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brian_d_foy (44)

brian_d_foy
  brian.d.foy@gmail.com
http://www.pair.com/~comdog/

Journal of brian_d_foy (44)

Wednesday December 31, 2003
03:33 AM

Stop Loss

[ #16561 ]

mary.poppins asked about "stop loss", which is the armed services involuntary extensions of contracts in times of a declared national emergency. The president declared such a state of emergency after 9/11.

At that time, a lot of people got stuck in the military no matter what their contract said. I would have been able to get out in a couple months, but realized I would not be able to so I voluntarily extended my contract for three years.

After a couple of years, most of stop loss was gone, but certain critical skills areas, such as military police, stayed under stop loss. As far as I know, I will still be under stop loss for at least 90 days when I get back.

Soldiers have reacted to this like anyone would when told that they have to keep working for several more years at a place they want to leave, but, if we are going to fight a war (whether you agree with it or not), the way to win is to keep the experienced people from leaving. If you are in the military and you do not realize the government literally owns you[1], you did not read what you signed.

[1] If you get a bad sunburn, for instance, you can be charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 108: Damage To Government Property. I kid you not. :)


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  • So when are you scheduled to get out? When do you expect to get out?
    • I have no idea. I don't think about that. The wayto survive is to give up all desire. I should get out sometime this year, unless I'm really stupid and sign up again.
      • Sounds like a sensible, if difficult and Zen, approach.

        Question: Could you repost your mailing address? TIA!

        • Mailing address is:

          SSG brian d foy
          119th MP CO
          APO AE 09335

          For those of you who think that looks wierd, here's how it works.

          The Army has it's own postal people, affiliated with the real United States Postal Service. They set up shop whereever the Army goes, they use the same equipment that a real post office uses, but they are regular soldiers who have rifles and everything.

          When you send something to someone in the Army, the letters and packages go through an Army Post Office (APO), which is a big collec
  • The folks I feel sorry for are the high-school grads who never learned about nasty thing like contracts, and bad decisions based on what some recruiter told them (or told them not to worry about).

  • I'm curious when (and where) you went through OSUT. I went through mine at Ft. McClellan, AL from May to September of 1995.

    • Oh, I had to think about that acronym for a minute---my One Station Unit Training was 14 years ago (Some soldiers have to go to special schools at other stations, so there is a distinction). I was at Ft. McClellan from 31 Jul 1990 to 5 Dec 1990. Guess what happened 2 days after I got there!
  • ... has something like this. The father of my wife used to be colonel in the french air force. He resigned after the 1st gulf war (he was disgusted by some of the things the US army did -- although he used to be an instructor for the AWACS program for the US air force.) But, even off duty, he still had a few days per year due to the French Republic, as all officers. During one of his missions, he died in a plane crash -- he was the pilot. Life just plain sucks sometimes...
  • Thanks for taking the time to write about this. It's great to get info directly
    from the source. :)
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