Editor

A stop loss is the retention of some troops to remain in service beyond their expected term. My husband currently serves as a proud soldier for the United States Army. He has been serving our country for over three years and his expected term is scheduled to be completed on July 9, 2007. He has already served one tour of duty in Iraq. My husband was told in May that the stop policy would not affect him and he would be able to continue the steps of processing out of the army. Now the case is not so. We are now being told that he will in fact be stop lossed and will be sent back to Iraq for another tour of duty. This presents a problem. The problem is that there have been no official stop loss orders placed on my husband’s unit. I feel like my husband is being singled out for trying to fight against being a victim of the stop loss policy. There are other soldiers in his unit that have scheduled exit dates after my husband’s and the stop loss is not being enforced on them. My husband has been threatened by his superiors with Uniform Code of Military Justice actions if he continues his fight. Why should a soldier be threatened with things like dishonorable discharge and no VA benefits just because he is ready to be done with serving his enlisted time? I don’t see how what is happening to him is morally or ethically right. I do realize that I sound like the complaining wife but in all honesty I’m just ready for my family to be stable. We made plans for our future and although everything doesn’t always go as planned, we would at least like some idea of when our plans will actually begin. The pulling both ways of whether or not he is going is unfair to us. If he is going to be subjected to the stop loss I know we have to accept that because he signed the contract that stated it was a possibility, but with us not having a definitive answer and less than a month to go until his ETS date, we need answers. If they are going to destroy our hopes and dreams for another few years then tell us! Give us a chance to be a family for a few more months before you force him back to the land of the unknown.