YOU WOULD BE WRONG......By civilian blind poll over 90% of troops serving in Iraq support the war and believe what we are doing is proper.....Beyond this....re-enlistments and extensions exceed pre-war levels by significant numbers....we are meeting our goals

So you are correct.....we should listen to the troops and they are saying OVERWHELMINGLY...win the war

Answer 2

The 22,500 is a total since 2000; has been slight increases the last few years. To prove your point you need to do a year by year comparison which will show and increase but not the huge number you throw out like they all deserted because of the war. When will people quit putting words into the troops mouth to prove the point they believe in.

Answer 3

1. The troops are not monolithic. They don't ALL support or oppose the war.
2. Troops opinions are certainly valid but their job is not to make policy. Many of them are young and don't know a whole lot about politics or policy.
3. Deserters are TRAITORS by law and should all be court martialed.
I don't agree with the war either but desertion is a serious crime punishable by death during wartime in most armies throughout the world throughout history.
WE CANNOT HAVE OUR TROOPS DECIDING WHICH WARS THEY WANT TO FIGHT!!!!! It is their SWORN DUTY to obey orders and this is the case for a reason.
The military IS NOT a branch of government nor should it be. We ELECT the people we think are most qualified to make policy.
4. It is no better for anti-war people to ide behind loyalty to the troops than for the pro-war people to do it.

Answer 4

I'm not so thrilled about listening to troops that desert. They should crawl into a hole and remain silent for the rest of their lives. I understand not wanting to risk your life in a time of war, avoiding this is simple: don't sign up. I'm sure the military provided them incentive / college money or something. They backed out on their commitment. Nowhere does it say you can pick your battles in the military. My cousin is actually deploying this week, I'm proud of him, my whole family is. How could you have any pride in a deserter?

Answer 5

Good Question when u get the answer let me know because I am also a veteran as is my son and this idiot government or let me clarify that a little more that scum of a President,so I agree with you 150% when are they going to listen to the troops!!

Answer 6

Since when is deserting an honorable past time? Regardless of how you feel about where or how you're serving, you swore an oath. That's how it goes. I didn't necessarily agree with what my CIC was doing when I served, but I honorably finished out my time.

And to the above poster - people can't say they're glad to have died a hero when they're dead. It's pretty much impossible.

Answer 7

The military enlistment oath says you are sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. It also says you will "obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice."

Note it says to uphold and defend the Constitution first. The President is to be obeyed as long as his orders are legal and do not subvert the constitution. No one man, I dont care if it is the President, has the power to override the Constitution. This is something our leaders forgot about (or chose to ignore) a loooong time ago.

Answer 8

Why would I be inclined to listen to .05% of the troops?
Why would .05% of anything qualify as a consensus?
Nice try, NPR, but your apparent parallel between the war and the present rate of disertion isn't a valid argument against the war.

Answer 9

Why didn't you spew the rest of this out commy. That's a combined amount from 2000 through 2006. You somehow forgot to show that during the last year of your commucrat war (Vietnam), which used drafting, over 31,000 in one year. Just proof you commies can't run a good war where people want to stay and fight.

Answer 10

That number is since 2000...3 years before the war.