The Conservative Cave
Current Events => Breaking News => Topic started by: TheSarge on February 26, 2008, 12:48:52 PM
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WASHINGTON — Top Army officials told a Senate panel on Tuesday that the Army is under serious strain and must reduce the length of combat tours as soon as possible.
"The cumulative effects of the last six-plus years at war have left our Army out of balance, consumed by the current fight and unable to do the things we know we need to do to properly sustain our all-volunteer force and restore our flexibility for an uncertain future," said Gen. George Casey, chief of staff of the Army.
Casey told the Senate Armed Services Committee that cutting the time soldiers spend in combat is an integral part of reducing the stress on the force.
He said he anticipates the service can cut combat tours from 15 months to 12 months this year, so long as the president reduces the number of active-duty Army brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan to 15 units by July as planned.
However, the number of soldiers retained under the service's "stop loss" policy — which forces some soldiers to stay on beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates — is unlikely to be reduced substantially.
"We are consuming readiness now, as quickly as we're building it," said Army Secretary Pete Geren, who also testified.
Geren also urged Congress to pass a $100 billion war spending bill this spring, contending that the Army will run out of money by July.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332771,00.html
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God help us had this been during WWII when it was "for the duration". The fact that folks can (and do) get out is a testament that maybe the all-volunteer force is a lot better off than most people want to admit.
Yeah, it sucks doing three tours in Iraq, etc...but then again, nobody shed any tears when I did FIVE deployments in a six-year period.
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See you should have gone Air Force. I did 5 in nine years.
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See you should have gone Air Force. I did 5 in nine years.
Those 5 that Sparky did 6 and the 3 I did in 5 were all 6 month deployments.
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See you should have gone Air Force. I did 5 in nine years.
Those 5 that Sparky did 6 and the 3 I did in 5 were all 6 month deployments.
Yeah, but there's also an expression in the fast-boat community:
"Fast and black, and never come back."
For example, in my first year on my first boat, I was in homeport 61 days, and half of those were 12 on/12 off shiftwork.
Most of the other years weren't much better.
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LOL! and to think we volunteered for this fun :-)
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LOL! and to think we volunteered for this fun :-)
More than once. As a wise old chief kept reminding the bitchers:
You volunteered for the Navy.
You volunteered for Nuclear Power.
You volunteered for submarines.
That's at least three times--and if you reenlisted? Oh, boy....
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Sparky, you should have been an Airedale vs a "target" ;) :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:
I do think that the 15 month tours are a little excessive. What about folks during WWII that were at sea for three years or more straight, with little liberty?? THAT would suck. At least a lot of these folks get to go to a rear area to take a break every so often (like Kuwait or Bahrain) That said, when one volunteers for the military, they volunteer for everything that goes along with it. It sucks and it's harsh, but that's the fact. There were many times during my career in the Navy that I didn't like what I had to do. I did it anyways.
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More than once. As a wise old chief kept reminding the bitchers:
You volunteered for the Navy.
You volunteered for Nuclear Power.
You volunteered for submarines.
That's at least three times--and if you reenlisted? Oh, boy....
I know what you mean. I must be a glutton for punishment myself.
If all goes like I have it planned my next enlistment will be "Indef" :-)