This report, by Chelsea Hover, was originally broadcast on News 8, Austin, March 5, 2008
Eddy and Linda Porter spent Wednesday packing up their son Casey's apartment, to send him off to Iraq.
"It's just going to be another hellish year," Linda Porter said.
Spc. Casey Porter has been deployed once before. But this time, it's different.
"I honored my commitment, why is it not being honored on the other end?" Casey said.
Thousands of soldiers are being sent back to war when they should be finished with their military duty.
Casey had just three weeks left of his enlistment when he was expecting to receive discharge papers. Instead, he received new deployment papers with a date three months away to return to war.
Now that date has come, and he's leaving later this week.
"I think it's a slap in the face to veterans who have to go through this because I know there's several other people in my position," Casey said.
Actually, there are several thousand across the country. Others' attempts to legally fight stop loss in the past, have failed.
"I view stop loss as a selective draft. It is only against those people who volunteered. I don't think that's a reward, I think that's a punishment for having volunteered," Linda said.
"If you volunteered, served your four years, you oughta get out," Casey's father, Eddy, said.
He was drafted back in the 60's during the Korean War. He sees the bigger picture of his son's situation.
"They've got to keep the continuity and there's not enough people coming in," Eddy said.
So now, those who are enlisted are being redeployed even if they're not ready.
"I've seen soldiers, my first time going, getting on the plane with crutches," Casey said.
Casey said a non-military doctor diagnosed him with post traumatic stress disorder, but the military refused to recognize it.
"It's just, 'Get on the plane.' I don't feel like I have my freedom, to live my life. To leave the military and continue on," Casey said.
It's ironic that a soldier might feel a lack of freedom since he's put his own life on the line, to protect just that.
Casey is being deployed to Iraq later this week.
The "Stop Loss" policy was first created by Congress after the Vietnam War.
It was reestablished in 2004 for soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
On March 28, 2008 Paramount Pictures is releasing a major blockbuster entitled "Stop Loss" featuring Ryan Philippee as a soldier in this same situation.
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