68-year-old called up to serve in Iraq
posted by Rick at 3:49 AM

From the AP via Yahoo! News: a 68-year-old psychiatrist, Marine, and Alabama Guardsman has been reactivated for the Iraq war.

The Army sent John Wicks a postcard last fall saying that they have a shortage of mental health experts needed to help soldiers cope with what's going on over there, and asking him if he was fit to serve.

"I stuck the thing in my pocket and carried it around for several weeks agonizing on how I should respond," he told The Decatur Daily in a story Sunday. "The truth is I consider myself fit to serve, so that's how I marked it and sent it back."

"My wife said 'You'll never hear from them.' Well, it was no time at all till I heard from them," Wicks said.

Wicks said recruiters initially hinted he could go to Europe or a stateside base to relieve a younger psychiatrist who would go to Iraq. The Army even gave him three choices should that scenario play out, and Dr. Wicks chose Italy, Germany and England.

"Well, I now wonder if this was just to get me hooked. Because there's no way I'm going to Italy or any of these places," he said. "I'm going to Iraq."

Here's Dubya's chance to make up lost time. If this Desert Storm veteran who did two years of active duty with the Marines and eighteen years in the Alabama National Guard can be called up at the age of 68, surely a slacker who spent most of his Guard "career" shirking his responsibilities, and now takes every opportunity to don military clothing and play dress-up, can go spend a year wearing a real uniform and doing real service. It's not like he's doing anything worthwhile in his current job.