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11/21/2005:

"Their time's up, but these soldiers are stuck in Iraq"

Baghdad, Iraq - They don't talk about it much. They push the subject from their minds. It serves no purpose. But now and then, the thought does surface. After all, they did their time. They served their country. They planned to move on.

They weren't supposed to be here.

But the U.S. Army needed them, and it invoked the once rare policy it calls "stop loss," though others call it a "backdoor draft."

So here they are: In Iraq.

"There's no sense in dwelling on these things," said Staff Sergeant Paul B. Zundel, 33, of Baton Rouge, La., who in more peaceful times would have ended his five-year Army career in September. "All you can do is do your job and take it one day at a time."

Zundel is one of at least 10 members of Bravo Troop, 1-71 Cavalry Regiment, whose plans to go civilian this year were scuttled by the military policy that tethers soldiers to their weapons in times of need. Back when they enlisted, at least somewhere in all those papers they signed, a clause stipulated that they were committing themselves to eight years in the military, if needed.
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