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

Sunday, November 20, 2005
By Hart Seely
Staff writer

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."

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