Daily Kos :: Rumsfeld Exchange Even Better Than WeThought

Diaries :: Descrates's diary

Wow. Ackerman at TNR went over the transcript from Rummy's Q/A with the troops yesterday. He, as always, handled things with grace and dignity.

Q: Yes, sir. I was wanting to know why I cannot enlist as a single parent in the regular Army, but I can enlist in the National Guard and be deployed?

...

Q: Specialist Skarwin (Sp?) HHD 42nd Engineer Brigade. Mr. Secretary [Cheers] my question is with the current mission of the National Guard and Reserves being the same as our active duty counterparts, when are more of our benefits going to line up to the same as theirs, for example, retirement? [Cheers] [Applause]

...

Q: Good morning, sir. Staff Sergeant Latazinsky (sp) 1st COSCOM (sp), Fort Bragg, [Cheers] North Carolina. Yes, sir. My husband and myself, we both joined a volunteer Army. Currently, I'm serving under the Stop Loss Program. I would like to know how much longer do you foresee the military using this program?

What happened to Rumsfeld today in Kuwait is a potential watershed for his (renewed) tenure. Previously, his conflicts with the Army have centered around the service's senior leadership. Today, he came face to face with pissed-off frontline soldiers. And he treated them with the same arrogance and condescension that their superior officers have come to expect. To the question about unequal retirement benefits for equal service, Secretary Marie Antoinette replied, 'I can't imagine anyone your age worrying about retirement. Good grief.' About Stop Loss--a policy to keep veterans from retiring after returning from their service, otherwise known as the 'backdoor draft'--he remarked: 'It is something that you prefer not to have to use, obviously, in a perfect world. But if you think about it...' Somehow, I suspect Staff Sergeant Latazinsky has thought about it a lot harder than Donald Rumsfeld. But Rumsfeld can rest assured that he has indeed given the troops--and the country--quite a lot to think about for the next four years.


Something tells me he won't be having many more of these.

Daily Kos :: Rumsfeld Exchange Even Better Than WeThought: