I guess it's no longer accurate to say that we have an all-volunteer army....

Desperate to stretch its limited ranks, the U.S. Army is expected this week to prohibit still more soldiers now in Iraq and soon to be deployed there from leaving military service.

Army officials declined to say which or how many soldiers would be affected when it expands its "stop-loss" program, which already prevents soldiers in certain heavily used specialties from leaving the military or being reassigned to other units.

But the last such edict, issued Nov. 13, covered all of the more than 110,000 active-duty soldiers whose units are scheduled to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan between now and May.

The announcement of a further expansion of the program, which Army officials confirmed is imminent, comes amid evidence that the Army is straining to meet its growing commitments around the world....

--L.A. Times, reprinted in Newsday

Sign up as a volunteer, wind up as a draftee when you think your hitch is up. Nice.