| Soldiers sued over forced extension of service { October 20 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq-usa-lawsuit.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq-usa-lawsuit.html
October 20, 2004 U.S. Soldier Drops Suit Over Service Extension By REUTERS Filed at 3:25 p.m. ET
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Army National Guard sergeant who sued the U.S. military over the forced extension of his service dropped the lawsuit after learning he would not have to return to Iraq, officials said on Wednesday.
The decorated San Francisco-area soldier, listed in court papers as John Doe, filed a lawsuit in August charging the U.S. government could not prevent reservists from leaving the all-volunteer military when their enlistment periods ended.
A similar lawsuit filed by a second soldier earlier this month is still pending.
The John Doe lawsuit said the soldier, who fought in the U.S. invasion of Iraq and in Somalia, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The lawsuit raised a sensitive issue over how the United States supplies troops to its forces in Iraq. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry has vowed to end what he calls a ``backdoor draft.''
The Army has issued ``stop-loss'' orders preventing tens of thousands of soldiers designated to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan from leaving the military if their volunteer commitments end during their deployment. The Pentagon has relied heavily on reservists to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The soldier's lawyers said he dropped his lawsuit on Friday after the California National Guard sent a declaration he would not be deployed to Iraq with his unit, Bravo Company of the First Battalion, 184th Infantry regiment, based in Dublin, California.
He did not return a call for comment.
National Guard officials said in August he might not be required to ship out with the rest of his unit because of his physical condition.
``That was the ironic thing -- hey wait, here's this lawsuit, he's not even going,'' said Capt. Daniel Markert, the battalion's rear detachment commander.
Markert said the soldier had performed honorably over the past 10 years in active duty and in the National Guard ``and we're not going to bash a guy who served his country and served in harm's way.''
A second soldier, listed in court papers as John Doe 2, filed his lawsuit on Oct. 1. He is scheduled in appear in federal district court in Sacramento on Nov. 5 to argue for a preliminary injunction against deployment to Iraq.
Copyright 2004 Reuters Ltd.
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