The all-volunteer military was not instituted until 1973. In addition, 
the Army remained a place where many people passed through during the 
Cold War days of the 1970s and 1980s. Only after the Gulf War I in 1991 
did the Army begin to shrink in size. The Army that went into Iraq was 
small with few reserves of manpower--that's why it has been necessary to 
use the Guard so extensively. The consequences from using the Guard, 
with all the localized effects the posters have noted, have had a marked 
impact on the rising opposition to the war. The losses of the 19 to 21 
year olds are certainly mourned, but when one of these guardsmen in 
their 30s, often a pillar of their community, gets killed it shakes 
things up. It can only remind of us of what it must have been like when 
the Civil War losses from those massive battles got reported back to the 
communities. Amazing that they remained committed to it as long as they did.

Jim Hershman