stop-loss

[bushy_braids]

have you all seen the movie?
it's about soldiers who've enlisted after 9/11 and upon discharge come to find out they've been "stop-lossed" and HAVE to serve another tour

according to a movie review:
"the term refers to the involuntary extension of a soldier's enlistment contract. It turns out nearly 81,000 have been sent back into battle multiple times with no recourse — class-action lawsuits routinely fail — except to go AWOL."

well i wasn't aware of the issue until i saw the movie. i strongly suggest everyone to see it so they understand what is REALLY going on. we're lead to believe that soldiers aren't being drafted and they aren't sending more troops to fight, but they are "back drafting" troops which is totally unfair and unfortunate.

i've heard reviews of this movie saying it wasn't that good and that the two actors who played the soldiers didn't do a fantastic job and yadda... yadda... yadda... but the BIG issue here is what is real, that ridiculous amonts of troops are being stop-lossed and are being forced to fight this war.

i saw this movie and it tore my heart apart - i cried through the whole thing, i guess movies about war always hit close to home cause i always think of my family that's in the service but this issue is particularly heart breaking... especially to the soldiers and their families... not to mention the troops that are fighting this war are sooooooooooooooo young - most seem to be under 30 years old!!!

anyway - what do you all think? have you seen the movie?

i'm sure many of you may be familiar with this issue as i've noticed a lot of military folks frequest this forum, however it's news to me and i'm sure many others out there....

my heart goes out to the troops - we wish you all safe returns and thank you for defending our country!

[50cal]

I got stop-lossed.............no big deal......because in actuality you sign an 8 year contract with the government. 4 of which is active (depending if go active) and the other 4 is inactive reserve. So the time you use from being stop-lossed goes towards a fulfillment of your contract. In other words, you get extended a year for stop-loss, that is one year taken off your enlistment contract. So you serve 5 years active and 3 years inactive. So you do serve your enlistment. Acording to the movie review you quoted, it is inaccurate. Most of the stop-losses occur for first termers.

All recruits and those signing the dotted line are informed of this fact before they sign at the recruiters office. They are even told again when they are at MEPS. They are given one more chance to back out of serving. So although it may seem they are being "forced", they are in actuality fullfilling their obligated contract.

And one other thing, don't believe everything you see in a movie or the news, it's all propaganda. If you REALLY want to know what's going on, ask someone who was there.

[bushy_braids]

thanks for the clarification!
these are things the "average joe" wouldn't know and of course it's so easy to fall "victim" to the media by believeing everything you read/hear.
maybe the movie just made it seem a lot different because it was told through the producer's eyes (since it happened to her brother)... again everyone's experience is different and afterall it is a movie for entertainment so of course all of these issues can't be tackled in a feature film.
but i appreciate you explaining it...

[chazziff]

ya thanks for the clarification ... saw a trailer for this movie - thought it looked mildly entertaining. but ya .. ryan phillippe is like ... ick to me now LOL jkz

[50cal]

No problem bushy......I just knew this was going to happen though......especially when I first saw the trailer....I refuse to go see it.......oh well......

[Ndnsoldierboy]

Seen lots of folks stop-lossed...and almost all have re-upped in the end...a few have gotten out.

But not wasting my time with the movie...haven't seen the trailer nor do I want too.