the sticky sticky downside

as i've said in the past, for me, the absolute worst part of being a military brat was being yanked out of my reality every couple of years. the upside was seeing the world, the downside was the amateur Extreme Makeover i gave myself in each of those difficult, awkward years.

so when i heard the president announce that he was restructuring the military so that tours of duty would be extended to support families and "troop cohesion" i thought that was great. didn't even suspect that the downside could be so malevolent, so evil and so well thought out.

check out this situation at Fort Carson, Colorado Springs where soldiers, who have just returned from Iraq, are being blackmailed into either reenlisting or being sent back to Iraq.

oh, wait a minute, i've got that all wrong -- looky here:

Lt. Col. David Johnson, spokesman for Fort Carson, said, "They're interpreting what's being told to them wrong."

Johnson said soldiers are asked to fill out the form so the Army can determine the strength of the force. The Army's goal is to have cohesive units that stick together for three years with little turnover.

whew. how could i have been so wrong? good thing the bush squad thought of that cohesion thing a few months back...