I can't believe they would be just discharged, guns & all, without some kind of planning. There's going to be enough of a problem with the ones that will just walk off on their own! On what grounds would they be allowed to leave? I would think their contracts have an "emergency stop-loss" clause, and if there's any time to enforce that, it's after 1997.
The best case I can see for those who insist on leaving would be offer to set up colonies of farmers on empty land, like the Romans used to offer their veterans. Then they could keep their guns, of course, and act as militia. Or jobs in repair & recovery shops for skilled mechs.
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My Twilight claim to fame: I ran "Allegheny Uprising" at Allegheny College, spring of 1988.
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