I want to know what you all think/feel about the following situation. It is a true situation and it is something that sits in the pit of my gut when I think of all our men and women in uniform and the families that support them.
There is a man in the military who was recently called by his branch to deploy to Iraq. This man (I'll call him "John") will reach his 20 year mark in the military some time in the next 18-24 months. John is currently in a non-deployable unit and was outraged about the orders he received to deploy. He called his branch, who would not rescind the orders, and decided to "drop his paperwork" so he would not have to deploy. His reason: he has two young kids (around the ages of 6 and 8 years) and does not want to miss this critical time in their childhood.
John also came up on the promotion list - he will be promoted in the next 6 months or so. Despite the fact that he has dropped his paperwork and neglected his country's call of duty, this man can still be promoted and possibly receive retirement benifits. So, while he's enjoying staying at home with his family, another servicemember is going to receive orders to fill the position that John rejected and ignored.
What do YOU think/feel about this? I am not looking to bash this man all over the internet, but it is something that bothers me every time I think about it. In theory, NO ONE actually wants to deploy - who would? Yet, there are MANY, MANY servicemembers who do "want" to deploy becuase they believe in the military and honor their call of duty - no matter what their situation may be.
