Following up: Botta reports for duty

Last weekend, I wrote about Erik Botta of Port St. Lucie, who was suing to avoid his fifth tour of duty overseas, after three stretches in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. I noted at the time that he would have to report to Fort Jackson, S.C., on Sunday to avoid possible prosecution for desertion.

Well, Botta did report. And he may be deployed back to Iraq within as little as ten days.

"If there's any good news, it's that there was not a set deployment date set," [Botta's attorney] Mark Waple said.

In January, the Army granted the Port St. Lucie 26-year-old, who has been sent once to Afghanistan and three times to Iraq, an academic exemption from a fifth deployment after he began studying to become an electrical engineer. But the Army sent him new orders to report to Fort Jackson last week.

Waple called the Army's decision "arbitrary and capricious," noting that the Army has granted academic exemption in the past. "The Army's decision not to exempt him from this deployment and not to discharge him from the Army reserves is so arbitrary it has become unlawful," Waple said.

From the Bush crime syndicate's perspective, it's really very simple. Botta is still useful (read: ambulatory) and therefore remains an exploitable resource. It's only if he comes back in a box, or is unable to serve further, that the military will stop caring about him.

A reservist says "hell, no, I won't go"

The military is finding new ways to ruin people's lives, whether it's sending them off to combat in an illegal war or reaching back in time to call up reservists who thought their service was over.

One south Florida reservist has been ordered to report to Fort Jackson, S.C., tomorrow for his fifth tour of duty in the Middle East. But he's fighting back ... with a lawsuit unprecedented since Vietnam.

"Our country has a problem," Miami attorney Lawrence Metsch said Friday. "A small group of people are getting called up again and again, yet hundreds of thousands of young men and women are not called up to military service, and they're going on with their lives. It's a political problem."

Erik Botta thought he had joined those fortunate masses three years ago when he left the Army after three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He got married, started school at Palm Beach Community College and got a job at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in northern Palm Beach County.

While he technically remained in the reserves, he was not required to participate in any drills or training.

[...]

Botta said his call-up is simply not fair.

"This has nothing to do with protest of the war. ... I have nothing but respect for the people on the ground," he said.

But he has done enough, he said.

Metsch said federal rules that give President Bush the power to call reserves into active duty shore up Botta's belief.

The rules require the military to consider a reservist's prior service and the types of hazards the service member confronted. Among his various decorations, Botta earned the Army Commendation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal during his three years of active duty.

Further, military officials are to look at the reservist's family situation and whether the person's employment is needed to "maintain the national health, safety or interest."

"It's clear to us they ignored the statute," Metsch said.

Well, of course they ignored the statute. Remember, the overriding philosophy of the Bush crime syndicate is that laws don't apply to them.

While the lawsuit is pending, Botta still must report or face prosecution for desertion. It's just another way the U.S. military, as led by the Bush crime syndicate, is the gift that keeps on giving.