You can't make this stuff up!

In the wake of this entry comes this:

Musicians' Call-Up Is Not Playing Well In Congress

Some lawmakers doubt the necessity

When the Army announced recently that it was going to tap into its rarely used Individual Ready Reserve to fill vital slots for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, top military and civilian personnel said the activation was a proper response to a temporary manpower crisis.

But among the tasks included in the 5,674 jobs deemed critical to the war on terrorism are slots for two trumpet or cornet players, two French horn players, one trombonist, four clarinet players, three saxophonists, one electric bass player, one percussionist and one euphonium player.

Whoops - actually this sounds like a classic Army screw-up - but probably an administrative error vs an intentional action - remind me to tell you about my North Vietnamese buddy soon - but I could be wrong! (Ed note: By the way, didn't we change them to freedom horns? Ans: No, we didn't.)

But there's always someone out there looking to spoil the opportunities for patriotism from the symphonically inclined:

"This call-up of French horn players, among others, is just the latest consequence of the Pentagon's outrageous and inexcusable poor planning," Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., says. "Average Americans continue to pay the price for the Pentagon's failure to do what it should have: adequately plan for the right number of active-duty troops in Iraq and refuse to deploy National Guard and Reserve members at length while breaking promises about when they will return."

That's not me, that's not ScrappleFace, that's directly from the USA Today story. Like I said above...