Verified answer

There is nothing he can do. The Army has the right in a time of war to retain soldiers if releasing them will prevent it from being combat ready. It's been happening for over three years and he probably should have seen it coming. He can try writing a Congressman, it sometimes works, but not often.

It's sad when a soldier has completed his contract honorably, but is not allowed to leave. While I feel for you and your son, he did sign a contract with the US Government that allows this type of thing.

First lets be completely honest. Not everyone who signs up realizes or is told every little stipulation which they may encounter. So those who always respond with "they knew what they were signing up for" are either aggrogant jerkoffs or just plain ignorant of real life.

That said, **** happens. The government has the legal authority to do it. So you have to roll with the punches, like it or not, right or wrong. The eight (8) years is not the only defining factor. You could be coming off of your second enlistment and still get stop lossed. And on any enlistment past your intial one, there is no stipulation about the Inactive Reserves for a total of eight (8) years of service. Basically Stop Loss is a license to hold you until the end of time if the POTUS (President) deems it a time of war and neccessary to maintain the military. So you can throw the eight (8) year argument right out the window.

Title 10, United States Code, Section 12305(a) which states in part: "... the President may suspend any provision of law relating to promotion, retirement, or separation applicable to any member of the armed forces who the President determines is essential to the national security of the United States" and Paragraph 9(c) of DD Form 4/1 (The Armed Forces Enlistment Contract) which states: "In the event of war, my enlistment in the Armed Forces continues until six (6) months after the war ends, unless the enlistment is ended sooner by the President of the United States."

My husband was stopped lossed at the end of his NG contract..prior to him going active duty. There is nothing he can do about it especially if his unit is under alert for deployment. As part of his contract it is an understood possibility and really isn't a new concept it has been happening for years. Even when you discharge from active duty you are still under IRR time and could still be called back to active duty.

p.s. It is absolutely true that you can be recalled at anytime really even after being out for YEARS if your MOS is a critical MOS (or job needed at that time). My husband knows a man that was recalled 15 years after he retired because of the job he held when he was in. He was re-activated and re-trained on the technology advancement.

The military can do it and there is nothing that your son can do about it. He knew that he was signing an 8 year contract when he first enlisted and he knew that there was a possibility of him getting stop-lossed. Unfortunately he'll have to serve whatever time the Army needs him to before he can be released.

I am sorry to agree with everyone, but there isn't really anything he can do at this point. My husband was in the Army, and was lucky enough to get out without getting stop loss this year. We were really nervous they would do exactly this to him last minute. I don't think it's fair to the soldiers. They volunteered did their time, and should be able to get out. Unfortunately the fine print does allow them to do this. At this point the only thin to do is make the best out of it.

There's nothing he can do, even though he's done with his active duty time he still has IRR time on his contract, all the Army did was put the 2 together, its a lot better then letting him get back to civilian life for a year or two and then calling him back

Gabriel:

We've been at war for 7 years.....stop loss has been in the news...they've even made a damn movie called Stop Loss.......there inst anyone left that shouldn't know whats going on.

The last time I deployed we knew that there was going to be a stop loss for our unit 90 days prior to our deployment to 90 days after. Guys that were suppose to ETS less than 90 days prior to our deployment date knew very far in advance that it was going to happen, so it wasn't a big shocker when the official word came down.

Theres nothing he can do but serve his time.

Every soldier still has reserve time anyways, and during that reserve time with their unit, they can still be deployed with that unit for two years, its better to get the active duty time out of the way and just do it.

I got out of my assigned 2 years commitment with a reserve unit because I was prior Army reserve for six years.

Sorry there is nothing he can do. The Army has the right to call soldiers back. And for those of you with the "8 year" idea.. well you put that in your pipe and smoke it. I know a RETIRED 20+ year soldier who was called back.

Nothing can be done about it. He has an 8 year commitment in his contract. It is a more effective way to maintain our combat readiness without having to draft new recruits. He is already commited to 8 years and is already trained.