Suck It Up, Dumbass
The fine old tradition of barracks lawyering has not died quite yet. Some National Guardsman out of San Francisco is apparently claiming that the stop-loss order he's under violates his rights to due process, the terms of his enlistment contract, and is contrary to law. Hmm. Let's see if I can dissect this argument a little bit for those of your without military service.
I'll go with the middle one first, since it's central to the whole problem. Let's remember something here: you have to volunteer for the military these days. He signed up for the Guard. Nobody else signed him up while he wasn't paying attention. While doing so, he obviously didn't read the contract very well. Somewhere near the bottom of the back of the ones I signed is a little section that says, in essence, "you signed, you're screwed". More precisely, everything in this contract is subject to change according to the needs of the Department of the Army and the Department of Defense. Whose needs are not addressed? Yes, that's right, yours. So saying that anything the military does is in violation of your contract doesn't wash. Your contract pretty explicitly includes a get out of court free clause for DA and DOD.
Given that, how do you get to bitch about due process? You signed a contract that says DOD can do whatever they want with you. As long as DOD follows some form of procedure, you got processed duly. Have a nice day! Weren't paying much attention, were you? All those lovely constitutional rights are substantially abridged under the UCMJ, which, to reiterate, the jurisdiction of you voluntarily subjected yourself.
If I recall, the contract also states which law they're going to use to screw you. Saying it's contrary to law is all nice and stuff, but which law? I'm absolutely sure that what DOD did with stop-loss is authorized under law. Unless there's another law that explicitly says DOD can't issue stop-loss orders, you are again screwed. Them's the breaks, sparky.
I don't want people thinking I am unsympathetic. I understand fully that getting involuntarily extended well and truly sucks, and I feel for the people who got tagged. It ain't no fun to get told "Sorry, no ETS for you." However, that's a risk you run when you join up. Yes, it blows, but you volunteered. Suck it up and drive the fuck on. Filing a lawsuit will get you so much less than nothing.
I'll go with the middle one first, since it's central to the whole problem. Let's remember something here: you have to volunteer for the military these days. He signed up for the Guard. Nobody else signed him up while he wasn't paying attention. While doing so, he obviously didn't read the contract very well. Somewhere near the bottom of the back of the ones I signed is a little section that says, in essence, "you signed, you're screwed". More precisely, everything in this contract is subject to change according to the needs of the Department of the Army and the Department of Defense. Whose needs are not addressed? Yes, that's right, yours. So saying that anything the military does is in violation of your contract doesn't wash. Your contract pretty explicitly includes a get out of court free clause for DA and DOD.
Given that, how do you get to bitch about due process? You signed a contract that says DOD can do whatever they want with you. As long as DOD follows some form of procedure, you got processed duly. Have a nice day! Weren't paying much attention, were you? All those lovely constitutional rights are substantially abridged under the UCMJ, which, to reiterate, the jurisdiction of you voluntarily subjected yourself.
If I recall, the contract also states which law they're going to use to screw you. Saying it's contrary to law is all nice and stuff, but which law? I'm absolutely sure that what DOD did with stop-loss is authorized under law. Unless there's another law that explicitly says DOD can't issue stop-loss orders, you are again screwed. Them's the breaks, sparky.
I don't want people thinking I am unsympathetic. I understand fully that getting involuntarily extended well and truly sucks, and I feel for the people who got tagged. It ain't no fun to get told "Sorry, no ETS for you." However, that's a risk you run when you join up. Yes, it blows, but you volunteered. Suck it up and drive the fuck on. Filing a lawsuit will get you so much less than nothing.
posted by T at 3:33 PM
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