Stopping stop-loss

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Imagine volunteering for the U.S. Army, fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then, just when you are about to head home after an honorable job well done, your commanding officer hands you a memo telling you that you have to stay. It’s called a “stop-loss” order and right now 13,000 soldiers cannot exit the military because of orders like this. Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Jeremy Wilson joins The Takeaway to talk about his experience with stop-loss.

"I equate it, sort of, to being in a prison sentence, doing a great job at your prison and then your warden pretty much telling you at the end of it, 'Hey, you've done so great, we're going to keep you in another 10 or 11 months.'"
— Jeremy Wilson, a veteran of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, on getting a stop-loss order


Watch Robert Gates announce the end of stop-loss in the Department of Defense video below.

Guests:

Jeremy Wilson

Contributors:

Farai Chideya and Jen Poyant

Comments [2]

Doc

"Stop Loss" is an absolute outrage. Would love to see 100,000 troops tell the Joint Chiefs of Staff to stick it!!

Sep. 21 2009 10:03 PM
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jason

It would have been nice to have received a memo. In truth, it doesn't work that way. In the Army, you need an official order to even take a piss, let alone an oral order, based off a more generic order that gives blanket-like capabilities in who to affect (stop loss). More info and stories on my blog 13stoploss.com

- jason

Jul. 13 2009 05:32 PM
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