Soldier called back to duty on day before retirement

[RRMB]

By The Associated Press | Sunday, October 15, 2006

LINDENHURST, Ill. (AP) — An Army staff sergeant was days away from retirement after a 20-year military career when he was ordered to return to his unit, which will be deployed to Iraq at the end of the month.

James Engle applied for retirement in January and later received a retirement award from the Army during a ceremony in Texas. On Sept. 20 he was told paperwork was missing and he should report to his unit, the 1st Cavalry Division.

Late last month, the Army denied his retirement request — along with a request to exempt him from his unit’s deployment — saying it was “neither compelling nor compassionate enough in nature,” even though a military retirement counselor had scheduled his Army release for Sept. 21.

“I feel like I’m twisting in the wind,” Engle said. “I keep being told that there has been a big, huge mistake. Well, this big, huge mistake has turned my life completely around.”

Engle’s lieutenant, Frank Lyle, said he is working with Army personnel to solve the problem.

A telephone call Sunday to the Army’s public affairs office at the Pentagon for comment was not immediately returned.

Engle, 38, of Lindenhurst joined the Army in August 1986. During his two decades with the military he spent nine years in combat zones, including Somalia, Bosnia and Afghanistan.

Engle first applied for retirement in August 2005, while working at the Military Entrance Processing Station in Des Plaines.

His request was denied and the military transferred him to Fort Hood, Texas. Engle’s wife, Claudia, and two children decided to stay in Lindenhurst, located 40 miles northwest of Chicago.

“We were finally ready to settle down and stop moving,” Claudia Engle said. “Our home is in Lindenhurst. We don’t want to go anywhere else.”

While he awaits word on his retirement request, Engle said he will remain in suburban Chicago with his family while he finishes a two-month period of leave.

“If they would have said two months ago, we need you, I would have understood,” Engle said. “But to do this to me and my family one day before I was going to move home is especially cruel.”



http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2006...txt#qccomments

[fast98dodge]

Totally fucked up...

I had a customer a while back that got back from Kuwait that had several stories similar in nature of how the military has totally screwed with people. One I remember in particular involves a plane full of soldiers heading back to the US and being told midflight to turn around and go back to being deployed. I wonder how many billions would be saved in this war if it were being ran as a business but still insuring safety for our troops??/

[ZeoBandit]

That is really fucked up.

[seenbad]

Yeah, that sucks, and it doesn't hurt anything to have compassion for the circumstance for him and his family but the one thing that has to be remembered and is often surreal to the typical civilian is that men are property. You are moved and placed like an object, not a person, and that's the way it is and has to be in the military. Maybe it sucks, but it's what people sign up for when they do the oath. You are military property, not much different than a tank or an M-16. You go where you're needed and there really shouldn't be any kind of public fuss about it. That being said, this is a little extreme, and there probably was a mistake.

[Otis5150]

Back Door Draft? Noooooooooo, not in this country.......

[Axxman300]

It's an election year. They'll "Find" his retirement papers.

What I don't get is the whole rotation thing. If we're at war then we're at war. They didn't rotate forces durring WWII. Either you're serious or you're not.

[willy4pres]

Oh Jeez, this guy needs to lighten up. After 20 years I doubt this would even register in the top 10 of all the stupid shit he has witnessed while serving in the Army. He's going to be retired, they will not make a dude that served that long stick around any longer then he wants to. He's just some guy that's pissed at the system and using the media (who are salivating for stories like this) to get his shit ironed out faster then it would otherwise.

It's not like this is happening to Superman, it's just some guy that did 20 years in the Army (because he wanted to).

[Axxman300]

It's the "New" Army, they're totally infexable. Here's the REAL problem, the Army is loaded with guys who want to stay in Iraq and fight or go to Iraq, the Army won't respond to this, instead they've created this rotation schedual that has been hard on our reserve and National Guard units. What they could do is essentually poll their active duty personel and locate they men and women who want to be in Iraq and then flag/re-activate a brigade or division depending on the number of soldiers who sign up. Then you can suppliment them with various reserve units or support units of other divisions. That core unit can then operate in the hotter zones and then rotate individuals back the the US to train incoming units who will work under their command, this way the operation stay's consistant.

They could aslo supplement their personel with Reserve and National Guard soldiers who want to volunteer for action in Iraq, and there are guys who would if they could, if for no other reason than to get it over with.

Anyway, in the original story, he put in paperwork applying for retirement and was denied, he's not the first guy to be told "No, not now" and won't be the last.