Chris, this is the way it works: one side (soldier) is subject to the contract, while the other side (the State) has the ability to rearrange the contract according to its needs at the time. I know someone whose discharge from the Air Force was delayed, post-9/11, due to the stop-loss, and it's abominable. However, most of these guys join up for one simple reason: they are looking for the ultimate handout from Big Daddy Sam. The are looking for that automatic job, all the freebies, the benefits, the housing and education subsidies, and worse, there are the long-timers that bite the bullet for 20 years and float throught their automatic promotions and cushy desk jobs, and then retire young to a big, fat, government pension for the rest of their days. It's real tough to have any empathy for these folks. They speculate, and when war is on, they tend to lose.
