16,000 Single Mothers Serving in Iraq

The report (below) hits very close to home, as one of my daughters spent some time in the National Guard getting medical training there. She had been proud to be part of a peace-keeping military (in the time of Bosnia). Then, thank G-d, she resigned rather than continue in the reserves with the arrival of her first child. Had she not, she, as a number of my women students, would be facing call up despite her family of 3 children -- eight and younger -- she is happily married, but such burdens are hitting many a family with or without a parent on the home front. One is subject to recall for ten years if on the reserve list. Read this report and weep for those not only killed and maimed, but also exploited, disrupted, and then abandoned by our current political regime. Needless to say the great bulk of those who had joined the Guard had expected to serve their nation at home in times of natural emergencies such as Katrina. Ed Kent

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FOCUS | 16,000 Single Mothers Serving in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112406X.shtml
When war started in Iraq, a generation of US women became involved as never before - in a wider-than-ever array of jobs, for long deployments, in a conflict with daily bloodshed. More than 155,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among their ranks are more than 16,000 single mothers, according to the Pentagon, a number that military experts say is unprecedented.
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"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
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