Stop Loss

Soldiers sometimes have no choice but to return to the army. Either they are forced to do so, such as King in Stop Loss, or they can’t make it out in the public world outside of the army. For those who do not choose to go back and are angered there are not many ways they can express their feelings. They could boycott the army but usually there are harsh consequences. They could also come up with legitimate reasons for not going back, but again it’s hard to get out of. The army is a tightly ran institution. Sometimes they have no choice but to seek asylum. Also in some cases they don’t mean to. In a lot of soldiers it is hard for them to live in the world with out war and it affects their daily life. This makes it harder for them to go back to war and it makes their home situation much worse. Freedom is never achieved when leaving the war. The soldiers are permanently stuck with a stigma that can be viewed as good and bad; for reasons other than the views if war is good or bad. There aren’t a lot of methods of dealing with the issue of stop loss, there aren’t loop holes and there aren’t ways around the law. Soldiers sign up to give their life away, they don’t have much say in the aftermath of war. 

Krotulski - Stop Loss

Today in the military, a soldier can be “stop lossed,” meaning he or she must return to duty even though their term is almost up. After watching the movie Stop Loss, I think it is clear that a soldier cannot do much to prevent against this program. In the movie King tries to go to higher powers but he quickly find that now he has left the Army basically no one will be on his side. Through the readings in the folders and online as well, I have come to believe that with stop loss the Army and military is never wrong. There have been many cases where people have tried to fight back but almost always lose in the end.

If a soldier does decide to run away after being stop lossed then I think that he or she needs to look at where they are going. As the movie has shown, going to higher powers does not work. From a government stand point I think the only thing they could do with people who wish to escape being stop lossed in jail them or put them into asylums. When it comes to it, running away from the Army after being stop lossed is completely illegal. The soldiers have contracts in which they have signed and there is really no going against that. The only real way to upholding the policy to jail or asylum soldiers who go against orders. I do not think the program is right but I think that there is not much that can be done. Someone high up in power needs to take a stand against stop lossing soldiers and show that it is not good.

Antoon - Stop Loss

I believe the best method for soldiers dealing with extra tours after their intital enlistment is to speak out against the government. Although they may still have to go overseas, if enough people follow this action, the government might begin to fear that if enough soldiers are dissatisfied with the way the forces are carried out, fewer people will join. Going awol or leaving the country might seem to work for a short period of time, but it is not truly fixing the problem, it is rather just finding a temporary manner of coping with it. I don't believe the government should force people that have already served so much time to return against their consent. While I'm certainly not in favor of a draft, given the two options, it almost seems more fair to have others serve as opposed to re-enlist those who have already sacrificed so much

McCay Stop Loss Blog

REMEMBER, WHEN POSTING YOUR BLOG, YOU SHOULD PUT YOUR LAST NAME IN THE TITLE AS I HAVE IN MINE. IF YOUR NAME WERE SMITH, YOUR BLOG TITLE WOULD READ SMITH STOP LOSS A DIFFERENT FORM OF DRAFT? FOR EXAMPLE.

After viewing the film and reading the readings in the STOP LOSS folder, discuss how you think soldiers can best represent their views about continued service after the end of their enlistment. if they do not wish to continue service, should they seek asylum? Go AWOL? go to jail? or find another method of dealing with the issue?