Army May Reduce Length of Tours in Combat Zones

[cal04]

Fearing a sharp decline in recruiting and troop retention, the Army is considering cutting the length of its 12-month combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, senior Army officials say.

Senior Army personnel officers, as well as top Army Reserve and National Guard officials, say the Army's ability to recruit and retain soldiers will steadily erode unless combat tours are shortened, to some length between six and nine months, roughly equivalent to the seven-month tours that are the norm in the Marine Corps.

But other Army officials responsible for combat operations and war planning have significant concerns that the Army - at its current size and as now configured - cannot meet projected requirements for Iraq and Afghanistan unless active duty and reserve troops spend 12 months on the ground in those combat zones.

Officials say it is too early to predict if or when a new deployment policy might take effect or how it would be carried out. But the proposal to shorten combat tours collides with the immediate need to maintain current troop strength in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army planners say they must at least prepare for the possibility that it will be necessary to keep troops at the current levels in Iraq - 138,000 - through 2007, even though no political decision has been made in that regard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/27/international/middleeast/27army.html?hp

[Rose Siding]

1. dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x866952

[daleo]

2. To make combat tours more survivable before draft starts?

"Oh come on kid, it's only six (nine) months. Quit your bitching - it will be over in no time."

I can't see any other way this could possibly work, given the current needs and commitments.