Please enlist

I enlisted in the Air Force because I could travel to far off lands, meet new and interesting people, hunt them down, and kill them. Well, not really, but we had t-shirts with that on 'em. Seriously, the Guard and Reserves are in a world of hurt.

Via Gillard.

WASHINGTON - At the current pace of U.S. deployments to Iraq, the Pentagon may be hard pressed by next year to provide enough reserve combat troops suitable for the mission, judging from the military services' own estimates of available manpower.

The notion of running out of reserve troops would have been dismissed only a year ago, but the strain of fighting a longer, harder war than U.S. commanders foresaw is taking a heavy toll on part-time troops of the Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve.

[. . .]

Of the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now, nearly 50 percent are from the Guard and Reserve. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

Do I have to say it again? We're in this thing hip-deep and the only options we have are cut and run or start the draft. Mark my words. All you folks who voted for (p)resident Dicknose last fall can blame yourselves when they take your teenager, give him green clothes, and hand him a rifle. How many of you Jesuslanders will let them draft your kid?