Question about "One weekend a month my ass!" sign...

[Alexander]

I'm fairly fuzzy on what the whole "one weekend a month" thing is all about. I assume that these people are complaining about being in Iraq (which is a good thing).

I'm guessing that the US Army advertises that you'll only work with them for one weekend a month and that's it. Of course, these soldiers have been in Iraq for a lot longer than that. Can someone tell me if I'm correct here, and what the phrase means if I'm wrong?

[lolly]

1. Reserves

Ads promote the "one weekend a month, one week (?) a year" commitment.

Once reserves are activated, however, they become full-time soldiers.

Wreaks havoc on their employment, family situation, etc--A sacrifice they should be willing to make when they sign up, assuming it's in service of their country.

In service to Halliburton? Definitely not worth it.

[fishnfla]

2. when you are a reservist

you serve one weekend a month, i believe

[htuttle]

4. That's what the recruitment advertising says anyway...

.

[Orangepeel]

3. Army Reserves

They advertise that the commitment is two weeks a year and one weekend a month.

Of course, the point of having Army Reserves is so that they can be called up when needed. So it isn't really false advertising (well, they wouldn't be "needed" if we weren't in this stupid war, but that's a different argument).

[HootieMcBoob]

7. One thing that's going to happen under Bush

is that nobody is gonna enlist in the reserves. The reserves are picking up a lot of the Army's slack and the military has become very dependent on them. I think enlistment over all -- regular Army and reserves are both gonna drop. Then we'll be up shit creek for sure. Plus you can bet that the guys who are there now are not gonna re-up after this. We're gonna loose a lot of them too. This is how Bush is gonna make the military stronger, by making volunteering to serve, as unappealing as possible.

[blondeatlast]

5. Yep; that's the Reserves.

Somehow they never seem to tell the enlistees they might be gone longer . . .

[HootieMcBoob]

6. Reservists

Reservists are generally on active duty for one weekend out of every month and usually one two week period each year.

They have regular jobs/careers and mortgages and bills and all kinds of stuff just like everybody else that they have to take care of. These reservists are being asked to be prepared to be active for a year in some cases. Their careers and houses and things like that are in jeopardy.

I was very luck as a reservist myself. I went toward the end of Bush the first's reign and did the rest of my gig during Clinton. I was never activated for more than two weeks at a time.

It's totally understandable why a lot of the guys are royally pissed.

[Cha]

8. "One Weekend A Month"...