Army Stop-Loss Program Forcing Soldiers to Ruin Their Careers

The United States Army announced yesterday that it will prevent soldiers that are in units set to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan from leaving the all-volunteer service at the end of their terms, compelling some members of the Armed Forces to resort to drastic measures.

June 3, 2004--The Army Stop-Loss" program is putting a tremendous burden on soldiers that are less than 90 days from retiring and getting on with their lives These volunteer service members now face the prospect months away from their families and homes, compelling them to look for loopholes and other non-traditional means of discharge from the military, according to the military advice site SmartSoldier.com.

I served two terms over eight years, one member of SmartSoldier.com writes, I was deployed three times and did a year in Korea away from my family, but that still isnt enough."

Administrators of the privately-run, all-soldier site are finding that questions and discussions have been leaning more and more toward finding loopholes and other ways around issues like the Armys Stop Loss program. Discouraged soldiers are going so far as to contemplate ruining what would have normally been an honorable discharge by going AWOL", or fleeing the military altogether.

About SmartSoldier.com

SmartSoldier.com enables current US military personnel and new recruits to seek advice from other members of the Armed Forces. The site provides its 2300 members an anonymous forum in which they can ask questions and share knowledge about topics that previously were not discussed due to a lack of such a resource.

Launched last March by a group of Army Infantrymen in hopes of helping new enlistees deal with military recruiters, SmartSoldier.com has grown to attract active duty and reserve component members from all branches of the military in search of solutions to a wide variety of problems that they are facing.