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