Last Days of the Confederacy

Atrios points us to this news story about a retired Army colonel being recalled to active duty in Afghanistan. The one startling fact about the otherwise now-routine recall is the colonel's age - the gentleman is seventy.

If you read the article, you discover he's quite willing to go - he's a retired oral surgeon and a loyal citizen glad to be doing his part. I would find the article rather heart-warming if the doctor had seen the need and volunteered. As it is, reaching into the ranks of the retired elderly to fill the needs of our currently overstretched military to feed the rapacious maw of the admin's hunger for war rather reeks of desperation. How long will it be before they're calling up the fifteen year old cadets from the Virginia Military Institute?